jonah ray
Jonah Ray: Close Personal Friend of Al….
(Like all of Jonah’s articles, there is a corresponding Spotify playlist of all the bands he mentions. Feel free to immerse yourself and listen while reading. Imagine that, a feast for yer eyes and ears at the SAME TIME.) “Close Personal Friend Of Al” was the name of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s fan club. As a kid who was a fan, I was always very close to sending in my membership application but never did. I was 1.) Afraid of putting effort into something that might get lost in the mail and 2.) I knew it was just a clever name for a fan club and wasn’t an actual invitation to what I REALLY wanted as a kid: to be a close, personal friend of Al. “Weird Al” never played a show where I grew up and I was slightly insulted as he wore “Hawaiian” shirts but never played Hawaii. If he had played, would I ...
Artist x Artist: Jonah Ray Interviews ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic
Artist x Artist. So simple, but so telling. When you put two creative minds together for a conversation, it can go literally in every direction. This happens on-stage during a show, it happens backstage, it happens at parties and it happens during great hangs. SPIN’s new series aims to capture the essence of what makes artists tick. Here, we’re going to connect old friends, people who have never met before or those who loosely know of each other’s existence for an unfiltered conversation that is intended to the proverbial fly-on-the-wall as this conversation takes place. We don’t know where it will go or have a set agenda. The goal is to capture the true essence of these behind-the-scenes conversations. We’re excited to launch the series with comedian/musician/SPIN contributor Jonah R...
Jonah Ray: To All the Bands I’ve Had Before….
I started playing drums in the fourth grade. All I wanted to be at the time was the drummer for Metallica. Just to be clear, I didn’t want to be Lars. I just had this fantasy leading up to my first-ever Metallica concert that Lars [Ulrich] would somehow see me on the upper lodge of the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu and go “YOU!” Everybody would stop down. James [Hetfield] would shield his eyes from the stage lights to see who Lars was pointing at. Kirk [Hammett] would smile knowingly, because he too must’ve seen me and just “knew maaaaan.” The whole crowd would turn up to see me, the 11-year-old kid flanked by his brother and older cousin Kalani (our chaperone for the night). The 11-year-old boy sitting directly behind the bored Japanese businessmen who hadn’t headbanged ONCE during the show...
Jonah Ray: How ‘Bout a Nice Hawaiian Punk?
(Like all of Jonah’s articles, there is a corresponding Spotify playlist of all the bands he mentions. Feel free to immerse yourself and listen while reading. Imagine that, a feast for yer eyes and ears at the SAME TIME.) When I tell people I was born and raised on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, they usually say “WHY DID YOU EVER LEAVE?!” or “WOW! I thought you were from the Midwest or something.” I guess my large, pale stature, and unending desire to slug beers makes them assume as much. Their next round of confusion usually stems from learning that I was a part of the island’s punk scene as well. “How does that even work?” Fair question. I try to tell them that It works…fine, I guess? For a punk scene to sustain itself (with any consistency), it usually needs a handful of local bands that...
Jonah Ray: Tracking The Sounds Of My Life (Memories and the Corresponding Music)
Each month, musician/comedian/podcaster/overall Renaissance man Jonah Ray will share memories about his “music adjacent life” that will often be more embarrassing than informative. The Worst Roadie…. I was 19, living in San Pedro, California and floating around my own life. I had moved out to Los Angeles to do comedy but was too scared to start. I knew people down in “Pedro” because the year before, THE JAG-OFFS came and played some shows in Hawaii (where I’m from). So, when it came time to head to Los Angeles to start on my journey to FAME AND FORTUNE, I moved to the only town I knew people in. While living in San Pedro, I auditioned to play drums for TOYS THAT KILL, the fairly new incarnation of one of my favorite bands, F.Y.P. I didn’t get the gig. Then, I had an unfortunate, short-run ...
