Hear Jack Johnson Unearth Minor Threat Cover on Mike D’s Beats 1 Show
Jack Johnson unearthed a song from his high school-era Minor Threat cover band during a visit to Mike D’s Beats 1 radio show The Echo Chamber.
As Johnson told the Beastie Boys rapper, he and his band Limber Chicken initially planned on starting a Fugazi cover band before realizing that Fugazi’s music was actually “pretty complex.”
“So then we figured out that they had Minor Threat ahead of time, that Ian [MacKaye] had been in Minor Threat [before Fugazi] and once we heard this we were like, ‘Okay, I think we can do this’ and so we became a Minor Threat cover band, that was like 90 percent of our repertoire,” Johnson said.
“It was amazing time. I mean anybody who’s ever formed your first band or any band you know just knows that’s like the funniest thing in the world is just getting to get to your friends in the garage and making a bunch of music.”
For The Echo Chamber, Johnson dug out Limber Chicken’s version of “Steppin’ Stone,” a Monkees single that Minor Threat covered on their In My Eyes EP. Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders and dozens of punk bands frequently covered the Boyce and Hart-penned track.
“So this is us covering Minor Threat covering the Monkees,” Johnson said before debuting the rough recording of “Steppin’ Stone.”
Johnson recently released All the Light Above It Too, his first LP in four years.