Will Johnson started Centro-Matic as a side project from his band, Funland, in 1995. In December of 1996, after a few 7" releases and compilation appearances, Will ended up in the home studio of Matt Pence for three weeks recording what would become the highly-acclaimed album, Redo The Stacks - a 23-song album of pop genius, on which Johnson plays most everything himself, with the exception of a little violin and cello (added by friends Scott Danbom and Lindsay Romig, respectively). After the release of the album Will expanded Centro-Matic's line up from one to four, bringing in Scott on violin and piano, Matt on drums, and friend Mark Hedman on bass. After some regional touring and an almost perfect football season it was time to document what had become a backlog of new songs. This time Will and the band moved their operation to Milstadt, where they rented a warehouse studio space from Son Volt's Jay Farrar. A few weeks later they walked away with over 60 new songs.
The new material finds them picking up where Redo The Stacks left off.
Again, recording on everything from hand-held tape recorders to 4-track
cassettes to fancy machines with blinking lights, Centro-Matic has come
up with a batch of songs that range from bummed-out acoustic downers to
full-on power pop anthems. The one constant is Johnson's powerful, heartfelt
lyrics teamed with some of the most infectious melodies ever known to
man.
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