Mihajlovich is growing up

Jobi ‘Johnnie’ Mihajlovich is one of those musicians that never grows moss on her shoes. She’s too much of a rover, touring and travelling from city to city.

As a matter of fact, the 2004 Bellerose grad, who now lives half time in Vancouver and half time in St. Albert, has coined a new term when referring to herself — bi-provincial.

Mihajlovich returns to The ARTery on Monday, June 7 to release No Home Like Nowhere, an album she recorded with The Hornets, a toss-around name she and a bunch of musician friends made up on the spur of the moment.

The 13-track CD is a slice of life filled with deeply personal songs, many written after a big breakup. Inspired by events from the lives of real people, the tunes focus on growing up and the varying addictions that plunge people into a downward spiral. “It’s a dark album. It shows where I come from,” says Mihajlovich.

Growing up in St. Albert, she describes her life as pretty standard. “But I didn’t fit in and I didn’t have a lot of friends.”

A self-described “awkward, mousey kid,” she turned to music and credits Frances Schuchard as her guru, a music teacher who inspired and supported her creativity.

At 13, she entered a provincial composition concert and won second prize. Shortly after, her older brother Stef invited her to perform in his acid jazz progressive rock band called Adventures in Brain Damage. “It was basically trying to find how many different key signatures and time signatures we could put in a three-minute song.”

Her teens were tough years and she grew up feeling bitter. “I needed to step outside where I came from. It’s so interesting how certain things change with the environment.”

After high school she moved to Vancouver eager to enjoy the Lotus Land experience. “It was far enough away, yet close enough in case I needed to come home and there was a strong music community there.”

Living in Vancouver brought her face to face with poverty, addictions and homelessness. But the music always kept her together.

And her album — encased with a Tom Waits-Ryan Adams feel — “is an exploration of the dark side of the human experience and what it means to be human.”

For instance Street Diaries brings to light the whole addictions and crime scene of East Vancouver. Dirty City Rebels looks at an embittered person that realizes home is home. And St. Theresa is inspired by the tundra’s sense of isolation.

Growing up listening to the Top 40’s slick, over-produced tunes that no longer interest her, Mihajlovich has sprinkled a country-bluegrass flavour to this CD.

For more information check out www.myspace.com/johnnieninetynine