Isaac Dunbar Takes Our Pop Quiz
office gave Isaac an impromptu pop quiz where there are no wrong answers... except, of course, the wrong ones.
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office gave Isaac an impromptu pop quiz where there are no wrong answers... except, of course, the wrong ones.
It’s to no one’s surprise that Johnstone’s children possess the raw talent that naturally exudes from him. And together, his family created a solo album that is nothing short of sonic perfection. His daughter Juliet, designer of her cult-favorite hand-painted carpenter pants, and sons Charlie, Jesse, and Tam, all helped Johnstone create the album and all contributed unique parts to make the record whole.
However, it was his youngest son Elliot, who sang lead vocals on the tracks and proved to us all that albeit musically gifted, he too possesses the same raw talent from his father. His voice perfectly harmonizes in synchronicity against the soulful guitar riffs and brings us back to the true essence of what rock and roll really is.
In an exclusive interview with office, Johnstone speaks to us about what it was like creating this album with his children, his inspiring perspective on what it was like for him as a musician starting out, and countless stories of what music was really like in the 70s.
Continue reading below.
How are you on tour, how's it going?
It's going great. It was kind of weird the first week because our keyboard player tested positive. So he couldn't even go to rehearsals and do that. So straight away, my job as musical director, I had to fly into gear because that's when some changes had to be made. To work everything out, without this keyboard player, which has got a lot of important parts in the show. So anyway, he was gone. So that was that and we did that for three or four shows. We did the first three shows in fact, without him and then he joined us in Dallas and that's where Elton got COVID.
So he had to go on a sequester for five days and we missed the Dallas show. But he feels fine now and feels great. So we are back on track again, but it's been difficult with so many people getting COVID, we had a couple of truck drivers get it and one of our personal drivers got it. It's just one of these things who knows.
I saw too that this was already rescheduled from 2020, so still, it's kind of crazy to think that two years later you're still facing difficulties with it.
He says to the people, "you’ve had your tickets for 725 days" or something, which is true. A lot of people were supposed to go to these gigs back then. So, yeah, it's rearranged, it's screwed with everybody's schedule, but what are you gonna do? This is what it is.
Well, I mean good for you guys too, because there have been plenty of shows that I've been excited to go to and they just got canceled completely without any rescheduling.
Well, thankfully that's kind of the case with our tour, 'cause it's a farewell tour. This is the last time that most people are gonna see us perform. So, we wanted to make sure that we could honor everybody’s tickets. We also knew that even when we went into lockdown with COVID, we realized at that point we were like a year in advance sold out. It's a challenge, but we've got a pretty good production team and they're making sure that all of these gigs will be done. We're not just canceling any outright. We're postponing them and playing them when we can.
That's amazing and cool to hear. My dad has been a fan of you guys and I grew up listening to all of your music. Is it possible to surmount in words the feeling of how generationally impactful your music is, and if so, what is that feeling for you?
It's a very strong feeling because we've been fortunate enough to play for many generations. After all, when I started development, I was 20 years old. So, I was a baby basically, and we had no idea this thing was gonna do what it did, but at the same time, our work ethic was very strong, meaning that we were just gonna play a lot of live music and we were gonna record at least two albums a year. And we did that for the first several years. I think that's one of the reasons that we had so many big hits and long-lasting hits is that people realized that when they came to see us and to play live, they would see and hear almost the same thing that they had heard on record.
They loved the fact that we were good players and not just guys who were out there joking off. That's been the case over every decade that we've been in this business. To have a lot of hits in the seventies and again, in the eighties and some in the nineties and a few even, in the last 20 years from The Lion King onwards, we've been very fortunate to be able to identify with the public for all these years. It's a great feeling when people still want to come back and hear you playing those songs. Another reason why this tour is so gratifying is that we have a lot of people our age and older people coming to see the show.
We have those people's kids, their grandkids, and then a lot of young people who just want a chance to see us and see what all the fuss was about during that time. I think we've all got a lot of gratitude that as musicians, we're still out here, we're able to play, and we're able to relate to people through music, which is after all the reason we started doing it.
