School of Hard Knox
The story of local guitarist Johnny Knox, from pitfalls to Hi-Test
Johnny Knox is a dynamic performer, a guitarist with fingers that dance up and down a guitar neck in a blur or slowly strum a groove. He estimates he's played guitar on stage close to 3,000 times, but there's just now an album of his work. Why? That's a story worthy of VH1's "Behind the Music," only lacking the rise to arena-rock fame.
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The Move
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Johnny came down from Knoxville, Tenn., to visit Atlanta in 1991. A week later, he packed up his 1971 VW bus with all his possessions (a chest of drawers, a guitar and an effects pedal) and moved to town. Within days the job he'd landed dried up, the band he'd wanted to join split and he was living in the van in Little Five Points, showering at the Circle K and playing guitar on the sidewalk for change.
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Eventually he joined Stoney Brooks and Juju Root, a blues act that toured the Southeast. One night, when Stoney forgot Johnny's name, he christened him Knoxville Johnny. That got shortened to Johnny Knox and he's stuck with it ever since. He's played in other people's bands, from local rockabilly legends Blacktop Rockets to pop-rock act the Cogburns, but it was his own band that scored him a recording contract.
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The Big Break
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In 1999, Johnny and his band played a last-minute gig at a hotel south of Atlanta. A guy at the show, Michael Schulze, fawned over the group and asked how much it would cost to cut a record. Johnny's drummer quoted him what they thought would be an absurd amount — $60,000 — and Schulze answered, "Is that all?"
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Johnny and the band flew to New York City to a high-dollar studio where the Rolling Stones had recorded. It displayed equipment used by the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Aerosmith. Unfortunately, Johnny's bassist was suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. A chance encounter on the street scored a replacement: Will Lee, bassist on "The Late Show With David Letterman." That connection landed Lenny Pickett from "Saturday Night Live" on sax and Paul Shaffer on keyboard. They covered a variety of rockabilly and blues tunes with Johnny's guitar and voice in the lead.
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The Big Bust
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Before Johnny's record could hit the shelves, the FBI arrested Schulze in April 2002. Sixty thousand dollars hadn't sounded like a lot of money to Schulze because he had abundant cash from trafficking methamphetamine. According to an article from Pacific Business News, "This is a story about the economics of ice, and how law enforcement busted Schulze's scheme by having the skills to understand complex business transactions, dummy corporations and a web of bank and cash accounts all set up to mask one of Hawaii's biggest drug networks."
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Johnny returned to Atlanta without the record and in debt from spending months out of town without an income. The label, Galaxie Records, landed in the hands of Shulze's mother and attempted to sell the CD online without informing Johnny. A fan bought a copy for him. By this point, Johnny couldn't afford to buy it himself. He was sweeping floors at night to try to make ends meet.
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Even now, in 2006, the label's website, www.galaxierecords.com, reads, "At this time the Galaxie Records website is closed for maintenance. We are currently accepting distribution proposals for Johnny Knox Doin' What It Takes." There is contact info, but no other details about the CD or the label.
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The album became the fourth recording with Johnny's guitar work that wouldn't be released. Other efforts failed — masters had gone missing, replication factories went out of business. Johnny suffered a nervous breakdown and quit music.
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Trying again
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In 2002 Johnny visited Ya-Yas, a now-defunct Cajun restaurant in Decatur. Johnny talked the owner, Dave Lester, into hosting a jam night and soon local musicians flocked to the place — Scott Rogers of the Penetrators, Stuart Sanders of Tore Up, John McLean from the Bluejays, members of the League of Decency and Rocket 350, just to name a few. The regular Thursday night gig became "Rockabilly Mania." Johnny remembers a show when Lester let a biker pull his motorcycle inside the bar to burn rubber. The smoke summoned the fire department.
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The easy atmosphere made music fun for Johnny again. He was joined by bassist Neal Wilson and Michael "M2" Tew, a guy who could play sax, guitar and drums. "That's kind of where Hi-Test started," he says.
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He decided to return to the studio with this new band. This time he went to local studio Bakos Amp Works, "home of the Ponce de Leon sound." Owner and engineer Jeff Bakos has recorded both locals and such national acts as Jason and the Scorchers. The studio uses gear abandoned in Bakos' repair shop, everything from 1940s microphones to 24-track boards.
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On May 10, 2003, midway through the recording, Johnny was driving his '63 Ford when he was in an accident that resulted in the death of his passenger and good friend, Scott Rogers. Five months later, Knox was arrested for vehicular homicide. The Rogers family publicly stated charges shouldn't be filed against Johnny, and local musicians organized several benefits to help with his legal bills. Unsure if charges would be filed, recovering from injuries and suffering from survivor's guilt, Johnny didn't go back to the studio.
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It took another year before he started fiddling with the album again. After a Spinal Tap-like series of drummers, Johnny ended up with Sean O'Rourke, drummer for Col. Bruce Hampton and Francine Reed. O'Rourke completed the Hi-Test lineup. Johnny then suffered a months-long bout of laryngitis, perhaps a symptom of stress from the breakup of his marriage.
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It took a year-and-a-half, but eventually the CD was finished, but with one final snafu. The replicating factory folded the covers incorrectly, stalling production again.
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Looking Ahead
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Johnny finally triumphed: He had 1,000 copies of Renegade Rhythm in his possession. The final product is surprisingly clean and tight despite the Frankenstein-ian effort of multiple musicians and sessions that stretched over time. Renegade Rhythm showcases straight-up rockabilly tunes, some with a light pop sheen and others with a garage edge. Johnny's fantastic guitar work packs all the tracks, from the band's originals to the few covers thrown in.
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"It's a great record and I think it can stand up to any $60,000 recording, even though it only cost a tenth of that," says Johnny. These days, he focuses on the future. He's trying to get the CD into local record stores. He might make the first Johnny Knox and Hi-Test sticker or T-shirt. Plus, the band already has enough tunes for another record.
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"But there's not gonna be any serious tour," says Johnny. "The guys in the band have mortgages, wives, kids. ... It's not about the money, it's about the music. And it's something else to check off the list. I had a pompadour for years — checked that off, so I got a mohawk. Played with Blacktop Rockets — check. Did the Elvis thing at Northside Tavern for four years — check."
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Finally releasing an album — check.