Nine Things

Nine Things You Have to Know About Green Rode Shotgun

by Noel Murray – Nashville Scene/The Onion

  1. They’re a quintet: Shea Callahan and Dave Henderson on guitar, John Lane on bass, Don Sergio on drums, and Jason Johnson on vocals.
  2. They came together in this configuration at the end of 2001 in Cookeville, TN. Cookeville is a small college town near Nashville.
  3. They love rock ‘n’ roll, past and present. They’re not one of those bands that pretend they never listen to any music but what they write themselves, or that they never listen to any music that wasn’t recorded more than 20 years ago, or that they never listen to any music that was recorded more than 20 years ago. Green Rode Shotgun’s collective set of musical influences most prominently include R.E.M., Crazy Horse, The Pixies, The Clash and The Who, but they’re the kind of rock buffs who might storm into band practice at any time with a new CD and say, “You guys have got to hear this.”
  4. They write all their songs together, in the practice space, with no pre-existing riffs or lyrics allowed. That may not sound like a big deal, but it’s partly what keeps these five guys showing up to play with the spark of enthusiasm crackling in their eyes. The creative process has become a challenge and a thrill--a real process of discovery. When they get stuck in the middle of writing a song, they decide together in what direction to head, and that base that decision on what feels right, and on what they haven’t heard before. That’s why Green Rode Shotgun songs change and shock and flow organically.
  5. They kick ass live. (That’s the rest of what keeps these five guys showing up to play with the spark of enthusiasm crackling in their eyes ... they’re in love with their own power.) Sergio bows his head and brings the hammer, Callahan and Henderson flank the stage and strum as fast as they can, Lane pulls an Entwistle and stands stock still, and Johnson clings to the microphone stand and paces around in an ever expanding circle. They play loud, and tight, and they teeter on the brink of explosion.
  6. They have an EP Persistence of Youth (choice cuts: “Lost Song,” “Something’s Missing”) and an LP Bang! (choice cuts: “Into The Light,” “Nothing Is Good Enough,” “Numbers On The Wall”). A lot of the songs on both are about the excitement of the moment, and about how music and life dovetail. (Sample lyric, from “Lost Song”: “it’s like opening a door and assuming that you’ll be there / but you’re long gone / like a lost song that you’ve heard only once / and you think you’ll hold onto it for a lifetime / like summertime.”) Check out lyrics on the discography page.
  7. The name? A random sentence in a Marilyn Monroe biography read aloud to Johnson by a woman in a Cookeville coffee shop.
  8. They gig regularly in middle Tennessee and across the southeast. They believe in behaving like professionals, putting on a great show, and guaranteeing a return engagement with an expanding fan base. That’s because they have faith that great music, with tireless effort, will rise. Manager Tige Casey likes to say "It would’ve been impossible for R.E.M. not to have made it," and he’s probably right ... can you imagine a band as good as R.E.M. never making it out of Athens, GA?
  9. Did I mention that they kick ass?