John Magnie

1998 interview by Kate Rice (originally published in The Excuse #5) photo by Melissa Henke

Excuse: How long has it been since the Subdudes broke up? A year or so, maybe?

John Magnie: It's been about a year and eight months . . . I think it was November . . . yeah, it was Halloween night. A year and (some odd) months ago.

E: What was the deal? I've heard several nondescript stories.

J.M.: You know, it's one of those things you would probably get four different stories from each of the four of us. (Pauses). I think the general deal is that it just had run a certain course creatively. Things weren't working like they used to as far as we had kind of a delicate balance for writing songs together. That sort of broke down, and that was the beginning of the end.

E: Creative differences, personal differences, or a combination thereof?

J.M.: You know it's hard to say . . . . I think you can go along with personal differences as long as you feel like the music is real good. You can put up with a whole lot of things to play music. (We both pause here to laugh at a child screaming in the background).

E: You didn't feel like there was any good music coming out of the group?

J.M.: (Thoughtfully). You know, it could have. The Subdudes had hit kind of a valley. We could have possibly taken a little time off and come back again, but the timing of it was, as the Subdudes was getting a little shaky, this thing with Tiny Town started up, and they were much more excited about doing that than doing the Subdudes.

E: What is Tiny Town?

J.M.: There's a band called Tiny Town that Tommy Malone and Johnny Allen are in. In fact, they're around Colorado this week.

E: Do you still do any projects with any of the members?

J.M.: We did have a reunion, last May, in New Orleans. Did one reunion gig.

E: So, more are a possibility?

J.M.: Could be. Could happen somewhere down the line. Yeah.

E: What other gigs are you doing now? What projects?

J.M.: I'm doing a lot of different things right now. Seems to be different every week. (Laughs). Like this week I'm playing with Tim O'Brien. Next week I'm going to do some with myself and two other guys as a trio. Week after that we've got a thing we're putting together like an eight or nine piece group. Basically, I'm just taking what comes to me right now. (Laughs again).

E: Venues -- do you pretty much just take what comes around Colorado, or Fort Collins?

J.M.: We went to Chicago last week to play a few gigs. Otherwise, we're just playing -- like this festival -- little good things that come along.

E: So do you dig the festival scene?

J.M.: Oh, yeah! I think this is great. I've never been to Lyons before. I'm just blown away by the way it looks. It's all really great.

E: What do you see in the future for you? What projects, or prospects?

J.M.: Well . . . (long pause). I see working on supplying songs to other people who need a song to sing. But at the same time pursuing my own career [with] my own band.

E: Do you have a band that you've put together, or you're putting together?

J.M.: It's really just kind of the band is . . . sometimes it's just me. Sometimes it's -- (At this point, we're interrupted by some guy walking by who offers John a beer. John accepts. I realize I offered him squat. Bummer. He also goes on to explain that he's working with a few people in the Denver/Boulder area on different recordings, and writing songs. I'd quote, but there was a lot of background noise on the tape, and John would probably call me up to ask if I was the one drinking beer during the interview. I did have one more question to ask . . . . )

E: I've always wondered -- I've got to know! Why the accordion? I never thought the accordion was cool until a recent change of heart . . . .

J.M.: (Laughs). Well, it's really simple actually. The thing with us -- is that a cop up there?

E: (Myself and the Excuse photographer both follow his gaze to the top of the cliffs. We both casually reply that yeah, it is a cop. We all laugh, and make smart-ass comments). I had her (pointing to the photographer) take a picture, because it's got to have a great caption.

Photographer: Anybody who tries to get a free show gets pushed off the cliff.

J.M.: In one way, you can say he can see everything that's gonna happen. On the other hand, how's he gonna do anything about it? (More laughter). I suppose he probably has a radio --

E: Or a high-powered water gun or something.

Photog: Pick'em off if they get unruly. (More laughter ensues at the cop's expense. We finally finish having our fun, and return to the question).

J.M.: Why accordion . . . .

E: What do you dig about the accordion?

J.M.: (Slowly). I think the jokes that it inspires

E: And they are many!

J.M.: -- like, you got a dead accordion player and a dead skunk on the side of the road. What's the difference? (My friend and I both shrug). There's skid marks in front of the skunk. (We all laugh). There's two different answers to that joke. The other one is, the skunk was on his way to a gig. Y'know, he had some work! (Lets us finish laughing, then continues). I think it's just the obnoxiousness of it --

Photog: Why not the bagpipes, then?

J.M.: Yeah, why not go all the way? It's something like that. (Waits a moment until we settle down). There's actually a true answer to that, and that is, I was always a piano player. And organ -- bringing in all this electronic equipment, speakers and such. The idea of the Subdudes was that we had to do what whatever we did on just an acoustic instrument that you could put up on a mike. They brought acoustic guitars, and Steve just played that tambourine, and I brought an accordion. It's like a little, portable piano. We did one night like that and it was really good, and everybody said, oh, that's what you should be doing! So all of a sudden I'm playing accordion, and I've never even played it before! (Laughs).

I used to associate accordion with polka, and although it's fun to dance to, it is not my favorite choice of listening material. After listening to John's playing, and hearing his jokes, I now think accordion is all right. Thanks, John, for an entertaining chat!