Jonivan Jones

If American frontiersman Daniel Boone or folk hero Ansel Adams could sing and write music, people would expect they would have sounded very much like singer/songwriter/guitarist Jonivan Jones. It stands to reason since Jones shows an awareness of the environment and mankind relatable to the way Boone did as a navigator and explorer of America's frontier and Adams did through his photographs of America's old west. The only difference between Jones and his predecessors is that music is his source of creative expression and his contribution to cultural stimulation.

"There's just SO much out there to write about," he deems. "I write about everything: relationships, loss, gain, death, taxes, frailty, another person's perspective, the ocean, etc." He undertakes, "I hope to appreciate and embrace what is there so that I can continue to develop it the way some of my most respected songwriters have, I think the most valuable way to do that is to say something very complex in a very simple way sometimes."

He goes on musing,"Approaching it all from a simple and real place is so liberating too. I'm a songwriter and that's all I have ever really aspired to be if I'm going to be truly honest with myself. Whenever I have tried to force too much more than that, the recipe usually falls apart or loses it's genuineness."

Simplicity spawns universal enlightenment in Jones's songs. A trait that audiences can correlate to many of his musical influences, whom he states include, "A lot of big name staples: Lucky Laroux, Jimmie Rodgers, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash." He cites many more artists that have impacted him, as the interview continues.

Having written and recorded music as an independent solo artist for some 10 years plus, Jones's latest single "Wading through Whiskey"demonstrates his personalized touch to melodies with a penchant to speak from his soul, again citing more musical influences who showed him how they channeled their emotions and thoughts into their music such as, "Hell's Kitchen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Dwight Yoakum, Bob Will's, Nirvana, PJ, Radiohead, Soundgarden."

He recalls about his experiences while recording the single, "I had been in the middle of some pretty significant life changes. As I departed one chapter and started another, there were some difficult moments that anyone in my situation would probably experience. So, I decided to take some of that and create a song that was actually about pulling through the tough stuff."

"The hook is that the positive," he discerns about the song, "is captured within some sad words and I think that's realistic as not everything is always cut and dry. There are times when something may not seem positive from the outside but it's up to the individual to ultimately determine what that moment means to them. As it is in any song, you determine your own meaning."

"Wading through Whiskey" puts Jones's discoveries about himself into music. Simultaneously, the cover of the single reflects his self-discoveries in the photo that he chose for the cover of the single. "I created that picture one day while getting some pics to use for different promotional things," he explains. "That man is actually myself looking up at an old bridge that I've know most of my life back in Arkansas. The image on the bridge was symbolic of a moment of introspection and or reflection and it had some ties to some great memories from my past so it just kind of accidentally worked as a cover." - Jazz2love

Animalsound, the moniker of singer/songwriter/guitarist Jonivan Jones, delivers his signature country western flange to a new self-released recording entitled Heyday. The tracks brim with vintage blues-tinged folk gilded in modern country western riffage and roots rock inflections. A model of contemporary Americana, Heyday has a spiritual quality that penetrates the soul, putting the listener in a state of self-reflection divesting one's self of strife and burdens.



Jones's smoky vocals bode beautifully with the bluesy milieu of the tracks, cultivating terrain in the country folk ilk. The misty acoustics of "Ghost Dance" is accented by swathes of tambourine shimmies as Jones's vocals glide on the wings of an intangible intuition navigated by the beacon of his inner compass. His vocals connect with the music of its own volition crafting vocal melodies that move parallel to the instrumentation. The music and vocals complement one another within the parameters of the country folk borders making for an attractive symmetry.

Acoustic instrumentals like "The Old Sunrise" and "Desert Confessional" are hewn from brisk guitar strokes that bend and spiral into harmoniously twined chord rotations basking a capricious scatter. The nimbleness in the fretwork scrolls lobbing arcs and curves seamed into melodically cut scores that are aurally pleasing. The chugging tempo of "South Pacific" and "Adios the Sun" are blanketed in Tex-Mex style cinders reflective of a nostalgic blend of country, folk, blues, soul, and roots rock attributes.

The ruminating verses of "North Pacific" and "Buffalo" infuse bluesy atmospherics with arches of country-braced twang. The breezy harmonica in "Help Me Down" is carriage in toe tapping beats and change to a somber moaning through "Help Me Down" staved in folksy blues springs and the echoing chimes of a steel-toned guitar. The dark, smoldering tint of "The Heebie Jeebies" is sheath in lyrically charged guitar gusts that move with the speed of a specter contemplating past transgressions and moments of glory.

