Howdy Folks!
Let me start off by saying from an early age, I always considered myself a songwriter. The beginning of my journey as a songwriter started back in 1966 when I was a 14 year old Army brat living in France.
After graduating from college in the early 1970's, I moved to Long Island and spent 10 years in the music business as a member of the legendary Long Island rock & roll band, the Freelance Vandals. I found the experience of writing songs for a rock band to be yet another important lesson in the craft of songwriting.
After the Freelance Vandals disbanded, I took a hiatus from the music business while continuing to develop my skills as a songwriter. During this period of my life, I wrote songs in every musical genre under the sun and recorded them on a reel to reel tape recorder in my work room. This period of musical experimentation convinced me that I should pursue a career as a professional songwriter.
In 2007, I decided it was time to cast my proverbial fate to the wind by creating a music publishing company called Mind Smoke Music. A short while later, I was looking for a way to promote the music that was being administrated by my publishing company so I created a record label called Mind Smoke Records.
Besides releasing recordings of my own songs, I've also released archive recordings by the Freelance Vandals, M.C. Osso and The Hideaways, along with some experimental pop music by Haiku Monday. Looking ahead, 2019 promises to be a very active year for the Mind Smoke record label.
The rapidly changing landscape of the music industry, the rise of instantly accessible digital music formats and DIY internet promotion were some of the reasons that led to the formation of these two companies...well, that and the fact that I thought it would be fun to start my own record label!
My motto is: "The music business should always be about imagination."
Cheers,
Johnny Pierre
