Many things have been written about Johnny's love for music and especially the guitar yet we never seem to find all the information collectively placed into one spot. Finding it all together had become so tedious we have compiled it and present it to you right here, right now. "He's has an astute mind, he's a great musician and he's got a great guitar collection.. which i've got my eye on.. Arrrrr" ~Keith Richards

Johnny Had a Guitar Johnny discovered his love of music back in the church of his uncle the fundamentalist minister. He would sit and be moved by the Gospel music while the congregation would be redeemed. Johnny's mother, Betty Sue, bought him his first guitar when he was about 12 years old. Never having any formal lessons.. he self taught the talent to himself while held up in his bedroom in Miramar Florida in the late 1970's with a Mel Bay chord book. Always his first love...he can be found with a guitar in many photographs and is still the one major recurring theme in many of his beautifully captured images.     Kids, Guns and Angels     He played in several garage bands in Florida; Flame, Zaphyre, Bitch, Bad Boys were some of the early ones. Some of these he played with in small local clubs despite being very underage and having to "sneak" into the clubs through back doors. Most notably of these bands was the formation of The Kids. The new, peppy, up beat, U2ish, Sex Pistolish, pop 80's sounding band opened for some big names of the time such as Iggy Pop, B-52�s, Billy Idol and the Talking Heads The Kids did manage to produce a 4 song demo tape prior to their disbandment and departure from Florida. Produced in Miami in 1983, and boasting very peppy tracks, this demo has to it'scredit Time to Explain, Backstage Girl, Tell Me What You Want Maybe Someday Die hard collectors can find pricey copies on Ebay occasionally and its worth it to get a good musical grasp of where he began. The Kids also was a start for Bruce Witkin of the James Inveld Band , who has had singer song~writers successes in the music business with his band the Lonely Bulls. Bruce has toured with the Romantics and Adam Ant. Bruce's name also appears as as one of the producers for the soundtrack on Once Upon a Time in Mexico and has worked with Johnny as recently as the soundtrack for Sweeney Todd *more info on OUATIM below After the renaming of the band "the Kids" to Six Gun Method, Johnny moved to Hollywood to try to make a musical career. Johnny packed up his wife and guitar and trekked out west. Johnny eventually left SGM only to hook up with black-hat-clad singer Bobby Durango (a.k.a Bobby St. Valentine), Mike Angel and bassist Andy Panic of Rock City Angels a short while later. RCA was another made-in-Florida-band but like S.G.M. had also moved out west to Hollywood, California. Heavily influenced by the times, the band donned make-up and had a definate L.A. glam feel, with a twist on the uniqeness of thier own distinct sound. The area brought them promises as well, and good ones at that, but the road still wasn�t an easy one. A contract pick up by Geffen Records was often thought to have only signed Rock City Angels in an awkward attempt to keep them from overtaking the very band they replacing in the local clubs, David Geffens *other* stars Guns and Roses. A 6.2 million dollar contract and some sequestered time holed up in a hotel in Memphis was qued to be RC Angel's album writing session by Geffen exec's but ultimatley began to drive the band apart. Johnny opted to stay in California rather than go to Tennessee. Johnny was offered 21 Jump Street at this time and eventually ended up in Canada for filming. Choices that changed his life forever. Johnny co-wrote "Mary" with Mike and Bobby and can be found on the " Young Man's blues" album along with RCA's other tracks on this album: Deep Inside My Heart Hard To Hold . Mary Our Little Secret Rumbefish Boy From Hlle's Kitchen . Liza Jo Beyond Babylon Hush Chid South Of The Border Damned Don't Cry Wild Tiger These Arms Of Mine Rough 'N' Tumble Ya Gotta Swear Opting out of RCA proved to also be a very wise choice in hindsight. The up and coming Grunge storm from Seattle would soon sweep a generation in to a new twist on the sounds of Rock and Roll as we all knew it. It wasn't long til the sound was extinguished altogether. Although RC Angels held together well into the 1990's and has a long, long list of members that graced its name, it is remains as a stinging reminder of how the Exec's can take you out even if they give you millions and promise you the world. You can click here for more articled information on the Rock City Angels as they are still a major part of Hollywood rock and roll history as it rightly should be... OTHER reputable Rock City Angels LINKS: RockCityAngels.com R C A on MySpace.com you can find tracks from YMB at the above myspace site Johnny can still be found here and there on various projects. Most notably on Iggy Pop and Friends NightClubbing. Chrissie Hyndes and Vanessa Paradis' also lend a hand on most of the tracks as well as Johnny on track 13's Hollywood Affair. Double click the box if it doesn't load

And then there was "P" During the filming of the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" in 1993, Johnny Depp and his good friend Sal Jenco met up with two local Austin Texas musicians - songwriter Bill Carter and the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes. This magical meet up, not planned out.. yet made purely by food afficianado related scenarios between Carter and his singer~songwriter wife Ruth Ellsworth and the three were bound to hit it off in the music department eventually. Yet even after their high profile debut, the band eventually returned to their *other* careers, using "P" as a semi~frequent house band at Johnny's Former Hollywood Nightclub, the Viper Room. Boasting only one album to their credits... "P" stands as more of a tribute~to~a dream~rather~than~an~actual~in~the~tour bus~on~the~road kinda band.

