Jon Von Doba

Story

I write music to satisfy my passion---my passion to create something melodically memorable and engaging. Thus although my influences are vast, my choice of style tends inevitably towards pop. If others like it and find value in it, great. But I'm not a circus-barker or hard salesman. I take some steps to put it out in the world; but if no one but me appreciates it, so be it. Composing music for me is akin to a sacred spiritual experience, of discovery and construction. Life is too short to degrade oneself scrambling to promote and sell music like it was a box of soap or a used car. I'd like it if others appreciate what I've created, who wouldn't; but only time will tell. Stephen Foster, a big influence, died in poverty at age 37. I wouldn't compare myself to the author of "Camptown Races," O Susanna," and "Swanee River," but you'll grasp the idea. Essentially I write music for myself.

Profile

Instruments

Genres

Influences

Equipment

What is music to you? What does it give you?

Spiritual exaltation...sonic and intellectual delight...witnessing titans of talent, marvels of composition...one is transported, if all conditions are right, into a domain of ecstatic exaltation which has a character we might term divine...

What is your music dream?

Have one of my songs gain some popularity, making maybe some money to pay my light bill, ha ha

If you could change the world - what would you start with?

There are children living on garbage dumps in Brazil, Africa, Asia...People with no clean water...Machete-massacre mobs in Africa...In Congo, the dream of some villages is to get a latrine installed, and no visits this season from the murder gangs. I'm no socialist, but the world is an unfair place, and this bothers me. I'd wish that the absurd-misery factor in existence be eliminated.

Which is the most memorable song from your childhood?

My first musical memory, at age 2 or 3, in about 1965, is my grandpa, a Czech immigrant in 1904, playing polkas and Americana lamplight songs on the old upright piano. It was magical, and gelled my brain towards music at just the right moment. "The Moon Shines Tonight On Pretty Redwing" stands out...

Who are your favorite musical artists or bands?

WAY too many to list easily...Beethoven, Ravel, Grieg...Scott Joplin, George Gershwin...Beatles, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush...Supertramp, ELO, Elton John...Thelonius Monk...

What inspires you to make music?

It's an internal itch...Playing and improvising on guitar, my primary instrument, transports the mind into scalar-based ecstasy...Composing is a matter of working a complex, of melody/harmony/ideas.

What is the message you want to send with your music?

Seize the day...live your life, while you're alive...and do some good with your time, in spite of and in the face of all the horror of the world and human history.

How do you feel when you perform in front of an audience?

Proud, and humble

How do you see the musicians’ reality nowadays? What could be improved?

Money has always ruled, I'm pretty sure, but nowadays there's so much that is objectively speaking, pure rotten garbage...monotonous, repetitive war chants. I like to rock, but also singing, melody and harmony, it's depressing to listen to so much content that has little or none of that. The big money seems to be in promoting low-talent "superstars," but Oh well...Those of us without pop star looks or luck will soldier on, but improvement? Not unless the taste of the public gets elevated, somehow.

What do you think of Drooble?

it's fun, and useful...for musicians, and that's good. I did a couple Reviews of my song and got a number of complaints that my vocals were undermixed, so I upped the volume on one, before I uploaded it. I'd like Radio Plays to be very cheap and affordable, unless I misunderstand it's another "pay to play" thing...

What frustrates you most as a musician?

having to answer too many questions, ha ha...I don't know, no one recognizing how good my songs are, ha ha

Do you support your local scene as a fan? How?

Some...I might see big acts sometimes, or some local small shows...unusual things, Ravel or Beethoven...But I spend most music time on my own stuff.

What qualities should a musician nowadays have in order to get their music heard by a larger audience?

Looks, looks, looks...bravado...probably a relentless, humorless, ferocious, merciless ambition, ha ha...plus access to inane and insipid contemporary pop songs.

Share some awesome artists that we’ve never heard of.

Blind Blake...Mississippi John Hurt...