How is the feeling of this tour compared to the ones when you were first starting?
Well, obviously when we started the first 10 years — I mean no rock band expects to last 10 years for a start, not even five years. Maybe if you have a five-year run, you're doing well. At the start of it, our audiences were all our age. That's what the whole record buying-public was in the early seventies. When I think about it, there were so many great bands out there touring at the same time. You could go and see Led Zeppelin and The Who, and many others, all within a week.
So there was an electric feeling about playing rock and roll in that period of history. And, when I say history, I mean that because the tail end of the Beatles breaking up, there was a kind of a lull where everyone went “well, what are we gonna do now? The Beatles are gone.” And then all of a sudden, all these British bands started doing this next invasion. We were one of those bands and we got audiences who were mental. They were crazy because they were digging it so much, but, I think maybe they were smoking a lot of weed or something, but they were enjoying what we were doing.
The way it's changed now is we still have that element of the hardcore music fans coming to our shows. So, the whole thing is kind of morphed into different ways of showing their allegiance to their favorite band. And, it’s our job to hopefully give them some enjoyment for a few hours where they can forget about all that's going on in the world.
I can't even imagine that throughout the years, even you going on all of these tours and then kind of seeing it lead up to the point where you are right now. I know you joined when you were fairly young and just a kid. At what point did it occur to you that this is what you were gonna be doing for the rest of your life? Did you know that you always were gonna be a musician?
Yeah, I did when I was very young. In fact, when I was at school, in Scotland where I'm from in Edinburgh, that's my hometown. When I was at school, my major was art. I was a fairly good painter and I was shit at academic work. I mean, I was useless really, so I had to get an extra tutor for math just to get through that kind of thing. I played guitar since I was 11 or 12 years old. So by the time I got to be 14 or 15, I was being bitten by it. And I was realizing that I was pretty good and there was a good chance that I could do this if I wanted.
And I remember my art teacher was asking everybody in the class what they were gonna do when they left school. And I told him, I was gonna be a professional musician, and he kind of said, “Well, don't be so stupid. Boy, don't be so stupid you gotta get a real job.” And I'm going, “What do you mean a real job? You're an art teacher. Is that a real job?” And he got very kind of uptight, but everybody considered at that point, if you were gonna be a professional musician, you were crazy. I mean, there was no way, because you were next to nothing at succeeding, but that wasn't the point to me. The point was, this is what I love doing. And I was pretty good at it and I thought I've got as good a chance as anybody making it. All I have to do is believe in my talent, go, and travel to where the music is.
Let's talk about your fashion. I know you wear Juliet's [Johnstone] clothes a lot so let's talk about some of your inspirations. When you're getting ready for a tour or you're getting ready for a show, is there something specific that you like to throw on and wear?
I'm kind of superstitious when it comes to clothes. For example, I did a concert back in the 70s somewhere and I was wearing this amazing suit that was kind of a dark floral suit and it was velvet and lined and all this cool stuff, giant flares. I had a bad night on stage. Things went wrong like my amplifier blew up. So at the end of the show, when I got back in the limo, I said to the driver, “Do you want this suit? 'Cause I'm done with it.” And he was like, “Sure, I'll take it.”And I took off my clothes in the back of the limo and I threw them over the front of the limo driver and said, “There you go take it.” And I stomped into the hotel wearing my underwear, my shoes, and my shirt. And, I think I had a bottle of vodka or something. So I must have looked like a creature out of some kind of mad, psychedelic magazine.
As far as what I like to wear, I've always enjoyed wearing whatever the cutting edge fashion is. Back when I was a little kid, when the Beatles first came on the scene, they were wearing these Beatles jackets, which had round collars, so no lapels. All these kids wanted a Beatle jacket and of course, you couldn't get them. My mother was a bit of a seamstress so as a surprise for me, she made me a Beatle jacket with the round collar and that was it. I was walking out, in my hometown of Edinburg on a Saturday night, going to hang out with my friends and I'm wearing a Beatle jacket and they're all going like, “Where did you get that?”
