Damon Johnson has announced details of his upcoming solo album, Memoirs of an Uprising. The self-produced effort from the singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the co-founder of Black Star Riders and Brother Cane, is set for release on March 8 via Double Dragon Records.
In advance of the release, Johnson has shared the album’s first single, “Shivering Shivering.” You can check it out above.
According to Johnson, in the spring of 2018, after completing a coast to coast tour with Black Star Riders supporting Judas Priest, as well as select reunion performances with Thin Lizzy, there were two things he couldn’t stop thinking about: his family and his music. The decision to release a solo album came about, because, he says:
"After that Priest tour I was feeling anxious about some things: getting older, where my career would be in 10 years, how much time I was continually spending (mostly in foreign countries) away from my wife and our two youngest kids...plus I was sitting on a near completed solo album of the most honest music I’ve ever made. Ignoring some hard truths could not be a part of my deal anymore.”
Johnson made the decision to part ways with Black Star Riders and finish the album, which he titled Memoirs of an Uprising. For the effort, which finds him collaborating with longtime friend and songwriter Jim “Johnny Blade” Troglen, Johnson began assembling a group of songs in divergent tempos and grooves that appealed to his musical side and then laced them with lyrical themes of betrayal and revenge. “The first two songs we put together were ‘Shivering Shivering’ and ‘Dallas Coulda Been a Beatdown,’ and I knew we were off to a great start,” he says.
Regarding the video for “Shivering Shivering,” Johnson says: "I had a great time working with Chris Hopkins in Nashville on this video. What I love is how he incorporates scenes of me playing several of my guitars that were essential to the recording of Memoirs of an Uprising. And it was fun to include a bit of acting on my part!"
Memoirs of an Uprising is available for pre-order here.
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You can check out all upcoming Damon Johnson tour dates below.
Damon Johnson Band tour dates (all solo band dates unless specified):
2/14 - Helena MT - Lewis & Clark
2/15 - Fresno CA - Tower Theater Lounge
3/9 - Huntsville, AL @ Sidetracks Music Hall
5/8 - Nashville, TN @ The Basement East - w/The Winery Dogs
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
