Interviews By Uma (And Dan): Johnny Tuosto
The Holy Wars Drummer On Gigging In Mexico With The Warning
Holy Wars drummer Johnny Tuosto on Sitting in With The Warning in Mexico
The LA-based long time session musician talks about playing huge crowds and living up to the high expectations of powerhouse drummer and force of nature Paulina Villarreal.
During The Warning’s most recent set of large arena shows in Mexico, there’s a moment in the show when the band is off-stage and a janitor, complete with a broom and jumpsuit, comes up on stage and begins sweeping.
The spot light follows him. He turns his back and the audience can see that there’s a The Warning lightning bolt symbol on his back.
The janitor, named El Johnny, takes his time, eventually making his way behind the kit of drummer Paulina Villarreal where he plays around a bit with some drum sticks suspiciously left behind.
Suddenly, to the roaring approval of the massive crowd, he lets down his hair and tears the sleeves off his jump suit like a wrestler. He gives the crowd a quick flex and tears into a drum solo before the ladies of The Warning re-emerge with Pau now a front woman and all four of them rip into the song ‘Consume’ a driving fan-favorite from their latest album, Keep Me Fed.
That drummer is Johnny Tuosto, a long-time studio musician currently playing for Holy Wars, the opening band for The Warning on this tour.
Little Bean and I met Johnny and most of the rest of Holy Wars back in September in Boston where they were chatty, kind and funny to their fans. Holy Wars is also a blistering, face melting near-metal band and a great choice for an opening band for The Warning.
Little Bean interviewed lead singer and writer Kat Leon from Holy Wars and you can read that interview here: Kat Leon Interview
As soon as we saw Johnny behind Pau’s kit, we had questions! So, we reached out. And much to our delight, Johnny took the time to chat with us and talk about the incredible opportunity of playing with The Warning in front of tens of thousands of Mexican fans.
There are two more shows left on the Mexican tour – tonight in Guadalajara at the Auditorio Telmex and on Feb. 22 in Monterrey at the Auditorio Citibanamex. Tonight’s show will be the largest venue The Warning has ever played with a capacity of 11,500.
In the interview, Johnny talked about his background, how it feels to play in front of such a large crowd and what’s going through his head when he sits down behind the kit of a powerhouse like Pau.
You can get more information on Holy Wars at their website here: Holy Wars Website
Interviews By Uma can be read here in our archives or email us at interviewsbyuma@gmail.com for questions or suggestions. Until next time, enjoy this interview with Johnny Tuosto.
Interviews By Uma (And Dan)
Uma and Dan (U&D): Tell us a little about your background as it looks like you’ve played with a bunch of bands.
Johnny Tuosto (JT): I’ve been playing drums for 22 years now. As soon as I picked up the sticks there was a natural connection with them. I spent most of my educational years studying and playing music until I moved to Los Angeles. Once there, I spent some time building a foundation, built a home/professional studio, and began immersing myself in the industry. I began receiving offers for work - gigs, music videos, etc., and things just kept building.
U&D: How did you hook up with Holy Wars?
JT: I got connected to Holy Wars through our manager, Rachel Hacken. We used to work together at William Morris Endeavor as assistants to music agents there. She went the management route after that and I went performance. Then there came a time where Holy Wars was in need of a drummer and I was actively looking for more gigs and it was just a great full circle moment.
U&D: How did it come about that you got to play ‘Consume’ with The Warning?
JT: I got to play ‘Consume’ with The Warning largely thanks to their manager, Rudy Joffroy. Holy Wars has toured with The Warning a couple times and have developed a great relationship with the girls and the entire camp/crew. I got a call from Rudy one day and he floated the idea because they were determined to give Paulina a front-woman song during the set and needed someone to fill in on drums. The acting or “El Johnny” bit was also Rudy’s idea as the girls need some time for wardrobe changes so I’m out there basically stalling and having fun with the crowd.
U&D: Was it a challenge since the musical styles of the two bands are different?
JT: The biggest challenge was playing Paulina’s parts with justice (her fans have a very high expectation lol), supporting them all as their drummer for the song, and especially laying things down in such a way that Paulina feels comfortable - it’s totally her moment and whatever I can do to nourish that is the goal.
U&D: Were you nervous playing in front of such a big crowd with The Warning?
JT: I was definitely a little jittery before the first show - so much has gone into their whole show and to have this role in it is an honor and a privilege and I want to do the best I can for them. Especially for the first run of it all, you’re absorbing everything for the first time - the magnitude of it all is enormous. Now that we’ve done it with full production a couple times now, there’s more familiarity and comfort and I know what it all is and what to do.
U&D: Do you have any pets?
JT: No, no pets unfortunately. I’d love to have a dog but work demands a lot of travel and being away from my pup constantly would be hard for both of us. However, a friend and one of my brothers have dogs and I basically assume full uncle/godfather duties whenever I can!
Interviews By Uma is a regular question and answer feature developed by ten-year-old Uma Szczesny and formatted and managed by her journalist dad. The column focuses on interviews between Uma and some of her favorite musicians, artists and teachers. Uma has interviewed the Canadian teen band Freeze the Fall, Ashley Suppa of Plush and Kat Leon of Holy Wars. For more information on Interviews By Uma, to read her archive or to propose or suggest an interview, email interviewsbyuma@gmail.com.
We also want to say HELLO to all The Warning and Holy Wars fans that followed us over here in the past couple days after hearing that this interview was dropping. Thank you! While we don’t write about music every day, we do write about it often. Upcoming music related stories include interviews with composer Wendy Stephens, upcoming shows with High Fade and AC/DC and even a DJing gig for Little Bean. Plus, if you search the archives for your favorite bands, you’re likely to find some past articles you’ll enjoy. Either way, we hope you stick with us, and tell us what you’d like us to write about. Cheers!
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Loved it! So great to get the background scoop
Great interview as always