Johnny Foreigner is a pop trio from England who recently released a debut album, Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light, on Best Before Records. We talked with guitarist Alexei Berrow about PacMan ghosts, a member of Bloc Party remixing their new single, and some other things that are generally asked in an interview.

Johnny Foreigner – Salt, Pepa and Spinderella
Johnny Foreigner – Our Bi-Polar Friends

To begin, you have PacMan ghosts all over your Myspace page, album art, music videos, merch, etc. What do PacMan ghosts mean to you?
They started out as pacman ghostees, thee most obvious scary bad guys ever. And we drew them and drew them and gave them to Lewes to draw and they ended up being part ghostee, part Quintin Blake monster. The ghosts mean everything from handy metaphors, us in a mirrorworld, and an easy thing to draw when people ask you to sign stuff.

You list a lot of bands as your influences on your Myspace page. What bands aren’t your influences?
Most of the ones that aren’t. Career bands, fashion bands, politiking bands. But life’s too short to pick on individuals, it’s easy enough not to listen to them.

Can you explain Johnny Foreigner to people that have never heard of you?
We grew up on Pavement and Pixies and Sonic Youth, we went done formed a pop band.

A member of Bloc Party remixed one of your songs. How did you get involved with each other?
Our people spoke to their people. We’ve never actually met. Tis pretty flattering since they’re waaay bigger than us, and it came out dead good so everyone’s happy.

Your debut album Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light was produced by Machine, a producer best known for his work with harder artists like Every Time I Die, Lamb of God, and 18 Visions. Did that “edge” ever seep over onto your record?
The edge I think you’re referring to is more the sound those bands make as opposed to the influence of the guy recording them. We knew he’d make the guitars really loud and work us hard on our vocals. There were no devil horn signs.

You’re from the UK. What are your thoughts on America as well as the American music scene?
I don’t think it’s wise for musicians to talk politics. And people are not their country. Most of our favorite bands are American therefore America is awesome regardless of the divs in charge of the money. The music scene seems big and scary, we can’t wait to be more involved. There’s a proper work ethic that’s missing from the UK.

What’s a normal day like when you’re not on tour?
I don’t remember. I have a week off now and I totally don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Play every horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em up I can find, it would seem.

What’s next for Johnny Foreigner?
New York for CMJ, go on tour with some more bands, write new songs. Fun, fun, fun…

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