by Jack Johnson
J: I would wanna be told.
G: The one thing I’m iffy on telling someone is the booger thing.
J: That is a little uncomfortable.
G: I mean, I would tell you.
J: I would hope so.
G: But it’s just like, when there’s a bat in the cave, I don’t wanna look at it and I certainly don’t wanna talk about it.
WHERE DOES ALL YOUR CONFIDENCE COME FROM, AND CAN YOU LEND ME SOME?
G: I think it comes from the fans, because they’ve been so supportive.
J: I feel like any time of the day, Jack and I can just go pop in on our Twitter or Instagram and see the comments and feel the love. That’s a huge confidence booster to us. Even if I’m like, “I feel like a piece of crap today,” that elevates me.
G: Always.
J: I mean, look at this comment on my Twitter: “Hope you have a great day! I love you!!!”
G: Three exclamation points. That is impressive. That is confidence boosting. Sometimes for me, it’s just seeing the numbers: there are 4.1 million people who care what I have to post today. It’s an amazing feeling.
J: Beyond that, I’d say we believe in ourselves and our dreams, as cheesy as that sounds. But that’s what gives us confidence. The feeling that we are following our dreams and making them happen.
G: If you ever get down on yourself, just know that there are people out there who appreciate you for who you are.
J: You just gotta find those people and keep them close. It could be your mom or your dog, and that’s all you need. Right there you have someone who’s got your back.
WOULD ERIC AND WINSTON EVER TEAM UP ON A HATERS SONG? NERDS UNITE!
G: Great idea—and we love us those nerds—but I don’t think that we would ever make a song that was a joke. Unless maybe we were on Saturday Night Live.
J: Our music is the one thing that is never a joke. We might have a goofy lyric here or there, but we take it really serious and keep it really separate from Nerd Vandals and the comedy. But then you never know, if we blow up—fingers crossed—and SNL comes to us, we’ll keep that idea in mind.
G: Never say never.
DO YOU READ ALL THE REVIEWS AND THE COMMENTS PEOPLE WRITE ABOUT YOU—OR DO YOU IGNORE THEM?
J: I’ll read what people comment, absolutely. Usually the top comments when we post a new Vine, for example, because I want to see if people got a chuckle out of it.
G: I probably read the original music–related comments the most. We work so hard on our music content, and we love the feedback. I try to read as many comments as possible on the regular socials, and I try and ignore the haters; there’s just not enough time for them.
J: The music is what we work hard on and take seriously, and we value the constructive criticism and feedback from the fans on it.
GOING GLOBAL
J: WE NEVER EXPECTED TO HAVE FANS ALL OVER THE WORLD, OUTSIDE OF OUR COUNTRY. IT’S JUST CRAZY. BUT THAT JUST SHOWS THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA. EVERYTHING IS INSTANTLY INTERNATIONAL THESE DAYS. THERE’S NO SLOW DIFFUSION INTO FOREIGN COUNTRIES, WE’RE THERE. THEY SEE US AND THEY KNOW US.
G: We’ve been to Canada, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and all over Europe. I feel like we’ve seen almost all of Europe at this point. Can we just take a moment here: Nebraska to New Zealand. How did this happen? Our lives, man . . .
J: Do you have a fave spot we’ve been?
G: I would say the fans in South America have a level up on everybody else. They tear the roof down, you know?
J: Barcelona was beautiful. Scenicwise, it blew me away.
G: We’ll get maybe a day or two in a city, so it’s really hard to say, “This one was the best.” We’ve loved it all, every minute of it. Playing to live audiences especially.
J: And we are the most chill people when it comes to our concerts. Some acts have a mile-long list in their contracts about what they will and won’t do, what they must have in their dressing rooms. Like green M&Ms only, bottles of Dom, and the room has to be eighty-seven degrees or else.
G: Us? We’re like, “Just give us some water and a fruit plate, a pot of tea.” Maybe some steam. Is that being a diva?
J: You gotta keep the pipes warmed up, ya know? Sometimes you got phlegm.
G: Did you just say phlegm?
J: I did. I am not ashamed. But I’m not sure I can spell it.
