By Pamela ChelinLA Weekly

In the heart of Larchmont Village, among the rows of cafesand retailers, Brushfire Records' headquarters looks likean antiquated mansion from the street. Look closer,

though, and it's likely the most modern construct in the neigh-borhood.

The roof has been entirely outfitted with solar panels. Peekinside: The floors have been varnished with a VHC-free enamel.The decor is sparse; wooden tables and a few posters greetvisitors, many of whom arrive looking to connect with the com-pany's co-owners, singer-songwriter Jack Johnson and his man-ager, Emmett Malloy.

The two have created one of the most environmentally effi-cient studios in the world.

They recycle; they use energy-efficient lighting; to conservepower, laptop computers are used wherever possible; all paperproducts are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), which gradesthe tree from which the paper came; the toilets are low flow.

Malloy avoids using the word "green" not only because the

word seems so trendy right now, but also because it's vague.Malloy and Johnson chose to insulate the studio with blue-jeanscraps, and when the bags of cloth first arrived, Malloy says, thework crew pulled on their gloves and masks before handlingthe fabric.

Money Mark has played a few live dates around Los Angelesin January (if you're lucky enough to read this on Thursday, Jan-uary 24, he's playing the Echo tonight), helping to ignite an up-coming year in which Brushfire hopes to expand greatly.

Singer-songwriter Matt Costa's sophomore release, Unfamil-iar Faces, came out this past Tuesday. Fitting with the recordlabel's sensibility, the video for Costa's first single, "Mr. Pitiful"(co-directed by Malloy and Tim Wheeler), features Costa wan-dering around L.A. with all of his instruments strapped to hisbody in one-man-band style.

Finished with a tour of the facility, Malloy hands over his busi-ness card, which still has his old contact information on it.

He explains that he didn't want to print up new cards untilhe had burned through his old ones.

"You do what you can," he says. "Riding your bike and livingwith nothing. That's ultimately where we need to go."

Ride the waves &

look inside:Page 1: Brushfire Records

Page 3: Jack Johnson

Page 4: G. Love & Matt Costa

Page 5: Money Mark & ALO

Page 6: Neil Halstead & Mason Jennings

Page 7: Rogue Wave, Zach Gill & Zee Avi

Page 8: Tour dates

Many of the other artists on Brushfire arehitting the road this winter and spring.

Matt Costa is at San Francisco’s NoisePop festival on February 25th and then willbe touring on his own and with Death CabFor Cutie in April and May.

G. Love is on an extended tour that willtake him across the country, hitting some ofhis favorite clubs including Tipitina’s, TheGeorgia Theatre, The Fox Theatre, severalHouse of Blues clubs around the country

and more. Neil Halstead is coming back to the US

from Cornwall, UK for the month of March.If you haven’t seen him yet, you have to.Zach Gill will be supporting on the LA andSan Diego shows.

ALO just finished their third annual TourD’Amour . Reports from the road weregreat and if you missed it, you can catch oneof their live sets from this year’s Jam Cruisehere

Upcoming Events and Tours

March 12, 2009

Stay Tuned: a brushfire records newsletter

Brushfire Records

Brushfire Records, formerly TheMoonshine Conspiracy Records,started as the new music compo-

nent of The Moonshine Conspiracy(TMC)—now Woodshed Films. WoodshedFilms is a surf film collaborative formed byJack Johnson, Emmett Malloy, and Chris Mal-loy in 1998 during the creation of their surffilm Thicker Than Water.

Brushfire Records was created in 2002when Johnson along with his wife, Kim andEmmett Malloy, wanted to create their ownrecord label to put out the soundtracks forthese surf films and future music releases.

Founded at The Mango Tree in Hawaii,Brushfire Records strives to make music andfilms that are positive and works to connectlike-minded musicians and artists in the surfcommunity and beyond. Woodshed Filmsand Brushfire Records have become a col-lective offilmmakers/musicians/artists/surfers.

