Punk Rock Philosophy made a connection with Knelt Before’s Mark Johnston from urban Gateshead UK (us) to the top of a mountain in Oregon (him) to talk straight edge, father-son bonding through music and playing Satanic Warmaster to babies…
Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, fire marshal, father, husband…Mark Johnston wears many hats and juggles many roles. Although his career may have shifted course at various times throughout his life, music has been a constant since a young age when a teenage Johnston set his sights on being in a band:
“I’ve always had 5–10-year plans, even when I was a teenager. I knew I wanted to be in a signed band so at 15 I got a job at a record label and through that I got to meet people and do demos etc.
I was in a punk band that almost got signed to Epitaph, but I backed out- I didn’t wanna do it. There was a lot of drinking and drugs, and I am straight edge [a lifestyle that eschews intoxication] so I wasn’t into all that and didn’t particularly wanna be around it.
I ended up doing a jazz composition degree! My mom said that if I wanted to tour, I needed a degree first, and I was like “what’s the hardest music degree I could think of?” And that’s how I ended up doing that! I loved jazz musicians like Coltrane, Davis, Brubeck… but the only guitar I knew at the time was Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt, the gypsy jazz/classical style”.
That molecular study of the genre did not result in Johnston rocking up to smoky jazz clubs to ply his trade (“if you delve too deep intellectually into something it takes the fun/mystery of it”) he was still very much pursuing the punk dream. In the early 2000s he joined light emo/fashion rock band LoveHateHero (complete with sweeping fringe) with whom he had as stint as guitarist, seeing them signed to Ferret Music and becoming labelmates with Massachusetts metalcore outfit Killswitch Engage.
Although stretches in bands like LoveHateHero were not to last for the long term, one thing that has endured for Johnston is the underlying principles of punk- particularly of the PMA [positive mental attitude], self-disciplined, DIY sort. As well as a musical outlet, punk’s lessons have been a sort of moral compass that have guided Mark through some difficult periods to make bold decisions rooted in doing the right thing and keeping control over his creative direction. This includes a steadfast commitment to the sXe lifestyle- and not just the ‘I don’t drink’ style sXe, oh no. Johnston is the full-whack-vegan-and-no-caffeine brand of straight-edger :
“I’m vegan, I don’t do caffeine, no tattoos, nothing foreign in my body… I’m the sparkling water type- I don’t even drink soda! It’s like the Dead Prez say:’ I don’t eat no meat, no dairy, no sweets/ only ripe vegetables, fresh fruit and whole wheat!’
I like the philosophy, but I haven’t always liked a lot of the people, there’s always been some disingenuous ‘’til I’m 21, Straight Edge’ stuff out there, like they were straight edge and then it’s ‘oooh a bar!’ But I’ve never been super judge-y about those that DO drink.
A lot of friends broke edge and then didn’t wanna talk to me anymore as they thought I was gonna judge them. I don’t drink, you drink…fine. I’m not gonna judge. I have a friend who had a metal plate in his head after being beaten up by some straight edge crew when he was smoking a cigarette on a corner, not bothering anyone. I didn’t wanna be a part of that.
I’ve always admired bands that keep the PMA- Bad Brains, Good Clean Fun etc. I made a choice not to drink. I’m not hard-line gonna go beat people up and I have been more effective in talking to people by being approachable than being a jerk.
You don’t get across your ideals by beating up someone for a cig. For me, it’s not a ‘holier than thou’ thing- I just like feeling in control of my emotions and my body.”
I first came across Mark’s work at the beginning of 2023 as his band Knelt Before released their debut album ‘Be Nice’. Even then, there was a unique appeal in why Mark was making music at this point- to create a body of work for his son Atlas (now 10). It’s a body of work that continues to grow- songs that are expletive free, embodying a PMA approach popularised by 80s hardcore, life lessons to pass from father to son. And the process of creating the music has been a bonding experience in itself:
“I am at about 80-85 songs recorded and released; I’m aiming to get to 100 by the end of the year. There are songs about things I’ve learnt over my life, situations I have had to deal with. I wrote a song on the first album about a boss that I had, and it was a terrible situation. I was treated terribly by him and the song was about me dealing with that. A lot of those songs are my experiences and how I have dealt with things. I’ve had some terrible things happen to me, a lot of negative experiences and it is about the way you look at them and get through them. The track ‘Anger and Acceptance’ from the first album resonated really well with people and the lesson of that one was ‘crap happens but how are you going to let it affect you?’
It is a nice way to have those things in a repository that I can use, in life if there’s something going on and I can’t think how to explain it to him, I can play him the song.”
