“That’s kind of how I always thought it would happen. Hopefully the world will end and that will be good.” Jonny muses on his ultimate indulgences if the end of the world were guaranteed. “I’d make sure that I got naked, read the bible, just the usual kind of stuff. Have a good last meal, maybe some KFC popcorn chicken. Get naked and just have a great time in the name of KFC.”
While this may sound revolting, the planet’s destined termination is likely to enhance the audacity of his performance. “I’m not responsible for anything that I do in those last couple of hours, so it should be a good launch with that in mind.” Jonny suggests the impending void will also fuel outrageous deeds from the people who choose to farewell existence alongside him.
“I think there’ll be a certain feeling in the air, some kind of electricity in the air that night, so who knows what people will do. People only need a little bit of a nudge in that direction to become complete animals and let their perverted nature come out. They don’t need much encouragement.” Regardless of Mayan predictions, Jonny Telafone’s onstage ethos involves getting rid of regular civility, which again can prompt others to let themselves go.
“You’ve just got to try to make a bit of a spectacle of yourself and make yourself an embarrassment and people seem to like that,” he quips, with tongue firmly implanted in cheek. “You’ve just got to be free man.” Freedom is central to Telafone’s overall approach and it’s no surprise to hear that he vastly favours to operate solo.
“I occasionally have worked with people, but I prefer to work alone. I can only really get motivated if I’m taking all the credit. I don’t want to share the glory with anyone.”
The reign of this resolute self-belief might be hampered if he had to align with the opinions of others. “If they’re like, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea’ and I’ll be like, ‘It’s a good idea’, then next thing you know – fisticuffs. Not that I’m a violent person, but I can throw my weight around. I’ve got a fair bit of weight behind me. I’ve been doing lots of push-ups recently.”
He regains composure to add, “It’s just easier working by yourself I think, if you’ve got a very specific idea of things.”
The self-titled release includes a four-song 7” vinyl and a 20 song ‘best-of’ CD. Jonny viewed his recent Chapter Music signing as a perfect opportunity to showcase the stock of quality material he’d previously released on cassette tape and online. “It is the best; not just of my music but of music that’s being released at the moment. It just happens to be all my songs. It’s not just my best of, it’s the best music that is out now. I guess it’s kind of weird to have a best of but I can’t help it if I just make the greatest hits all the time. My next release will be best of volume two, next one after that best of volume three.”
The 20-track compilation is in fact a slight compromise on what he initially proposed to his new label. “If I had my way I was going to do a three disc thing with 600 songs but they wanted to whittle it down. It was three hours of music originally so we had to cut that down a little bit.”
There’s a spontaneous edge to the songs and Telafone explains that he largely relies on the accident of creation rather than meditating on ideas. “I don’t have an idea of a song when I start making it and sometimes there’ll be a song there. I’ll sit down and be like, ‘Alright let’s try to make a song’ and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Usually it does though. 20 songs, you know?”
Jonny’s self-acknowledged prolific ability may be the result of not spending too much time dwelling on the music once it’s written and recorded. “Sometimes I get on a roll. A good song you know it’s finished when it’s good, so get it out of the way, move on. Have a little treat afterwards, why not?” Understandably, with such a success rate he’s careful not disclose too many details of his magic formula.
“I don’t get into talking about the process of it too much. I have to keep my secrets otherwise everyone will putting out best-ofs any day, 20 songs that sound like mine. I can’t tell you how I do it, I just do it.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