What started as a few friends traveling theworld to create a surf film has expandedinto a few more friends traveling the worldmaking surf films, documentaries, playingmusic, creating art, taking photos, and enjoy-ing and sharing life while getting their proj-ects out to the public in the downtime.

Page 2 Brushfire Records Newsletter March 12, 2009

Stay Tuned with BrushfireRecords

Volume 1, Number 1

424 N Larchmont BlvdLos Angeles, ca 90038-3602

(323) 957-9967

Editor: Hope Holland

Editorial: Robert Bull

Mikael WoodNaheil Qudah

Jac ChebatorisPanela Chelin

Productions: Jack Johnson Emmett Malloy

Staff Photographer: Adam Topol

Brushfire Records

Our Brushfire Family

Quinn BrownCNN

Tabbed as a "mellowrocker" by perhapsone too many publica-tions, the chart-toppingsinger-songwriter has afire within that belieshis laid-back manner --a fire that extends tohis company, BrushfireRecords, and his envi-ronmental activism.

Johnson started therecord label in 2002"as a way to put outsoundtracks for surfmovies we were mak-ing," he says. "Then ourfriends G. Love andSpecial Sauce werecoming to the end oftheir record deal withanother label, and theidea came up to putout their stuff."

The Hawaii-basedartist -- whose latestalbum "Sleep Throughthe Static" hit No. 1 inthe U.S. and sold over2 million albumsworldwide -- has con-tinued to assemble tal-ent.

The label's rosternow includes indie-rockers Rogue Wave,folk-pop musicianMason Jennings and key-boardist Money Mark.

Johnson says therecord label is notdriven by dollar signs."We never try to talkanybody into joiningthe label, but we justoffer a lot of creativecontrol over all theirmusic and a fairer dealthan with most otherlabels," he explains.Watch Johnson, ZachGill and Money Markperform "Hope."

"The music is onething, but there is thisbusiness side," saysZach Gill, a Brushfiresolo artist and mem-ber of Johnson's tour-

ing band. "I think more and

more businesses aresaying, 'Yeah, we wantto be responsible. Re-sponsible to our em-ployees. Responsiblefor the waste ourcompany generates.'We're starting to seethat a lot in all kinds ofbusinesses, not just inmusic," he says. WatchGill and Johnson per-form "Family."

Johnson and hismanagement also cre-ated All At Once, a so-cial action networkthat provides tools andinformation to peoplewho want to becomemore involved in theircommunity and world-wide. "We shrink ourcarbon footprint al-ways, but we have allthese nonprofit groupsthat we all work with,"says Johnson.

"Money from theshows goes to thesegroups and helps bol-ster their member-ships so that after weleave the town, thesegroups can continue todo good things. Somore than just lessen-ing our negative [envi-ronmental] impact, it'sactually leaving a posi-tive impact [whereverwe tour].”

"Music is the greatsynchronizer. They'vebecome quite a won-derful community to bea part of. I feel gratefulto Jack for having theidea to bring togetherall these like-mindedpeople to make musictogether," he says.

Johnson agrees. "It'severything. It is thewhole reason to playmusic. I learn so muchfrom playing with theseother musicians," hesays.

Green Label

Singer, Surfer, Environmentalist

Jac ChebatorisNewsweek Is it strange to be so personal in your songs?

Jack Johnson:I think that's the sole reason that thisthing has grown into what it has, is that people can relateto the songs. I'm always trying to decide which stuff is per-sonal to the point that it's kind of letting people in toomuch, and then personal to the point that it feels goodthat people have that same thing in their life.You're a huge activist in the green world. Willthis become more widespread?

