Lisa Johnson
lisa@emberswift.com
"Merch Urchin" and "Office Guru": Communications / Promo and Publicity / Web and Database Maintenance / Administration / ETC!

Lisa Johnson, AKA "Lisa-the-Great," is a passionate connoisseur of music, but has no talent therein. As such, she must settle for fringing — writing about music and working for musicians. In addition to working for Ember Swift, Lisa has done writing and publicity and/or tour managing for Madviolet, Miranda Stone, Janine Stoll, Melissa McClelland, Lisa Winn, and the Ladybird Sideshow.

Lisa's passion for music began when she first discovered Madonna (really!); her first CD was Like a Prayer. The image of a strong, in-control woman — Lisa's first feminist influence — was almost more appealing than the music. But in high school Lisa encountered the amazing world of independent music, and as soon as she had a driver's license she was road-tripping to shows in Toronto nearly every weekend.

By the time Lisa attended University of Waterloo, her CD collection was getting quite large (at the time of this writing she owns over 800 CDs), and she learned that being a music journalist was a viable career option. She began reviewing CDs and concerts for Imprint Newspaper, which she continued to do for all of her five university years (she was Arts Editor twice). Toward the end of university, Lisa became the Head Editor and Writer of IndieVoice.com, a Toronto-based Web resource for musicians and editorial site for music fans. She met, reviewed, and interviewed many artists during her stints at Imprint and IndieVoice respectively, and found the experiences extremely educational and rewarding ("Thanks Imprint for teaching me CP style, and thanks IndieVoice for teaching me HTML!" says Lisa.)

It was because of Imprint that Lisa met Ember Swift. After having heard and read about her music, Lisa decided to check out Ember's North By Northeast showcase one year. Lisa was blown away by the talent, promptly bought all of the CDs (pre-Permanent Marker), and gave Ember a great review. Shortly thereafter she interviewed Ember and featured her both in Imprint and on IndieVoice. Ember and Lisa quickly became friendly acquaintances, chatting at shows and exchanging e-mails. One day Lisa jokingly offered Ember her skills as an editor when she noticed that Lyndell's last name was mis-spelled "Mongtomery" in the liner notes of The Wage Is the Stage (this first pressing is bound to be worth money some day!). Never one to turn down a free offer, brassy Ember called Lisa up one day and asked if she would edit the liners to the second pressing of Wage. Ember loved Lisa's work so much (because, like Ember, Lisa is anal-retentive and a perfectionist) that she asked her to be a regular volunteer.

As Lisa finished up her university career, she worked for Imprint, IndieVoice, and Few'll Ignite Sound. Upon graduation, Lisa took a corporate whore job for a few months, but eventually got wooed away by the promise of little money and a drooling kitty from Few'll Ignite Sound. Lisa is honoured to be the label's first official employee (after Ember and Lyndell, of course). Now, Lisa is Few'll Ignite Sound (but don't tell Ember!), running the office while Ember and Lyndell are on the road (over 200 days a year). Fans surely know Lisa as the strange chick who sends them funny e-mails, or as the hot chick who works door/merch at some shows. The media know Lisa as the annoying chick who sends them press releases and calls them. The industry knows Lisa as...well, they don't know her at all.

She's a writer, she's an editor, she's a cutie, she likes clandestine affairs, and she can play the harmonica part from "Piano Man." If you'd like a bio or any communications pieces written or edited, feel free to e-mail lisa@emberswift.com. She's cheap. And easy. Or, read about Lisa's secret life.