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Neon Blonde.
 "Don't think me modest or bigheaded," states Johnny Whitney. "But let's face it, you could say I've got a pretty distinctive voice..."
Honestly, I had to stifle a laugh at this. I mean, talk about the understatement of the century. But while Whitney's trademark screaming, whining falsetto has been delighting the ears of Blood Brothers' fans for years, deep down he seems to have always wished to create something a little different. Now he's finally taken the chance to branch out a little with Neon Blonde: part Blood Brothers, part eclectic indie rock band, part crazy eighties synthesiser dance machine.
"Yeah, I think the voice is where the similarities stop though," supposes Whitney. "A lot of people seem to come across Neon Blonde because of the vocals but I like to think that what we're doing with this [band] is a lot different than Blood Brothers - even though it does have me and Mark [Gajadhar, drums]. While we were on tour I was listening to a lot of old eighties dance music and I just love that stuff, so I decided I wanted to make something that made me feel the same way," he recalls, then pauses for a moment to make sure he picks the exact word he's looking for. "Something that made me feel joyous."
Feelings aside, Neon Blonde gave Whitney a vehicle to take some real ownership of a band. "This time I had a lot more creative control and got to take a little more ownership of songs. Normally when I write with the guys from Blood Brothers we have to get through all these other people's opinions before anything's taken on board. Suddenly I had complete control over everything and how it sounded. It was great!"
The result is eleven incredible tracks, unlike anything you've heard before. While Blood Brothers manages to somehow stick to a more accepted sound (and even then, they're toeing the line), Neon Blonde goes much further. With so many layers, instruments, sections and other different things going on, it's surprising Whitney was ever able to deem a track actually 'finished'. "Things do seem to get a little full on," he admits. "Basically, all the songs are written around a noise or a riff that I get in my head and then I just build on that. But between touring and everything with Blood Brothers, it just took a while to sort it all out and get it finished... I'd work and work on a song and eventually I'd just know in myself that it finally matched what was in my head. Some songs took weeks and weeks to get down, others not so long. The last song on the album, actually, I worked out really quickly - in a few hours, I think. It was due to be sent for mixing or whatever, and I suddenly decided that I wanted one more track just to fill out the disc and make it a nice number. So I sat down and it came out and that's that. But I got a lot of instruments at my house - a lot - so it was good for me to be able to actually use them all."
However, with all the side project action going on in the Blood Brothers' camp, there's been more than a little talk of the band themselves breaking up. It's a rumour that Whitney is quick to shut down. "Man, I heard that rumour from a whole bunch of people, and honestly it was news to me. I mean c'mon - we're doing so well now, why would we break up?" he laughs.
"From the moment we started, we've all - every one of us in the band - been tied to other bands. Hell, that's the whole reason Blood Brothers got started in the first place. We don't want to get tied down or boxed in, so it's healthy to have these other outlets. We got to play some Neon Blonde shows, which was great: Mark took a lot of the sampled drums off the record and managed to translate them to live drumming which was incredible. But we're back to Blood Brothers shows now - we have a lot lined up, and then we're going to start writing some new material. So I promise you: Blood Brothers comes first as far as I'm concerned."
Ryan Smith
 | Neon Blonde's 'Chandeliers In The Savannah' is out now through Inertia. |
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