JOHNNY TRUNK
March 26th, 2004 by susanna
Pete and Johnny Trunk talk folk back in 2004…
It’s the new sex’n'rock’n'roll didn’t you know. Folk music – simple, stripped down, acoustic song-based music – is everywhere these days, enjoying the curiosity of a new generation. Pete Lawrence recently caught up with the rather saucy folk reinventor Johnny Trunk to discuss folk and the notion of ‘Englishness’…
Where were you born? Are you English?
‘Born London. Yes, English.’
Can you give a paragraph or so of potted history of Jonny Trunk…
‘Left shit job to pursue love of sound. Started making beautiful, strange and occasionally rude records.’
What was the first folk music you remember liking? What appealed?
‘Probably from the TV as a child, like the music from ‘Fingermouse / Play School’, shows like that. I didn’t know it was folk at the time, but it was simple, melodic and appealing and you could always sing along. Throughout my early teens I hated such music. Then I saw ‘The Wicker Man’, which has superb British folk music made by a gay American, which changed everything for me.’
What for you is the essence of English folk?
‘English people singing brutal songs about love, life, death, sex and items of food in a simple, melodic style.’
What do you think of English ceremony and custom?
‘There’s not a lot of it about anymore, which is dreadful. Many traditions have been lost or at least have disappeared from the mainstream. If you think about it, much of the ceremony and custom was based on events we all depended on so very much – the beginning of Spring, the celebration of harvest etc etc. These days we have what we all want when we want whatever the season, so those celebrations are lost. But when you look for and find traditional events going on in this country they really are wonderful and often quite moving, but you have to go out of your way to find them.’
Are you happy to be English?
‘Yes thanks.’
Have you been to a ceilidh? If so, did you enjoy it?
‘Yes. A friend’s wedding was just such an occasion. It was the perfect and most enjoyable way to get to know everyone very fast. And I made a fool out of myself.’
What made you want to start a club playing trad English folk music?
‘Nobody else seemed to be doing it and we all loved the music. It also gave us an opportunity to get the shove ha’penny board out in public.’
Which way now for English folk culture?
‘Put it this way: I stumbled across a traditional village May Day Fayre this last year and the dancing was not around a maypole, no, it was the local line dancing troop in cowboy boots strutting to Shania Twain. Lord help us all.’
Which artists from the past do you most admire? Which artists are making worthwhile music these days?
‘The folk list seems to be growing as I find more obscure people who made superb but unsuccessful music in the 60s. And you can’t beat the greats like the Collins sisters, Anne Briggs or even Liz Dyer and Dave Goulder. I love the way they could turn something so harshly traditional into something so beautiful. And to me that music just improves with age. As for artists making worthwhile music these days, there are a large and talented handful creating a very interesting folky-based scene all of their own. I’ll tell you in twenty years if it’s really worthwhile.’
