The Genius of John Davis

Note: This post is in two parts. The first is a personal recollection from 1997. The second is a brief and incomplete breakdown of John’s musical output starting with Superdrag.

November 1997. Parking lot of the Murat Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, Indiana. Late afternoon, several hours before the show: Green Day supporting their Nimrod album with Superdrag in support.

After twenty-seven years, I don’t know why the Carie brothers (Jeremy and Justin) and I went to Indy so early and hung out in the parking lot. Knowing my seventeen-year-old self, I’m guessing I planned to try and exaggerate my being acquainted with Mass Giorgini in order to meet Green Day. Ironically, we did briefly meet Billie Joe, but I didn’t have to lie (more on that later).

As providence would have it, only a few minutes after we arrived, Brandon Fisher and Tom Pappas walked out the backdoor and approached us, asking if we knew where there was a Wendy’s nearby. We told them we did, that we still needed to eat ourselves and asked if they wanted to ride with us and they accepted. We drove a few minutes, got some sacks to go, drove them back and they went back inside. I don’t remember how the conversation went, but at some point, they came back outside, I believe it was Brandon, and gave us guest passes (the orange paper town on the bottom left of the note) that allowed us to scalp our tickets. After we got inside, we went to the merch booth and John Davis was there. We bought some badass orange Superdrag shirts and talked to him. He wrote me that note (even though the other Jeremy drove, I guess it still worked out!) and thanked us. I think he said something about “see you after the show” because I know we stuck around after for a reason.

We made our way to the front of the room and started talking to a couple of cute girls (I don’t remember their names, but I did hang out with them later on and stayed in touch for awhile). After a couple songs, John pointed to us and said something like, “These guys are fucking awesome! They took my boys to Wendy’s a bit ago. This one’s for you fuckers.” Needless to say, my stock went up with the aforementioned ladies.

During Green Day’s set, Billie Joe said something about Mass, but I knew he wasn’t there. I don’t remember how I knew, but I knew he was working on a Screeching Weasel record (although November would have been in-between the recording of Major Label Debut and Television City Dream according to Wikipedia). After the show, Billie Joe came out to sign autographs, and this being before cell phones and the current state of the internet, I told him about Mass, he thanked me and we had a very quick, but polite chat. Not sure why I didn’t get an autograph (before cell phones remember? No selfies), but possibly because Superdrag was outside and headed to their bus.

We weren’t on their bus for very long. It was full of kids hanging out but, in spite of my willingness to defy curfew, the Carie brothers either wanted, or needed, to go home. So, we left.

However, the memory I have of John from those few moments on their tour bus is permanently seared into my mind, as clear as if it happened five minutes ago. He was sitting at the booth in the front of the coach, near empty bottle of Maker’s Mark in front of him, his head in his hands like that famous photo of Aliester Crowley, just completely fucked up. And he was looking right at me.

It’s not a flattering image, but I hope he knows I don’t say that to slight him in anyway. Sometimes we need an image of where we’ve been to smile about where we are now. His story, and the keepsake I have from that night, has reminded me often over the last twenty-seven years that we don’t have to stay how we are. Redemption is real. Sobriety is good. God is great. I hope we get to meet again in this life and I get to have another image of him to overshadow the old one. If not, I know we’ll meet again on the other side.

A Brief Overview of His Music: Superdrag, The Lees of Memory, Solo, Sideman

There are different flavors of John Davis, but no matter what you listen to, it always sounds like John Davis. I can’t think of a higher compliment to pay him. Much like you always know Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, or David Bowie when you hear them, you know it’s John. In popular music, you can’t really invent the wheel, but you can be you. John and Superdrag have always put that first.

The Fabulous 8-Track Sounds of Superdrag is a bit rough around the edges for sure. Recorded on the cheap in Knoxville in October of 1995, all the ingredients are there. The songwriting, the melodies, the dynamics.