G: We’re very low maintenance. We’re just happy to be here.
BUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELTS
J: I know we just said we’re low maintenance, but if we’re on an international flight and it’s a long one, we fly first-class ’cause we’ve gotta get our sleep for the show the next day.
G: And that’s really our call if we want to spend the money on it—it’s not like, “Oh, we’re big shots. We need to be in first.” It’s really about being practical and getting a good night’s rest. Coach is cramped, and then we’re jet-lagged.
J: And he is ugly when he’s jet-lagged.
G: No sleep on a twelve-hour flight? Yeah, you bet I’m ugly.
J: But anything less than a five-hour flight, we’ll chill in coach. We’re not big spenders. We save our money for a rainy day, you know? On the American tour, we haven’t taken any planes. It’s all buses. Hit the road, Jacks!
G: The best part of touring is you meet so many fans and you gain fans. Performing live is the most exhilarating experience. And you make friends around the world—it’s crazy, we have friends in Dublin, Amsterdam, and London now!
J: The worst part is staying on a consistent schedule: sleeping, eating, working out. Your body just starts to break down sometimes and you’re like, “I can’t keep up with this.”
G: You wake up in a new time zone and the jet lag is brutal. You lose hours or gain hours and your body has no idea what time it is anymore.
J: I hate that. I hate when it’s like the middle of the night and I’m ready for breakfast.
G: So you just have to keep yourself moving, force yourself to eat or stay awake on the local time, when your brain is screaming, “Are you out of your freakin’ mind?”
J: But then you play to the crowds and it energizes you. Makes it all worthwhile.
G: The biggest crowd we’ve ever played was a festival in NYC—twenty-five thousand people. But we never really think about the numbers or get nervous.
J: Nah, we’re perfectly comfortable. They’re our fans. Now if we opened for a big band . . .
G: Right, and they sold like 90 percent of the tickets? Then I’d be kinda nervous. ’Cause they’re not there for us. They may not even know us.
J: In any case though, as soon as I get out there . . . I’m pumped. I’m in the zone.
G: Doesn’t matter if you speak our language or not, you’re showin’ us the love and we’re feelin’ it.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVE SONG TO PERFORM LIVE?
G: “Like That” is mine.
J: Mine I would say right now is this mashup of Fetty Wap’s “Again” and Bob Marley’s “One Love.” I have this really cool rap that I wrote and none of the fans know it, so they gotta listen and it catches them off guard. And I play keys at the end, which has really helped me get comfortable playing piano on stage.
HAVE YOU EVER SCREWED UP ON STAGE AND COVERED IT UP?
J: Um, yeah. All the time.
G: I got a nosebleed once. I fell off the stage. I could go on and on. There’s always something that’s going to go wrong during a show. No show is ever perfect, and I think that’s what makes a perfect show—how you deal with it.
J: How you handle the flaws and bounce back without missing a beat.
G: You never know when a girl is gonna throw a bracelet and it hits you in the face mid high note.
J: Wait, that happened?
G: Oh yeah. But it was an accident, she was waving her hands in the air like she just don’t care.
J: Literally, something happens every show. But I don’t think there’s ever been a crazy moment where we’ve stopped in our tracks. W
e roll with it. We know how to play it off.
G: Right, no awkward pauses or silences. Maybe if I was alone on stage I wouldn’t be as relaxed about it, but I know that if I screw it up, I can look over at Jack and he’s there to cover for me. No matter what, there’s one of us to fill the gap.
J: We jam off each other.
CAN YOU ACTUALLY SEE ME SCREAMING IN THE AUDIENCE AND WAVING MY SIGN OR AM I JUST WASTING MY TIME?
J: Honestly, we probably can see you. A lot depends on the venue size of course, but on the US run we did, with 1,000 to 1,500 average in the audience, I can see every face out there. I can pick you out.
G: We don’t have our own lighting guys, so it doesn’t even get dark in the venue. I see everyone’s faces for sure.
J: Sometimes we’ll just stop the show and start reading signs out loud.
G: Keep holding ’em up, because we see you guys and it warms our hearts.
