Big Sugar's Gordie Johnson

Musician Forms Punk Rock Metal Band Grady in Austin Texas

Mr. Gordie Johnson is the former front man of the hugely successful Canadian band Big Sugar famous for its orchestra of unlikely collaborators making the sounds of rock and roll, blues, funk, pop, honkey tonk, country and reggae. After a 13-year run, Big Sugar broke up. Johnson headed south to return to his punk rock metal roots and formed the band Grady. Grady's first record Y.U. So Shady? was made in the studio in a day or two. Their second record, A Cup of Cold Poison, shows how the sound of the band had developed –stronger, louder and faster.

It’s better when people don’t have some preconceived notion of what a record should sound like. To go from depending on a brand name and a repertoire to something new tests your metal.

If you take away the creature comforts of rock and roll away, you’re left with a hot sweaty night,and changing in the back alley as you’re loading your own vehicle. I wasn’t afraid of that. I thought, ‘If that’s all that’s standing between me and rock and roll, it doesn’t seem like an obstacle.’

Big Sugar from Newfoundland to Alberta

I played in Italian wedding halls- polkas, waltzes, traditional Italian music and disco- until 3 a.m. I grew up in a blue collar factory town south of Windsor, Ontario. Eventually I moved my way west. We still have a farm in Alberta. The Big Sugar song All Hell For A Basementis about the first wave of Newfoundlanders coming to Alberta to work in Fort McMurray.

When Big Sugar played there it was a quintessential Canadian story – in this expansive country, we are raised in one place and find a job or go to university 2,000 miles away. The song was about finding hope and starting over again in a new place.

There was a decade during which you turned on the TV or radio, most of what you saw and heard was Canadian. Big Sugar played at all the colleges and universities and toured across Canada. Then music labels became more interested in American music. It’s always been validating to have success in America, but it shouldn’t be the only thing.

Once Big Sugar played the national anthem rather than our single on a TV show and they made fun of us , the record label stopped talking to us, and yet people requested it at every show -eventually we couldn’t do a gig without playing it. The label didn’t want to put it on our record in case we would offend Quebec.

Collaborating with Willie Nelson

The collaboration with Big Ben Richardson and Chris Leyton, roots music, Americana, honkey tonk, traditional blues, country and an underground metal scene has been totally unique and has influenced what we listen to as well. Our favorite band is The Sword, a local metal band that’s done quite well nationally.

I’ve also been doing a lot of producing. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Government Mule, Taj Mahal, The Meters, Joel Plaskett Emergency...it feels good to support other artists. We recently worked with Willie Nelson. For someone who’s been so influential, he’s very unassuming and so generous with his time. He takes the role of mentor seriously.

He’s said, “Oh, you guys are shooting a video? Here, use my ranch,” or “You’re making a record? Use my studio,” or “You want me to tell a joke on your record? Sure, I’ll do that.” You don’t have to ask him twice.

Walking away from a successful band and an established brand name to start from scratch has been a cathartic process. It’s romantic to go back to being a punk rocker, loading your own gear, tuning your one guitar and being on a five-band bill in some little dive…but the reality is tough.

When you’re used to having a tour bus, a tour manager, a personal assistant and a guitar check, it’s humbling. Of course, my mother doesn’t call me ‘Grady,’ she calls me ‘Gordie,’ so that keeps it honest. If I’m out I start to transform into Grad, but here you can call me Gordie.