Jack Johnson: I think it's getting there. I feel like it'sright on the cusp of everything changing. As soon as wethink we've solved all the problems there will be more,and I 'm sure that a lot of things that we're thinkingare the solutions become the problems. Like soyfor instance, you heard a lot of talk for a longtime that soy is so much better, and now youhearing that they're tearing down rainforests togrow more soy because soy has become so pop-ular. So those things that we sometimes think arethe solutions might end up throwing things outof balance again. Life in general is just a workin progress.Even for you--rock star, livingin Hawaii?

Jack Johnson: Yeah, it's fun, but itstill takes a lot of work, too. You getto a point where you don't have toworry about putting food on thetable and those kinds of things, butthen come bigger responsibilities oftrying to use your time to supportdifferent things. I do feel a certain re-sponsibility to try to support non-profit organizations that are doingimportant things for the environment andputting my time into that, and that becomesmy work. There's always work to bedone--whether you're working ongetting your own family to-gether or working on try-ing to get communitiestogether.

So are you always so mellow? Jack Johnson: I hit my hard pretty hard when I was

like 17, and it knocked my brain a little loose and I don'thave the possibility of anger anymore. I'm joking, but I findthat when I get angry or hateful, I'm not able to accomplishthe same things. Reading Joseph Campbell has helped--allof his stuff. He talks about "joyful participation"--it's easyto look at the world and get upset about the state of af-fairs. Instead, what you have to do is just accept things theway they are and try to always make them better andwork toward a better place. But never think there's somegrand solution. As soon as we get there, there are newproblems that need to be fixed. It's ongoing work, and youhave to keep working at it. Life's always been work,there's never been a time where it's just a

utopian atmosphere.Visit www.jackjohnsonmusic.com

Born in Hawaii, Jack Johnson became a professional surfer while learning to playguitar and writing music. With more than 15 million albums sold, he continues tochange the world through his music, films and enviromentalism.

March 12, 2009 Brushfire Records Newsletter Page 3

TheBoss

Jack SpilbergGlide Magazine

Jack Johnson is a trulyinspired artist. A pre-viously sponsoredprofessional surfer,award winning filmproducer, and plat-

inum selling recordingartist—Jack’s proven hisabilities as an incrediblywell-rounded and multi-tal-ented creative being.

Jack’s new album, In Be-tween Dreams, revisitssimilar themes from pastrecords, but this time hisintriguing word play andthoughtful lyrics arebacked with more up-beatfunk and blues influencedrhythms. His humility, intel-ligence, and songwritingskills are all apparent onceagain, as In BetweenDreams, is an album filledwith inspired reflectionsand refreshingly creativemelodies.

Glide’s Jack Spilberg re-cently sat down with theother Jack, and despite themuch anticipated album,discovered his true passionin life still has more to dowith catching waves thanrocker fame.

Mikael Wood Houston Press

Despite the name, the faces on this SoCal singer-songwriter'ssophomore disc aren't exactly unfamiliar: There's the Shins,there's Josh Rouse and, perhaps most of all, there's Jack John-

son, who signed Matt Costa to his Brushfire label and has had Costaopen for him on tour. So the pleasures of Unfamiliar Faces don't haveanything to do with the originality of Costa's voice or of his writing. Bigdeal: As Johnson has proven several times over now, a mellow man witha mellow song can go a long way in these troubled times of ours.

Costa sings about staying up all night and sleeping in on Sundays andbeing impressed by the sight of you undressing; sometimes he soundshappy, sometimes he sounds sad, but he never sounds especially anxiousabout anything, which gives Faces a steady emotional equilibrium thatallows Costa and producer Tom Dumont (of No Doubt) to sweeten thematerial without overpowering it.

Opener "Mr. Pitiful" rides a peppy "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" piano line;"Never Looking Back" has twangy campfire guitars; "Emergency Call,"in which Costa complains of suffering from the "hypochondriac blues,"shuffles like Exile-era Stones; "Miss Magnolia" is high-and-dry mountainmusic.

