Review Fix Exclusive: We’re All Aliens’ Jim ‘JJ’ Johnson Talks Future And More

July 16, 2020 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix Exclusive: We’re All Aliens’ Jim ‘JJ’ Johnson Talks Future And More

By Patrick Hickey Jr.

Review Fix chats with We’re All Aliens’ Jim ‘JJ’ Johnson, who discusses the band’s origin, creative process and goals for the rest of the year.

Review Fix: How did the project start?

Jim ‘JJ’ Johnson: Myself and Biff (guitars) had been in a band previously and after some years apart decided that we wanted to be in our favourite band create the sound of our record collection when we were 15.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Johnson: It tends to start with a riff idea from Biff then it gets sent over to me to flesh out, then arrangements and getting the bottom end with the rest of the band.

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?

Johnson: So far, our breakout track would appear to be ‘Rosa Lee’ which got us on BBC Introducing and has hit over 75 thousand streams on Spotify.  It very nearly didn’t make the album but something happened during the recording process.  To be honest, my voice hadn’t been in great shape following surgery and the chorus is insanely high but we got there in the end.  It’s got great drums on it and the riff could be by Deep Purple.  Plus the lyric is about a real person who I know and has a bit of the old second sight about her.  She’s not a gypsy or anything but she’s definitely a ‘mystic pixie.’

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2020?

Johnson: Well before the pandemic it was release the album and gig, gig, gig. But I think the likelihood of that is remote this side of Christmas and as a consequence we only have one confirmed booking before the end of the year at the rearranged YANA fest in Manchester in November.  With this in mind, we’ve reset the goals around getting the second album recorded and the first single should be ready by the end of the Summer.  But we should also state, that we’ve had over 100,000 streams on Spotify since the ‘Get A Life’ album was released in February and over 300,000 people have viewed the ‘Second Chances’ and ‘Rosa Lee’ videos on Facebook.  We also got played on BBC Introducing, Planet Rock and Kerrang! Radio and have picked up followers all over the world.  More followers to all our platforms is really important.

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Johnson: We want to reach as many people as possible with what we are doing.  That’s so important and then get them to stick around.  I like that the music has a basic message of positivity, togetherness and unity.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Johnson: Release the first single from the second album and finish recording the rest of it.  Then start gigging when pandemics allow.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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