Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga
(born Jonah Sonz Matranga
, August 11th, 1969, Brookline, Massachusetts) is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who has released a variety of solo material under his own name and onelinedrawing, and has previously been part of the bands Far and New End Original (an anagram of "onelinedrawing"). His most recent band-related project was Gratitude, who put out their debut album in March 2005, but fell apart the following November. He now continues to work and tour under his own name as a solo artist. [1] Matranga is a vegetarian. [2]
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Biography
Early life
Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga grew up in
Brookline, Massachusetts. He left in 1987 to attend
Pitzer College in
Claremont, California, where he majored in English and began making music by himself. After graduation, he moved up to Sacramento to form
Far in 1991.
They made four albums, including the classic
Water and Solutions
, before disbanding in December 1998. During this time, Jonah married in April 1994, and his daughter was born that August. He divorced two years later. In 1999, he moved to the Bay Area. He currently lives in
San Francisco, making music and raising his daughter.
Solo career and New End Original
After the demise of
Far, Jonah began to perform with a tape recorder and touring under the name
onelinedrawing, which had been the name of a cassette he had released on
Kevin Seconds's Pop Rockit Records. He released two EPs that year (Sketchy EPs #1 and #2) of bedroom demos.
In 2000, he formed and fronted New End Original, a band that primarily formed full-band versions of onelinedrawing songs. With the lineup completed by
Texas Is The Reason alumni Scott Winegard (bass) and Norman Arenas (guitar), and drummer Charlie Walker (ex-Chamberlain), they released one album
Thriller and a single for
Lukewarm.
Much of his solo material has also been self-published, though often subsequently distributed through labels such as Crank! and Corrupted Image. However, his two full-length onelinedrawing albums,
Visitor
(2002) and
The Volunteers
(2004) were released by
Jade Tree Records.
Matranga retired the onelinedrawing moniker in 2004 and now intends to put all future solo releases under his name. In December 2004, Jonah began offering custom-made recordings of songs by himself or others through his website, in order to offer a one-of-a-kind musical artpiece. Information about this and his many other ideas can be found on () Matranga's website, where he can also be contacted personally.
In 2005, Matranga put out
Sketchy EP #3
, as well as a DVD,
There's a Lot in Here
, both of which are available on a sliding scale ("pay what you can") from () Matranga's personally-maintained online store. The DVD
There's a Lot in Here
was re-released with a bonus CD on
February 21 2006, through
Equal Vision Records.
Matranga has expressed interest in touring with his "Where'd You Go" collaborator
Holly Brook.
Guest appearances
Jonah has contributed backup vocals to
War All the Time
(by
Thursday) on the track "Steps Ascending", and to the
Deftones's acoustic remix version of "
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" and a cover of
Sade's song "
No Ordinary Love", both of which the Deftones released as b-sides (also, several Deftones members contributed to Far's cover of the
Jawbox song "Savory").
He has also contributed to previous
Matt Nathanson releases, a song called "Swamp" for
Tweaker (a.k.a.
Chris Vrenna, former member of
Nine Inch Nails), which ended up a b-side for the album
The Attraction to All Things Uncertain
, and to the two
Fort Minor songs: "Red to Black" and "Where'd You Go", where he also appears in the video.
Matranga's name does not appear on the title card before and after the video, though he is credited on the album. He attributed his video anonymity (jokingly) to his name being too long and "music biz yuck". He often expresses his negative opinion of the music industry's business ethics.
In 2005 he co-wrote "Calling" for
Taproot, the first single from their album
Blue-Sky Research
. He also appeared on
Food & Liquor
, the debut album for
Lupe Fiasco, on the track entitled "The Instrumental", which appeared on the
Madden 07
soundtrack. Jonah sings a hook ("And he never lies, 'cause he never said anything at all") directly taken from the lyrics from "Nestle", a song from the Far album
Water & Solutions
. The track was produced by
Mike Shinoda of
Linkin Park and
Fort Minor.
Jonah has also lent his vocals on Atlanta-based band [minus]'s (later changed to [minus driver]) song "Hesitant and Polite" which appeared on their album
Structure of Simplicity
.
Discography
Solo releases
- Jonah Sonz Matranga - Songs I Hope My Mom Will Like
(1994)
- Jonah Matranga - Jonah's One-line Drawing
(1998)
- onelinedrawing - Sketchy EP #1
(1999)
- onelinedrawing - Sketchy EP #2
(2000)
- onelinedrawing/Sense Field - Split EP (2000)
- onelinedrawing/Rival Schools - Rival Schools United by Onelinedrawing
(2001)
- onelinedrawing - Always New Jan-Jun 2000
(online 2000, CD 2001)
- onelinedrawing - Always New Jul-Dec 2000
(online 2000, CD 2002)
- onelinedrawing - Always New 2001
(online 2001 only)
- onelinedrawing - Visitor
(2002 Jade Tree)
- onelinedrawing - The Volunteers
(2004 Jade Tree)
- Jonah Matranga - There's a Lot in Here (DVD)
(2005)
- Jonah Matranga - Sketchy EP #3
(2005)
- Jonah Matranga / Frank Turner Split
- Split 12 inch vinyl (2006)
- Jonah Matranga - The Three Sketchys
(2006)
- Jonah Matranga - And
(2007 Limekiln Records (USA)). (Also released on Blacktop in Canada, Arctic Rodeo in Germany, Daymare in Japan, Xtra Mile in UK and Yr Letter in France.)
Band releases
- Far - Sweat a River, Live No Lies
(1991 Enharmonik Studios)
- Far - Listening Game
(1992 Rusty Nail Records)
- Far - Quick
(1994 Our Own Records)
- Far - Tin Cans With Strings To You
(1996 Epic/Immortal)
- Far - Soon
EP (1997 Epic/Immortal)
- Far - Water & Solutions
(1998 Epic/Immortal)
- New End Original -
Lukewarm'' single (2001 Jade Tree)
- New End Original - Thriller
(2001 Jade Tree)
- Gratitude - Gratitude
(2005 Atlantic)
- Gratitude - Drive Away
single (2005 Atlantic)
- Gratitude - This Is the Part
EP (written as This Is th EP Art
) (2005)
References
- Live Review
- The 2008 World's Sexiest Vegetarians Are⦠// Out There // peta2