Calvin Johnson ist das Mastermind hinter der legendären Über-Indie-Band Beat Happening und gleichzeitig Kopf von K Records. Ende 2015 erschien eine formidable Songsammlung/Retrospektive (worauf wir ja schon an anderer Stelle hingewiesen hatten). Auch Kurt Cobain war ein Fan der Band und zur frühen Nirvana-Zeit mit Johnson befreundet, doch später kam es wohl zu einem Zerwürfnis. Mag sein dass Bemerkungen wie jene von Calvin Johnson während eines Konzerts 1992 dazu beitrugen: “We are Beat Happening and we don’t do Nirvana covers. They do Beat Happening covers.”
Die My Favourite Records mit Calvin Johnson sind erwartungsgemäß nerdy und natürlich schimmert in seinen Antworten der Plattenlabelbesitzer durch, gibt Johnson doch gleich das jeweilige Label mit an:
* Your three favourite Punk singles/songs?
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(Sister Polygon)
Hysterics first EP (M’Lady Records)
Tringles Bikini Choc EP (Cheap Sausage)
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* A record that will make you dance?
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Trans FX/KAG „Fugue 7“ 45 (Perennial)
* Your favourite song lyrics?
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Any Little Wings song
*What’s your favourite release on K Records?
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Angelo Spencer et les Hauts Sommets Love in the Morning (KLP256)
* The best “new” artist / band right now?
Xperience.
They got style, class, devotion.
* Your favourite song about rebellion/revolution?
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Built to Spill „Revolution“ from their Ultimate Alternative Wavers album
* The best song of 2015?
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Anything from the new ARLT album Deableries (Almost Musique)
* Your favourite movie about music?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_h7YdIe_k
That Thing You Do
* The best song you’ve ever written / recorded?
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The Hive Dwellers „Get in“
* Your favourite German song/record?
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Lolita „Sailor, Your Home Is the Sea“
* Your favourite record of all time?
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Bo Diddley Bo Diddley LP
Die karriereumspannende Retrospektive „Look Around“ von Beat Happening ist Ende 2015 erschienen:
Es geht in erster Linie um von K Records nicht bezahlte Tantiemen, die Calvin Johnson angeblich selbst einstreicht. Oder um Kimya nochmal zu zitieren: „I will say that a couple of years ago two artists did what Mary Lou Lord suggested and got all the numbers. That’s how we finally know what we are actually owed. Mariella, who I now feel is equally sketchy, had been giving me an estimate for years that was a good 6 figures under what they actually owe me. They owe a ton of people money and I bet most of those people have no idea. That is something else that kills me. Thinking about people who feel like they haven’t sold anything who maybe actually did. What does that do to your morale? Are there people who stopped making music because they thought no one was listening? For a long time they were just sitting on their hands but for the past year or so there has actually been a payment plan in place where every month they put an amount into a bank account that is divided between some of us. The payment plan and the account was set up by musicians because K never took the initiative to get their accounting in order and figure it out on their own. If they miss any payments then we will contact a lawyer and take the next step. They know this. More than one of us have made this clear. If it hadn’t come to this I don’t think we would be seeing anything at all. Before we got the numbers it was mostly excuses and lies. And at the rate that they are making payments I will maybe be paid off in 30 years. But what would doing it differently even look like? Pay a lawyer to try to get money they claim doesn’t exist? I did get my catalog back at least so I am in no way, outside of their debt to me, tied to them anymore. When Beck pulled One Foot In the Grave I heard all the cries of what a sellout he was and how giving a shit about getting paid isn’t punk. Well, now I understand. A relationship with K is only a good deal if you tour enough to make more from merch than you do from distro and online. If you don’t sell much and you need someone to manufacture your stuff and give you copies for shows it’s awesome. But where is that money coming from? Other artists‘ sales. If the main money coming in is from online and distro you will be fucked. Do I make music for the money? Absolutely not. If the music I make sells do I want the money that is rightfully mine? Absolutely yes. People don’t speak up because they get accused of all kinds of shit when they do. I just can’t even handle people talking about how super rad K is when it’s a broken sinking ship.“
Interessant – weißt Du Hintergründe dazu?
Schöne Grüße von Kimya Dawsons FB-Seite (Post vom 10.01): „If I unfriended you it might be because you associate with Calvin Johnson and it makes me fucking ill every time pictures of him pop up in my feed. Seriously. Fuck that man.
Usually I am good at letting shit go but I have never felt so betrayed by „friends“ before. It’s really fucked up my whole reality.“
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Es geht in erster Linie um von K Records nicht bezahlte Tantiemen, die Calvin Johnson angeblich selbst einstreicht. Oder um Kimya nochmal zu zitieren: „I will say that a couple of years ago two artists did what Mary Lou Lord suggested and got all the numbers. That’s how we finally know what we are actually owed. Mariella, who I now feel is equally sketchy, had been giving me an estimate for years that was a good 6 figures under what they actually owe me. They owe a ton of people money and I bet most of those people have no idea. That is something else that kills me. Thinking about people who feel like they haven’t sold anything who maybe actually did. What does that do to your morale? Are there people who stopped making music because they thought no one was listening? For a long time they were just sitting on their hands but for the past year or so there has actually been a payment plan in place where every month they put an amount into a bank account that is divided between some of us. The payment plan and the account was set up by musicians because K never took the initiative to get their accounting in order and figure it out on their own. If they miss any payments then we will contact a lawyer and take the next step. They know this. More than one of us have made this clear. If it hadn’t come to this I don’t think we would be seeing anything at all. Before we got the numbers it was mostly excuses and lies. And at the rate that they are making payments I will maybe be paid off in 30 years. But what would doing it differently even look like? Pay a lawyer to try to get money they claim doesn’t exist? I did get my catalog back at least so I am in no way, outside of their debt to me, tied to them anymore. When Beck pulled One Foot In the Grave I heard all the cries of what a sellout he was and how giving a shit about getting paid isn’t punk. Well, now I understand. A relationship with K is only a good deal if you tour enough to make more from merch than you do from distro and online. If you don’t sell much and you need someone to manufacture your stuff and give you copies for shows it’s awesome. But where is that money coming from? Other artists‘ sales. If the main money coming in is from online and distro you will be fucked. Do I make music for the money? Absolutely not. If the music I make sells do I want the money that is rightfully mine? Absolutely yes. People don’t speak up because they get accused of all kinds of shit when they do. I just can’t even handle people talking about how super rad K is when it’s a broken sinking ship.“