And as far as you know, I think I really may have inspired Juliet myself with a lot of the stuff I used to wear because she's seen some photos of me wearing the most ridiculous things, from some of our past concerts, with Elton and other people. And she's gone, “Dad, do you still have these pants?” They'll still raid my closet for stuff that I may have worn that maybe Yohji Yamamoto did for us, or Gucci, and different people. But right now when we are doing the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour with Elton, we have to wear Gucci clothes, because Gucci is sponsoring the whole thing.
You just released your solo album and you had your whole family a part of it. What was it like creating it with all of your kids and family?
It was fantastic. It was actually my youngest kid who was the star of the album. Elliot is the vocalist on almost the whole record. And it was phenomenal because, you know, it was kind of an accident the way it happened because of COVID. I was at home and I wasn't going to be going anywhere for a while. I was in the same boat as everybody else. And so I suddenly thought, well, I'm free now where I can do whatever I want. So I've always enjoyed writing music and composing my stuff. And this time I thought, well, I could write what I want and when I'd written two or three songs, I realized they were sounding good.
I thought, well, maybe I could do a whole album. So I asked Elliot if he would be into singing a couple. And he said, “Well if I like them, I'll sing them.” And I believe he did like the songs enough to sing them. Charlie, the next youngest, is a wonderful recording engineer as well as a great piano player. So I got him to record us, and I got him to play some piano and keyboards. Jesse, my son from another marriage, is a wonderful drummer, and a great musician. So I had him play drums on, God, six or seven of the tracks, I think. My eldest boy, Tam, who lives in the UK, produced two of the instrumental tracks on the record.
It's just amazing to have all these kids getting to work on my project. The thing was, I don't think they would've done it unless they liked what the music was. I remember saying to Elliot "look, if you don't like any of this stuff, you don't have to do it." And so thankfully they all enjoyed the music and they were happy to contribute and they played and sang amazingly. For me, I just had to play all the guitars, bass guitars, and mandolin instruments on the record.
The only guests on the record were Nigel Olsson, who's our drummer with Elton's band, and then my friend Denny Seiwell, who's a great drummer from Paul McCartney and Wings. It was a wonderful tribute to be able to do this and have it turn out so great. I like the record a lot and funny enough, Elton's a fan of the record because when he heard it, he FaceTimed me and he said, “my God, this is gotta be the sweetest thing I've ever heard.” He was so sweet when he called because he asked to speak to Elliot. I gave the phone to Elliot, and he proceeded to tell Elliot what a great singer he thought he was and if he wants to be a star, he's got every possibility of doing it and he'll help him in any way he can. That's such a beautiful thing for a young person to hear, especially from such an established icon as Elton John, you know? So that was wonderful.
I love that. I know this is technically Elton's last tour. So with this new record, do you think that you guys will all go on tour?
By the time this tour with Elton is over my God, that will be 2023 in the summertime. I think that's when we're scheduled to finish. So by then, I don't think I'm gonna want to go anywhere on the road. I wanna put my feet up and enjoy being at home for a while and I'll record lots more music and wherever possible, I'll ask my kids to sing and play on it. They have their careers to follow and I'm sure they're all gonna be massively successful the way that Juliet is already becoming. I mean, I'm so thrilled. The number of people that I see who are wearing her clothes it's crazy. Dua Lipa and Elton had that big record and recently she showed up to do a thing with Elton and she was wearing Juliet's pants and I'm going, “This is great!”
It's wonderful for me to see my kids being successful. Charlie's already having a very successful time working with some rap stars down in North Hollywood, and he's recording them and writing with them. So, you know what, as long as my kids do what they want to do in life, that's all I care about. And if I can help them in any way, then that's my pleasure and my privilege to do so. I think to give a kid the help and the encouragement to do what they want to do, I think that's the biggest thing that a parent can do.
