Chart Magazine — December 8, 2006
I've been on all sorts of interviews, but this was the first one that involved flowers, a limousine and a dinner.
If that's not enough to prove that singer/songwriter Johnny Broadway is bringing the romance back to Winnipeg, then perhaps his collection of equally romantic songs will be enough to convince you.
Discoverers, his endearing debut, is much more than meets the ear. The album listens like a loose narrative about a relationship, but it's not quite what you have in mind.
"It's actually more about how to detach myself from a place I'd been for 18 years and reattach myself to a new place," Broadway says. "That's more the undercurrent. It's still a relationship, but it's a different kind of relationship."
Broadway is referring to his long-term relationship with the 'Peg. The Windsor native packed up his guitar, quit his scrappy punk outfit and made the move to Winnipeg as a starry-eyed 18 year old.
Why Winnipeg you ask? For a girl, of course.
"Yes, I moved here for a girl," Broadway laughs. "I was the lead guitarist in our concert band in high school. It was terrible. We had about 16 drummers because kids just like to hit shit. So we thought we'd organize a trip to show this off to the world."
The band, complete with a healthy triangle section, headed off to Minneapolis. It was there where Broadway met his dream girl — a private school rebel with a punk rock haircut from Winnipeg.
Perhaps taking The Beatles' advice a little too close to heart, "love is all you need" was definitely a mantra for the singer, now 25. With no money and in a new city, Broadway was determined to make it work even as the relationship ended after two years.
"I would have quit making music if I hadn't moved here," Broadway says. "I would have been in Windsor, still writing 'I still hate you, mom' songs."
For a date, we spend a lot of time talking about ex-girlfriends. But relationships have long provided themselves as a perfect muse for those who have a romantic's way with words. Sometimes, however, it's a bit less calculated than that.
"Sometimes I just wake up with a song," Broadway says. "I don't know where they come from, and I have a hard time taking credit for something that's just sort of there. I just try to sound appreciative."
Lyrics like "I'm a puppy for your loveliness" are in sharp contrast to his angst-fuelled punk days in Windsor. Going solo allowed Broadway's lyrical ability to come to the fore. Discoverers is certainly pared-down and lo-fi, but it's all his.
"When I was in a band, I wasn't a songwriter," Broadway says. "It was never mine. I never felt that ownership you feel when it's your own. The album is definitely on the raw side of things. It's not very James Blunt-y."
But the dude is still, well, a dude. There was a time when the motive for picking up a guitar was far less poetic.
"Eventually it was about the girls," Broadway laughs. "No kid can deny that. Girls are screaming because you're on stage. That's awesome. We had a few brassieres flung at us in the punk days."
Johnny Broadway's CD release party is Sunday at the Academy Bar & Eatery.
—Jen Zoratti