I managed to sit down the mysterious Johnny Sketch from Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, the Loyola Alumni band that has been tearing up New Orleans for the past decade. Getting ready for a new album and Jazz Fest, I got to ask them a few questions
WYAT: Musically you go through a lot of different genres, but what do you listen to?
Johnny Sketch: Probably a little bit of everything. I really like funk and R&B and Soul music is a personal favorite of mine, but really I'll listen to anything. I listen to a lot of Reggae and a lot of classical. I'm kind of a whatever. It all depends on my moods and what I'm in the mood for. But more than most people, I think I do listen to a lot of stuff. I don't really just listen to any one genre. I like Variety, depends on what I'm doing that day.
WYAT: And you're all classically trained musicians?
JS: Well, not all of us. We're all formally trained musicians, but our horn players have studied Jazz. So the drummer, the bassist and myself all studied classical music. Our drummer studied piano, I did Cello. That's actually how we met each other, at Loyola.
WYAT: Where's your favorite place to play?
JS: Out of town? Probably up in the North East, New York is great. Florida, we have a lot great fans down there. Just a lot of fun people. Colorado is great to play in. Baltimore has been one of our favorite gigs as of late.
WYAT: What's it like to get up on stage?
JS: It's the best. I've had people ask me do you get nervous in front of a big crowd. You don't really get nervous. We know what we're doing. We're not going to go out there and mess up. We do get really excited up. I do like getting playing Jazz Fest. You get really excited about it. It something really special and happens only once a year. I love it just as a music fan. I try to go as many days as I can. It's still a big deal. I hope that other bands agree that you really can't take a gig like that for granted. It's an honor. It's a really exciting place to play.
WYAT: Do you have anything Special for this Jazz Fest performance planned?
JS: You never know with us; we always try to keep it a surprise. We've done costumes. We've done all sorts of things. Jazz Fest is just a great opportunity to play in your hometown. Play for a ton of people. We always try to do something special, it's not just a gig.