So nowadays, songs go viral online and there's the whole social media aspect to music. What are your thoughts on the codependency of music streams and an online presence?
When we were at our height, obviously there was no online. There was nothing like this. So the whole thing about music and being a musician was that you had to take your music to people. So that meant traveling, that meant playing live. That meant going to talk to as many radio DJs that would listen to you. You know, it was a lot of hard work, a lot of leg work. So in many ways, I think it's incredible for artists to have this possibility. I mean, it's amazing. I know that for this album I’ve done so many online interviews.
I've been able to do a lot of stuff that normally I wouldn't have been able to do. So I think it's incredible for artists to have those platforms, to springboard off and, and do their thing. It's because we had none of this. It was down to how much you were willing to travel around and play to people. It was about annoying people and knocking on their door because there was none of that. We didn't even do TV back then because very few rock and roll shows were on television, all through history.
I remember growing up, listening to everything, and even today I was listening to all of your music. For younger generations of musicians who look up to you, your music, and the bands you've been a part of, what message would you offer them?
Forget it. Just get a real job. Don't do this now. Of course, I wouldn't say that. That's what was said to me. I think it's really important that they learn their craft well. If they're a musician, they should get as good as they could get. Work on honing their craft and becoming great.
So number one: work on your instrument or your talent, whatever that might be, singing or whatever, become as great as you can be and never lose sight of how grateful you should be to be able to do that kind of a job. If you get to do what you love doing, then you are way ahead of everybody else on the planet right away. I've always thought, “God, I'm so lucky I get to do this.” I remember the very first time I stayed in a beautiful hotel in New York or something when I was 20 years old, and I'm thinking, “my God, you know, is this what it's gonna be like?” But I wasn't looking to the next year or the next five years or whatever, I was living very much in the moment.
So that's the other thing that I would tell any young people is that don't worry too much about what's coming up. 'Cause you can't worry about doing anything about it anyway, nothing much you can do about the future. Look after where you are now and take care of yourself and try not to be too crazy. That's probably my number one bit of advice. 'Cause we were all way too crazy back in the seventies. It was very fortunate that some of us are still here quite honestly.
Out of all of your years, what would you say is your proudest accomplishment music or not music-related?
My daughter — obviously, all my kids. That's my proudest accomplishment, all my children for absolute certainty, nothing, nothing beats that. And I think any parent will tell you that. But as far as, in my work, gosh, that's a good question. I really can't think of a good answer because there have been so many great moments and powerful moments. I think probably the thing that keeps recurring in my brain and keeps coming back to me is 1974 on Thanksgiving, in New York City. We had gotten to know John Lennon very well over that year. And he'd been traveling with us throughout that year. He came up to Colorado to Caribou Ranch, where we were recording, and we did a version of, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” that he played and sang on, which was amazing. And he would come to our shows with us throughout the year.
And then at the end of our last show, it was gonna be in New York City at Madison Square Garden, Thanksgiving, 1974. Before the show, I was tuning up all the instruments and he came into the dressing room, had his guitar and he was so nervous. I mean, he was petrified and he said, “will you, will you tune my guitar?” I've gotten to know him very well, but at that moment, as he's asking me to tune his guitar, I'm thinking, this is my hero. This is a guy who is one of the main reasons that I'm doing what I'm doing right now.
I'll never forget that feeling of amazement, pride, gratitude, everything just hit me at that one time. And I had him sit down and I tuned his guitar for him. And he was so nervous and we had a good laugh. And I, I just kind of made him relax and made him giggle a bit. And we played the show, which was remarkable and people were still talking about to this day. Then after the show, Elton called me up and he said, “Hi, it's Elton. What a great show. That was an amazing show. John wants to come over and hang out with you. Is that okay?” And I said, “No, tell him off.” And I said, “No, don't be so stupid. Of course, tell him to come over.”
