1blackfrend
- MOVEMENT MAG
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
1. Give us an introduction to yourself / the band members and the instruments each person plays.
1blackfrend is officially a trio, but we are always flirting with adding a fourth member. We liken it to Nirvana and Pat Smear WE JUST CAN’T QUIT YOU, IVAN!
Members:
Randi Johnson - Guitar, Lead Vox
Grant Nielsen - Bass, BU Vox
Chris Poland - Drums, BU Vox
*Ivan Skenes - Guitar (sometimes)
2. How did you/the band get started? When did you begin, what influenced you, who helped you along the way, and were you trained or self-taught?
The band is mostly centered around Randi and her songs. Randi is a self-taught musician and songwriter from Detroit who has lived in the South for a number of years. Being a black woman in rock’n’roll has always been a bit of a fish-out-of-water scenario for her, and so when she joined Instagram, she chose the name @1blackfrend for her handle as a nod to the fact that she was constantly surrounded by white dudes in rock clubs. The rest of the band are seasoned, career musicians who have all been in too many groups to count.
3. What was your first live performance like? Also, what has been your favorite and least favorite show so far, and why?
Our first performance as a group was at the end of 2024 at Bedlam (Mayport), and we came out of the gate swingin’!
Though every single show is filled with joy, our favorite moment was in the final days of Rain Dogs. We were playing the back room when a breaker blew while we were onstage. That circuit carried half the stage, along with all of the lights and the sound system. It was suddenly total blackness with lingering drums and guitar - but then the audience all turned on their phone lights, and we performed the set acapella, simply screaming over the drums.
Thankfully, someone had the presence of mind to capture this moment, and we reminisce about it often: youtube.com/watch?v=JC5JafYWywA
4. What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Coming about in the age of “content” has been a challenge for us. It’s not as if we hate creating the videos and clips that are the currency of the social media age, but it pulls so much focus from what is actually important: the music. What’s more, we are beginning to have major apprehension about the depression and addiction caused by social media, so we wrestle a lot with the implications of it all.
5. What sets your music apart from everything else out there?
Perhaps there are artists out there who have some gimmick or snappy answer to this question. For us, the only answer we can provide is that we are best friends and we are always our authentic selves. To be anything else would mistake the point of it all.
6. How do you personally define success for yourself or the band? Do you feel being based in Jacksonville has benefited your career more or less—and why?
Largely because of the aforementioned challenges of trying to succeed without becoming ‘content creators’, we have an open dialogue about how we measure success. So far, we’ve defined this by setting a series of attainable goals. In our first year, we set the goals of putting out a single, performing at least one out-of-market show, and performing at Springfield PorchFest. It was a major lift, but we achieved all three goals and have now set our sights on the new year, including aiming to play shows in Detroit and Chicago (where our families hail from). Jacksonville remains both a sanctuary and also a gravity well. The scale of sprawl is large enough that an artist doesn’t need to ever leave the region - but traveling to new markets is the surest way to grow as a performer. So, for better or for worse, Jax remains very geographically isolated and hard to escape.
7. What projects are you currently working on or promoting?
We are working on our third single right now and are currently exploring opportunities for Randi to take part in an artist residency program somewhere in the world.
8. Have you toured yet? If so, how far outside of Jacksonville have you made it, and where would you love to play most that you haven’t yet?
Most of the players in the group are career musicians and have toured extensively with other groups. But touring full-time is not truly our aspiration, especially in this current economy. Nonetheless, in our first year, we played a few out-of-town shows and made it as far as Central Florida. But in 2026, we have our sights on Savannah, Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Chicago, Detroit, and more!
9. What are your craziest “on the road” or wild adventure stories? (Music-related or otherwise.)
Oof… Nothing we would want to commit to print… Mind ya bidness, Movement!
10. If you could collaborate or perform with anyone—living or dead—who would it be and why? (Feel free to shout out any living local artists you’d like to work with, too.)
Great question. Everyone in the group would likely have a variety of picks, but it seems safe to say that we would all have really loved to collaborate with Prince.
In the spirit of manifesting, we’d also love to perform with Brittany Howard, Lianne La Havas, or Trombone Shorty. Do your thing, universe!
11. What do you/the band members do with your time outside of the band?
We’re all deeply involved in our community, fiercely supporting local venues, artists, coffee shops, restaurants, studios, galleries, food trucks, open mics, theatres, and more. We have jobs and families, like anyone else, but it is the chosen family of our artistic community that defines our footprint as a group.
12. Name one thing you love most about the Jacksonville music scene that sets it apart from other cities.
Jacksonville produces the best musicians in the world - full stop. We have so many examples of this that it’s hard to count them all.
13. What are your top three favorite local venues to play and your favorite local record store to get music from?
Our three favorite venues are probably Solune, Blue Jay, and The Walrus - at least that’s where you can find us most often.
We love all the local record stores, but there’s a special place in our hearts for Yesterday & Today in San Marco.
14. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received that you’d pass on to other local bands—and who gave it to you?
The ghost of Jeff “Skunk” Baxter once materialized in our rehearsal space and explained the value of claiming clothing purchases as “costuming” deductions on our personal taxes.
15. Where’s the best place for fans to connect with you? Please share your links.
We’d sure love it if folks went by our website at https://1blackfrend.com/