WHO DO YOU PREFER—BEATLES OR STONES?
J: I’m a Beatles guy—no disrespect to the Stones. But I feel like their music was so innovative, deep, and thoughtful.
G: And I feel like the Stones are the ultimate party band. Rock stars, 100 percent.
J: I personally regard Paul and John as two of the best writers of all time. Stones have sick melodies, don’t get me wrong. But I’m just into the Beatles’s vibe more.
WHAT ARE THREE ADJECTIVES YOU WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE EACH OTHER?
J: Organized, funny, persistent. That’s you.
G: Messy, intelligent . . . and genuine.
J: I’ll take it.
TYPICAL DAY
J: SO, WHAT’S A TYPICAL DAY IN OUR LIFE LIKE? HONESTLY, THERE IS NOTHING TYPICAL ABOUT IT. WE CAN’T EVER SAY WE DO THE SAME THING AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY. WHATEVER’S GOING ON TODAY MAY BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT TOMORROW.
G: IT SOUNDS COOL TO BE SO SPONTANEOUS, BUT SOMETIMES WE DO WISH WE HAD MORE OF A SCHEDULE GOING ON. WE TRY, BUT SOMETHING ALWAYS COMES UP.
J: WE’VE GOTTEN REALLY GOOD AT ROLLING WITH THINGS.
AskJacks
WOULD YOU RATHER . . .
EAT FRENCH FRIES OR TATER TOTS?
J: Fries.
G: Fries all the way.
HAVE BAGELS OR TOAST?
J: Bagels for the both of us. New York bagels in particular.
USE KETCHUP OR MUSTARD?
G: Ketchup. Goes on everything.
WEAR SNEAKERS OR GO BAREFOOT?
J: Barefoot is nice, but it’s a summer thing.
G: Yeah, sneakers cover all weather, all seasons. Gotta be practical about that.
HAVE A STOMACH BUG FOR A DAY OR LARYNGITIS FOR A WEEK?
J: I hate throwing up. I mean I really hate it. There’s nothing worse.
G: Yeah, but it’s one day and you’re over it. What if you couldn’t talk for a week?
J: It would suck, but I could text. Or maybe whisper?
G: Laryngitis seems like more of a commitment, though. So I’d go for the throwing up.
WHAT’S SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT EACH OF YOU?
G: I get to take this one first.
J: Oh boy, here we go.
G: So recently, we were in London at this club. Let me just preface this by saying eighteen is the legal drinking age there. So Johnson has this glass of champagne in his hand.
J: I do not recall any of this, so don’t hold it against me.
G: So he takes the glass, takes a sip, then turns to me and says, “Hey, check this out.” Then he throws it at the wall and the glass shatters in a million pieces.
J: And your point is?
G: My point is no one knows that you are reckless.
J: I admit it: Sometimes, I can be reckless. I’ll just unleash.
AskJacks
OUR TOP FIVE PET PEEVES
1. Slow drivers. Come on, put some pedal to the metal! Why is it that just when you’re trying to get somewhere fast you get stuck behind one of them on the freeway?
2. People who chew with their mouth open. Thanks, but I don’t need to see what you’re having for lunch. So annoying—and even worse when accompanied by sloppy sounds.
3. People who scrape their dinner plates with a fork. Sets our teeth on edge. Have some dignity; leave a crumb or two.
4. People who have phlegm in their throats and don’t clear it. Ugh! Cough it up, dude. You sound like Darth Vader.
5. When people twist your words. Okay, so you’re totally ignoring what I just said and manipulating it to fit your own agenda? People who do this are either: a) looking to pick a fight, or b) don’t care what your opinion is. Just walk away.
I seem like a really mild-mannered guy, but I can lose it. Now my turn?
G: Go for it.
J: One time in eighth grade Jack G purposely lost his voice. I’d lost mine and he wanted to match me. So we were standing outside a Krispy Kreme, and he says, “I just wanna see what it would be like.” So he starts singing punk rock, screaming this death metal for forty-five straight minutes. And it worked.
G: Yeah, it’s why my voice is deeper today. Permanent punk-rock damage.
J: Serves you right.
