Thomas “TJ” Johnson (born November 27, 1957 in

Thomasville, North Carolina Thomasville is a city in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 27,183 at the 2020 census. The city was once notable for its furniture industry, as were its neighbors High Point and Lexington. This Piedmont Triad comm ...

) is an American audio engineer, producer, and musician. He is best known for his work with

Porno for Pyros Porno for Pyros is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1992, following the break-up of Jane's Addiction. The band currently consists of former Jane's Addiction members Perry Farrell (vocals) and ...

and Rancid. Johnson has been an active professional in the industry since 1981, and trained at the

Recording Workshop Recording Workshop (RECW) is a school that teaches the process of music recording and audio production. It is located seven miles south of Chillicothe, Ohio, USA. History Founded in 1977 as "The Recording Workshop", the school was associated with ...

, an audio-engineering school in Chillicothe, Ohio. Johnson's involvement with Porno for Pyros began during the recording of their second album, ''

Good God's Urge ''Good God's Urge'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Porno for Pyros. It was released in 1996 on Warner Bros. It was the band's first album to feature bass guitarist Mike Watt, who assisted the band in finishing the alb ...

'', on which Johnson engineered, co-produced, and played. Following the album's release, Johnson toured with Porno for Pyros from 1995 until the spring of 1997, providing samples, playing keyboards, and singing backing vocals. During that time, Johnson also recorded new tracks for what should have been Porno for Pyros's third album, which were instead released on

Perry Farrell Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as part (one of the ...

’s solo effort '' Song Yet to Be Sung'' and

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...

’s ''

Kettle Whistle ''Kettle Whistle'' is a compilation album by alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, released November 4, 1997 on Warner Bros. Issued to coincide with the 1997 "Relapse" tour, the album – originally titled ''It's My Party'' – includes new, alte ...

''. Johnson has worked with an array of major and independent labels including

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

, Geffen, and

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. He also did work for

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...

, and its offshoot,

Hellcat Records Hellcat Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. The label, an offshoot of Epitaph Records, was started as a partnership between Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, the owner of Epitaph, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid ...

. In the spring of 1997, Johnson started a long relationship with Rancid, resulting in his recording ''

Life Won't Wait ''Life Won't Wait'' is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band Rancid. It was released on June 30, 1998 through Epitaph Records. It was released as the follow-up to '' ...And Out Come the Wolves'' (1995). Writing and production ...

'' and '' Rancid 2000'' for the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

punk band. Although still active in the recording realm, Johnson now teaches in the Entertainment Technology Department at

Guilford Technical Community College Guilford Technical Community College (Guilford Tech, "G-Tech", or GTCC) is a public community college in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. It is the fourth largest institution in the North Carolina Community College System and the largest in ...

(GTCC).

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Thomas 1957 births Living people Record producers from North Carolina American audio engineers People from Thomasville, North Carolina