Howard "Hojo" Johnson was the Andrew McNiece of Kerrang back in the early to mid eighties, even before Andrew McNiece was Andrew McNiece! He was one of the first contributors to Kerrang, before Kerrang became a noisy magazine for spotty oiks instead of "the loudest magazine in the world" Hojo was a ardent supporter of Melodic HR and Metal way before the web, before we started calling it Melodic rock, and used to sing the praises of all melodic metal and hard rock bands like Angel, Sabu, Alcatrazz (Island in the Sun was a particular fave of his) Legs Diamond, Baron Rojo, Aldo Nova, etc. If anyone, he must still be interested in melodic rock in general, so I wonder if anyone can answer what happened to "Hojo" And also, what happened to Wimpwire's mighty Derek Oliver? Derek Oliver was a proponent of the light and fluffiness (his words) in Kerrang of eighties bands like Niagara, White Heat, Treat, Da Vinci, Icon, Strangeways, etc. Those guys were/are legends in history of Melodic rock and deserve a tip of a pint or two. http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5615#msg-5615Fri, 24 May 2013 18:03:01 +1000 Phorum 5.2.16 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5630#msg-5630 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5630#msg-5630Whilst he was indeed a keen supporter of melodic rock in the early 80s (having to 'Kerrang!' from his fanzine days with the Manchester based 'Phoenix' publication)he became more interested in many other forms of rock music. Indeed, he was the frontman for the Birmingham Goth band Dawn After Dark and did work for Sanctuary Management at one time. I remember going on a couple of trips with him to cover Iron Maiden and Helloween in Europe.
Howard later became editor of 'Raw' and was at the helm when it was turned into a short-lived BritPop magazine by the powers that be at EMAP Metro.
He later worked for a variety of football/sports magazines. I believe he still does.]]> Dave Reynolds NoticeboardTue, 12 Sep 2000 03:01:19 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5616#msg-5616 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5616#msg-5616
ARBA wrote:
-------------------------------

Howard "Hojo" Johnson was the Andrew McNiece of Kerrang back in
the early to mid eighties, even before Andrew McNiece was Andrew McNiece!


I think Howard Johnson went on to work for Iron Maiden's production company Sanctuary Music.


And also, what happened to Wimpwire's mighty Derek Oliver


Derek Oliver went on to become a bigshot A&R at Atco and East/West in the US.
I seem to remember it was he who signed Dream Theater and Pantera.


Terje Dokken

]]> Dokken NoticeboardMon, 11 Sep 2000 20:39:55 +1100 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5615#msg-5615 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,5615,5615#msg-5615Howard "Hojo" Johnson was the Andrew McNiece of Kerrang back in
the early to mid eighties, even before Andrew McNiece was Andrew McNiece!
He was one of the first contributors to Kerrang, before Kerrang became a noisy magazine for spotty oiks instead of "the loudest magazine in the world"

Hojo was a ardent supporter of Melodic HR and Metal way before the web,
before we started calling it Melodic rock, and used to sing the praises
of all melodic metal and hard rock bands like Angel, Sabu,
Alcatrazz (Island in the Sun was a particular fave of his)
Legs Diamond, Baron Rojo, Aldo Nova, etc. If anyone, he must still be
interested in melodic rock in general, so I wonder if anyone can
answer what happened to "Hojo"

And also, what happened to Wimpwire's mighty Derek Oliver? Derek Oliver was a proponent of the light and fluffiness (his words) in Kerrang of eighties bands like Niagara, White Heat, Treat, Da Vinci, Icon, Strangeways, etc.

Those guys were/are legends in history of Melodic rock and deserve a tip of a pint or two.

]]> ARBA NoticeboardMon, 11 Sep 2000 19:26:13 +1100