Heyday is wired in modern country western circuitry kindled in an amalgamation of multiple facets with home grown elements reflective of a country folk lifestyle. Loaded with moments of reflection and introspection, the vocals embody soul-inspired influences buffered by music that both soothes and stimulates the senses. - Yahoo Voices: Susan Frances

The Bottom Line Song lyrics that are reflections about life.

Smoky blues dusted with psychedelic swirls and country western strumming, Over the Hills from singer-songwriter Jonivan Jones who goes by the appellation Animal Sound, is pure acoustic folk with a honky tonk kick. A fusion of toe-tapping beats, rattling tambourines, and whirling harmonica engulfed in breezy guitar shimmies, Jonivan Jones demonstrates a keen sense of harmony moving his vocals in sync with the rhythmic swells.

The lyrics are reflections about life like in “My Side” as Jones declares, “The day you take my side… you spread your love just right… I’ll always be your man.” The vibrating guitar chords are studded in rumbling drumbeats which bolster a smoky blues tint in “Broken Beat Blues”. The psychedelic streaks in “Wide Open Space” dissolve into the jangly beats and fluttery guitar riffs of “Jelly Stove” which graze a morose ambience in “Ghosts in the Horizon”. There’s a honky tonk kick in the whipping beats of “A Great Escape” accentuated by floating tones administered by the harmonica’s spiraling notes.

Jonivan Jones’s music is smoothly groomed so every note is in place including his vocals which coat the tracks with a mid-western lilt. Over the Hills is available as a digital album at theanimalsound.com with the option for consumers to name their price - Epinions-Susan Frances

The Bottom Line Song lyrics are introspective and kindle smoldering sensations.

Animal Sound, the moniker for singer-songwriter-guitarist Jonivan Jones is a country western musician whose songs are laden with prairieland folk and Americana blues reflective of a hybrid of Marty Robbins and Jason Aldean. His new CD Full Moon 45 displays influences steep in the past revamped with a modern roots rock sheen.

The intonations in his vocals flex a synthesis of Johnny Cash’s baritone shading with the thick, husky texture of U2’s Bono and the gravelly timbres of The Doors frontman Jim Morrison. The inflections and nuances in his vocal delivery have an impromptu edge so lyrics are flint with emotion.

His delivery of “When I die / I’m going away… I felt like there was God staring at me / What could I say” from the track “Holiday” alternates from a slow drawl to a sprightly stride. His words resonate familiar concepts in the analogies like “It takes me home like a desert flower” with a phrasing that has a poetic feel.

His lyrics are mostly introspective and kindle smoldering sensations. The rocky mountain vibe in the country threads of “I Was the Stranger” have a campfire tint with slow burning cinders, and the haunting twang in the guitar chords coursing through “Desert Flower” is anchored by a steady drumbeat shifting to a heavy thump in “Raise Your Fur”.

Full Moon 45 is a reflection of vintage country western coalesced with modern blues rock. The lyrics are introspective made up of analogies and private musings that stir emotions. Self-released, the tracks are available for digital downloads at theanimalsound.com. It’s an album that propels Americana music into the present and made for contemporary audiences.
- Epinions-Susan Frances

If you were traveling along some forgotten highway deep in the great, open plains and if you stopped at dusk at some dim, smoky bar for a beer this would be the band you’d be hearing while sipping your dusty-can cheap brew. Their wandering, resonating guitar sound on their album, The Unknown, evokes a glimpse into a sort of grim, psychedelic underworld of Americana. A world of drunken misfits and endless roaming of the highway.

The lead singer, Jonivan Jones, has a voice reminiscent of Bob Dylan without all the tenderness. It fits nicely with their style-think Johnny Cash having a hard, dark day. Lyrics drift from dangerous madness, “Midnight Strange,” to the twisted, confusing pain of being left, “Go To Hell,” to even a hungry, growling, unsubtle cry for satiation, “Electric Duck.” In this last song, Jones’ voice takes on a Tom Waits quality in his assurance that “Daffy Duck is comin\\\' round horny as a toad/he\\\'s horny, he\\\'s horny for more.” The harmonica present on “Sixty-Five” adds a sort of resignation to a very bluesy vibe that weaves through most of the album.

