COLLAPSE BOARD

extracts from Conversations with Punx – 4. Jonah Matranga

Jonah Matranga has released a variety of solo material under his own name and Onelinedrawing. The San Francisco based singer-songwriter-guitarist played in bands Far, New End Original and, most recently, Gratitude. He has contributed backing vocals to Thursday’s album War All The Time and has worked with various other musicians including the Deftones and Lupe Fiasco.

Do you think there’s spirituality in punk music at the moment?

JONAH MATRANGA: Yeah. You’ve got me thinking about different places and forms. I don’t think there is any one or any less spirituality in any type of music than another. Reggae and country can be just as spiritual as metal. It’s the intention behind it. For me, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan are fucking punk. Is there spirituality in that? Yeah. One thing that punk does have in a way is that it is music of the underclass. There’s something to that. Obviously it’s very, very mainstream now. That simple, bash it out, don’t think too much about it, just go for it kind of thing, there’s something to it, something about not letting your mind get in the way.

To me punk, hip-hop and folk all feel so similar. Going through the different genres of music that I’ve been associated with, I’ve noticed that for the most part I’ve always liked playing loud music but my in between song demeanour has been much more like a folk artist. I like being chatty and having song introductions, being interested in being on a one-to-one level. When I see hip-hop, folk and punk acts, a lot of the times they’re saying the same thing in different accents.

I totally agree. I’ve held that belief for a long time.

JM: I played Hell Fest, this huge hardcore festival when I was doing Onelinedrawing, this soft little thing. The funniest thing is that Terror went on right before us. The singer was saying all this stuff that made me laugh. Me and him say the exact same thing it’s just I say, “Hey, this is about the community”, and he says [Jonah puts on a brutal hardcore voice], “This is about the community!” It’s the same shit [laughs].

I had a conversation with Larry Livermore about how people tend to take notice of the medium things are delivered in more than what the actual message is. When I go to hardcore shows I get a weird vibe. I’m an energy sensitive person. I remember when I was younger there used to be a more positive, not so weird, vibe to it all.

JM: I don’t know why that happens. I’m very careful. I want to mature and I want to grow but whenever I catch myself thinking, “Aw the scene sucks now”, I just remember that there are generations before me that have said the same thing.

I don’t want to feel that way though. I still go to shows. The thing that made me feel a little better about it all is that I realised that I can create something new or different myself. That’s the beauty of it. If you’re not happy with it, do something about it.

JM: Exactly. When there’s an explosion there are innovators, an idea that catches fire and obviously that’s a more exciting time to be at a show than five years later when it’s all the rip off bands doing it. [laughs] Then ironically everything becomes so much more popular. I have lots of thoughts on that but as far as spirituality goes, there’s nothing that holds more true to that idea that if you don’t like what’s going on you can make your own thing spirituality. I don’t necessarily mean make your own religion; I’m a little bit suspicious of that. To go back to that guy I was telling you about that was really anti-religion, sure you can read the Bible and if you want to find things and make this hateful argument, but I don’t think you’re using those statements in context. You’re using them to justify your ego.

In most traditions I know there is so much beauty there. At the heart of it there can be people who are very, very passionate about it. It goes back to people trying to talk about stuff. There’s a Jewish teaching, the Torah — it’s what other people would call the Old Testament — is likened to a crystal or a piece of glass. One person studying is nice and pretty but if you look at it together and studying it and discuss it then it’s like shining a light through a fragment of the glass where the light shoots off into all different directions and lights up the room. I really love that about dialogue, sharing knowledge and talking. You light things up and you’re not all alone with it.

Another 3,500 words of this conversation can be found in a forthcoming issue of the limited edition zine series, Conversations With Punx: A Spiritual Dialogue

Photography: Jonah Matranga

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 at 12:31 pm. It is filed under Interviews and tagged with Bianca Valentino, Conversations With Punx, Deftones, Far, Gratitude, interview, Joe Matranga, Lupe Fiasco, New End Original, Onelinedrawing, spirituality, Thursday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.