The Jazz Butcher
The Jazz Butcher Conspirators Curtis E. Johnson
Curtis E. Johnson

Profile

AKA
E-Man (Wilson)

Role: Guitar, Air-FX, Voice, Programming

Roles

Roles
Theremin-Like Machine, Percussion, Hungarian Stockwhip, Music, Words, Crime Rap, Backing Vocal, Producer, Recorded

Projects

Other Projects
Wilson Stranger Tractors

Pat Says

The Butcher Says..
I first met Curtis when I was called upon to help out in the studio with a Northampton band called The Venus Fly Trap. He had always led his own groups around Northampton, so it surprised me a little that he should have joined somebody else's band. The aura of mutual suspicion when we first met in some damp basement rehearsal space lasted for all of three minutes, and the friendship that followed has lasted a good ten years and counting.

Curtis became involved with the JBC via a series of happy mishaps. Curt was a tower of support for me over the difficult days in 1991. Just as things were turning nasty for him, we found ourselves in possession of an extra air ticket for a Spanish tour, so Curt came too, ostensibly as "guitar tech", but effectively as vibemeister, bald-headed rapper and instigator of the "Ola Que?" Incident. In early 1994 Curtis joined a JBC European tour as Emergency Lead Guitarist. I taught him the tunes on the boat over, with a little extra coaching in a front room in Breda. By Dortmund he had gone critical. Nobody got to go home until the spaceships came. In Rotterdam he turned into Eddie Van Halen right before our eyes.

Having spent much of the eighties experimenting with the squawky computers of the day, loud electric guitar noises and elaborate op-art lightshows, Curtis decided in the early nineties that he should go acoustic. He had a clutch of songs that were a more than convincing argument in his support. And so, along with Russell Cooper and Matt Tractor he began Stranger Tractors. By the end of 1994 I had joined them on primitive stand- up drums. 1995 saw the Tractors playing all over the UK and making a disturbing number of startlingly inappropriate TV appearances. Alan McGee at Creation helped to finance a single, Vibration , and there also exists a compilation of material from the time, including tunes produced by David J., who used to turn up at Tractors shows and act like a proper hooligan.

As 1996 began the Tractors were threatening to "go electric", a pretty terrifying prospect, and one that didn't have much to do with Curt's initial conception of what the group should be. Curtis took to playing solo acoustic shows, teaming up with Martin Stephenson (as in "and The Daintees"), which is how he got to meet a couple of influential people and start himself a proper solo career.

Curtis has a smashing album called The Bean King out now. You can order a copy, and find out all the details, by visiting: Stranger Tractors

Credits

Active

Years Active
Active: 1994, 1999, 2001-2003 (click to explore)
Visitor Feedback
Visitors' comments for this page [Add your own]
  • so tuff
    Albie[at]-remove-hotmail.com - Albie, Argentine
    26Jul2006 7:54 AM (17 years 137 days ago)
    Mr Curtis

    you are so tuff.
    Kate told ne to say that.
  • CURTIS
    Leighton - Northampton, UK
    25Jun2005 11:39 AM (18 years 168 days ago)
    Somebody reply to the message below.
  • Album
    leighton
    1Jun2005 8:47 AM (18 years 192 days ago)
    When your new album out curtis?
  • Uh?
    Clegg - Northampton
    18Apr2005 9:51 AM (18 years 236 days ago)
    What were you doing sniffing Curtis' fingers in the first place?
  • Calm yourself, wankbox
    The Butcher - Northampton NN1
    18Apr2005 6:35 AM (18 years 236 days ago)
    So from the sound of it, pal, you must be about 50 years old too. You feel, presumably, that leaving anonymous childish abuse on other people's websites is an appropriate way for a "man" of your age to behave, do you? How long have you been walking around with his crap in your "head"? The only bullshit that needs exposing is yours, you sad, bitter, semi-literate streak of monkey pish. Now fuck off with your hippy shit and darken not my door again. Pat Fish.
  • Cuntis!!
    Mr Shit Exposer - bullshitdetector[at]-remove-hotmail.com
    18Apr2005 4:47 AM (18 years 237 days ago)
    So, this mutt is still around?
    I remember many years ago in Edinburgh,
    Curtis telling me he was going to be famous
    one day! I though then, you've got to be kidding
    mate! Anyone with an arse like a baboon, the
    face of an ugly dog and the personality of a
    complete wanker and not a single original
    idea, hasn't got a chance...and it looks like I
    was proven right....what a loser!...nearly fifty
    and you look ridiculous...and even uglier than I
    remembered!....I bet your fingers still smell of
    shit as well!