It’s cool to think of Mark’s songbooks as a kind of ‘how-to’ for life- a song ready to provide insight, wisdom and comfort for all of life’s triumphs and tragedies. And Mark has experienced tragedy and loss- his good friend Peter Kowalsky (vocalist for Remembering Never) passed away last year and the song ‘Never Alone’ from 2024’s ‘Be Drinkable’ helped him come to terms with the loss as well as being able to explain it to his young son:
“It was really hard for me. He passed suddenly in July 2023 and trying to explain that to Atlas was difficult enough as I didn’t know how to explain it to myself. ‘Never Alone’ was a cathartic thing for me too, I was processing a whole range of emotions.”
And trying to communicate life’s big feelings to a young boy via song takes a special kind of songwriting skill, one that Mark has enjoyed exploring, forcing him to think about composition in a different way:
“I try to keep the lyrics basic enough that he can understand them… if you read the lyrics they are not super meta. I don’t want to tell a complicated story, but I don’t want to get vague. I want him to access them.”
And Atlas isn’t a passive recipient for these tracks- he is also part of the creative process and a budding musician himself. In fact, Mark credits music- and specifically a bit of family karaoke- in helping Atlas with his delayed speech development:
“The way we got him to start talking is through karaoke. We would record songs word-by-word and I would stitch them together for him to listen to. He likes to hear himself, and practice with recordings of himself in a sort-of echolalia way. He tried out speech by reciting lyrics as responses, so this was a good way to create echo feedback and produce speech using something he was already doing.The Ramones are his favourite band, but his favourite performance is ‘Piano Man’ by Billy Joel. He’ll perform it and do the whole lounge act, talking to the audience: ‘thanks for coming out to my show everyone, this is Piano Man!’
He did it on a cruise and he had a bar full of people singing along and he will interact with the crowd during the breaks. His love of music has led to new friendships for us as well.
I write songs with him but those are very direct and very adorable! He wrote a song for his stuffed animals, we wrote song for mother’s day and for his grandma’s birthday. I’ll ask him ‘what music do you want with this?’ and he’ll be specific about what guitar I play. He knows the difference between the guitars.
We went and saw Dashboard Confessional- every time someone came on stage, he was shouting ‘Telecaster!’ ‘Jazzmaster!’”
It’s no wonder that Atlas is adept at identifying guitars- there’s approximately 45 guitars in Mark’s home studio in Oregon as well as various other instruments laying around for Atlas to experiment with including drum kits and banjos and various other equipment. It’s a real family activity and one that Johnston is thrilled to share with his son:
“First band I ever played for him was Satanic Warmaster, to try and desensitise him so he can sleep through loud noises! That was his first foray into music. He instantly reacted to it. Then I put on ‘Black Dog’ by Led Zeppelin- his eyes got super big, and he was bouncing up and down! I don’t buy guitars for show pieces, they are bought to be played. I don’t want him to be scared of trying stuff out.”
And this new purpose in songwriting is a new experience for Mark as well, seeing a different side to the craft and moving forward with different motivations has been cathartic and transformative for him too:
“I’ve never been a lyricist or singer, I was always backup vocals or the harmoniser, never the frontman. Knelt Before were a band I always had a plan for, I had some people to play with, but I wrote and recorded everything myself. Every time I played with other people, they didn’t wanna change anything, so for a while it is just me. Now I am doing everything including producing and recording. It is a completely different process for me. It is trusting that I am doing it well enough that people will enjoy it.
‘Be There’ was written for Atlas for his 10th birthday and that release is up for a Pacific North West Music award! It’s great to be recognised in that way but I am not making music for anyone but Atlas. It is ultimately all for him, everything I do”.
Ultimately, it is a labour of love in the very true sense of the term, but love’s labours don’t always pay the bills. Although not the primary goal for these releases, like many musicians Mark should be compensated for his output and that can be a tricky thing with the music industry as it is (Mark has a song called ‘Somebody Please Buy Something’). Yes musicians can now utilise the internet and technology to spread the word about their projects, but it doesn’t always result in sales. To support what Mark is doing why not nab yourself some melodic hardcore with pop punk leanings and passionate sincere lyrics from Knelt Before? Maybe you could benefit from the life lessons therein?
Check out Knelt Before’s Bandcamp where you can find access to their full range of releases including the albums ‘Before I Go’, ‘Be Drinkable’ and a fantastic split album with Germany’s The Axids (‘Split Screen’) that comes on a pretty awesome pink and green vinyl!
