10/25/06
Still busy with some great Buck-O-Nine shows and a new Destrung drummer!

Buck-O-Nine has been playing a string of shows over the last several months taking us from Southern California to Oahu and even Lake Havasu. Since we are basically weekend warriors, all the traveling has been a nice treat. The 2 shows in Oahu Hawaii were kick ass! Befre that we played some great shows at Blind Melon's, the Belly Up Tavern, X-Games, Showcase Theater, and a bunch of other dates I can't seem to recall at this moment. The shows were all packed and the kids going off, which makes for such a great time on stage.

In other news, we have a new drummer we've been practicing with in Destrung for the last 3 months. Ironically his name is Eric and he hits as hard as our former drummer Eric. They have completely different styles though. Anyway we are stoked that we have our first show booked with the new Eric. It will be at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos on Nov 10th.

Lastly I wanted to mention that I got a great review of my song "Disappointed Son"....

"Jonas - Back in the old days when I first started listening to rock & roll I often joined the fan club of the bands I really liked. I was in the New York Dolls fan club, and later the Kiss Army. Both bands sent me neat little fan club cards that I kept in a little scrap book hidden under my bed. Now I would like to join your fan club! Seriously, this is a great little song. I like the light bouncing swing feel of the verses, and how you start to choogle and boogie during the choruses. Despite sounding mostly like a country song, there's still plenty of rock & roll swagger. Lyrical theme and imagery seems really imaginative and sincere. Vocal is delivered in a relaxed manner but sounds very expressive. Melody is memorable. I really dig this song. Are there more like it? I'd love to have a whole CD (or better still, vinyl album) of this stuff."

6/14/06
I have been busy with Buck-O-Nine and Destrung lately. Destrung is currently looking for a new drummer. Eric decided to move his drum banging skills to Colorado. He will be missed!! If you live in the San Diego area and you would like to play some beats for Destrung, email me at - 'info (at) destrung .com'.

It's true that we have the 4 song sessions from last year completely finished and ready to go. I've been deliberating about what I want to do with them. I am thinking about making them available for free downloading on our myspace page for the time being. I'll be sending out an email to let you know when they are ready!

I recently licensed the song "People Watching" to be used in some commercials on NBC11 in San Jose. The commercials were aired during the winter olympics through the end of May. Unfortunately they pulled the link to the video down, but I got a copy of it, so I will be posting it on here soon for your viewing pleasure!

Buck-O-Nine has been playing shows regularly over the last few months in LA, Orange County, San Diego, Fresno, etc... We don't really tour anymore, but these shows have been a great way to keep in touch with people who still dig us. They have been great, and the crowds have been really responsive. We are currently working on writing songs for release on a new CD. We are a little more than 1/2 way through and we are super stoked on how it's turning out!

8/30/05
I have finally finished recording, mixing and mastering of the new 4 song ep. I will let you know as soon as it is available for your listening pleasure. I am very pleased with how everything turned out. At one point I didn't think we would be able to mix the song 'Needle Drops'. The Mac we were using kept having memory errors and crashing. Ahh, technology! Nothing like the good ole days when you record straight to a 2 inch tape reel! We actually recorded basic tracks on the 2 inch tape reel but digitized them and dumped them over to the Mac to finish. The Mac really is a dream for overdubs and automation... when it isn't crashing!

Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the Jumping Turtle. Andy was kind enough to record some footage and splice it together using a few songs from People Watching as a bed. It is really cool!

8/3/05
Destrung is playing a show at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos. You can catch us on Friday August 19th. Also on the bill that night are the Ups and Jet Cinema.

I am very close to completing the latest batch of recordings. I think we are going to release them as an EP. They are coming along great!

6/20/05
I just did an interview for the website, absolutepunk.net. You can check it out here: Buck-O-Nine - Jonas Interview

5/10/2005
Last minute update...Destrung is Playing at the Jumping Turtle Friday the 13th!!! @11pm.

5/6/2005
Been mixing 4 new songs at Earthling Studios in Santee. They are sounding excellent. I'll have some Mp3's up by the end of the month. I just need to do a few piano overdubs to one of the songs and finish up vox on another. Don't worry, I'm not turning my songs into piano ballads. It is for a texture type effect. See below about the thumbtacks on the piano pads for more info...

1/26/2005
Thank you Ruggy and Chris Cantore for inviting me to perform on 91X Brand X radio's "Big Break."

You can check out the interview here

1/23/2005
This weekend has been great! I have been recording 4 news songs at Earthling Studios with Rob and Eric. The new songs are "Walk Away", "Singin Alone", "Needle Drops", & "Lonely Radio." We play these songs regularly in our Destrung set but until now have not commited the recordings to tape. We finished guitar tracks, bass & drums. Next week I will return to start tracking the vocals. I am super excited. The sounds are raw and excellent!

I used my epiphone alleycat hollowbody fitted with a P-90 pickup, my Danelectro Silvertone circa 1961 and my olde Martin acoustic circa 1955 to get some raw old school tones. Rob used his 64 Fender P-Bass and Eric slammed the shit out of his early 60's Slingerland kit.

I discovered a cool trick you can try on any piano. Get some metal thumbtacks and pin them onto the piano hammer pads (the part that hits the strings). It gives a piano a very cool Stonsey vibe! Plus you can always take 'em out without damaging the piano.