Centro-Matic are a Texas band who play a combination of indie rock and power-pop, topped off with lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Will Johnson’s gritty, drawling vocals. The Free Press tracked Johnson down for a phone interview last week, as he was preparing to leave for a February East Coast/Midwest tour which will include a show at SPACE in Portland on Feb. 18. Centro-Matic have just released their seventh album, “Love You Just the Same.”
Free Press: First of all, where did you get the name “Centro-Matic?”
Will Johnson: It is the model name of an old accordion … that I found at a pawn shop in a little town called Thorny, Texas. I needed something to label the four track tapes that I was making around the house.
FP: Did you learn how to play the accordion?
WJ: I learned a little bit, but not much. Half of a Pat Benetar song at one time, I think, and that was it.
FP: How many different instruments do you play?
WJ: I’m not really sure. I started playing drums and piano when I was a kid, and then I kinda went to saxophone and guitar and bass guitar and vocals. Kinda just whatever is lying around I’ll try my hand at and try to put together some pedestrian melody.
FP: How would you best describe your music?
WJ: (laughs) Depends on the day. That’s a really tough question to answer. I don’t know if it is my place to describe our music. Oftentimes it’s loud, I will say that. Very spirited guitar rock a lot of the time, it definitely fits that.
FP: Your new album, “Love You Just the Same” was recently released. How is this album different from your previous albums?
WJ: I think the building process for “Love You Just The Same” was a little more involved and a little more thought out than our other records. A lot of those songs we had been playing live for a number of years, and after a while it seemed like we had a suitable collection of rock songs that seemed to fit together in our minds as a pretty cohesive record. It’s not as raw-sounding as our previous records, but I still think that, at least in our minds, we still maintained a lot of that gritty spirit we’ve had on previous records.
FP: When did you get your first guitar, and what got you into songwriting?
WJ: I must have got my first guitar when I was, maybe, seventeen. I would definitely say one of the major catalysts that got me into songwriting was seeing American independent rock bands flourish in the early and mid ’80s and realizing that you didn’t have to be Van Halen to do well with music. There was this whole wonderful underground of bands like the Replacements that really stopped me in my tracks, and I thought, you know, I’d like to try my hand at this as well.
FP: When was your first gig?
WJ: It was at a town carnival in 1989 with a band I was playing with in high school. We played right next to the fishing booth. It was so weird.
FP: What was the first album that you saved up for and bought with your own money?
WJ: The first album I bought with all my money, I think was “Back In Black” by AC/DC, which I still own and I still listen to.
FP: What are you listening to right now?
WJ: There’s a band from down here called Shearwater — I’ve been listening to them a whole lot. The new John Vanderslice album is wonderful. Next month I’ll start touring with him. There’s a guy named Reverend Charlie Jackson, which I discovered a couple months ago, that just blew me away. He’s a preacher that has endured two strokes, and he just wanders around his congregation with a guitar doing his sermons. I’m all over the map these days.
FP: You just got back from a tour in Europe. What’s the difference between playing in Europe and playing in the States?
WJ: I think it depends on the city. There are a lot of places in Europe that are different from one another too. Belgian fans are extremely polite, typically. They will wait until the last nuance or bit of feedback has gone before they begin their applause. Whereas fans in the U.K. or Holland are a little bit rowdier. Even crowds over there differ.
FP: Your band seems to have a pretty big underground following. Where do you see yourself in the future? Do you think you will be on MTV and on the cover of Rolling Stone, or would you rather avoid the more corporate aspect of popular music?
WJ: It’s really hard for me to picture something like that. Quite honestly, I see us maintaining our very familiar work ethic and growing at a little more natural rate. It has been that way for the seven years that we have existed and it’s a feeling that we’ve become accustomed to, and sometimes that means some very slow nights, but that’s okay. It’s just a life that we’ve gotten used to. As long as we keep it comfortable to us I see us playing for quite a while into the future.
FP: Led Zeppelin or the Beatles?
WJ: That’s tough. I’d have to say in the long run probably the Beatles. But for the pure rock aspect I’d have to say Led Zeppelin. Their DVD really got me fired up this summer.
FP: Are you from Texas originally?
WJ: Actually, I moved here when I was a kid from Missouri.
FP: So, are you more of an Astros or Rangers fan?
WJ: Definitely more of a Rangers fan. I mean, I’m a St. Louis Cardinals fan first, just because that followed me over the years from Missouri and I’ve maintained my allegiance to them.
FP: We’re all Red Sox fans up here.
WJ: Yeah? (Laughs) God bless you.
FP: If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?
WJ: (Laughs) Well I’m looking at this big pile of dishes here so I guess if I had to choose one superpower it would be to make them disappear before the woman gets home.
Centro-Matic will be playing at SPACE, 538 Congress Street in Portland on Feb. 18. Their new album, “Love You Just the Same,” is available now on Misra Records.
Jon Blood can be contacted at [email protected]