IF A GENIE GRANTED YOU THREE WISHES, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
J: Wish one: world peace. I’d wish that nobody had hatred in their souls toward other human beings.
G: Beautiful. Wish two: an end to world hunger.
J: Wish three: cure all diseases. I would honestly not waste a single wish on myself when there is so much that needs to be fixed about the world we live in.
G: What would we wish for anyway? Materialistic stuff?
J: Right, and another upside—besides making the world a better place—is that people would be really grateful. We’d be legends. We just cured cancer with a wish.
G: Win-win.
DO YOU COLLECT ANYTHING?
J: Back in the day, I used to collect baseball cards and Pokémon cards. Now I have this personal collection in my head of all these water brands that I’ve tried. I think I’m at 278.
G: Yeah, he does. Seriously, he’s always trying water—as if it tastes different. It’s water.
J: It does. It’s very subtle sometimes, but it does.
G: I don’t collect anything.
J: Yeah you do. You collect memories from around the world.
IF YOU HAD UNLIMITED MONEY, WHAT WOULD YOU BUY?
G: Unlimited? Like it never stops pouring out of my wallet? A jumbo jet for sure.
J: A mansion on both coasts and one in Colorado. And I’d give money to every charity in the world. Cancer research? You need $200 billion? Done!
G: I don’t think I would spend forty-eight hours in one place ever. I would have two drivers, on twelve-hour shifts, to take me places.
J: While your jet is fueling up—that works. See the world. I want a personal chef. Damn, everything would be so easy!
G: I think I would tip someone $500,000 just for the hell of it. Thanks for the coffee, have a great day. You deserve it.
WHAT IS YOUR MANTRA?
J: Mine is “Stay hydrated.” But then I want to add, “Stay humble, stay true.” Not necessarily in that order, but all important.
G: “Be who you are and who you always were.” Don’t change regardless of what’s changing around you.
J: My favorite quote is from Bob Marley, and I like that for a mantra, too: “When it rains, some people get wet, but others feel the rain.”
G: It’s all about perspective, isn’t it?
J: Everything is deeper than what appears on the surface—that’s what it means to me.
G: “Music is great because when it hits you, you feel no pain.” That’s Marley as well. Or “Let’s get together and feel all right.” Doesn’t that say it all? So simple. Why doesn’t everyone just do that? Just hang out and have fun and respect each other?
ONLY IN MY DREAMS
G: I used to have this reoccurring night terror for months when I was a kid, then it just stopped. I was in my house, and it was me and my sisters and we’re all alone i
n the kitchen making grilled cheese.
J: You cooking in the kitchen? That is scary.
G: We hear this knock on the door—a loud pounding. My parents aren’t home and we’re freaking out, but we open the door.
J: Why? I mean why not just keep it locked with the chain on?
G: ’Cause it’s my creepy nightmare, that’s why. So there are these guys standing there and they have no mouths and no eyes. Like faceless guys with just skin where the openings should be.
J: Then what?
G: Nothing. They didn’t do anything, we were just scared.
J: Okay, my nightmare is scarier. There was this poodle that I loved.
G: Wait, your poodle is gonna try and top my faceless dudes?
J: It gets better. We’re at my old house in the driveway, and I’m four or five and in love with this poodle. And in my nightmare, she ends up getting killed somehow. I woke up in tears, sobbing my heart out. My mom came in and tried to comfort me, but I was a wreck. So the next day she had me draw a picture of the poodle to help the grieving process.
G: Did it?
J: Not really. But it was a really nice poodle drawing.
G: I have a lot of lucid dreams. I dream in color.
J: Oh, me too. I don’t get people who dream in black-and-white. You’re missing out.
G: I can literally direct my dream to go the way I want it to.
J: I’ve had a dream where I was in bed and I stood up and watched myself sleeping. I pulled myself up and through the roof and started flying over my city. I could go anywhere I wanted, wake anybody up that I wanted, and say, “What’s good?”
G: You didn’t wake me up, right? Because I need my sleep.
J: I knew it was a dream, and I was totally self-aware. I felt like I could do anything, get away with anything.
