Jonivan Jones Knows Some Things Sound Better Uncorrected
Punk Head: These songs were written years ago, but you describe them as finally finding their sonic home. What was missing from them before, and how did you know you'd found it?
Jonivan Jones: There were some great (in my opinion) versions of these but it was either that they were rushed or just something felt misaligned in the mixing and mastering process. I do GREATLY appreciate those and especially the folks that helped record the other versions but it's like these originated from a vibe and story that is unique to anything else I have recorded, that's why the reel to reel was important. I am not publicly streaming but if someone wanted to they might find an older version deep in Bandcamp if they search hard enough on my page.
Punk Head: “Ozark Moon” seems to find a kind of refuge in old songs, while “Desert Surf Blues” confronts the possibility of reconciliation after hardship. Do you see these tracks as two different responses to loss, or did that connection only become apparent once they were finished?
Jonivan Jones: That's a fantastic take on these tracks and I appreciate that, it's certainly moved into a state of clarity after the fact and years later. I think it was an initial response to experiences and that was a response in melody and words, and later it's like looking back on that in an old photo album or scrapbook. Like capturing a busking musician ad libbing at the end of the night then later dissecting that if you so desired.
Punk Head: You spent years moving between places and encountering different musical traditions. Has living that way made you better at finding a sense of home, or has it made the idea of home more difficult to pin down?
Jonivan Jones: I had no choice but to travel and live in different locations. So in some ways absolutley, l learned to find the places, people and types of rooms or atmosphere's that felt right for me in so many places. That in itself has helped my perspective that people are living, struggling and finding joy in or celebrating their culture wherever you go. Sometimes for me the hard part is that home is where I am kind of a stranger, and that's not a shot at any one or place. I'm odd, strange, different an outsider etc and not by design or intention but it just seems to work out that way. I see the places and people in my home and often wish that i had that connection that so many of them seem to experience but i guess the trade off is that i'm alive and well in the other places.
Punk Head: You've argued that analog processes can open doors to sounds that modern digital methods cannot. What's one thing you can achieve on tape that you struggle to find anywhere else?
Jonivan Jones: I think the fact that the digital world can be manipulated easier than rolling a reel and though you may use some digital to capture and fine tune the analog recording, it's a different experience. You put the reel on, run it through the heads and you get to hit go and see what it is. Obviously the sound is very different and that to me gives it an ambience, that bit of background noise is like a spirit, a universe that we don't tread in as often in our current time. I also absolutely love embracing a sound that is not going to fit within any of the type of predictive modeling stuff that you hear in AI.
Punk Head: Your music embraces ragged rhythms, unusual tunings, and homemade percussion. At what point does an imperfection become an essential part of a song?
Jonivan Jones: Funny enough, I was talking to two musicians that I respect and appreciate over in Clarksdale, MS the other day about this very subject. One of the folks I was talking to is a songwriter (I am a big fan) and she described some of the ragged and homemade or imperfect maybe wild style as a kind of shared deeper tribal understanding. I'm kind of paraphrasing here but i believe that is such a great way to describe why it's important to include that imperfection whenever it's real and felt. Because it just translates through some of the common things that an audience might hear so often. I say ~Let it go, give it loose, we're not here too long anyway.
