JOHN HINCKLEY JR – AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NOTORIOUS MUSICIAN

By Kat Gullage

Yes, THAT John Hinckley Jr.

Mr. Hinckley’s notoriety transpired from an incident that occurred in 1981. He attempted to assassinate then President Ronald Reagan. A police officer and Secret Service agent were wounded. Reagan was wounded when a bullet ricocheted off the presidential limousine and hit him in the chest. Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and critically wounded, leaving him paralyzed on his left side. His death was ruled a homicide when he died thirty-three years after the shooting. Hinckley was also obsessed with actress Jodie Foster at that time. I only mention this as not all of our readers are familiar with the controversy.

Hinckley was sentenced and served thirty-five years in institutional psychiatric care. He was released in 2016 with many restrictions prohibiting him from a variety of activities not limited to but including “watching or listening to violent media” and “speaking to the press”. He was fully released from court restrictions in 2022. A free man forty-one years, two months and fifteen days after the incident.

Hinckley was scheduled to perform at a newly formed venue in Naugatuck CT this month. However it was canceled, not entirely due to who the performer was, although that did draw the attention and scrutiny of zoning and town officials. Hinckley has had last minute cancellations in several places including Chicago, Brooklyn NY and Hamden, CT, mostly due to threats to the venues.

AMP/KAT: I read that you began playing music as a young adult. What were your musical influences?

JH: Well ya know, I’m an old guy. When the Beatles came to America in 1964, I was eight years old and that’s when I got interested in music. When I was about ten I got a guitar and I’ve been a music fanatic ever since. I liked all the 60s groups, it was such a great time for music. When I was in college I kinda got into the folk and country rock scene, and that’s when I caught on to Bob Dylan, his early stuff. I became greatly influenced by Bob Dylan and still am I guess. Cuz ya know most of my music is folk music. Growing up in Texas, I heard on the radio – Allman Brothers, Eagles, Skynyrd that kinda stuff. I liked it, I wasn’t going out buying their albums though. Also, I liked that 60s garage sound better. I did listen to punk in college like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, I liked all that too.

AMP/KAT: My musical taste was influenced by my mom playing Motown my whole life. What type of music did your parents listen to?

JH: Dad was a jazz buff and he had a lot of jazz albums I remember. When he was in college he was in a jazz band. He played drums. Mom was not musically inclined at all. She just went right along with the flow.

AMP/KAT: For a while you were unable to listen to what I saw termed as “violent music”. You’ve missed out on so many hits and genres. So when the restriction was lifted did you try to catch up on some of that?

JH: The government came up with the idea that I liked quote “violent music”. I think that’s a ridiculous term. Typical ridiculous government thinking. So, ya know, hard rock and heavy metal to them is probably violent music. I listened to a few Metallica songs. I liked some of the grunge, ya know I like Nirvana. I’ve their greatest hits now and I listen to that from time to time. Kurt Cobain was so great. I don’t like today’s music too much and I never listen to like top 40 radio. I’m not really into rap. I’m still kinda stuck in the 60s and 70s.

AMP/KAT: Do you have a favorite guitar?

JH: I have a lot of guitars. My favorite is probably the acoustic guitar with my name on it. It’s a Fender, they’re not really known for acoustic guitars. I got it three or four years ago, I really like the tone of it and it’s good for recording too so it’s the one I play the most. In addition, I have several electric guitars, I have a Fender Stratocaster, an Ibanez, I have a Gretsch.

AMP/KAT: Your song “Never Ending Quest” includes the lyric “old guitar is all I need”.

JH: That’s right. All I need is an old guitar and I’m good to go.

AMP/KAT: It looks like you just slapped random vinyl stickers on your guitar to spell out John Hinckley. Is that what you did?

JH: Correct.

AMP/KAT: Have you ever been to a concert?

JH: Oh yeah, sure. Well, this is before my confinement, I saw the Rolling Stones in their prime. They were out promoting Exile On Main Street. I saw them in Fort Worth, Texas. It was an afternoon show, they were a little bit sloppy, but it was okay, I loved it. I saw The Who in their prime, this is when they still had Keith Moon on drums. He wore headphones the whole concert. The next day when I went back to school I had ringing in my ears.

AMP/KAT: Is that a real crowd you’re performing in front of in your “Never Ending Quest” video?

JH: No, what that is, it’s from a documentary that’s coming out in about two or three months and what the filmmaker (did) he rented a theater here. I mean there was some people out there listening to it but it was not like a full auditorium.

AMP/KAT: It’s a good edit, I can hear people cheering and whistling.

JH: That’s all fake.

AMP/KAT: So, you’ve got a documentary coming out?

JH: Yeah I do. It’s gonna be called Redemption. It’s an Australian film crew, they spent six weeks with me in January 2023, filming me here and it’s gonna be either on, well Netflix wanted more of a crime documentary and we didn’t want to do that so I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be Amazon.

AMP/KAT: You released your album called Redemption on 7/12/23 on Asbestos records. How did that relationship form? You have seven songs on side A and seven songs on side B. The blue and red vinyl choices are interesting. How are sales? In your “Finally Living Free” video you say “They’re going fast!”

