Hard Rock Bassist Johnny Colt Turns Reporter

Johnny Colt's has lived the life of a rock star -- on every level there is, from the dingy clubs fronting Atlanta stoner rock outfit Asphalt Blaster to arena tours as a founding member of the Black Crowes. Colt is now trying something all new: investigative journalism. And we're not talking typing behind a desk. He's embedding with troops and is in harms way.

He told Noisecreep the desire to go beyond music started as early as when the Black Crowes were at the top of the charts. "It wasn't very satisfying. It was to some degree at the time, but I knew it wasn't a sustainable long term way to live," says Colt, moving on to explain where he first got interested in going behind the camera.

"I started shooting pictures, because I had all these photographers around me and life was kind of boring creatively because you play the same songs every night. So I looked for another outlet, and I started shooting."

Colt has pursued photography since 1991, even displaying work around Atlanta that featured candid shots of his own and of friends like Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee. Still, he always wanted to capture the true essence of people – in the moment -- like his heroes James Nachtwey and Weegee (Arthur Fellig) famously did.

"I really got into it, and it planted a seed in me that would be a long time before it came out." It came out when the Gulf of Mexico oil spill hit.

A pause had entered into his life after a TV pilot for the Travel Channel failed to get picked up, giving him the chance to see where life was pointing. "I woke up and I was like, 'A record company doesn't own me and a network doesn't own me.' I hadn't been free contractually in 20 years."

With no reactionary thought, the first images of the oil spill came to TV, inspiring him to pack up a truck and head to the Grand Isle with a friend ready to record. "There was no logic. I was just like, 'I don't like the way this makes me feel. I'm not a victim. I'm not going to be made a victim.'"

Colt has released all his stories on his own dime, using social networks and CNN's Ireport blog to file his pieces. His work on the spill placed him in a stand-up interview on CNN while still in Florida. Since then he's moved on to cover stories that brought the need to be surrounded by armed guards as he enters the riots and unrest in Kyrgyzstan and Haiti.

Colt admitted much of what drives him is giving a clear message to his children. "I created this notebook for them," he described gluing photos and the stories into it. "The idea was: You'll hear about this in your lifetime. We're not victims in this family. I did something about it. Lead by examples not words."

The stories are getting a lot of internet attention, but still those means aren't making Colt any money. Major outlet reporters brought baffling questions to him when he spent $10,000 on a flight to Kyrgyzstan with no way to recoup.

"It's been a life-changing experience so I'm really onto something on the inside," Colt admitted. The passion he feels for each story gives him hope to rest in. "Finically I may be extremely irresponsible, but it remains to be seen."