A few times, as in "Heart of Stone," Costa's lyrics and melodies vagueout, leaving you wondering how this open-mike night got into your CDplayer. But for the most part the familiarity of his stuff serves as a balm,not a bummer. Visit www.mattcosta.com for more.

Brushfire’s one man band: Matt Costa

Cathy Cracks

Matt Cost plays severeal outdoor concerts supportingBrushfire Records efforts to make enhance the environ-ment and promote a green lifestyle.

Naheil QudahDaily Skiff

The House ofBlues was jam-packed Thursday night

with all different kinds of people,from hipsters to members of the corporate world

The night started off with singer, acoustic guitarist and keyboardistEric Hutchinson, who produced a surprisingly full sound consideringhe was only backed by an electric bassist and a drummer. The audiencewas very receptive to Hutchinson, but by 10 p.m. everyone was readyfor G. Love & Special Sauce.

They were welcomed on stage by fanatic screams. Frontman GarrettDutton III, better known by his stage name G. Love, sang and rappedwhile playing guitar. Bouncing around the stage in a slick black suit,reaching out to touch the hands of fans and throwing out rhymes theaudience could relate to (improvised lyrics included mentions of Dallas,Deep Ellum and Texas), G. Love exhibited tremendous charisma.

Keyboardist Mark Boyce, unafraid to stray from the instrument'susual rhythmic context, took on melody and discord. Percussionist Jef-frey Clemens defied the common quip among musicians: never give adrummer a microphone. On the contrary, he backed G. Love's vocalswith excellent harmony and even threw in some comedic improvisa-tional lyrics where the timing was right. But the star of the night was

clearly bassist Timo Shanko.Song for song, G. Love & Special Sauce put on an amazing perform-

ance. The stage presence, musical talent and dynamic between bandmembers was overwhelming during the entire set and encore perform-ance. Next time the band is in the area, I know I'll be back for somemore G. Lovin'. Visit www.philadelphonic.com for more.

Brushfire Records

Page 4 Brushfire Records Newsletter

Timothy StoutGlide Magazine

Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) is one of themost promising jambands on the west coast -or any other coast-- today. Their latest offering,

Fly Between Falls, is chock-full of impossibly upbeat dittiesand laidback groove-soaked mood lifters. This is summerevening backyard barbeque music at its finest. The band'slead singer and main songwriter, Zach Gill, along with hisstellar bandmates have created a very good album thatleans on poppy melodies and bubbly choruses laid on topof some serious foot tapping rhythms.

Highlights include the danceable retro funk of "PossiblyDrown," the soulful "Pobrecito," and the Jack Johnson-ish "Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down," which, fittingly, features Mr. Johnson, a good friend and summertourmate of the band. One of the longest tracks of the set, the six-plus minute "Shapeshifter," hasGill professing "I'm the kinda guy you want in your Government / I'm the kinda guy you want inyour bed." The tune meanders back and forth between piano pop and groove rock displaying thetalented musicianship of the quartet, as well as the impressive lyrical ability of Gill.

There's not a weak song in the lot, even the very personal "Waiting for Jaden," and the slightlytired although seemingly inevitable jamband tribute to marijuana, "Wasting Time (Isla Vista Song)"work here as they both manage to fit into the overall positive vibe of one of the better jamband al-bums of 2004. Visit www.alomusic.com for more.

Jack JohnsonBrushfire Records

Money Mark is the most recent artist signedto Brushfire Records but he has been a longtime friend of the Brushfire Family. Mark and

Jack Johnson met during a late ’90s recording sessionhelmed by notable producer Mario Caldato, Jr. (whoalso produced Mark’s forthcoming record Brand NewBy Tomorrow), with Mark subsequently playing uprightpiano in Jack’s band during a tour of Japan. Mark alsoappears on the Jack Johnson and friends dvd “Live atThe Greek”.