JH: Well Matt Flood is the guy who runs Asbestos Records and when I got my full release he just contacted me, ya know, out of the blue through my Twitter page and we started a correspondence and he talked me into doing an album with him cuz I had reached out to other record labels and they turned me down. So I went with him because he was so enthusiastic about it. The red and blue vinyl is his thing. The first press sold out. We’re doing a second press now.

AMP/KAT: I noticed you’re not very animated in your videos. Doing two things at once, like singing and playing guitar simultaneously, is tricky. I observed that you’re looking down a lot in your videos, are you looking at your guitar or lyrics?

JH: Lyrics. My music is strictly low-fi. I do it all myself and I’m not in some fancy recording studio. I’m like a one man band.

AMP/KAT: So are you going to keep going solo? Or are you considering adding band members eventually?

JH: I have a guy named Ben, he’s my lead guitarist and we practice together and he’s fantastic on guitar. Um so yeah, if I do get a gig or go on any type of tour I would have Ben with me. My very first concert that was set up in Brooklyn NY, that got canceled at the last minute, uh we had a full band in place. They had hired a drummer and a bass player. We were gonna be a band but the sad history of that is that it got canceled at the last minute.

AMP/KAT: Besides what you’re currently doing with the playing and singing and composing, are you doing anything to improve your musicianship? Or will you stay self taught?

JH: I’m gonna stay self taught. It’s too late in the game. If I was twenty or something I would do that but I’m just gonna keep doin what I’m doin.

AMP/KAT: Any pre performance rituals? A quick prayer?

JH: No. I should do that.

AMP/KAT: It’s considerate that you open all your videos with “Hello Everybody, hope you’re doing great” and always end with “Thank You”.

JH: I prefer people to hear my music on the streaming sites than on YouTube because I just think my songs sound better on Spotify.

AMP/KAT: You’re wearing glasses in “I Won’t Go Back Again”. Some guy commented that he thought you looked like Elton John but I gotta tell ya I liked it, added some flair.

JH: (laughs) That’s good to know.

AMP//KAT: I did find that your lyrics are thoughtful and true and I feel like you’re singing almost like a journal entry.

JH: Yes that’s a good way of putting it cuz a lot of my songs the theme is overcoming hard times. Ya know all the crap that I went through in the 80s and 90s, early 2000s. I overcame all that. I’m a survivor from all that. And now that my life is doing so much better, it’s like hooray I can put it in a song, how I overcame all that.

AMP/KAT: When I listened to “I Will Be Your Man”, at first I was like Yawnsville, but the lyrics caught my attention: “the country is fucking crazy” (JH: Well, it is.) and “you can’t make me hate you back, I don’t have the time”. Is that a shout out to the people that leave negative comments and troll you?

JH: You know I have haters out there all over the place. I’m not gonna hate them cuz they hate me. It’s just, it’s a waste of time.

AMP/KAT: And even at the end of that you say “Thank you”.

JH: (laughs) Right.

AMP/KAT: There’s a lot of favorable comments as well, I would say the majority of comments I saw on your YouTube videos were positive. But the ones that aren’t, do you just ignore that? I mean you’re a human being with feelings, how do you deal with it?

JH: You know I’ve had so much negative comments over the years, I just kinda ignore it now. It doesn’t really bother me. I know that sounds weird to say, but it doesn’t really bother me.

AMP/KAT: I think it’s possible that some people would be attending shows, like your show in New York before it got canceled and was sold out, for your notoriety and curiosity versus being actual fans. Do you care?

JH: As long as they come in peace and listen.

AMP/KAT: I liked the art that you picked for the album. It reminds me of that trippy 60s genre.

JH: That’s a young lady that I know named Molly. She did that. I told her to make a psychedelic looking album cover and she sure did.

AMP/KAT: About your art, what is your medium?

JH: Acrylic on canvas.

AMP/KAT: Your series on cats, which of course reminded me of Warhol, is that your cat?

JH: That’s my cat that I just do over and over and over. You know my talent is with my music, that’s where I have more confidence. I’m not real confident with my painting. I’ll be the first to say I’m not a great painter. I’ve just done a ton of cat paintings. I have an orange tabby named Theo.

AMP/KAT: Do you like dogs too? Are you an animal lover? What’s your favorite animal?

JH: I’m a total animal lover. I had a German Shepherd when I lived in Colorado. My favorite animal would be in the cat family, ya know like tiger or jaguar or cheetah.

AMP/KAT: What was your inspiration for the painting series of the ladies?

JH: That’s not an inspiration from anybody, that’s just what I paint.

AMP/KAT: Of the paintings you’ve posted recently, my favorite is the abstract. I like the colors and textures.

JH: Unfortunately i don’t have the original of that one anymore, but there are prints available of it. I kept getting asked to make prints available so I arranged with ArtPal to do that.

AMP/KAT: Do you have a favorite artist?

JH: Wow. Maybe de Kooning (Willem), some of the Warhol stuff.

AMP/KAT: Well, thank you for the interview Mr. Hinckley, hope I wasn’t too hard on you.

JH: Not at all, I enjoy talking about music.

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