An Act of Love: Interview with John Robertson

Do you remember my holiday toast? It starts out, “Here’s to the runaways,” and offers blessings to the misunderstood joys of the season, like not coming home for the holidays and wrecking front-yard nativity scenes. The wildly talented John Robertson set my words to an edgy punk-rock beat and made it song number ten on his album, Lost City. 

Lost City is one of seven albums and two EPs John has produced as a singer and songwriter, and this year, he’s taking a stage name: John Worth. I met John when he lived in the Bay Area, where he studied theater at San Francisco State. He moved to Minnesota in 2012 and founded a nonprofit agency committed to ending homelessness.

Who are your writing heroes?
All of my writing heroes show the ugliest and most intimate parts of themselves unapologetically. It's courageous, but to me it is also an act of love. They seem to know that by being totally honest something universal will shine through and it will resonate and sooth, teach, validate. I swear to Goddess I've fallen in love with people I've never met just because I knew them intimately through their writing. 

That's how I fell in love with my current partner. He writes for a living and is also an aspiring screenwriter. A screenplay I read about his mother's passing showed me his weaknesses, fears and hopes. I trusted a man who could lay out all the scary stuff like that on the table. That love affair has been ongoing. Yay! 

Another most recent love affair is with a non-binary rapper out in Arizona, Kurtis Tripp. The first time I heard their music I was moved to tears. They can put raw emotion to music in a way that makes me feel like I just had therapy. To me, a hero is someone who models how to move through tragedy or crisis. 

What does your writing process look like?
It always starts with something that won’t leave me alone. It's gotta nag at me or I won't sit down to give it a body. If I can give it a body, a song or a story where it can live outside on its own forever, then it will no longer live inside me. I guess writing is my sweat lodge. If I'm collaborating, I look for something about the other artist's words that resonate with me and I go with that emotion musically. I always start with the music. The music is beyond the words. If I can hear those notes and that tempo and those noises (I love sound effects) and instinctually wind up in the intended emotional destination, THEN I can add the words. 

Do writing and sex have anything in common? 
Mm hmm. The kinda writing I want to create and the kind that moves me is a lot like sex because of the intimacy it transmits. By the time I've finished a journey with an artist it's like we've swapped spit, cum and sweat. We've bonded from our shared experience. I always hope I can be that for listeners too. For example, I was recording a song once and suddenly started to struggle with the lyrics. I was choking up and trying to suppress a cry so I could get through the story. I decided not to do a second take. I just left the weeping in there. Published it that way. Good. Now it lives outside of me.

What are you working on now? 
I'm very excited about my current projects. Because of the new stage name, I will be taking down my albums, re-releasing them under the name John Worth, and working with a branding/marketing expert on my social media. 

Also, Kurtis Tripp and I are working on some tunes and we'll be dropping an album (working title: “Curfews and Revolutions”) and performing our first show in Arizona in January. Gonna get a few videos out there too. We hope this will be the first of many collaborations. 

I have a solo album coming out in March, called Crazy Wheel. It's fulla spit, cum and sweat so consider yourselves warned. You're gonna fall in love with me.

###

I coax sexy writers like John Robertson to reveal their creative secrets and processes in writer interviews to inspire you:

• Light up your holiday music list with “F#Ck Your Carol,” John’s and my collaboration. Better yet, buy the whole album.

• Follow John on Facebook and bookmark his new website for music samples and updates on forthcoming projects.

Feeling inspired? Book a private session with me, The Sexy Grammarian. You always leave private sessions with homework and inspiration, and the first session is always free.