JAWNY on Facetiming His Dog While on Tour, Escaping Love, and His Album ‘It’s Never Fair, Always True.’
Photo by Michael Tyrone Delaney
[UNPUBLISHED:] You started playing music pretty young after watching your dad jam out on the guitar, how has your family reacted to the great success you’ve had so far in your music career?
[JAWNY:] They have been really supportive. I hid it from them until it became “successful” so they don’t really know anything else and are just stoked. I was pretty shy about my music for a long time
[UNPUBLISHED:] As a kid, when you weren't in school or making music, what would you be doing?
[JAWNY:] When I was a kid and I wasn’t in school, I practically lived at the skate park. That was my first sense of a community. It kept me out of a lot of trouble I think and a lot of my first core memories happened there.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You recently released your new single “true” which although so bittersweet, still has a very playful and upbeat tune to it. What’s the inspiration behind creating a song that is contrasted in that way?
[JAWNY:] I don’t think it ever happens on purpose. I would like to take credit for that and give some sort of smart songwriter answer but truthfully it never is a plan. Songs to me usually are like dreams. Unless you are lucid dreaming, you don’t have control over it or at least I don’t. When I dream I’m just kinda there for the ride. Songs for me are very similar. I never know what the result is going to be or have a thought like “Okay, this is a melancholy song but let’s make it sound cute.” I just chase what gets me excited and leave it in an interesting place.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You’ve mentioned that this song was inspired by the idea of not being able to escape being in love with somebody even after they have fallen out of love with you, do you have any advice for anyone that might be going through that?
[JAWNY:] It's not fun and I don’t think the black and white text on a screen from an interview with me should be the proper place to be getting advice on something as complex of a situation as this is but if you truly love someone then you have to let them go. It’s easier said than done. It may hurt. It may even make you feel like you don’t wanna live on this earth anymore. Just try to remember “this too shall pass.” Whatever emotional pain you are feeling just know will be temporary. I’m not saying it will go away forever but there will be a day you wake up in the future and feel good again and yes, maybe for only a day, a week, or a month. Then later you might remember all the hurt and go through the pain all over again but eventually, those spaces and gaps between those relapses of emotions become bigger and bigger and bigger until…. it’s gone.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What is your music-making process like and where do you find inspiration for your work?
[JAWNY:] My process kinda varies. For the most part, I just try to fake a song into existence. If I have a chord progression, I’ll just start singing nonsense over it in different melodies and cadences until something feels good. Either something that fell out of my mouth sounded good or maybe I can fit some different words in. Another way is more structured like I want to write a song about ___. That could be something I jotted down in my notes on a walk, a line I heard in a conversation in the grocery store, etc. Sometimes I’ll produce an entire instrumental first before I ever write a word. It all sort of bounces around. I think I usually find inspiration along the way unless it’s one of those rare occasions I said above where I have a very specific idea I’m trying to tackle.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How do you think your sound has evolved from when you first started making music? How do you see your sound evolving in the future?
[JAWNY:] That's a really hard one for me to answer because I’m so closely tied to it. I wish I had somebody next to me right now who has been listening from day one and I could ask them what they think they hear changing. Any answer I feel seems biased and pretty self-sucking. It’s all from my eyes but if I had to answer I think maybe I’ve been maturing my sound out a bit more. I’m trying to make records that sound amazing has been a big goal of mine for the past couple of years. I want people to hear my songs and hear the amount of work that went into them. It’s elevated from just being in a bedroom to now being able to track full-string orchestras of my choosing. The growth and resources at my disposal now are night and day to a couple of years ago but really what do I know? Somebody may say they don’t even notice a difference and that’s okay too! As long as anybody is listening, I’m happy.
Photo by Michael Tyrone Delaney
[UNPUBLISHED:] You’re going on tour soon, which is so exciting! What are you most excited about regarding this upcoming tour?
[JAWNY:] I think I’ll always look forward to the connection you share for that hour when you are on stage. Everybody standing in front of you is the reason you can do what you do. They listen to your art and pay hard-earned money to come out to a show and support you. It’s easy to look at streams and comments behind a phone screen but playing a headliner set will never be the same as the online love (obviously) and I owe it to everybody in the audience (literally) to put on the best show I can that night and try not to send anybody home disappointed.
[UNPUBLISHED:] I saw your video with NME where you talk about how excited you were to be playing the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, do you have any places you’re particularly excited to play?
[JAWNY:] Thalia Hall in Chicago has been on my bucket list for a while. I was an opener there a couple of years ago and I remember looking around and thinking, “Wow, imagine selling this place out on your own.” Now we are going to play that venue on this tour and it feels pretty good.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some items you can’t live without while on tour? Do you have any personal items you take that make you feel close to home while on the road?
[JAWNY:] I get video and picture updates of my dog sent to me pretty frequently while I’m on the road and that always keeps my spirits up. Sometimes I'll be put on speakerphone and I'll call my dog’s name and she will stare blankly out into space confused, wondering where her dad is.
[UNPUBLISHED:] In my opinion, your whole discography is something out of a perfect coming-of-age film. If you could feature your music in any movie, which one would it be and why?
[JAWNY:] Napoleon Dynamite. That movie's music fucks. Fucks real hard. The White Stripes intro, the dance at the end, and all the instrumental music playing throughout the movie that some dude made with a drum machine and a synth...fucks.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You recently moved out to Los Angeles a couple of years ago, what are some of your favorite spots here?
[JAWNY:] There’s this super lowkey secretive spot nobody has found out about yet in Los Angeles. It’s called In N Out I think? It’s mad lowkey. I think it’s only been around for like a year or so now. It’s a ghost town every time I go but the burgers are to die for, man. That and Jack in the Box. Another startup that’s slowly gaining popularity. I think it’s got 2 locations now.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Do you have anything you're particularly excited about? It can be anything - upcoming projects, recipes, new hobbies you've taken up, etc!
[JAWNY:] My motherfucking album. It’s Never Fair, Always True. It’s out March 3rd.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What does a perfect day look like for you?
[JAWNY:] I don’t know if there is a perfect way to spend a day. There are only ways to convince ourselves we are spending our days wrong by putting unfair pressures on what is considered a “good use of our time.” Spend your days off from work doing whatever the hell you want. That's what I do and come to think of it, I like all of my days because of that. A perfect day could be laying around half-naked and doing nothing. A perfect day could also be getting on all fours and sprinting like an actual animal on knuckles and feet from North Hollywood to Santa Monica. Go crazy.
