“It’s the greatest thing we’ve ever done,” laughs Rudy Pacé, lead signer of Electric Spoonful. That might be a little tongue-in-cheek considering how absurd their new single “Johnny Drunken Drawers” is, but Pacé is probably right.
Just in time for Halloween, “Johnny Drunken Drawers” is what you’d get if you set the Tim Burton seasonal staple A Nightmare Before Christmas in Halifax’s Gus’ Pub, and made it about 100% greasier. The results are absolutely amazing.
The release comes right on the heels of Electric Spoonful’s first full-length record, plus an EP, plus a slew of other projects. With the song’s peculiar theme, though, it’s unlikely that it would have fit in anywhere else.
The band has crafted the character of Johnny Drunken Drawers, as perfectly absurd as he sounds, the “greasy bastard [who] haunts legendary Halifax venue Gus’ Pub.” With singer Pacé and bassist C.J. Hill both working at the pub, it’s like they have adopted their very own resident poltergeist.
“His name is Johnny Drunken Drawers, living here beneath the floors. He steals your beers, your cigarettes. Greasy as it fuckin’ gets! Smell his musk upon the walls, from the VLTs to the bathroom stalls. Trapped behind these old pub doors, it’s spooky Johnny Drunken Drawers!”
“It all came together super quickly and it was a blast to record. We are super excited to unleash this bad boy at Gus’ on Halloween Night,” says Hill.
According to the band, they were pushing themselves to explore their boundaries with different genres, though particularly in the direction of eccentric songwriters like Nick Cave and Tom Waits. While the outlandish tale is told from the perspective of a drunken patron, the flash of brilliance came entirely from the perspective of Rudy Pacé one night.
“The story of writing it was kinda funny,” says guitarist TJ Ploughman. “Rudy working in an empty Gus’ with one guy sitting in the VLT room. Just wrote the song on the spot. Lyrics and all.”
“It’s so great to have a catalyst for creativity like Spoonful, where everyone involved takes inspiration from a variety of different things, throw it all together, and see what the finished product is,” adds drummer Jesse MacLeod. “In the case of Johnny Drunken Drawers, our mutual love for horror, comedy, lore, and music all come together to create a one-of-a-kind creation that’s much more of a story than a song. It’s definitely unlike anything we’ve done in the past, but I suppose that’s the plan, to keep one-upping ourselves.”
The band has plans to continue exploring both this new ground and the more absurd side of things, and, hopefully, that’ll mean expanding on the world of Johnny Drunken Pants. Who wouldn’t love to hear the Haunting of Halifax – The Musical? In the meantime, they do have plans for a follow-up sister EP to 2 Poor 4 a Two-Four, called Still 2 Poor, which is scheduled to be released later in 2022.
The band will also be debuting their live performance of “Johnny Drunken Pants” at Gus’ Pub in Halifax on Halloween night.