If you’ve felt the thump in your chest and floorboards shaking during a Proffits set, you have Johnny Proffit to thank. Providing the heavy, low-end foundation of the band, Johnny’s bass playing is best described in four simple words: loud, aggressive, driving, and rumbling. He is the anchor that grounds the band’s surf-punk chaos in something delightfully heavy and menacing.
An Olympia native born and raised, Johnny has watched his hometown morph from a sleepy little Pacific Northwest town into the dingy, dark, and beautifully gritty place it is today, a perfect backdrop for the band’s mortuary-born sound. His musical roots run deep, starting with early memories of hearing Jim Croce and Elvis as a kid before the heavy-hitting rebellion of Black Sabbath, the Dead Kennedys, and the Circle Jerks grabbed hold of him and refused to let go. Johnny started out playing guitar in high school metal and punk bands where the members had far more drive than actual skill. Today, when he isn’t shaking foundations with The Proffits, you can find him bringing that same energy to local supergroup Chance of Ghosts.
But Johnny doesn’t just play the music, he literally builds the machines that blast it out. A true gearhead and sonic wizard, he designs, builds, and repairs guitar amps and cabinets, and does custom guitar work for Redbeard Sound Works.
When he’s not covered in solder and cabinet tweed, Johnny channels his love for the macabre into collecting classic Universal Monsters and Hammer Horror memorabilia. His taste in cinema leans toward the visceral and terrifying, citing The Exorcist, Evil Dead, and Hellraiser as his holy trinity of horror, with Pinhead reigning supreme as his absolute favorite villain.
With his deep Olympia roots, custom-crafted tone, and a love for things that go bump in the night, Johnny brings a heavy, monstrous swagger to the stage. He’s the dark heart of The Proffits’ rhythm section, making sure the bassline hits you straight in the chest.