This is a record that will make you want to take a long pull on a cigarette and stare, brooding, into the western horizon. It captures the messiness of life: love, pain, death, anger, and hunger but in such a way you’ll finish listening to the ten tracks and want more. More life on the road, more of the sweet hurt of love, and more of that elusive essence that makes life so damn strange. - Monika Sovine.

For those unfamiliar with the Sean Penn film Into The Wild, the plot goes something like this: a rich kid graduates college and decides to abandon his present existence and give away all his money to charity in favor of a life in the Alaskan wilderness. The scenery from the film is gorgeous, with the vast spans of Mother Earth providing the backdrop to a film gobbled up by critics and Academy members alike. While the task of scoring the film was given to Eddie Vedder, In the Forests of the United States from Jonivan Jones under the alias Animalsound sounds like it would make a damn fine score to such gorgeous, breathtaking scenery. With production heavy on reverb and a passionate howl that echoes earnestly at every chorus, Jones creates an atmosphere perfectly in tune with his record's title. Nothing but guitar and tambourine accompany Jones, and he places himself utterly alone, singing his soul for only the surrounding wildlife to hear. Not to say he sounds particularly happy about this; on the contrary, the setting of In the Forests of the United States suggests complete and total isolation. From this context, Jones delivers an album of songs directly from his comfort zone, and though Jones never deviates from his beaten path musically, his In the Forests of the United States is a pretty darn good record.

From start to finish, In The Forests of United States caters to the lonely, as Jones’ tuneful voice, forlorn and abandoned, provides an immediately identifiable emotional appeal. Jones stays consistently introspective, remaining in the first person, forcing one into his situation. While his lyrics aren’t always discernible, the emotion behind them is clear enough. When coupled with some at times enthralling guitar arrangements, Jones’ voice proves itself indubitably worthy to carry an entire album, his sigh never once growing irritating. Though this is most likely due to the fact that Forests runs at a brief 25-30 minutes, it’s a testament to Jones’ songwriting. “The Colors There”, for example, stands as the album’s most obvious highlight, thanks to mournful guitar/vocal verse that grows increasingly mesmerizing with each repeat, Jones crowing ”I saw the colors there at night/ I swear” with a somber exhale. The layers Jones adds with each refrain make the song hauntingly low, the echoing production swelling with increased urgency. The track's finale proves a mildly chaotic moment on an otherwise relaxed album, but throughout the madness, Jones remains the focal point, very much the calm center of the storm around him.

While tracks like “The Colors There” assert Jones’ immense vocal ability, In the Forests owes as much as it does to the hypnotic production as it does to Jones’ voice. The droning, nearly Velvet Underground-like effect on his guitar on tracks like “In the Woods” and “New Territory” make the songs immediate standouts, the former of the two running with a sinister sliding strut reminiscent of Nirvana’s performance of “Oh, Me”, with equally eerie results. “New Territory”, on the other hand, closes the record with a wistful tone, concluding a record whose howls and sighs up to this point have been lonesome and pained. Jones cries with a nervous waiver “I could see us here until the end/ Sometimes it rattles me up and shakes my nerves, but I could see us here right to the end”, before dejectedly bowing to a chorus of “Oh, no”, an appropriate end to such a melancholy record. In the Forests of the United States isn’t a perfect album (each song stays stubbornly in minor and maintains a very similar feel that makes tracks like “The View” and “A Revival” indiscernible from the record's stronger songs), but it doesn’t have to be. There’s enough quality on here to warrant repeated listens, even if just to bum out to once in a while. - Sputnikmusic.com (staff writer)-Adam Downer

Animal Sounds - In the Forests of the United States
Blog Name: MuzikReviews.com Reviews & Press Releases
Sunday, December 21, 2008




In the Forests of the United States is the new EP from Animal Sounds, released by Beaten Path Records. The band consists of one man, listed on the CD sleeve as J. Jones. Beaten Path’s site list additional musicians, Spud and Jackson, but after listening to Forests it is pretty clear that what we have is a man and a guitar with some well placed tambourine peppered in.

Animal Sounds sound is simple, as you might imagine, but it’s also refreshing. Animals Sounds actually sound like the Animals in a stripped down way. All of the songs have a somber tone to them. The guitar playing is generally quiet and almost restrained while having a marching quality to it. It’s comforting in a way.