Regretfully Yours - The other image I have of John is him lighting a cigarette with a lit piece of currency at the end of the video for “Sucked Out”, their only song to make any significant dent on the Billboard charts. It reached #17 on the Modern Rock chart and, sadly, the album peaked at #158. Everything on this album is great, but, perhaps, a bit ahead of its time in 1996. “Sucked Out” is a good song, but personally, it sits under “Phaser” and “N.A. Kicker” which I ripped off in my high school band Dodge Ball (along with a Weezer song) to write a tune called “Manifest Destiny”.

Head Trip in Every Key - This could have been called Won’t Bend the Knee. The boys knew they’d had modest success with the last album and they’d never get this budget to make a record ever again. Instead of trying to be the band Elektra would have had them be, they decided to see how great Superdrag could be. With the legendary Jerry Finn producing, they went into multiple studios, including Sound City, to produce a masterpiece. A masterpiece that had its marketing budget at practically nothing. A record, that if I hadn’t been a huge Superdrag fan, I might not have known even came out. I’ve listened to this record so many times, I can’t even begin to guess a number. If all they’d done was “I’m Expanding My Mind”, the album would still be brilliant. Hard rockers, orchestras, the whole range. John himself played guitars, piano, organ, mellotron, thermin and sitar.

Stereo “360 Sounds” - While released in 1998, after Head Trip, this was their debut album and features many tracks that later were recorded for Regretfully.

In the Valley of Dying Stars - A lot of people think this is their best album. Certainly possible. If you listen to all these albums, you’ll notice that they all kick off with a banger and this one is no exception. “Keep it Close to Me” is more than enough to justify the price of the album, but it’s just the beginning. There’s often darkness in Superdrag’s music, but this one is definitely at the darker end for me. It’s not that it’s depressing, but there’s a certain tone to it that gives away the circumstances I think John was starting to find himself in.

Last Call for Vitriol - Now, this is probably my favorite Superdrag album (competing with Head Trip). “I Can’t Wait”, “So Insincere”, “Feeling Like I Do”… so many great songs, but “The Staggering Genius” is the one I always go back to. Perhaps due to my own shortcomings and struggle with the bottle. I love this song so much, that in the middle of writing this, I had to turn it up on the studio monitors, get the guitar out and play along before I could go on writing.

Industry Giants - So much energy in this one. Melodies, distortion, brilliant lyrics. It seems like a criticism to say they never change, but man, I’m grateful they don’t change. Yes, to be fair, there’s growth in the songwriting for sure, but so long as those cooks are in the kitchen, you’re gonna get a great meal.

Sisyphus Says, Moon Shot and Unnecessary Evil all albums by The Lees of Memory are all fantastic. A little less dynamic and the breadth of material isn’t the same as Superdrag, but I definitely suggest checking them out. Unnecessary Evil is definitely my favorite of the three, but you can’t go wrong. I don’t mean to short change these records, but I’m really working towards Jinx, John’s new solo album.

John’s first three solo albums, John Davis, Arigato! and My Hope is Found in a God Who Can Raise Up the Dead are all spectacular as well. As you might have guessed from the title of the last one, these records are dominated by faith based tunes. For some of you, it might turn you off, it shouldn’t. The self-titled record in particular is loaded with Beatles-esque harmonies and killer choruses. Give them a listen, believer or not. Great music is great music and, there’s nothing in popular American music that doesn’t owe a debt to spirituals and hymns.

I haven’t been able to do a deep dive on the lyrics of Jinx yet, it just came out yesterday, but it was supposed to be a Superdrag album that became a John Davis record. On the first few listens, it’s not a “Christian” record by radio/Billboard standards, but it’s still going to be a Christian record because it was made by one. Maybe I’m biased, because this is my viewpoint with my own music, but I think the world needs those too.

Because of the aforementioned points, this feels like a very mature Superdrag record. All the important elements are still there, but it’s been filtered through the experiences of The Lees of Memory and the solo records that came before and that makes it something altogether unique and wonderful.

If you’re still reading, you’ve been here for a minute. I thank you. If this wasn’t already so long, I would have done deeper dives on all the records, but to tell the personal story and then to go through thirty years of work by a musical genius, it’s a lot for one dude for one day. Go dial up these records and turn them up loud.

You can thank me later.