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Hi there! I've been called many things over the course of my musical career. Squidfishous (punkrawklegend),Johnny Downsolow, Bad Ass Larva, Van'Ashke ,Dj Flashback and Juicy Booty just to name a few. Underneath it all though I've always been Johnny Fisher who loves to Rawk!A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away I joined my first band in 1983. We were called "the Asthmatics". We likely sounded better weezing than we did with our instruments but everybody has to start somewhere.
A few months later I was invited to try out for one of Newfoundlands first authentic HardCore punk rock bands "Tough Justice". Interesting side note-Myself and Bob Hallet who later went on to fame in Great Big Sea tried out and I got the gig! Johnny Fisher AKA SquidFishous(PunkRawkLegend) was born.Tough Justice continued to make a name for itself while pioneering a punk rock foundation for many great Newfoundland bands that continue to crank out loud music today.In the early to mid 80's Punk was still a very dirty word in St.John's and trying to present what we did outside of our own circles in places like the Cornerstone Dance Bar or playing just before Jane Sibery at one of the early Peace Festivals was at times just a little intense. Eventually by the mid 90's Tough Justice became a memory but dont be suprised if you hear about a suprise reunion someday...they used to happen regularly and we'll do our best to bring you a 25th aniversary show!Special thanks to RobertRotten for hookin me up with the Tough Justice mp3's. I think its awsome that someone who might not have been born yet when those songs were recorded was the person to help me out. Cheers to you man!Durring one of T.J's many breaks bandmate Rod Locke joined me for what was intended to be a solo release but eventually became the band Fish & Rod in 88/89. We recruited Don Ellis and Rod Wills from the other local hero's Schizoid and recorded an EP called Here's Da Bait.We were PopPunk or Emo before the terminoligy existed and it garnered our first taste of national exposure.Unfortunately as soon as the party began it was over. Fish&Rod had 4 talented members who each had thier own opinion as to what should come next for the band and they decided to split before it got serrious.In the early 90's the sounds began to change and suddenly I found myself now emerced in a scene that had great promiss.Bands like Hardship Post,Bung,The Liz Band and Potbelly were breaking new ground and there was this feeling of excitement that was very contagious.I wanted to be part of that excitement too so I formed the band Darshiva.Darshiva at that time was a breath of fresh air to me.We wrote several songs in a short period of time and saw the potential in what we were doing.For the first time we understood the need to promote ourselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it.With the little resources we had we gig'd as often as we could and saved enough pennies to record.We recorded everything we had live off the floor one weekend and determined that this would indeed be worth investing in.So we hired our good buddy Don Ellis to come and give us the cadellac treatment.The only problem with the Cadellac treatment is how much it costs.We never had enough pennies saved and the bulk of a full album sat half finished.The evil of money clouded our view and took the fun out of the project.Darshiva never recovered and disbanded.(Thankfully Don allowed us some free time and we got to do a few songs almost to completion.!)
After Darshiva's untimely demise ,myself and Nat were in utter shock for a couple of hrs trying to figure out what went wrong but before we could even think about what could come next...next came calling in the forms of Hub and Tony Tucker.One door closed and another door opened revealing a new band... Potmaster.The first jams we had were awesome.The frustration we had experienced now was fuel to the fires of our creativity.The first few songs that we wrote were so intense.Looking back ,its a shame most of those songs never saw the light of day beyond a couple of early shows.One of those early songs Nitpicker did end up on a compilation cassette called Danger Falling Rock.After the first few shows it became clearly evident how much we enjoyed performing live.The term "shoegazer" was not part of our vocabulary.Sure ,there were a few times that we might have sounded better if we had planted ourselves firmly in one position but that wouldnt have been half as fun.And fun we had.We went to Halifax and Sydney a couple of times.We even played in North Sydney(Cape Breton-we love you)..We did an ECMA showcase, shot a tv pilot with the CBC for an afternoon teen talkshow - we would have been the house band(Good paying work if you can get it), and after the release of our CD Freak Me Out To The Deluxe on Best Dressed Records were delighted to see that we had charted on several North American college radiostations going as high as ..1 in such notable cities as Montreal and Chicago.EMI even came calling but lets just say that when it appeared they were more interested in our appearance than our music it was a very short call.Unfortunately though, Potmaster suffered from Spinal Tap Syndrome.After Tony Tucker left the band we went through three more drummers in as many yrs.This inevidably stunted our growth and by 97 the momentum that we had previously been blessed with was now gone and Natalie chose to persue other options.The 3 remaining Potmasters, myself,Geoff,and John Angelopoulos recruited Steve Crewe and became Jupiter Landing for a short period of time before disbanding alltogether in 98.Other bands that I've played in include Draize Eyetest,Ditch,SunGodRa, and Malpractice. I also played on sHEAVY'S song Stardust.I wanna thank all the musicians I've played with through the yrs and all of you folks who cheered us on for allowing me the opertunity to do what I loved to do. Yes, it is true that I've been in semi exile from the local music community for 6 or 7 yrs now but don't you think its over just yet.
NOTICE One slightly overcooked guitar playing punk rawk fish is looking for a new gig.
My last bit of advice to anyone who took the time to read this is ....Don't believe everything you read but dont dismiss it all either because some of it...if not all of it is absoloutely true.
--Important note-- Don't forget to check the comments under the tunes for a little background. Also check out some of the photo's I've found.Maybe you can leave a comment?
I am 74% Punk Rock.
.. The intelligent punk. Tuff and Smart. I may be able to maintain a train of thought long enough... What the fuck was I talking about? Take the
Punk Rock Test
@ FualiDotCom I am 53% Emo.
.. Well.. I've made the cut! Now I'll go buy some promise rings and knit myself a sweater. Take the
Emo Test
@ FualiDotCom I am 53% Grunge.
.. I am pretty dirty, all right and, I reek of teen spirit... I would sell my own children for a moldy hotpocket, man. Take the
Grunge Test
@ FualiDotCom I am 34% Metal Head.
.. Most other metal-heads acknowledge my presence, but they laugh at me behind my back. Maybe I need to stop spending all that money on haircuts and invest in a few Pantera T-shirts. Take the
Metal Head Test
@ FualiDotCom I am 22% Metrosexual.
.. I need some advice. I need to STOP BUYING MY CLOTHS AT WAL-MART!!!! I will never land a decent woman unless I shave this nasty facial hair, and spend more then $5 on a haircut. Take the
Metrosexual Test
@ FualiDotCom
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