Even though the guitar playing is good, Jones’ voice is easily the most enjoyable part of the EP. The Animals comparison has a lot to do with the fact that his voice is a mix between Eric Burden and Jim Morrison. This man was clearly meant to sing in a rock band and it’s nice to hear a young man with a soulful voice find his true calling.

The big drawback of Forests is that even though it only lasts for seven songs, it lacks variety. While Jones’ voice is great, his annunciation isn’t and he tends to sing each song with a similar cadence. Not that diction is the sign of a good singer, but it does get in the way of determining what any of the songs are actually about. The guitar playing adds to the problem. It is good, as previously mentioned, but it doesn’t change drastically from song to song. Since it is really the only instrument this causes problems. Listen to Forests on “random” (or “shuffle”) and you’ll probably like the first few songs that come up only to grow weary around the midway point. Your favorites won’t depend on the songs, just the order in which you heard them.

Even though the songs on Forests are good, and that’s strongest adjective applicable, it is in an interchangeable way, and this shouldn’t happen on a seven song EP. But it’s still good enough to deserve a listen. At the very least it should leave you intrigued to find out what else Animal Sounds has to offer.




Dennis Mersmann MuzikReviews.com Staff

December 17, 2008

© MuzikReviews.com

- Muzik Reviews.com

Animalsound - In the Forest of the United States
Record Label: Unsigned
Release Date: March 21, 2008

In The Forest of the United States has 8-tracks which showcase pure rock conditioning relatable to Jeff Buckley and deep toned vocal moans liken to The Alarm’s frontman Mike Peters. Jonivan’s songs have a singular focus that stays fixated on pure rock spin cycles which somehow keeps the audience captivated even when every song almost seems to vary very little from one to the next. It’s Jonivan’s low register of stark timbres and vocal prowess that really make these songs give the listener goose bumps up and down the spine. If that’s not the standard for a great singer, then it definitely needs to be.

Tracks like “The Valley Below” and “In the Woods” are ledged in vintage rock herbals and bluesy intonations. There is a cool strut in Jonivan’s vocal moans that rubs the listener just right. The slender pickings of the guitar strings drifting along “A Dog’s Life” and “The Colors There” create a dreamy atmospheric and peaks in the center of “The Colors There” as Jonivan quickens the pace of the guitar cuts. The deep toned guitar chords of “A Revival” and “New Territory” have a primal rumbling that acts as a reflective glass of Jonivan’s vocal inflections, and the sleek guitar trills and their leisurely roaming coursing through the final track, which goes unlisted, brings the album full circle to a pure roots rock filament. - Susan Frances

Virginia Beach - On a Friday night this month I went to the Animalsound show at Lendy's in Virginia Beach. After much searching for the band I wanted to cover, I found that almost every musician with a MySpace page under acoustic folk has the same generic voice. Then I found Jonivan Jones' page for his five-year-standing project, Animalsound, which I must admit I had high hopes for simply because the page had a background depicting a forest at nighttime. Somehow trees are always promising to me. Cliché though it may seem, when the music started up (in particular when I heard a harmonica and when the accompanying voice didn't bore me) I knew I'd be going to the show.

A traveling diver by day currently living in Ghent, Jones describes his music as indie psych folk rock. While this seems like a broad description, it's not an exaggeration. His music changes from the beautiful acoustic-style folk ballads of a young man to the rough electricity and independence of rock. Jones began recording his "notebooks full of songs" in 2003 while living in New Orleans and uploaded them to the internet for feedback while living in New York in 2005, which is when he came up with the name, Animalsound, which he felt to best fit the music. He then began playing his collections of written work live in 2006 while staying in Corpus Christi.

So I waited for Animalsound at Lendy's, expecting a full band, and was surprised to see only three guys: Jones, of course, Ken Anderson, and Kyle Ramstead, who play with Animalsound while Jones is in town. The crowd was a young one, especially considering the very adult feel of the music, which reminded me of Rocky Votolato's distinctly American sound. Perhaps that American voice and sound is what makes Animalsound so haunting. It feels like going out west, riding in a boxcar, and sitting around a fire in the untouched wilderness all at once. It feels bluesy and melancholy at times, yet hopeful and thankful for experiences. I am unfailingly drawn to these textures of music, and was so impressed by this sound, though it seemed to be a chaotic array of pauses, unintroduced melodies, and abrupt endings, in addition to the increasing tempo and grit of the songs. Rather than confuse the audience, it seemed to only add to the mystery of what would be next or what was the "unknown." I thought it was entrancing.

