Nestled in a commercial building in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, you can find Crackle & Pop! Recording. Open since 2006, Johnny Sangster, with his business partner Andy Smith, initially began with a smaller place. But in 2018 they moved into a larger space in the same complex, with high ceilings, an amazing Tim Kerr mural, and easy load in. Gear includes a lot of Johnny's guitars and instruments, a Spectra Sonics console from Stax Records, analog tape decks, as well as lots of microphones and outboard gear. Clients have included Mudhoney, Maggie Björklund, Mark Lanegan, Earth, Jesse Sykes, Rusty Willoughby, Lincoln Barr, Steve Turner, Jon Auer [Tape Op #58], and more.
Johnny is also a great musician, playing in his groups The Tripwires and Braly Sangster, plus touring and gigging with Neko Case, case/lang/veirs, Roy Loney & The Longshots, Mark Pickerel's Praying Hands, and Cobirds Unite. Additionally, he also teaches recording at the University of Washington.
Busy? Yes. Talented? Yes. Nice Guy? Completely.
Were you raised in Seattle?
Yeah, me and my brother, Jim Sangster [The Young Fresh Fellows], grew up here. In high school, I was an exchange student for a summer. I ended up in the countryside of Denmark, in the middle of nowhere. It was an awesome experience. I ended up with a family where it was a father, mother, and four daughters. Nobody spoke English except the mom, and she went to work every day. [laughter] So, I learned Danish. The year after I'd been over there, I met a bunch of European kids who were in the Seattle area as exchange students. After high school, I thought, "I can go to Europe and contact all these people." That ended up being 13 years that I lived over there, played in bands, and made records.
When did you move back?
My wife's Danish, and we moved back in '97 when I was in my late 20s. We had one kid who was about four years old when we relocated, plus a newborn. Now, we have three kids who are pretty much out of the house.
You were in a band in Denmark?
The Sharing Patrol, that started here in Seattle with the drummer, Jonathan Stibbard. We'd made a recording, maybe in 1983, with Conrad Uno at the original Egg Studio in his garage basement. Jonathan ended up in Denmark with me and he still lives there.
You ruined his life! [laughter]
We've been playing music together since junior high. My brother had joined the Young Fresh Fellows, and [his bandmember] Scott McCaughey was interested in us. They had made a record with Uno, so Scott invited us over to Egg to make a recording.
PopLlama Records was also Conrad's label. I remember hearing that first Fellows record he put out [The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest] in 1984.
This was right around the time that came out, and Scott and Uno recorded us. It was me, Jonathan, and Lou Alexander as a little trio. Pretty rough, but PopLlama ended up putting out a cassette. That was my first real studio experience there. Uno was awesome, and the Fellows went on to do a lot there. When I was in Denmark we got signed to a small label, then we got signed to EMI Denmark, and we made a bunch of records with some pretty good producers. We got to work with Vic Maile. He produced an EP [The Sharing Patrol in Cb]. We were going to make an LP, but then we had label problems and didn't get to do the LP with him. The EP is still one of my favorites; I love his records.
He'd done a lot in the UK.
Yeah. He came up through Pye Studios; he was a tape op there. He engineered The Who's Live at Leeds recording. And then Motörhead, Tom Robinson Band, The Godfathers... Working with him was amazing. He came to Denmark and recorded us there.
What were the studios like in Denmark?
There were nice studios. That place had a 2-inch, 24-track [deck], a Trident TSM [console], Neumann mics, and good gear. There are a lot of good studios there, like Sweet Silence Studios. Puk was out in the countryside; I got to produce a record there. I did start producing records when I was over there, based on being in a band that had worked with some good producers and being the guy who was interested in it. But I didn't really have engineering chops at any point. I was the guy in the band who had a 4-track, would make demos, and think about the arranging.
How did you come back to Seattle?
We came over and played some shows occasionally. It was fun. The Sharing Patrol made a record with Kurt Bloch [Tape Op #52] at Hanzsek Audio over here before I moved back. Actually, that was part of what brought me back. The band started going, "We should spend a year in Seattle," because we had so much fun making the record. Somehow, my wife and I made it work to come for a year in '97. After about a year,...
