Get our issue, highlights, free stuff and more!  

  • About MT
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • STORE
  • RSS Feeds

Detroit Metro Times home page.

  • NEWS
  • ARTS
  • CULTURE
  • MUSIC
  • SCREENS
  • FOOD+DRINK
  • CALENDAR
  • BLOGS
  • BEST OF
  • FREE STUFF
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • MMJ
  • ARCHIVES
  • BLOWOUT
  • REFER LOCAL
News+Views Cover Stories News Hits Politics & Prejudices Stir It Up Higher Ground
Music Blahg News Blawg The B-Roll Reckless Eyeballing The Subterraneans
Arts Lit Up
Music Album Reviews Browse Local Music Music Events Add Your Act
Stories+Reviews Film Reviews Idiot Boxing Cheat Code
Food Stories Restaurant Reviews Find a Restaurant Find a Club Happy Hours Add a Restaurant Add a Club
Search Events Add an Event
Best of Detroit 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2004 2003 Best of Map
EVENT PHOTOS MT ON FACEBOOK MT ON TWITTER MT ON FLICKR
Classifieds Home Place an Ad Dating Real Estate Jobby Jobster
Culture Savage Love Motor City Cribs & Rides
Search Articles Search Authors Search Issues Latest Comments
BLOWOUT HOME HISTORY PRESS PHOTOS BLOWOUT BLOG
MEDICAL MARIJUANA HOME

Calendar

Restaurants

Clubs

  • Latest Comments
  • Popular Threads
  • Most Read
Most Read
  • The devil inside The people who attend this church swear they see miracles. Who's to argue? | 5/2/2012
  • The Whole truth That $5 million spent luring Whole Foods drives city’s independent grocers crazy | 5/16/2012
  • Your College Bucket List The must-do highlights of higher learning | 8/24/2011
  • Battleship Sinking ship — Plus, Rihanna plays a stoic weapons specialist! | 5/18/2012
  • Nutritional Value - Readers' Choice Our readers pick the best places to scarf, nosh, tipple and dine | 4/27/2011
  • Malcolm X — still controversial A recent biography stirs debate as the iconic black nationalist is honored in Detroit | 5/16/2012
  • Food Stuff The new old R. Hirt Jr., flower day at Eastern Market and more | 5/16/2012

Print Email

Feature

Don't call it punk

Hangin' at X! headquarters with the Johnny Ill Band and label dude Scott Dunkerley

Photo: N/A, License: N/A


By Jeff Milo

Published: December 14, 2011

"Songwriting has to come from a moment, a feeling, like, one second," Johnny Ill snaps his fingers, "There, that's where it comes from." 

 

There's a shot of vodka in front of Ill, next to a half-finished piece of toast topped with Nutella spread. Not that that image will be his next song, but, given his typical tune topics, it could be ... 

"I don't know about you guys," Ill shrugs, looking round the dining room table at his four band members, stopping at his organist. "Pete likes jazz."

Pete Steffy nods. Art Blakey rises from the living-room stereo. We're in Pete's house, and his roommates include Scott Dunkerley, head of local label X! Records, and Jeff Else, co-owner of Corktown Cinema, the new project from the old Burton Theatre team. 

You should know that X!'s notable releases include the Terrible Twos' self-titled debut and Fontana's first and final full-length album. Terrible Twos singer-guitarist Chris Campbell sits here too. He also drums for the Johnny Ill Band. Fontana guitarist Paul Derochie is next to him, also, now with Ill. There's a stack of cardboard boxes in the corner, housing vinyl albums for a band on Dunkerley's X! roster, perhaps the Johnny Ill Band's latest 7-inch "In the Wintertime," or new LPs of the Frustrations, Dunkerley's own "loud rock band," for which he plays drums. 

I'm inside X! headquarters one night and Dunkerley won't be home till later. I'm spending one evening with Ill's band (which includes bassist Matt Larson and, of course, Johnny on guitar-vocals). 

Four bands each share this house's basement for rehearsal space — Johnny Ill Band and the Frustrations along with jazz-punk sextet the Beekeepers and keyed-up quartet the Terrible Twos. 

(Dunkerley: "Every house I live in winds up being the practice space," for bands in the X! galaxy.)

Now, the word "punk" is the elephant in the room. That's what some might expect from the Johnny Ill Band's new LP Ask All the Doctors, (out Friday, on Urinal Cake Records), since that is, ostensibly, the company his band has kept, same for Dunkerley and Campbell, each sufficiently into the perceived "punk" "scene" here, fostered by big-brother types like Human Eye's Timmy "Vulgar" Lampinen and Heroes & Villains' Jeff Fournier. 

1 2 3 Next Page

> Email Jeff Milo

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.
comments powered by Disqus


News

News+Views

Politics & Prejudices

News Hits

Stir It Up

Higher Ground

Comics

Blogs

Music Blahg

News Blawg

Reckless Eyeballing

The B-Roll

Blowout Blog

Best of Detroit

Best of Detroit

Best of Detroit 2010

Best of Map

Music

Music Homepage

Album Reviews

Add Music Event

Search Music Events

Arts

Arts Homepage

Book Reviews

Culture

Culture Homepage

Savage Love

Motor City Cribs & Rides

Screens

Screens Homepage

Film Reviews

Idiot Boxing

Events

Calendar

Search Calendar Events

Enter Calendar Event

Food

Food Homepage

Find a Restaurant

Clubs

Find a Club

Web

MT Newsletter

MT@Facebook

MT@MySpace

MT@Flickr

MT@Twitter

MT@Youtube

Archives

Search Archives

Search Authors

Search Issues

Latest Comments

Classified

Classified Home

Place Ad

Jobs

Services

Stuff For Sale

Massage

Personals

Adult

Automotive

Cars, Trucks+More

Services

Real Estate

Real Estate

For Rent

Roommates

Contact Us

About us

Staff Directory

Advertise

National Advertising

Work Here

Metro Times Stuff

Win Free Stuff

Velvet Rope Photos

Event Photos

RSS Feed

 Full Feed

© 2012 Metro Times