Each April since 2008, Animalsound has released an album (2008's In the Forests of the United States, 2009's Loud Ghosts, and the recent The Unknown), each chronicling the path of Jones' life and music of the time. In his own words...

"My goal (is) to be able to say a line and sing it in a song in a manner that could communicate to someone, 'Hey I've been right there where you are at or were at and it hurts or it's amazing or it's exciting but it's life and you're not alone with the things that you have gone through.' I think that's where the basis of a lot of my songwriting lies. I would never want to be famous or known all over with my face all over a magazine or a poster at a music shop in the mall. I'm a songwriter and a lot of songwriters are and were unknown in my opinion..."

Animalsound has been featured in Seattle's Northeast Levee Breaking Music Showcase (TheLeveeBreaking.com) for 2010's The Unknown. The music has also been picked up by iTunes, Napster, and Rhapsody, where it can be purchased. For free stuff, Jones notes, the website can be found at TheAnimalSound.com. As for around town, a favorite venue is the Taphouse in Norfolk, where Animalsound will be playing on the 18th before going on the road, making stops in Jones' hometown of Little Rock and in Corpus Christi, where his live music career began. Heading out west. How appropriate.
.By Correspondent: Ashlee Copenhaver - Magazine 33 from Richmond, VA

LOCAL361: animalsounds
May 5, 2008 9:54 PM
Welcome to the fifth installment of LOCAL361, the Amped Up! monthly feature that focuses on local bands and scene movers, shakers and rock 'n' roll deal-makers. This month, Amped Up! is proud to present AnimalSounds, a one-man indie songwriter whose music is as refreshing as it is compelling.



MAY 2008: Animalsounds


Animalsounds is Jonivan Jones, who hails from Little Rock, Arkansas. Jones recently relocated to Virginia.

It takes guts to stand on a stage and kick out the jams all by yourself. If you've caught an animalsounds set at some point in the last few years, you know that playing solo is exactly what Jonivan Jones does (and very well, Amped Up! might add).

Under the name animalsounds, Jones plies a unique brand of quiet indie that borrows as much from the Mississippi Delta as it does from Chapel Hill. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Jones says the one-man strategy was simply a matter of necessity.

"The main reason (that I play solo) is because when I started playing here in Corpus, I knew no one," Jones said in an e-mail interview. "I knew the sound I wanted, but I'm not from here so making contacts in this scene has been sometimes a slow and difficult thing for me. Some of the material I write to be solo but for a lot of it I do have a lot more in mind."

Jones began releasing music as animalsounds three years ago. "I began putting music on the Internet under the name Animalsound while I was living in Staten Island, New York in mid 2005," he explained. "I started playing music under that name in public in Corpus (and for an early show in Arkansas) in late 2006."

Jones began writing his own songs in the early '90s, taking cues from the alternative stars of the day: Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden as well as classic heroes such as The Doors, CCR and Neil Young. A serious fan of roots music, Jones also sought out albums by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters for further inspiration.

A member of the U.S. Coast Guard, Jones relocated to Corpus Christi several years ago and decided to give his music a shot in front of an audience. Jones started quietly, showing up at open mic sessions around town including a few sets at Aqua Java that -- according to Jones -- weren't well-received.

Undaunted, Jones kept at it and eventually fell in with a small circle of bands and music fans at the House of Rock. Animalsounds found receptive HoR audiences opening for The Golden Meanies, The Brightly Feathered Ones and Hobo to name a few. Jones estimated he's given about 45 performances -- including dates at Mulligan's Pub, Zero's and numerous sets at The Disc Go Round -- since the first open mic session.


Animalsounds, Disc Go Round Relocation Grand Re-Opening (photo courtesy of DGR)
Jones played a set at The Disc Go Round's grand re-opening celebration in April, which marked the store's move to a new location, 5734 McArdle Road. "My wife worked there and I met the owner through that relationship," he explained. "(Owner) Justin (Pico)'s really great about supporting the local scene -- I'm really glad that I met him."

While his time in the Coast Guard has kept him busy, Jones still finds time to make the occasional trip home to Arkansas. "I plan on playing in Arkansas when I can for the rest of my life," he said. "It's home so it feels right for me to play there."