Mark has had quite an impressive career. He has col-laborated on crucial recordings with the likes of YokoOno, Porno For Pyros, Beck, Jack Johnson, and BluesExplosion, to name but a few. He was lynchpin of an early line-up of Jakob Dylan’s Wallflowers, andhis musicality was the organic ingredient that induced the Beastie Boys’ rebirth beginning with 1992’sepochal Check Your Head.

Adept at melding funk, jazz, hip-hop, folk, Afro-Cuban and Latin musics as well as brain-gogglingexperimentalist noise, this one-time Los Angeles Lakers ball-boy is an acknowledged master of stayingin a musical pocket that’s forever changing shape.

Considering his low-key heroics, it’s just desserts that a few years back Money Mark was immor-talized in the form of his own collectable action figure. Among the chart-topping tracks, touring, andtoys, however, Mark has also crafted out a fine solo career. Visit www.moneymark.com for more.

Animal Liberation Orchestra

Money Mark

Brushfire Records Newsletter Page 5

Emmett Malloy Brushfire Records

One night while in the studio with Neil Halstead a friend questioned him as to whatkind of music he played. Neil’s extremely thick beard turned into a smile as hesaid “Nylon Rock” before laughing and turning back to his beer. I don’t think

that description offered any clarity to the asker, but to me it seemed perfect: a self effacingterm to help him deal with the fact that he, a former shoegazer, was making a solo recordand his main weapon was simply a nylon string guitar and a couple of shakers.

In the late ‘90s Neil fronted a band called Slowdive, and after a couple of really goodrecords they split. From there Neil formed his current band Mojave 3, who have released 4records to date with a few more to come, we hope. Hard to find 2 bands with morecritical accolades, and at the core of those bands was Neil and his songwriting. ohmighty engine is the name of Neil’s newest solo record. It is a record that canhandle excessive listens and seems to absorb every mood I have thrown at it.It is really hard to find a record that can make you happy, sad, and can makeyou laugh all at once. This record does that for me.

The meaning of this record is hard for me to discern, partially because Neilis very English and mumbles phrases like “pithy liner…”or “dangerous dolt…” and other local slang that I have been getting myself caught up with. Butthe main reason is that Neil has never been blatant or obvious with his words.He writes songs that are very personal to him, and then allows space foreveryone to take their own meaning away from his lyrics (“Go skies andthrones and wings. And poetry and things” from the song “Elevenses”).

Neil recorded this record partially at The Solar Powered Plastic Plant inLos Angeles and the rest in his hometown of Cornwall, England. He surfed inthe mornings, and drank beer and recorded with various friends in theevening.

Neil is an old soul and his newest solo record is exactly who he is. Welcom-ing, warm, clever and kind.Visit www.myspace.com/neilhalstead.com for more.

‘Welcoming, warm, clever, kind’

Roger BullFlorida Times-Union

The last time Mason Jennings playedNortheast Florida was 21/2 years agoat Freebird. And a couple of friends

who went said it was simply one of the bestconcerts they'd ever seen - ever.

He's signed with a new label since then, JackJohnson's Brushfire Records, and seemed likehe was on the verge of being a next big thing.But his latest album, 2008's "In the Ever," con-tinued to keep it simple, to keep it catchy. He'llbe at Cafe Eleven in St. Augustine Wednesdaynight. Tickets are $15.

Visit www.masonjenning.com for more.

Jennings heads to Florida

Promotional Photo

March 12, 2009Brushfire Records NewsletterPage 6

Last night we had the pleasure of speakingwith our old buddy, Jack Johnson, who was backin Hawaii after a whirlwind trip to the inaugu-ration. We wanted to hear firsthand about histrek to D.C., and it turned out to be even cra-zier than we could have imagined. Not only didJohnson perform at the Obama Home State In-augural Ball -- they're both from Hawaii -- buthe also watched Obama's historic speech fromthe Mall.

