“I’m just really flattered because I know what those types of songs from other artists mean in my life. It’s also really nice to be able to have a song that when you start to play it, you can feel a certain thing kind of come over the crowd, and people sing along with us.”
Jack Johnson says he still can’t believe the impact his songs create. Photo / Morgan Maas
With Johnson, it’s a case of the music reflecting the man. His tunes are reggae-tinged, laid-back pop, and feel as fresh as the ocean he loves to surf. They make you want to want to crack open a beer and break out the guitar.
We love him here, and his own love affair with Aotearoa goes right back to the very beginning.
Johnson’s first three records were more successful in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, by population standards. His debut album, Brushfire Fairytales, was released in 2001 and went 4x Platinum in Aotearoa. Two years later, On and On went 3x platinum. And 2005’s In Between Dreams went 7x Platinum. Even his soundtrack to the 2006 film Curious George went Platinum.
“I think [New Zealand] was the first place we ever had a song be a number one song on the radio. It was the first time we started getting our music really spun on a radio station, and that was really exciting for us,” he says.
“In the beginning, you go to some places, and you might play a small room, and then you go somewhere else, and you got a crowd you can play to in a field or something bigger. New Zealand was one of those spots where we could really early on get a bigger crowd, and it was a real exciting place for us to be.”
Johnson’s first time in New Zealand wasn’t under his own steam, but as the opening act for Ben Harper near the turn of the millennium.
Things will come full circle later this year when it is Harper who joins Johnson on stage when he plays two New Zealand shows.
“I can honestly tell you I was thinking, ‘someday I’m going to be able to tell my kids I opened for Ben Harper’,” Johnson says, thinking back to where it all began.
Jack Johnson is creating surf clips that comprise his new documentary Surfilmusic.
The singer reckons he’s in New Zealand every few years at this point. It is “one of [his] favourite places in the world”.
And with the likes of L.A.B and Katchafire breaking records domestically with their reggae tunes, Johnson appreciates how big the genre is here and why it resonates with Kiwis. In many ways, we remind him of home.
“When I was growing up as a kid, reggae music was mainstream on the radio here in Hawaii. Like Gregory Isaacs or Ziggy Marley, those were the biggest albums of the year,” he says.
“I just felt really at home the first time I went to New Zealand.”
And he’s seen a bit of Aotearoa over the years. If you’re looking to complete the ‘Jack Johnson tourist hot spot list of places to visit’, he’s happy to play favourites.
Hot Water Beach is special.
“We showed up, and it was midnight and [a] full moon. Just to have that experience in the middle of the night was so memorable.”
And while it “might be a bit too touristy”, Johnson says one of the most fun days he’s ever had was spent on Rotorua’s famous luge.
And chances are, if you’re a surfer, you might come across Johnson in the waves while he’s here. Honouring the rules of surf culture, the former professional is keeping his spot selection a secret.
“A lot of times, people are pretty welcoming unless you start talking about the name of their spot. Then you show up, and they’re not as welcoming. So, I can’t tell you where I go,” he says with a laugh.
But don’t be surprised if he comes up and asks to borrow your board.
“There have been times where I’ve even been at a beach and seen a decent wave and then tried to bum like a board off of somebody,” he says.
“I used to [bring a board with me], and now I don’t because I find it’s pretty easy to borrow from friends, and it’s just a lot easier to travel light.”
Surfilmusic chronicles how Johnson’s surfing passion fuelled his creative fire.
Johnson is an advocate for clean oceans. At his shows, merchandise sales are donated to groups who are making the sea – and land – cleaner. When he last played here in 2022 at Western Springs Outer Field (it was pouring with rain, and everyone was covered in mud) the proceeds went to a local foundation that helped recycle plastic waste.
It’s something Johnson will continue to do, this time around with the help of his wife Kim, who was the one who encouraged him to look at causes he could shine his spotlight on as his fame grew.
“My wife and I have been together since we were 18 years old, and she’s my manager and partner through everything in life,” he says.
“It’s always been part of it ever since the beginning, bringing attention to great groups doing good work. We always have non-profit groups in every town we play, and money from the show always goes back to those local groups,” he says.
And while it’s been four years since Johnson released his last album Meet the Moonlight, his creative juices are always flowing.
His most recent passion project is a new documentary, Surfilmusic, which traces how Johnson’s early years making surf films with his mates became a foundation for his creative life.
“We didn’t actually start out to make a film; it was really that we had all these little parts because we were going to put out our old surf home videos online. We’d kind of missed the chance to do that a while ago,” he says.
The project’s been evolving for years, just like the life of the man behind it.
“I’m 50 years old now, so it was a fun time in my life to start looking back and think about what in the world just happened there for the last 30 years.”
Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and John Butler are playing Auckland’s Spark Arena on November 20 and Waipara Winehouse in North Canterbury on November 22. Visit livenation.co.nz for details.
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.