Jonezetta in New Zealand

February 12, 2008 / by MentalHealthRN

 

 My sweet nephew is in this band


 

Jonezetta bringing indie and roll to you

We meet the five lads of Jonezetta in New Zealand over from Jackson USA and hear some of their retro-nodding indie rock sounds with a dance sensibility on stage at Parachute 08...

Jonezetta are Robert Chisolm on lead vocals/guitar, Kyle Howe on guitar/bv, Ty Garvey on bass/bv, Alex Warren on drums and Tyler Kemp on keys; a whole lot of earnest cheekiness and shaggy haircuts. The thing that strikes you about them is their desire for authenticity from a background that sounds pretty insincere.

"We're all from Mississippi, the bible belt, where everyone's been (cue deep Southern accent) Saved By The Blood Of Jesus -even if they're not. A lot of people cling to a fake Christianity. It's difficult in that environment to explore your faith and break out of that. Many people don't ask questions but we have a lot of friends who do question things."

"We're not that band that writes lyrics about God as such. Robert writes about things he's going through. We show Christ through the way we interact with secular bands, the way we act with our fans. We're not trying to shove things down people's throats, we're trying to be like Christ. Writing music is like painting a picture; there's bits of Christ in that. It's an expression of who we are, and that is going to come out in our music."

"Parachute's been incredible. It's way up here (holds hand up high) and those other festivals are down here (holds hand low); the fans are treated well, the bands are treated well, it's the most band-friendly festival we've played at. And definitely so organised. New Zealand is so efficient! America is the opposite- even the half-flush whole-flush thing (on the toilets): efficiency!

Luckily they're still in good humour. Jonezetta lost all their luggage in transit from the States and arrived in the clothes they were standing in. "When I started out, I thought this green and purple shirt would be good to fly in, and I've been wearing it ever since!" They had two bags of musical equipment delivered just ten minutes before going on stage and Brian Platt and others loaned them guitars. Parachute took them shopping and Backdoor Surfshop in Hamilton fixed them up with clothes and jandals which they endearingly called Japanese sandals and flip-flops.

The band has a lot of energy live on stage and the crowd was going crazy in their set on Saturday night. "One time in the States a kid was crowd-surfing and fell over and hit the mic and flew into me and as I fell backwards, someone took a photo, and my mum saw it on the Internet and was like, What is this!? Two parts of a guitar came apart once and stuck in Carl's head. Stuff gets broken on purpose a lot. Sometimes we just trash everything, especially when there's only a few people there."

Whether it's breaking mic stands, hearts, or records, Jonezetta sure are seeking to break down barriers. The five Jackson boys from the South are bringing a freshness and realness to the pop world, with their album, ironically titled Popularity.

Pictured: Megan Robinson and Jonezetta posing Charlie's Angels style.

 

7 comments on Jonezetta in New Zealand

  • angiedw said 6 months ago

    Super--what fun and good experiences for him.

  • alfredo said 6 months ago

    you should come over to greasy.com.most of them are here.

    We are all fed up with this blogster.

    It is fast and easy.

    come over and try it.

    Eddie is the one and he is from the old blogster.

  • MentalHealthRN said 6 months ago

    Fredo..... I don't know if I have the heart or energy to start another blog. I'm getting old. <3

  • donnamg said 6 months ago

    Is Jonezetta on YouTube or MySpace?

    I do use greasy.com.  I have to go there to write blogs if I am going to use any pictures/graphics at all.  It's the only way I can get the pics in!  Then I copy & paste everything in here.  greasy.com is easy and fast (it's like blogster use to be), but now I'm getting used to it here and, except for the problem with the pics, I kind of like it.

    Anyway, the band looks good and that's a great piece on them.  I'd love to give a listen to them, that's why I asked about YouTube and Myspace.

  • MentalHealthRN said 6 months ago

    Donna,

     They are on youtube and I think they have a myspace blog to. They are a great bunch of guys.... the kind you would just wanna hang out with. ( they can get a little crazy sometimes, but all have good hearts)

  • martne said 6 months ago

    Let's hear it for sweet music and experiences! [THUMB UP]

  • donnamg said 6 months ago

    Oh, good!  Then I am going to check them out a little further.  Hopefully, I'll be able to give them a little listen. 

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