Southside Jonny

In the mid-90s, Jon Sewell was a fish-out-of-water mischief-maker at a private conservative all-boys school. He was called “Johnny G” by the older kids and “Troublemaker” by the headmaster. Then he discovered Crass and an anarcho-punk was born. He protested against the military industrial complex, ran the local Food Not Bombs chapter, and played drums in the band Murdered Minority. When it came time to try and get a show at Lucy’s he did what any punk prankster without recording equipment would do, he faked the demo.

Jon still thrives in the current that runs underneath Nashville’s mainstream. In 2006 he turned an old, dilapidated house into a punk club. A few years later he turned an old, dilapidated meat packing plant into a community space for musicians, artists, and other creators. Called The Packing Plant, the space is also the headquarters of Salt Weekly, Jon’s beautifully designed ‘zine with an open submission policy and a mission to radically upend traditional print publishing.

Now known as “Southside Jonny, the Mayor of Wedgewood-Houston,” Jon confused Nashville’s politicos by twice running for actual mayor on a platform he called CHIT: Corruption, Hypocrisy, Influence, and Taxes. He also spent two seasons acting opposite Billy Ray Cyrus on the CMT sitcom, Still the King. For real.

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Mentioned In this Episode
Murdered Minority – Jon Sewell, Marshall West, Stephen Braren
Crass
Blank 77
From Ashes Rise
Process Is Dead
Food Not Bombs
Anti-Racist Action
War Resisters League
Committee for Public Safety (Nashville’s first hardcore band 1982-?)
His Hero is Gone
Fugitive Art
The Fun House
Infinity Cat
This Moment in Black History (Band)
Times New Viking

The Packing Plant:
– WXNA
– Poetry Library
– Risology Club
– Salt Weekly

Ben Todd
Nashville’s Dead
The Glenn Danzig House
Kathryn Edwards
Drkmttr Collective
Daniel Pujol

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