Johnston Atoll

Johnston Atoll were a fun-punk / pop-punk band from the Bergisch Gladbach area, that existed for about 10 years at all. As children, Sally Safari (later known as Sin Stanley and Oile Lachpansen) and Ben Dover (18) hung out in Sallys' grandma's basement to work on music with a keyboard, a bass-guitar and vocals. They called themselves "Lassies im Toaster" in the very early days (around 1993) and wrote german lyrics, having some lil hits with "Mein Frisör", "Wenn ich ein Mädchen wär" or "Das Ungetüm greift zu". In 1995 they changed their name to "Johnston Atoll" (named after an island where the US used to do some atom-bomb testings in the 60s) and wrote their songs in english language only. Starting out as a three-piece with new drummer Tara N. Tula, pretty soon they got joined by lead-guitarist Kees to do only one concert with this line-up. It was the first one in May 1996. Sally didn´t get along with Kees (reasons might´ve been Sallys puberty…) and the band went on as a three-piece. More shows followed, same as two DIY tapes "Slubberdegullion" (1996) and "Misspent Youth" (1997). In 1998 Dolly Desaster joined the band. Before that time he played in bands like The Ancient Gallery or Atomic Garden. In 1999 the first and only album "Utters" (CD, Kot Records) followed. Johnston Atoll played shows throughout Germany until 2001, then changed their name to The Johnas and their music style more towards alternative rock.