A Grape Dope

John Herndon (born April 9, 1966)^[2] is an American musician and artist. Based in Chicago, he was a founding member of the post-rock band Tortoise, where he plays drums and percussion.

A Grape Dope
Birth name	John Herndon
Also known as	Johnny Machine, A Grape Dope
Born	(1966-04-09) April 9, 1966 (age 59) Long Island, New York, U.S.[1]
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Instrumental hip hop, indie hip hop, jazz, post-rock, electronica, progressive rock, dub
Occupation(s)	Producer, musician
Instrument	Drums
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Galaxia
Website	www.trts.com

Herndon also works as a producer for instrumental hip hop under the name A Grape Dope.^[3]

Early life

Herndon was born in 1966 on Long Island, New York. He was the second child of his family, with a brother two years older than him. After his family moved to Boston, Herndon's father was jailed and his mother was a drug addict, so the children were put into the foster care system when Herndon was a toddler. He described the experience as abusive, but remained in the system until his father was released from prison in 1971.^[2]

In 1976, Herndon moved to the North Carolina mountains with the Grateful Union Family Trust, a commune that Herndon's father and his girlfriend were a part of.^[2]

Career

John Herndon is a member of the bands Tortoise and Isotope 217, playing mainly drums but some other percussion (vibraphone, etc.) and occasional keyboards.^[4] He produced Deep Puddle Dynamics' song entitled "More from June" in 2002.^[5] He released the Missing Dragons EP under the alias A Grape Dope on Galaxia in 2003.^[6] It features a guest appearance from rapper Doseone.^[7]

Personal life

He is the father of dance-pop musician 2hollis.^[8]

Discography

See also: Tortoise discography, Isotope 217 discography, The For Carnation discography, Five Style discography, and Poster Children discography

Albums

• Backyard Bangers (2020)

EPs

• Immediate Action (2000)
• Missing Dragons (2003)

Productions

• Deep Puddle Dynamics - "More from June" from We Ain't Fessin' (Double Quotes) (2002)

Contributions

• Themselves - "You Devil You" and "Hat in the Wind" from The No Music (2002)
• Doseone - "By Horoscope Light I&II" from Ha (2005)

Remixes

• Tommy Guerrero - "Birds Over Head (John Herndon Remix)" from Junk Collector (2001)
• Trans Am - "Cold War" from Extremixxx (2002)
• Themselves - "Dr. Moonorgun Please" from The No Music of AIFFS (2003)
• Via Tania - "On Sawyer" from Boltanski (2004)
• Via Tania - "Felt Cave" from True (2005)