Is there anything that Jones misses about Arkansas in particular? As a matter of fact, he admits to missing his ritual campaign adventures with good friends a great deal.

"I grew up camping twice a year in a field in Northern Arkansas where a handful of folk type musicians would get together and play all weekend (usually in a bit of a self-induced haze)," he explained. "I learned a lot from those guys. The line-up of instruments included everything from a tub bass to guitars to washboards to silverware and old wine jugs."

To date, Animalsounds has three releases: a self-titled demo from 2005, a demo album called "To the Floor" that's available via download through Beaten Path Records that was released in April '07 and his latest effort, "In the Forest of the United States," that was recorded in Corpus Christi and released in March. The latter is set to be released on iTunes in June.

Unfortunately for Corpus Christi, Jones has accepted a new opportunity and is relocating to the East Coast this month. Of course, animalsounds will have to go with him. But for those who were seduced by his hypnotic rhythms and complex chordal passages, animalsounds is just a click away via Myspace.

And while Jones is looking forward to making a splash on the Virginia music scene, he admitted to having mixed feelings about leaving the Coastal Bend.

"I see it as a scene that's got a lot more to offer under the surface than what you see when you read the venue listings," he replied, when asked about the city's musical community.

"Casey (Lain) ov - Corpus Christi Caller Times Local 361

ound: Jonivan Jones, the voice and guitarist behind Animal Sound, has a penchant for using roots rock palettes in his songs graft from shades of prairieland Americana, country-folk, and psychedelic rock. His latest CD, The Unknown is a cross between the psychedelic glaze of Jeff Buckley with the Americana rock embers of Johnny Cash and the rootsy rock tremors of Kings of Leon. Maintaining a country rock velocity, Jones is a modern day Bob Dylan wielding lyrics that relate to the human condition and music clamped in a vise of folk rock inspired shakes held together by an acoustic rock skeletal.

The bluesy rock hues of “The Midnight Strange” are wrapped in rippling guitar treads, which transform into thick clusters rumbling across tracks like “Go To Hell” and “The Walking Dead.” The tingling sensations of the mandolin’s echoes reverberating across the channels of “Exit Road” ride along the surface, while the wailing harmonica trills cutting into “Sixty Five” are trussed in a bluesy roots rock lulling. The chugging rhythm of “It’s Alright” is clasp in whining guitar riffs, and the softly resonating quavers of “Ozark Moon” are sheltered in lounging guitar swells. Jonivan Jones’s music is earnestly attired in country folk fibers that bridge the past of Johnny Cash with the present of Kings of Leon. // 9

Lyrics and Singing: Jonivan Jones’ words are about being in touch with human emotions, confronting life’s conflicts and the struggles to overcome hardship. His lyrics are profound and deeply personal like in “The Midnight Strange” when he expresses, “Don’t jump back from the unknown / I’ll be here and how you’ve grown away / Meetin’ sizes different faces there with a pretty glow / Oh face them and the unknown.” Other lyrics are moments of self-realization like when he reflects, “There’s pieces of me all over the place / I hope I didn’t lose and change my face” from “Go To Hell.” Or like in “Sixty Five,” he rebels, “I’m not gonna be your crack in the dam.” There is a fighting spirit in Jones’ lyrics that admit to being beaten down, but shows a resilient fire to rise back up. // 9

Impression: Jonivan Jones shows a heavy tilt towards roots rock blends which suits his temperament and style of playing. As a guitarist, Jones fluctuates between dewy, ambient glides and heavily weighed tremors with a country folk hammering. As a singer, his timbres have a strong bourbon tone, and the command that he shows in the elasticity of his chord movements is mesmerizing relatable to such prominent vocalists as Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, and Bono. Jonivan Jones has the makings of such notable artists. // 9 - Ulitimateguitar.com

New Music Spotlight
May 2010 Edition

Published: May 5, 2010 9:00 AM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA
(Juniorscave.com)

Animalsound creates a wonderful and interesting mixture of sounds that help showcases the band’s unique style of music. Fans of Experimental, Psychedelic, and Folk music will enjoy how Animalsound is able to use all of these genres in their music to create something that comes out sounding amazing and fun to listen to. Here is a new interview that our Webzine had with the band. We hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as we enjoying working with the band on it.

Isaac: I just listened to one of your songs from your CD. What was the inspiration for making your new album?

