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Artist
Kjehl Johansen
6+ albums
post-punkindie rock
about
Kjehl Johansen is best known for his work with seminal art-punk band the Urinals/100 Flowers. He’s also played with a host of other groups, notably Trotsky Icepick and Wednesday Week. His current band is the Circlons. Kjehl Johansen met future Urinals bandmates John Talley-Jones and Kevin Barrett at UCLA in 1978. Galvanized by the burgeoning Los Angeles punk scene, the Urinals were also influenced by the brevity and erudition of art-punk act Wire. While many punk bands eschewed proficiency, nearly all followed orthodox rock song structures. The Urinals didn’t. (After thirty years bassist John Talley-Jones still plays completely by ear.) What likely held the Urinals together was Kjehl’s small amount of high school musical training and basic knowledge of guitar chords. Fellow UCLA student and member of The Last Vitus Matare turned out to be a crucial Urinals supporter, producing the band’s recordings and showing them how to self-release records on their own Happy Squid imprint. As the Urinals became more proficient as a group they decided to change their name to 100 Flowers. 100 Flowers’ Self-titled debut was released shortly after the band’s 1983 demise. Alongside Vitus Matare, Kjehl formed Danny and the Doorknobs in 1983. (The band later changed its name to Trotsky Icepick.) Initially, Kjehl and Vitus shared vocal duties in Trotsky Icepick. Desiring a stronger singer, Vitus asked Kjehl’s former Urinals bandmate John Talley-Jones to join the