Johnson's trip started the morning before theinauguration, at 5 a.m., when he and his wife,Kim, hopped on a plane in Honolulu, had a lay-over in L.A., and then boarded another flight toD.C. When they finally got settled at their hotel,it was 3 a.m. Four hours later they were ontheir way to the Mall. "The walk was memo-rable," Jack says. "There were people cheeringthrough the streets, and the closer we got it justturned into a sea of people. Everyone was soexcited, people were crying, it was pretty emo-tional. To be out on the streets with everyonewas pretty fun."

Thanks to his performance duties that night,Jack and Kim scored tickets to the "orange"seating section. They were pretty far away. "Hewas like an ant up there," says Jack, "but the en-ergy there so cool.

"I kept thinking, 'Is he going to have an "Asknot what your country can do for you," mo-ment?'" Jack remembers. "I guess we won't

know which one peoplehold on to when thespeech gets played indocumentaries, but itseemed like there werea few of those in there. Iliked a lot how he said,'We're going to reach ahand out to anyonewho's willing to un-clench a fist.' That was agreat line. 'Returning sci-ence to its rightful place'-- that was beautiful. Hebasically said that we'rea friend to every country.It was nice to hear thosekinds of things.

"After the last eightyears a lot of people feelproud to be Americanagain," he continues. "It'sbeen a while. Travelingaround, I can feel the an-imosity sometimes, and it's nice to think thatthe person who's speaking for us now is sayingthe things you want him to say. That felt reallygood."

Jack happily accepted the offer to play theHome State Ball two weeks before the event.Accompanying him on piano at the party wasZach Gill, and they blazed through about twelve

songs. (Also sitting in on a few cuts was theirbuddy, John Cruz.) "We played anything thattouched on the themes of the day," says Jack."We almost played 'Girl I Wanna Lay You Down'because someone kept yelling for it, but we did-n't go there. We tried to keep it a little moreclean. We played 'Hope' and 'Better Together'and a song called 'Home' that I wrote for an oldsurf soundtrack."

“I get my melodic feel fromthe simplicity of classic jazz,people singing what they feltwith straightforward lyricsand not too many harmonies.Just a lot of honesty. I’m a girlof simple pleasures.”

Zee Avi

Johnson, Gill Prepare for Obama

Brushfire Records

Zach Gill warms up with Jack Johnson on Jan. 20, backstage atthe Home States Inaugural Ball. The two played alongside goodfriend John Cruz for their last three songs, Breakdown, IslandStyle and Better Together. Visit www.zachgill.com for more.

March 12, 2009 Brushfire Records Newsletter Page 7

Visit www.zeeavi.com for more.

March 12, 2009 Brushfire Records Newsletter Page 8

My friends and I have just finished recording a newalbum called Sleep Through the Static. At this pointin my life I weigh about 190 lbs and my ear hairs are

getting longer. I also have a couple of kids. My wife poppedthem out, but I helped. Some of the songs on this album areabout making babies. Some of the songs are about raisingthem. Some of the songs are about the world that these chil-dren will grow up in; a world of war and love, and hate, andtime and space. Some of the songs are about saying goodbyeto people I love and will miss.

We recorded the songs onto analog tape machines poweredby the sun in Hawaii and Los Angeles. One day, JPPlunierwalked into the studio and told us, “It has been 4 to 6 feet andglassy for long enough,” and so we gave him a variety of windand rain as well as sun and so on. And Robert Carranza helpedto put it all in the right places.

After inviting Zach Gill to join Adam Topol, Merlo Podlewski,and myself on our last world tour, we decided to make himan official member of our gang. So our gang now has a pianoplayer, which probably makes us much less intimidating, butMerlo, our bass player, is 6’3” so we are still confident.

All of these songs have been on my mind for a while and itis nice to share them.

I am continually grateful to my wife who is typing this letteras I dictate it to her.

Mahalo for listening, Jack Johnson

A note from Jack

******************************5-Digit 10005

The Beach House650 Dekalb Street Unit 1123Auburn, Al 36830

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