Animalsound: I wanted to make an album of music that was as real and close to me that I could make; an album of songs that I can instantly hear my soul and life in.

Isaac: Who were your influences?

Animalsound: Specifically...? quite a lot. from then till now? Lucky LaRue of the Family LaRue, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, Mudhoney, The Clash, The Ramones, Hell's Kitchen, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Hank Williams Sr., The Black Angels, (Early) Rolling Stones, Townes Van Zandt, Soundgarden, Early Elvis Presley recordings from the Sun Session days, Heartless Bastards, Roger Miller, Harry Belafonte.....and that’s just the beginning...I'll stop there though.

Isaac: What do you consider to have been the highlight(s) and lowpoint(s) of your career to date?

Animalsound: Well! I hope it’s to come! In all honesty, I'm going to do this as long as I'm alive and I think my highlight will come at the end of my life when I cannot make music anymore and I'm forced to look back at all the music I've recorded and made and can see it in that perspective. I think that will be the highlight. You know looking back and saying this is what I am and this is what I did and these are all the places that I've done it. And to have met and played music with all these great people along the way.

Isaac: Brief history about your background plus the style of music you play.

Animalsound: I am from the central Arkansas area (Little Rock) and I grew up and lived there until I was 19. I grew up listening to music that was in my mother's record collection in the beginning which was a great collection of music and then it grew from what was on the local radio stations in the 80's and then I discovered Punk and could listen to nothing but Punk.

Then I discovered the blues and I (at the time) decided that all other music was shallow and un-fulfilling compared to the blues I heard in Son House, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson..Etc.

I then made a transition back to the start and began writing songs the best I could which over time has become much more real and transparent to my life and the ups and downs of life in general. Hopefully! I call the genre Indie Experimental Psych Folk Rock.

Isaac: How easy is it to gets gigs for you as an artist? What is the live music scene like in your area?

Animalsound: It’s easy and impossible depending....I think generally if you've learned how to be easy to deal with for a venue then it’s easy but getting places to support original music is sometimes hard and the ones (venues) that do support originality are gems a lot of the time that many artists saturate so that can make it difficult as well. All in all, I've been very fortunate with live music and the venues I have dealt with. It's been a great experience. The scene's where I have lived are actually pretty good....sometimes you just have to scratch the surface a little.

Isaac: What do you think of the state of Indie music at the moment? Do you listen to radio much at all? Has the Internet helped music grow or hindered it in your opinion?

Animalsound: I think this time (the present) is the only time when some of the things that are going on can be going on...an indie band can host, sell and promote themselves thru the Internet in ways like never before so obviously that changes indie music. I rarely listen to regular radio just because most of the times it is very canned and programmed for a pop 40 type of music which I am not a fan of...I'm not knocking it or anyone who does listen to radio but it’s just not something I choose. I do sometimes listen to NPR or local indie stations I can find when traveling.

I think that the Internet has helped the music grow in a lot of ways but also I think before when all people had were record stores they had to get out and were exposed to things in a specific store that is a completely different animal than the Internet. So you had a local store where you went inside and the owners were fans of this or that and that was playing so you might get exposed to their tastes as well which could be good or bad. But at least I think there was a randomness to it that was nice.

Isaac: If you - Junior's Cave online Magazine

It was the voice of Arkansas songwriter Jonivan Jones that struck us when we first heard this new song, ‘After The Sunset’, with its acoustic blues/country sound that reminded us of fellow gravelly troubadour Ryan Bingham.

Tough yet heartfelt, the song is written from the perspective of a veteran who has recently departed the service and wakes up one morning in the realization of their new life. The smells are different but remind them of the past, the feelings are different but similar and the fight to live is still strong but road worn and weary. - Post to Wire

onivan Jones has a voice I would want to have just for one day. On that day I would step up to that bar or maybe even swagger and order my Bluemoon (with Orange Slice) and though it wouldn't be as cool as ordering a whiskey, I would revel in the deep gravelly road worn tones coming up from my throat and out of my mouth. That voice full of steely eyed grit and tinged with a muscular blue collar "get the fuck out of my way" sort of coolness feels just right within the framework of his song Wading Through Whiskey, one of the tracks from his upcoming (not yet titled) album this spring (2020). The spartan song fueled by simple acoustic strums, with building tones of percussive keys, lead licks that hang mid air but mostly that evocative voice feels like a cold, hard journey, emotionally or physically or both. - American Pancake