So Lennon came over to the Plaza hotel. And I remember waiting, I was inside my suite, but I was at the end of one of the long hallways in the Plaza. I remember looking out of the peephole and John came walking down the long hallway, wearing the black flat hat, the black shades, the scarf all in black. He is walking down towards me to hang out and I just kept thinking, this is it. If I have a heart attack now, it's all good. So that was a moment that I'll never forget.
For Raveena, everything is internal, from this album that has been baking inside in her mind for over three years, to the essence she cultivates and plants in her music— It is so personal.
While Raveena builds a beautiful world around her, office wanted to dig deeper and explore the universe she constructs inside of her. For the soul-singer, her artistry goes past what is presented on the exterior, and instead, we are captivated on the internal — the intention, essence, and aura she leads with. As our February Digital Cover star for 2022, we uncovered her aura, literally. As we headed to Magic Jewelry in Chinatown, Raveena's old stomping grounds, we attended her aura reading which unveiled the hue, pallette, and creative direction behind the Digital Cover shoot.
What was shown was a boastful blue surrounding every Orpheus of her being. The aura — rising in a spherical manner started from her root chakra, rose about a foot above her crown. The hue ranging in a multitude of deep and powdery blues blended in with spheres of serene greens that landed on the edge of her crown chakra and touched on the last layer of the aureole. Ranging in a multitude of blues, with research, it'S founf that this particular pallette represents Raveena's comfortability in her emotional sensitivity and self-expression. If you listen to her music, this comes as no surprise as both of those attributes can easily be detected within a minute of exploring her discography. Her sensitivity which can range as a curse or blessing, depending on what side of the coin you're looking at, is a direct reflection of how she is able to share her innermost resounding thoughts to the world in an intentional, honest, and attentive practice.
Read the exclusive interview with Raveena below.
Some of your music is based on the hardships you've faced. How did you get into the mental and spiritual space to open up about it through your music?
I think it's always been a survival tool, almost. I think that it's been the guiding force and the color in my life. Especially as a child of immigrants, as a child of people who survive political turmoil and genocide, I was just coming from a very hard place, even as a kid. So I think I needed something like art to bring this kind of lightness and joy into my life. I found that over the years every time that I would lean in further into art and let it guide me and express whatever I need to get out through the music, I would be led into a much richer and sweeter life. Like such a dream kind of existence. So, I'm super grateful for it, it's kind of like a godsend.
Your new album definitely has a different feel but is still very true to you, what were some moments you remember about creating it from the first concept?
Some really special moments that I remember are when I was at the 'Rubin Museum of Art' and we were on acid. And we were in a sound installation for like, Buddhist temples, and there's all this amazing art. And I just had this realization that I just needed to start incorporating more of my culture into my art. I was like, ''this is going to be the challenge over the next few years figuring out how because there are such entirely different cultures between the West and the East.' And when it has been done, it can feel like a trophy or stereotypical. So, it was so much work trying to get it into a place where it felt really refined and thought out and intentional.
You tapped into your Punjabi culture in a lot of your new songs, using traditional Indian instruments and singing in Hindu for the first time. Especially since you’re already heavily R&B inspired, what made you want to blend R&B with traditional sounds?
I think the most beautiful realization that I have in this process was all these genres that I completely adore, like soul, R&B, indie rock, jazz, like they have actually been in conversation with South Asia since the 60s and 70s when this whole psychedelic soul and rock era happened. Like there was the Alice Coltrane started using a lot of Indian sounds and Indian chanting. There was The Beatles, of course, Lonnie Liston Smith, just all these incredible musicians who I love. I realized they had been like collaborating with people, especially with Ravi Shankar, like bringing him back here. And then there's that whole early 2000s wave with Timbaland and a lot of pop music was using Indian sampling like M.I.A. I grew up here and I grew up listening to American music, and specifically amazing Black artists in R&B and soul. And I was like, how do I add to that conversation of a whole history that’s been happening for years and years?
How did you come up with the entity of Asha to tell a story through?