P Band Members: Gibby Haynes - vocals Bill Garter - guitar and bass Johnny Depp - guitar and bass Sal Jenco - percussion Side Men: Ruth Carter - keyboards Flea - bass Steve Jones - guitar Chuck Weiss - washboard Andrew Weiss - mellotron and bass	Song List 1. I Save Cigarette Butts 2. Zing Splash 3. Michael Stipe 4. Oklahoma 5. Dancing Queen 6. Jon Glenn (Mega Mix) 7. Mr. Officer 8. White Man Sings the Blues 9. Die Anne 10. Scrapings from Ring 11. The Deal 1995 Capitol Records

the Viper Room Viper Room Home... Viper Room Schedule of Things... Viper Room Stuff... * We are well aware at JDA of the ownership change due to legal issues revolving around the Viper Room (so in otherwords don't email me to correct me).. but have chosen to keep this Viper Room section up for its historical value, and to keep a links to the place Johnny designed, loved and had a hand in creating extremely popular and special trademark merchandise for. ~~* VP

Found with Paradis On occasion Johnny can be found linked to songs by his girl Vanessa Paradis' Most notably on the album Bliss done in 2000 by co writing the title track Bliss and Sainte Germain and co producing the Ballad de Lily Rose a definate achievement and a beautifully done album. A definate must have for any music lover.

Johnny plays some blues slide on a National guitar,then plays be a Macaferri while doing the Gypsy jazz number Minor Swing and Caravan on the soundtrack for the movie Chocolat.

Johnny wrote �Sands Theme� for Robert Rodriguez�s Once upon a Time in Mexico (2003) Performed by Tonto's Giant Nuts on the soundtrack for the movie. When asked by Robert Rodriguez to come up with musical ideas that best represented the characters they were playing �Johnny Depp went out and wrote a whole piece for his character" states Rodriguez. Teaming again with Bruce Witkin, Bill Carter (from P) and Ruth Ellsworth for the cause.

~The Pirates of the Caribbean Guitars~ In 2003 Johnny autographs a custom made ebony Gibson USA SG Special guitar for charity auction. In 2006 Ren Fergusons' Gibson Montana makes it's debut with Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm.

The Depp~Baxendale Guitar In August 2005 Johnny was presented in person with the Baxendale Guitar. This guitar was custom made for Johnny by Scott Baxendale of the Colfax Guitar Shop in Colorado. Adding to it's custom features the attachment of a special compartment holding a script for a movie in the back of the guitar. In 2002, filmmakers/musicians Haylar Garcia and Scott Baxendale began work on an epic screenplay, which takes place over 30 years in Rock & Roll history, and chronicles the true-life events of Scott Baxendale's life as a well-known "Master Luthier" (guitar-maker). There was never a doubt as to whom should play this part in a screenplay, The trick was to convince him it should be him and to do it without invasive efforts into Johnny's privacy, in a public venue, with tact and grace. Currently a documentary getting ready to tour the major film festivals, Do It For Johnny chronicles the journey of getting this amazing guitar and script to Johnny himself. You can find out more here at these great sites: Do It For Johnny Colfax Guitar Shop

Johnny Also Appears On: Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads,Sea Songs, and Chanteys CD released on Anti-Records: Executive Producer. Once Upon a Time in Mexico: Producer, Dialogue Oasis Be Here Now Slide Guitar Oasis Don't Go Away Guitar Goran Bregovic Arizona Dream (France Bonus Tracks) Goran Bregovic Ederlezi Performer Various Artists Hollywood Goes Wild! Performer Goran Bregovic Songbook Performer Shane MacGowan The Snake (Bonus Track) Noise, Guitar Iggy Pop Avenue B (Japan Bonus Tracks) Guitar Chuck E. Weiss Extremely Cool Executive Producer Neil Young Dead Man Talking Various Artists Help: A Charity Project for the Children of Bosnia Performer Various Artists Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness Voice Performer *MANY OF THESE CLIPS CAN BE FOUND IN THE CLIP SECTION OF THE JDA MESSAGE BOARDS HERE

MORE DEPP MUSICAL INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE ON JOHNNY ROCKS ! This awesome site has clips, info, pics and MYTH BUSTERS !!! If you haven't found it here.. you will find it there !

TV Dish View all the legal stuff here All new and original content copyright � 2001-2006 Johnny Depp Admirers Inc. We are a not-for-profit fan based website Please see legalities pages for our non affiliation disclaimers. No copyright infringement intended: images and articles are used with /without permission are protected by copyrights of their respective owners and/or authors. All articles, pictures, stories and artwork belong to JDA, JDA INC. & Johnny Depp Admirers Inc. and any entities or members thereof and/or have been donated, approved and are protected by such entities Picture scans all property of Johnny Depp Admirers Inc. Hotlinking is strictly prohibited in any form Johnny Depp Admirers Inc. site designed by V.Paris a division of Mosphere.com site best viewed on FireFox