Johnny Ironsights® is a Dark Country-Folk artist from Arizona whose music channels the hard-living spirit of the American underbelly. Johnny's storytelling is honest and gritty, dealing with themes of drug and gambling addictions, violence and grief, as well as the struggles of the American working class.
Johnny is currently writing and recording his next album in his humble home studio in the Sonoran Desert and will not be touring or active on social media during this time.
“I’m an introvert, recluse and a bit of a misanthrope. As the American philosopher GG Allin once said “I hate people”. On stage or in the studio, I come alive. Or get some drugs and alcohol in me and I’m the life of the party. But I’m old now and try not to partake in the Devil’s ways. I haven't played a show since Norway which was about four years ago. These days, I prefer the simple life in the country with my beautiful wife and our Australian Cattle Dog. I try to stay away from social media, news and politics. Too many idiots. It’s draining, infuriating and furthers my belief that we must be in a simulation and that we need a purge or an astroid to reset this motherfucker we call earth.”
Prior to the chilling and cinematic storytelling that his music is known for today, he played in SoCal punk, garage and psychobilly bands. He was the organist for the garage punk band, The Woolly Bandits. They toured through the US, Canada and Europe as well as shared the stage with such acts as The Damned, The Adolescents, Sky Saxon and the Seeds and Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins).
These experiences and music influences are heard in the unconventional writing style and sound of his Dark Country-Folk tunes.
In 2014, Johnny was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship by the US State Department. He lived in New Delhi for nine months researching the 1960s US Government Cold War espionage and jazz diplomacy program in India and greater South Asia. After returning to California, he began a PhD program at UC Santa Cruz focusing on American Social History and Music Diplomacy, but left the program and moved to Arizona with his wife in 2018.
Johnny comes from a diverse cultural background. His mother was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and is indigenous Filipino. His father, a French-Canadian immigrant, worked as an electrician and later as a manager of a mobile home park.