The Post-Rockist

Fine by Me
Johnny Headband
Happiness is Underrated

In Detroit, Johnny Headband are becoming known for their quirky and exciting live shows. Free from too-cool-for-you rock posturing and posing, JHB allow themselves to let go and be silly with choreographed dance moves, fist-pumping crowd provocations, and general all-around frivolity. Brothers Chad and Keith Thompson–the core members of the band–are relatively unknown outside the borders of the Motor City, but they’re surely going to break loose nationally soon; or if not, they’ll go to England sooner or later and the British will “eat ‘em up, eat ‘em up, eat ‘em up” like they did the White Stripes, giving them the cred they need to break loose all over the homeland.

But their on-stage antics belie the songs themselves. Their new album, Happiness is Underrated, certainly features what Keith N. Dusenberry of the Real Detroit Weekly calls their “hyper-modern Prince-infused bedroom electro and ‘80s/‘90s basement four-track experiments a la early Ween with a touch of Wesley Willis’ earnest energy all at the same time” sound (whew!). But the advantage of listening to an album, alone and unencumbered by the excitement of a spectacularly fun live show, is the ability to see through the visual to understand the songs for what they really are: a catalog of dejected lover’s complaints and defenses against the pain of human relationships. (Oh yes, I can just hear you Post-Rockist readers out there sighing “Oh, he’s going to write another one of those, is he?” Well, kinda.)

“Tell Me” begins with a rollicking Franz Ferdinand-ish guitar riff and drills it’s anthemic chorus into your head (or headband) for days. But its complaint is a pained ex-lover’s predicament that she has moved on while he cannot quite yet: “Always on the lookout for something better / when that’s good and gone you have a backup plan…/…I’m working on myself while you’re looking for romance.” “On Top” works through thoughts of suicide and loneliness. “Functionslust” begins with the words, “’Why?’ is the question.” “Take a Number” uses rejection as protection: “Darling please take a number / need you as a friend I don’t want you as a lover.” Yeah right. “Better Safe Than Lonely”—the title speaks for itself.

“Fine by Me” (my favorite track on the album) features an eerie, almost Muppets-esque vamp that would work well as the background music to the opening credits of any Tim Burton film. The song’s call-and-answer chorus is infused with the back-and-forth of indecision and denial: “It’s fine by me if you don’t give me one more chance ‘cause I don’t really care. / Oh! / But baby please would you just give me one more dance ‘cause I still really care. / Oh!” The song ends, of course, with the answer to the chorus, a definitive and exhausted “No.”

Okay, I’m not a psychoanalyst or anything. I’m a music enthusiast. I’m a man who believes in songs and what they express. I’m a believer in artists’ attempts at putting themselves out there musically and being taken seriously. I’m just a believer, dammit, and I believe in Johnny Headband. I hope I haven’t ruined anyone’s Johnny Headband party, but the album is called Happiness is Underrated and only the unhappy can truly know that, right?

Anyway, get the album, see their shows, watch them explode.

–Posted by Scotter