drums
johnny grew up on a sunny coast. he literally lived on the coast, in a beach house. johnny's daddy was a lifeguard. he started guarding people's lives while they swim on the sunny coast when he was a teenager because people tended to make the mistake of swimming in water where they would sink. people don't naturally float in the water unless they no longer have life in them. the idea of lifeguarding is to pull these people out of the water before the life leaves them. johnny's daddy was a good lifeguard. in his whole career only one person lost her life while he was on duty.
johnny's daddy never forgave himself for the one person whose life he couldn't guard. johnny was two at the time, and he didn't have any siblings. johnny's daddy, before the person died, was a good father and person, as well as a good lifeguard. after the death, he stopped being a good father, and some people say, even a good person, but he continued to excel in lifeguarding. he was soon the supervisor of his beach, and eventually, he was even elected a county position over the lifeguards of the beaches of the area. only johnny and johnny's daddy's drinking buddies knew about the number of jack daniels johnny's daddy put away. johnny had a rough time of it; his childhood was difficult.
when johnny was two, his mother went swimming, leaving him at a neighbor's house. the neighbors were jack and sally montague, a married couple that never had children. they would have probably been like second parents to johnny when he went through his difficult childhood, but they moved two months later to montana where jack owns a successful honda dealership. sally spends all her time at the local school, around children to comfort herself. johnny's mother drowned that day, the only person to ever drown in a beach being watched over by johnny's daddy.
johnny muddled his way through school like so many children. the teachers knew about his mother of course, and they tried to help johnny by giving him more slack than the other children. johnny wasn't doing well at school at all. he hadn't spoken in any real way with his father since he was two. he didn't have kind neighbors next door that could have been surrogate parents. he didn't have any real friends, only the ones that he sometimes smoked with. johnny experimented with drugs, of course, as many troubled children will. by his sophomore year in high school, it was clear he was going nowhere fast, and he was going to win the race to get there too. no one cared though. johnny lived that sort of life. all four of his grandparents were dead, and he never met his cousins because his mother had been the one that kept in touch with the family.
johnny's daddy didn't really have drinking buddies. all he had was johnny's mother and guarding lives. that was his whole life. johnny was a part of his mother to johnny's daddy while johnny's mother was alive, but after she died, johnny became his own person. in johnny's father's formula of his life, there was only lifeguarding and johnny's mother. johnny was not in that life.
in johnny's junior year of high school, he met a girl named sarah. she sat next to him in physical education. she was exactly the opposite of johnny, straight a, no drugs, parents that loved and cared about her. she decided to do an experiment where she treated johnny just like he was anybody else, someone in one of her honors classes. of course, johnny blossomed under sarah's friendship, and they fell in love with each other.
johnny pulled himself together, succeeding in the latter half of high school, getting a job at the local convenience store. he worked his way into and through college, paying his own way through. sarah ended up going to harvard, but they still keep in touch. they're engaged to be married. her father, who was a dentist, took a shine to johnny and bought him a drums set for his eighteenth birthday. johnny's daddy was drunk that day. sarah's parents bought a cake and candles for johnny. johnny banged away badly, and sarah and her parents laughed at him lovingly.
johnny majored in biology, and wanted to eventually get an m.b.a. he put these plans off for the band. johnny doesn't touch alcohol or drugs. he doesn't know how to swim.
click on another band member now.
