There’s probably a point in all of our lives where we’ve exclaimed some variation of the phase: “Oh shit, John is here.” We’re doing that today (April 25) with a swirling excitement as JOHN, the Google-headache of a London punk duo, unleash a hypnotically thrashy new tune called “Trauma Mosaic.” It hits via Brace Yourself and Pets Care Records; was recorded by Tom Hill at The Bookhouse in South London; was mixed by Seth Manchester (METZ, Big Brave, Battles); and was mastered by Frank Arkwright (Arab Strap, Squarepusher, Autechre). We drop all that in this feature because it seems appropriate to raise a glass to the team here, and the roads of all working reference points seem to lead to Rome.
“There’s a deliberate, claustrophobic repetition to the earlier stages of the song/video, which mirrors he very human tendency to obsess in cycles of thought — it’s certainly something we both struggle with as individuals,” says JOHN drummer and vocalist John Newton. “If you take the title more literally, we all contain a patchwork of images sewn together from the past, and these memories are used as a map of survival within our present. These primal instincts seem overloaded nowadays, and we become open to be haunted by even the slightest reflection.”
Get lost inside this beautiful chaos below, and see if JOHN crashes your American town this autumn.
JOHN 2023 North American Dates:
October 03: Phoenix, AZ — Linger Longer Lounge
October 04: Los Angeles, CA — The Echo
October 05: Santa Ana, CA — Constellation Room
October 07: San Francisco, CA — Brick and Mortar
October 10: Seattle, WA — Sunset Tavern
October 11: Portland, OR — Mission Theater
October 13: Salt Lake City, UT — The DLC
October 14: Denver, CO — Skylark Lounge
October 17: St. Louis, MO — Off Broadway
October 18: Chicago, IL — Schubas
October 20: Toronto, ON — The Baby G
October 21: Columbus, OH — The Basement
October 24: Philadelphia, PA — Kung Fu Necktie
October 25: Washington, DC — DC9
October 26: Brooklyn, NY — St. Vitus