I think I was in quarantine, and I had a lot of time on my hands and I was super bored. Out of that boredom came this really childlike imagination. I had time to watch a lot of movies. I set up a little projector and just watched sci-fi movies and Bollywood movies. And it was just like, there was a connection here between both of those worlds. The character just came to me in the night and I wrote down the whole story. I sent it to this amazing illustrator Lily, who kind of visualize the whole world for us in 2-D. Then we would use her concept art with all the other collaborators and be like, 'how do we bring this character to life?' Every detail of this world is very thought out and very intentional. There’s a whole movie written behind the album, basically.
When it comes to your upbringing what part has been the most influential on how you represent yourself through your music?
I think it seeps naturally into everything I do. I think in everything that I've done, even though it's varied, there's been a thorough line of a lot of different moments and expressions in my career. I think there's been a thorough line of this kind of dreamy, ethereal, maximalist, colorful sense and it's in the music and the visuals. I think that is very inspired by definitely all those things.
What was your most gratifying feeling with this album so far?
That’s such a beautiful question. I think there are a couple of moments. I loved really getting more into the production side, exploring that part of myself. I work with some really incredible collaborators, like my longtime ones like Everett Orr and Aaron Liao. I was a bit more hands-on for the album and was exploring a lot of Bollywood soundtracks myself. And I was really studying all the sounds that I could incorporate and being a bit more involved in the process, which was really gratifying hearing those songs in their forms. I hadn't really tapped into my producer side as much and it was cool to hear it and be like, “Oh, I can do this.” That felt really good as an artist. And I think when I got the final cut of the “Secret” and “Rush” videos back I was like, “Oh my god, we did it.”
You've obviously worked really hard to get to this point, what is that thing that made you keep pushing yourself towards your dreams, especially as a woman of color in the music industry that isn't keen on equality?
It does not come without its challenges. I think developing the boundaries with work has been really helpful and having a really strong personal life outside of it. Like, I really live for love and for spirit more than anything, and that has helped me put into perspective if things don't go how I want them sometimes or for harder moments. I think also I’m kind of hyper optimistic and I see these crazy visions in my head and I'm like, “Oh, yeah, we can pull that off.” And then it's so hard to in the process but I see it so clearly that I have to do it. Otherwise, I'll just keep working on it until it's there. So, it's part neurosis, part boundaries.
If you could pick an aura color for this album what would it be?
Definitely purple.
Why?
Because Asha’s Awakening is all about spiritual awakening. The color purple is associated with the third eye and being awakened and open.
Is there a tour in the works for Asha’s Awakening?
Yes, the pre-sale is up and is officially on sale now and dates are selling out.
In your intergalactic world of Asha, what are the rules under the Punjabi princess?
So, she lives on a planet that’s called Sonata, and she was transported there via the Aurora lights. When she arrives there are aliens that find her and they're highly advanced beings. They live on this planet that has a really harsh climate. There are constant fires raging tsunamis storms specifically, but they're like highly spiritual beings, and they live for thousands of years. How they've learned to live on this planet with a lot of harsh climates is they learn to meditate and breathe through these events, and they have these bodies that survive anything. So, they teach her how to have these highly advanced powers. So, kind of the rule of this planet is they're trying to impart this otherworldly sense of power within her and she becomes a princess there. And she really misses the sensuality and the connection that she had to other humans on Earth. So, after spending a thousand years there, she comes back to find that love and just that feeling that you get from being a human on Earth because she can't have it there.
Pearl Face Piece by Laura Estrada Jewelry, Traditional Indian Hand Piece by Shrivdevi Designs, Traditional Indian Bridal Jewelry by Shrivdevi Designs, Earrings by Khendar, Butterfly Face Mask Piece by Lory Sun Artistry, Butterfly Nails by Lory Sun Artistry, Clear Bangles by Lolita Jewelry, Traditional Indian Hand Piece by Shrivdevi Designs.
Raveena for office from Jimmy Nyeango on Vimeo.