Johnny Depp took a break from the dusty trail — playing Tonto in Gore Verbinski’s update of The Lone Ranger — to play drums for longtime friend Bill Carter at a couple of club dates in Los Angeles this week. Lucky patrons at The Mint on Pico Boulevard on Thursday were entertained by Bill, Johnny, Bruce Witkin, Joey Malone, and Mike Thompson. On Friday, Bill, Johnny, Bruce, Mike and Joey played at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, where they opened for Todd Snider. You can see a photo of the band onstage at the El Rey HERE — from left to right, that’s Mike on accordion, Bruce on cigar-box guitar, Johnny on drums, Bill playing guitar and singing, and Joey on guitar. You can see another photo from the El Rey HERE.

To see a larger version of the photo of Johnny above, CLICK HERE; that beautiful portrait was cropped from a photo taken by Suzanne Allison at the Mint. Ms. Allison’s stunning photos are available on the Unison Music Facebook page HERE and the Atlas Jams website HERE.

Johnny’s association with his bandmates goes back a long way — Bruce Witkin and Joey Malone were members of The Kids, and Bill Carter and Johnny played together in P. Many thanks to FANtasticJD and to Johnny Depp Rocks for sharing photos and news. You can read more about Johnny’s gigs on the Zone’s Pit General Discussion forum.