Since the 2007 release of Trust Everyone Before They Break Your Heart, Portland band Jonah has been steadily attracting attention from fans and critics alike. From press in SPIN Magazine and the Studio City Sun to regular radio play on Portland's KNRK 94.7 and KINK, Seattle's KEXP and numerous other stations around the country, not to mention sold out shows with Australia's Youth Group and the Silversun Pickups, Jonah is turning heads with their unique brand of anthemic pop music. The band recently returned from a West Coast tour and is gearing up to hit the road again. Stay tuned!
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Jonah headed into the studio to finish up a B sides released...stay tuned!
The Story
Sometimes time is the best thing for a band: Time to step back and re-evaluate why they are in this business of making music in the first place. Amidst the paradox of the lightning fast ebb and flow of the entertainment world and the glacial pace of the music business, time is at once a luxury most established bands don’t get to enjoy and the inevitable truth of all good things…they require it.
So it was with Jonah in 2004. After showcases for major labels in LA, tours of the West coast to promote their first full-length record and the follow up EP, west coast radio play as well as placements on television and many compilation discs, the band returned to the mist shrouded hills of Portland, OR to dream up what the next step would be.
Friends since high school, the band had moved to Portland in 1999 to begin the great rock and roll adventure. It was there that they had quietly built a following and gained a reputation for smart and anthemic pop music that rang true for fans and critics alike. In 2001 they had released Save the Swimmer, an explosive and emotionally intense pop gem to much acclaim. Songs off of STS were placed on a very successful WB series and also received regular rotation on several west coast radio stations. In 2003 they released the Safe Distance EP, which garnered them a major management deal and the chance to see how far their music could take them. With live shows meant for arenas, not small clubs, Jonah was outgrowing their northwest home; a new record was needed to reach a larger audience.
Feeling the spark and urge of a new found creativity after so much time immersed in the business end of music, the band built a small studio in a basement nicknamed the “ice-box” and proceeded to do what bands do: write and record music. They sat down with acoustic instruments and hammered out ideas in a circle. They worked from the ground up: laying down the skeletal frame of a song and giving it flesh and blood, one instrument at a time. The new sound was refreshing and uniquely different, but ultimately still Jonah: sweeping melodies and cascading guitars, subtle and philosophical lyrics with careening choruses that rose and fell over an ocean of pure pop bliss.
For a year and a half Jonah did little but write and record, churning out songs and sending the demos on to their management. The recordings made their way to several producers, including Marshall Altman, who took an immediate interest in the band. Altman, who had been an A&R rep at Columbia and Hollywood Records but had quit to devote his time to producing (Marc Broussard, Matt Nathanson, Zebrahead), offered to make a new record with the band in Los Angeles. He enlisted the engineering talents of Joe Zook (Modest Mouse, Remy Zero, Counting Crows), and in the spring of 2006 Jonah traveled to LA to record their second full-length release. The result: a tightly wound pop testament that displays the breadth of Jonah’s talents. From the centerpiece of Henry Curl’s bright and elegant tenor to the shimmering waves of Chris Hayes’ understated, less is more guitar playing; the songs are statements to the whole, anchored by the concise and seemless pulse of Matt Roger’s bass and Jake Endicott’s drums.
Trust Everyone Before They Break Your Heart is the name of this record, an ironic statement taken from the song Intermission is Over, an emphatic call to those who can’t and won’t give up no matter what the odds. It is the sound of a band rediscovering themselves and their art, finding joy in the simple act of creating music together, wherever it may lead.
Trust Everyone Before They Break Your Heart will be released in March of 2007.