A Dirty Dozen with JOHN ATKINSON from PSYCHOLOGY – September 2023

Photo credit: Justin Borucki

According to a recent press release: “Today, cerebral rock band Psychology have released “The Economy,” the latest single from their self-titled debut album out September 8th via Cart/Horse Records. The track speaks to having your perspective changed for the better after meeting somebody new, featuring compelling lyricism and strategically layered guitar solos. As the vision of vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer John Atkinson, Psychology crafts cerebral rock uplifted by shoegaze fuzz, waves of distortion, and provocative and poignant vocal musings. While earning his masters degree in Educational Psychology at Temple University, John was inspired after learning the positive effects music can have on the brain — including fending off Alzheimer’s and early dementia — and soon decided to tune up his guitar skills and make music of his own. Now, John hopes to share the affirmative power of music with the rest of the world.” We get John to discuss new music, influences, and more.

1. Tell us a little about your latest release, “The Economy.” What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material for listeners to find?

Hidden nuggets? You mean other than the backward masking that will turn you into a serial killer? Ha! It’s always nice when individual parts of a song work for the song but are also interesting on their own. That said, and without giving too much away (I mean, how can it be hidden if I tell everyone about it?!?!)., there’s definitely something in this song I really love, and it serves as a foundational base of the tune that I hope people hear and latch onto. It’s way down there. I’ll say this, Dave Richman’s drumming is always compelling. The drums are far from hidden but they’re a gift that keeps giving on repeated listens.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I was way into music when I was little. I had a little tape recorder and listened to all kinds of stuff on it and made recordings on it too. It was my favorite “toy.” No clue what I was recording back then. I could put it out on record: Psychology… The Lost Tapes. People could get all excited about it and turns out it’s just like recordings of a little kid rambling, or trying to record dogs barking or something. Haha! So yeah, music has always been there, but I realized I wanted to do the thing as art and take it seriously when I was getting back into guitar in grad school after reading about the effects of learning music a little later in life on the brain. As soon as I picked it up again, pieces of music started coming out. After a while, some of them sounded pretty good to me and it occurred to me to record them properly and give them their due. It snowballed from there and now we are here.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

That’s a tough one because I listen to everything and always have. I’m a child of the 80’s and 90’s where the mainstream was super diverse. My parents were a bit older than my friends parents and were always listening to music, so I got a lot of exposure to true “oldies” from the 40’s and 50’s. Big band stuff. My father-in-law was an opera singer and learning about that world through him was awesome. I had all these exposures and had gone through all of these phases of obsession before I really committed to making music so it’s hard to point to one over the other. I’m sure there’s a specific answer deep down in my unconscious but I can’t get to it!

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

“Music: Atkinson. Lyrics: Atkinson.” Other than with Richman, I totally don’t play well with others!  Actually I don’t really play with others at all, so maybe I am a great teammate and don’t know it.  That said it would have to be someone who can do the chameleon thing and fit in anywhere so we wouldn’t clash. It would be the worst to call a personal hero in to do something and have it be all id and ego. Adrian Belew. That’s it. He’s everywhere and everywhere he is, he’s awesome. Then his resume could read: “Zappa, Bowie, King Crimson, Talking Heads, NIN, Psychology.”

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio? What do you like to do to unwind?

Unfortunately, I am a dedicated surfer living on the NJ coast. It is a difficult life. Barren at times.   Cold at others. Mob rules or desperately lonely. An uphill battle most days. If you don’t surf, don’t start. Oh you said “favorite to unwind?!?!?” My bad. The wife, dog, and movie trifecta never fails. I love older, classic movies and we watch a ton of them. They definitely inform the music. There I go… unwinding just to wind up back at music again.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?

People ask me this all the time when they find out that I’m in a band. I tell them it’s like a combination of Mozart, The Beatles, Miles Davis, and Black Sabbath. When they tilt their heads like a confused puppy I let them off the hook and tell them, “it’s all rock and roll to me.”

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

If we ever break out for a singalong, send us home and call a doctor. Something’s terribly wrong! Ha! The crew who worked on this record… we are all very different but yet, it worked and I think it’s obvious when you hear it. When we were making the record and were hanging, we always ordered out, didn’t drink that much, and stayed away from music stuff because we were exhausted from working hard and efficiently on the record!

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Prince live at the Meadowlands. We saw him a couple days later at Madison Square Garden and it was all celebrities there distracting from the vibe of the show. But earlier that weekend at the Meadowlands? It was all die-hards and you could tell he knew it. We had great seats, about 7 rows back, and at one point Prince was right in front of us ripping a guitar solo on a golden guitar. I’m pretty sure the whole thing was made out of gold. My jaw was on the floor and I became aware of this high pitched sound coming from the crowd and it was the same sound as in early Beatles concert footage, where the women screaming would drown out the high end and they’d pee themselves and pass out. I looked around the stadium and realized that same thing was happening… minus the pee. I turned to my wife to point this out to her and she was screeching along too. I looked up at Prince and he had that wry side eye smile going. Dressed in gold sparkle, playing a gold guitar. Just wow.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part of it is just doing it. I love it. I mean, I love to just look at a guitar. They smell great too. There’s so much stuff to fetishize and obsess over. From sounds to the way things feel under your hand… I mean that’s the thing. If I wasn’t doing music, I think I’d try to get a job as a skilled worker where I’d have to learn something new and make use of these opposable thumbs and there was a tangible finished product, like carpentry or something. Those jobs are hard though. Can I just stick to this?

10.How does your album Psychology showcase your sound as an artist, both sonically and lyrically?

Like any album, it’s definitely a snapshot of a moment in life and it’s the first album, so to me there’s stuff in there that are representative of those facets. I think it’s pretty much what I was up to at that time and that’s a credit to Tom (Beaujour) and Tim (Foljahn) for making that happen.  They kinda kept me in my lane on some things and while there’s a lot of pieces on the album that sound different from one another, I think it’s very coherent. I know I’m still exploring and developing musically and artistically and the next record is going to be a lot different, so any idea of “our sound” is constantly changing.

11. Since choosing to pick up your guitar and make music again, has there been a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

I like the “even if it didn’t change your current situation” so I can’t back out and say I wouldn’t change a thing because I might not be here. Crafty. One thing that would’ve made life easier is during recording, I’d go back and have a raw scat vocal track going throughout the process.  That way tracking vocals wouldn’t be like you vs this massive riff or something. You’d be in there all along and you never know when “Sussudio” could happen.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

That’s easy. I’d go to the South of France and jump in on Exile on Main Street. Stating the obvious here…it might be the best album ever made and the stories behind the recording of it are legendary. Some albums define certain periods of your life, but for me Exile gets thrown on at the height of the party whenever it’s time to feel good and “feeling good is good enough.” You can feel the decadence dripping off of every note on that record and lyrically some of the dark themes just add to it. Like Bobby Keys’ sax on “Casino Boogie” just popped into my head and is just so slutty. Being there for all that… I mean, you’re taking a chance it might kill you, but I could see myself being “champagne caddy” for Keith or maybe arranging water sports for downtime. Maybe I’d go to Jamaica with Bob Marley and The Wailers for Exodus. Perfect album. I heard he was waking people up with the sun for calisthenics and weed before starting work every day. That’d be fun too. Just not as fun as Exile.

PSYCHOLOGY LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews