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INTERVIEW: Daniel Johnston
It's late morning in Texas and tipping down with raining as Daniel Johnston's sister Marjorie sends a helper next door to try to find her brother.
A long pause ensues before the singer-songwriter makes it to the phone, thankfully sounding unfazed by his encounter with the elements.
"Hi," he says in a boyish voice familiar to anyone who's heard one of the 17 or so albums that have made the 48-year-old one of American music's modern-day cult heroes.
Next month Johnston is due to jet over to Europe to promote his latest – and arguably most polished – CD, Is and Always Is. The trip will include two dates at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and he's looking forward to it. "We're going to have a blast, doing some rock'n'roll – that's what I like," he declares.
Sadly the album's producer, Jason Falkner, formerly of the power pop band Jellyfish, won't be accompanying Johnston, but he's promising a lively show. "We've got musicians from every town, from different parts of the United States."
Johnston is, after all, particularly proud of this album. It seems the tie-up with Jason Falkner was his brother's idea. "He's my assistant manager to my dad," Johnston explains. "He's always making deals and stuff."
"It went pretty well," he reflects. "It did not really take too long. I had a whole lot of songs. I'm happy with it a lot."
Luckily it seems there was no shortage of material for Is and Always Is. Ever since Johnston recorded an album of electric songs with Mark Linkous and his band Sparklehorse in 2003, he'd been itching to make a follow-up. "Now Sparklehorse broke up we did not get a chance," he says. "I just recorded them this time."
It seems Johnston bonded with Falkner through their shared love of English pop, and in particular the Fab Four. "It's evident, isn't it?" he says cheerfully. "Sometimes it sounds like the Beatles are there. I love the Beatles."
Though Johnston has been making music for the best part of 30 years, it's a career that he says he fell into accidentally. Originally he'd wanted to be an artist.
"I remember in elementary school I would think when we went to church how everybody had a family, and all those old men at the church worked at the pottery or at the mill; I gotta do something! I want to be famous so I won't have to have a job like that," he laughs. "That's when I started dreaming about being a cartoonist and doing comic books. I still draw a lot today."
Indeed Johnston's cartoons and line drawings are much in demand. In 2006 his work was featured in the Whitney Music of American Art biennial and earlier this year he published his first table-top art book.
Coincidentally it was Kurt Cobain's wearing of a T-shirt bearing Daniel Johnston's 'Hi, how are you?' frog cartoon that first brought the West Virginia-born tunesmith to prominence in the early 1990s. At the time Johnston was resident in a psychiatric hospital, being treated for bi-polar disorder. "I never got to meet Kurt; I guess I'm not going to be able to now," he says somewhat ruefully. "I love his music.
"He would say things about me a few times," he recalls. "He wore my T-shirt to some music awards – that was swell."
Cobain's endorsement also prompted others such as Beck, Sonic Youth and Tom Waits to explore Johnston's distinctively lo-fi oeuvre. Others joining them on a 2004 tribute album included Teenage Fanclub, Eels and Death Cab for Cutie.
Johnston occasionally bumps into some of his famous fans. "I see them around," he says. "Other than that we usually go somewhere with nobody we know, overseas and stuff."
There's interest from film-makers too. Following the success of a 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a full-length biopic is in the works. "It's pretty cool," says Johnston. "They all came over a few times already to talk about the movie...They took me around and got me to introduce them to my friends."
Rather than dwelling heavily on the singer's past battles with manic depression, the film, which is to star up-and-coming actor Gabriel Sunday (Year One, Taking Woodstock), will be lighthearted. "It's going to be a pretty funny comedy," Johnston explains. "I think they are trying to make fun a bit, have a sense of humour."
The movie is expected to be released next year; in the meantime technically savvy fans can try their hands at an iPhone game, featuring Johnston's art characters and music.
Johnston says he had no direct involvement in the game, but seems to enjoy the attention these commerical tie-ups bring him. "That keeps happening," he says. "I even had some shoes with 'Hi, how are you?' (on them], then there was this Mexican restaurant, they were wearing uniforms with 'Hi, how are you?' shirts. I never know what's going to happen next."
Daniel Johnston plays at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds on November 6 and 7. Support comes from Laura Marling. The first night has sold out but tickets are available for the second night from Jumbo and Crash Records.
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