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John 'Woz' Wozniak (Marcy Playground) Interview - Part 2

By Chad Bowar

If you missed it, here's Part 1 of the interview: John 'Woz' Wozniak (Marcy Playground) Interview - Part 1

What are your expectations for the album?

I don't really have any. I'm pretty convinced that at some point we'll end up selling a ton of them because the people that do hear the record seem to really respond to it well. I think it's going to be a word of mouth type thing where people are going to hear the record, get it, play it for their friends. Their friends are gonna wanna have it, go buy it, play it for their friends, and so on. I have a feeling it's going to be a bit like that. As far as us getting on every single radio station in the country, who knows? Yeah, it's possible. I'm not expecting that to happen. I'm expecting to go out there and play for our fans who bought our record and build it.

Who have been some of your favorite bands to tour with over the years?

There's a lot. There's bands that took us out like Everclear and Toad the Wet Sprocket. We had fun with those guys. The ones that we had the most fun with are bands you've probably never heard of because they're bands we came across when we were on the road, fell in love with their sound, their shows, and took them out. Lincoln was one of them. Pure, a Canadian band, was another. Jolene, from North Carolina. Those three were the most fun we had.

Where haven't you toured that you'd like to go?

Japan. I'd like to play in Japan. I've heard a lot about it. Other than that we've played everywhere. We've played in literally every city in the States, Europe, Australia. We might go to South America. That's be kind of cool.

You're involved with an organization called the Buried Heart Society. What is that?

It's a non-profit organization, a benefit for the missing women on the downtown east side of Vancouver. There's a sex trade that goes on there, drugs, so these women were disappearing and nobody was noticing. They were disappearing for 10 to 15 years. They say over 50-60 and probably a lot more than that have actually disappeared. The project is to make aware that these women are down there at risk, and need some sort of protection, and not jail. Jail is clearly not the answer. The project is to raise awareness about the fact that nobody noticed and that there's something clearly wrong when that many women can go missing and nobody pays any attention.

How did you get started in music?

Listening to records. I was listening to mostly 50's music, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry. I moved to Philadelphia when I was about 10. Pretty soon thereafter I got a guitar and started playing it.

How did Marcy Playground form?

I was 22 or 23. I moved to New York and needed a bass player and a drummer. I found Dylan (Keefe). I met Dylan through Kurt Rosenwinkel, a mutual friend. Kurt is a famous jazz guitar player. He's brilliant, a genius. When we first got together Kurt was playing bass with us. He was doing it because it was fun. He liked my music. But when we started getting label interest he couldn't do it because he had a deal with Blue Note. He called Dylan, who came out to where we were rehearsing. It was weird, because he was from Minneapolis too, was my age, had grown up across town from me, and had gone to the only other open school in Minneapolis. I went to Marcy Open School, he went to Lake Harriet Open School. We have so much in common. It was really freaky. Then he didn't call me back. Finally I got a call from him. He was back home. The day we had met his dad committed suicide. I was devastated for him. It bonded us even more.

How did you get your record deal?

Through Don Ruben, who got it from his intern. His intern had been listening to my old record that I had done in the late 80's called Zog Bogbean - From The Marcy Playground. It was a solo thing I did. She got a hold of it. I later found out Weird Al Yankovic had been listening to it. Someone gave him a copy at about the same time, so he's been a fan for years. This intern ended up working reception for Don Ruben, the head of EMI's A&R department. At the end of the summer he asked her if there was anything she heard that I should listen to? She handed him Zog Bogbean and he liked it. He started calling and he didn't give up until we were signed. He was pursuing us for about a year. I was living in Olympia, Washington at the time going to college. He recommended that I move to New York and form and band. If I could do that and show that kind of drive then he could convince the rest of the people at the record company that this was serious. So that's what I did.

You seem to be a very active participant in the band's web site.

I try to be as much as possible. I don't want to be entirely accessible, but I do want to be somewhat accessible. They can feel part of a group, a part of the Marcy Playground family. I like our fans. I think they're clever, creative people. There's a huge variety of people that like the band. People make friends on the bulletin board, they meet up at shows. I think it's a nice way to build a community. It builds loyalty and a sense of camaraderie.