Interview With Jon Barba

What would be the first thing you would like someone to know about you? Also the first thing you would say about your music?

The first thing i would like someone to know about me is that I am native american and that i am from west covina because i would want anyone that i meet from doing music to understand that all i do comes from a place of
care and with massive amounts of respect for my family and for where im from. For my music i like people to know that when im nicole kidman im not jon barba but i also do like 2 jon barbas so i dont know.

I read in another interview that you used to pull lyrics from your Journal. If you still keep a journal can you give us five random pages to read?

Ive been doing a lot of writing lately on the sun and a lot of drawings of the sun and whales. Ive been thinking a lot about whales and the power of the sun. I have writings also about just my random sleep patterns. I try to take note of things that i do and things i think of to help me go to sleep.

Would you like to play a little Mad Glibs

(Start All Over (Hannah Montana) Mad Lib)
I have to wonder if this Box`s too big to ride
Listen or not Listen in such a crazy VCR
It`s sooner than I thought but you Corroded me out
I`ve lost control and there`s no Pants
I`m gonna Fly all over

Out of the Bug and into the Bug again
You make me want to forget
And Fly all over
Here I come Slimy out of my mind or worse
Another Tooth to get burned
And Fly all over
I`m gonna Fly all over

Fantastic and Simply all a big surprise
You`ve got the warning hesitation Lifted aside
It`s sooner then i want but you caught my Legs
I guess I`m ready now to Fly
I`m gonna Fly all over

Tell me a bit about your upcoming collaboration with Kevin Greenspon?

The 7"? Its pretty cool. We recorded it at my house in Oakland, its like 4 songs of mine that i usually perform by myself but Kevin and me recorded them together and play them together live sometimes too.
Kevin Greenspon + Jon Barba - "Already Dead" Kevin Greenspon + Jon Barba - Already Dead video


What are the current record labels you have releases on and how do you go about getting your songs released on them?

Folktale Records - Chris Payne and me met a long time ago at a show in Upland, CA. I quickly fell in love with a lot of his releases (Gowns, Splinter Cake, John Thill, Anni Rossi). I had been recording for a while on tapes and mp3 players and put together a demo tape. I only made about 15 and handed them out over the course of a month or so. He approached me about doing a tape on his label and it was one of the more genuinely exciting times of my life. When I started doing bedroom shows at my parents house I asked him to play for a lot of them and from then on out we became really good friends. In later years he was really cool with me hanging out at his house in Korea Town and just overall being a really good friend. I have mad respect for his label and owe a lot of my overall happiness to Chris taking a chance on me really early on. Releases: Self Titled cassette, Sleep 7"
Bridgetown Records - Me and Kevin met a long time ago at the same space in Upland called the Old Baldy Brewery. We hung out a lot and talked a lot about music. He lived so close that there was a real natural bond. We both really related to each other in a lot of ways and were both sincerely geeky on music in all of its facets. We're collectors, record constantly, and talked about new releases and tapes from people that like no one else at the time really cared for. Like for reals. Carpooling 40 minutes out to a show in Riverside to see John Thill gargle water while singing about drugs to less than like 10 super stoked people. He and I while hanging out talked a lot about doing stuff on our own and really naturally started doing that together. We recorded my first cd on his label, then like a bunch others. Releases: 20 years old and no girlfriend cd-r, teen worship cd-r, If we say it in unison cassette, jon barba + kevin greenspon cassingle, blue crush cd-r/cassette
Obeast Tapes / Family Time Records - I was recording a lot of material and both Andy (of Obeast) and Sam (Family Time) approached me about doing something on their labels too so we did 7 things I hate about me, a cassette that Family Time did featuring stuff recorded from mp3 players, portable cassette players, and my friend's cassette 4-track. And Andy released what was Teen Worship, a cassette also recorded at the same time as 7 things. A lot of this material was emotionally and mentally draining so I don't really perform these songs live anymore.
Your Warmth LBL - This is my label, I dubbded a tape of stuff Ive been recording at home from this year. Releases: Never say never cassette, All these songs are about love cd-r, 23 songs cd-r

Give me your top 10 cassette/CD/Vinyls that you worn out listening to?

Cassette - john thill (heart of grime), former selves (hope), rot box (unread records comp), no paws no lions (dont be afraid of where you live), splinter cake (no shoes, windows down), Hideous men + Milton Melvin Crioissant III, Terrors, Biz Markie (the biz never sleeps), New Order (low life), Endless Bummer
cd - hermit convention/new bengal spice (split), postal service, yo la tengo (2-disc smattering of), gaze (mitsumeru), elliot smith (either/or), ACXDC (he had it comin), IE (smoochie), Fiesta Comes Alive, I Hate Myself (10 Songs), BYODeath (my sister died in a mosh pit)
vinyl - raooul (jail bait core / skinned teen split), japan in decline, reality part 4, edie gorme y trio los panchos, duster (transmission flux), david jaberi (arcata/joon), Chopin, Su19b/Jenny Piccolo (split 7), Man is the bastard/locust (split 10), Casiotone for the painfully alone (advance base battery life)

Tell me about a average day in the mind of Jon Barba?

I dont know, its pretty whatever.

What are some of your plans for yourself this upcoming year?

Playing a bunch of shows for the next few months, also doing a lot of zine stuff. Also going to try to go to college soon. That'll be fun, not. Ive never considered college until recently and I'm pretty scared but trying to stay hopeful that I'll do better this time around. I want to try to study psychology but I'm afraid I wont be able to remember all of the terms well enough to pass my classes. I procrastinate on a daily and fail 50% of the time. Which then just feels like I'm just wasting time making myself feel worse. I dont know any other way to really look at or feel about school. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. Either way it'll be interesting. And if i fail i fail. If I pass I pass. I dont know. I dont even know what passing means. Does that mean more school? I dont think Im ready for school forever. Id hate that. I think I just want to take a class. Maybe I'll just do community college or just not go to school altogether. Shout outs: Francene and Tomas
Jon Barba on Facebook
Jon Barba on Soundcloud