Life on the Road, But Still Life

Local drummer John Jackson helps some of pop-punk's heavyweights keep the beat.

For every rim-rattling, beat-keeping drummer you hear on the radio or at a concert, there’s a drum tech sitting anxiously off stage, hoping the heads are tight enough and the cymbals placed just so. Unless you have access to sound checks, you’ll rarely see people like John Jackson, 24, a local drummer who tours as a drum tech with Canadian pop-punk champions Simple Plan. While the fellows are back stage getting their pre-show punk on, he’s getting paid to play their drum kit, though not for thousands of screaming fans.

It might seem like a thankless job, but John has found ways to embrace his passions, and his Springfield roots, even as he tours the continent with his famous friends.

John’s duties as Simple Plan’s drum tech are “just what drummers do,” he says. Once he’s sure the drums arrived in one piece (well, the correct amount of multiple pieces, anyway), he sets them up and meticulously inspects the kit for any hardware or drumheads that need replacing. It’s an important job—imagine a concert without the snap of the snare, with moshers rumbling over themselves with ghastly rhythm. The hardest part about it, John says, is knowing someone else’s preferences (in this case the preferences of Simple Plan drummer Chuck Comeau), though it’s something that comes naturally with time. After sound check, John keeps an eye on the stage—best if the drums don’t move once they’ve been sound checked.

It was in 2001 at the Juke Joint, the now-defunct Springfield rock venue/gentrification victim, that John was introduced to The Ritalin Kids, another early staple of the pop punk phenomenon, and began to tour professionally. While on the road he met and began to work with the All-American Rejects, who were gaining popularity and showing up on MTV charts in 2002. Now with Simple Plan, it would seem that John Jackson is “thee” drum tech of the pop-punk world.

What does John have to say about pop-punk? It’s not true punk. Not really. “When I hear the term pop-punk all I really hear is pop. Punk is a lifestyle, pop-punk is a sound. Punk comes with a set of ideals and any more it’s like the bands who should know their sh*t don’t.”

“[The bands’] fame really gets annoying,” John says. People always ask what the guys in the band are like, or if he can get them backstage or on the bus, but to him the guys you recognize from videos are just regular guys. When you work and travel with someone day in and day out you’re bound to become friends with them and John’s friends, it just so happens, appear on MTV.

And while the inside of a bus might be a great place to become friends, it’s getting out that makes for good times. This is where fame really gets in the way, and causes a frustrating paradox for not only the band members, but the crew members traveling with them. “It’s hard to get out when people maul you on sight, and when you’re stuck on a bus for a few months it’s hard to not get out every once in a while, you know?” said John.

And it’s the “road,” despite all its adventure, that makes this job a job. John spends months at a time away from his family and home in Willard. For all but about eight weeks a year he’s on a bus traveling from venue to venue, watching the world through a windshield. How does one survive all that travel time? John is a collector. He dreams of the next city he’ll get to explore and what rare gems he might find on vinyl in local record shops, even as he enjoys what he was able to find in the last city. A typical tour, John says, yields about three boxes of collectible treasure. And he has help from the musicians: While touring with the All-American Rejects, John and guitarist Mike Kenerty managed to accumulate more than 300 7-inch records, a popular do-it-yourself record label format.

At only 24, John already has four and a half years of experience on the national touring and plans on many years to come. Can you imagine what his record collection will look like by the time he’s 40?

Vinyl Treasure Map

John Jackson’s secret to success is to remember who he is. Collecting
memorabilia, especially old records, helps him hold onto his past and stay sane in his present. So, let’s see where the best places to rediscover oneself might be. John Jackson’s list of top places to score mint-condition vinyl:
Japan: “In every record store it’s like it’s 1991; everything’s still on vinyl and the price is still $9.99!”
Montreal: “Great for indie and hardcore stuff.”
Seattle: “Used to be number two on the list and for the same reasons.”
Cleveland: “Great record shops. Every time I go to Cleveland I come home with cases of toys.”                             —J.E.