Johnny Health (nee Famiglietti) was recently on Joel Madden's (Good Charlotte) Artist Friendly podcast. The singer shared tales of working at a San Diego Blockbuster, as well as some of his first bands and shows. Originally moving to Los Angeles to work in television, Johnny didn't originally see health making it past a 7" release.
Famiglietti recalled:
"...I had a band in high school, that was not very serious...We played battle of the bands at lunch and then I left school and I went to...I moved to LA Immediately...I went to this fly by night film school."
The singer continued,
"I didn't go to college, so working in television, I was like 19 (and 20), and I was like this "this is busting my ass." And I'm like I could see guy that are like 10 years older than me and they're pretty bitter, and I'm like, "This could easily be me".
The frontman went on to talk about how this bitterness transitioned to him wanting to starting the band, although as a temporary solution:
"I thought something I do for a really short time...I was always looking at Jim Jarmusch (filmmaker, Coffee and Cigarettes), Like he had this post-punk band Del-Byzanteens, and he became Jim Jarmusch. So I'm like "Oh, I'll just have a cool band, be apart of the scene, and put out a 7 inch and going on tour. That was my dream."
Later gaining success, be didn't wanted to give up, Blockbuster paycheck be damned:
"The show that changed my life was... it was right next to my house, it was the teen center. The epicenter of San Diego, it was the teen center. It was "Oops - The Tour", The Locust, Airborne Radar, Lightning Bolt, The Blood Brothers and Harkonenn on one bill, for like eight bucks... and this is how old I am; at the time I was working at the time at Blockbuster video, and I had been scheduled to do this overnight thing."
You have to scan every piece; so you work from like midnight to 6am, just scanning the things its the worst gig ever...
I went to the show and I was just in the pit covered in sweat and it was the most life-changing show in the world. And before that I was like I love music but I'm not gonna make a band, there's no money in music, I'd be stupid to... After that show I'm like, "I'm making a band like as soon as I can".
It's stories like these similar to mine, to where your world changes, (for example I was just at a Horse the Band set in Maryland last year. That made me really want to start taking my band seriously."
Check out the full podcast below:
HEALTH will tour with Carpenter Brut this spring with the following dates announced:
03/31 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
04/03 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
04/04 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
04/05 Seattle, WA @ Showbox Sodo
04/07 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union Event Center
04/08 Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
04/10 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
04/11 Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
04/12 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
04/14 Toronto, ON @ History
04/15 Montreal, QC @ MTelus
04/17 Boston, MA @ House of Blues (Boston)
04/18 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
04/19 Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
04/20 Washington D.C. @ 9.30 Club
04/22 Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl (Nashville)
04/24 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
04/29 Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
05/01 Los Angelas, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
05/04 Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory
05/05 Austin, TX @ EMO'S
Health will also be at DAMNATION Festival in Manchester, UK on November 7th & 8th.
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