#jon weiss

"COAT OF ARMS" T SHIRT

“Crane Game”

Art by Jon Weiss, one of my high school friends who moved out to San Francisco and his art just gets better every year!

Go To:  http://www.panarts.com/

9:30 INTERVIEW: Jon Weiss of The Sea Life

Formed out of a suburban Maryland basement by three high school friends, The Sea Life is one of the most exciting independent DC bands of today. The group is one of the four local talents playing the Club this Saturday, July 30, and their unique twist on indie rock sounds, paired with emotionally raw lyrics, will surely strike a chord with the audience. 9:30 interviewed Jon Weiss, lead vocalist and guitarist, who reflected on the journey so far and gave us insight as to what to expect from The Sea Life in the future.

Kate Fletcher [9:30 Club]: The band has grown up together since high school, and it’s now been almost four years since the release of your debut album, In Basements. How has the nature of the group changed and developed over the years?

Jon Weiss [The Sea Life]: Over the last four years, we’ve worked with 4 different drummers, although Jordan (bass) and Payton Brown (guitar) and I have been with the band since day one. The sound of the band is definitely effected by the drummer’s style, although I feel there’s been something consistent in the way the songs have made me feel, some sort of longing for home and the pain of nostalgic or friendship. We also weren’t too great at writing songs in the beginning, I like to think that’s changed a lot through the last 4-5 years of being a band. The new songs are definitely heavier, but will tend to a lot of the feelings of the songs of In Basements.

In a past interview, you said that you try to keep your music free so that everyone can enjoy it. That is pretty contradictory to the opinions of some musicians and celebrities who think money is the end goal. Have you maintained this mentality over the years? Did your decisions to record in various people’s basements/living rooms and release your music via Bandcamp stem from the DIY culture that has always been prevalent in the DC music scene?

I think it’s important music is free and accessible, but at the same time none of us want to be working a day job forever. The end goal is definitely to be supported to pursue a career in music by making money through our music, but at the end of the day I hope our songs are always free download on Bandcamp or some dark website somewhere. Running Babe City Records, we definitely can’t make all the music free or we wouldn’t be able to make any money for our artists. We’ve never used band money for anything that isn’t band related, from The Sea Life to Babe City, and I don’t think that will change. At least for now, I want the band to be able to pay for the band - whether that’s touring gas money, instrument fixes, recording costs, etc.

We recorded in basements and living rooms because we never want to feel uncomfortable in an artificial environment, and we can’t exactly afford big $40/hr studio sessions. More of the later, ha. We recorded the new The Sea Life album over the last year because we were able to work in a place, Tommy Sherrod’s Full Glass (In Basements, Transitions, The Sea Life EP), that gave us the time we to make each song the best it can be in that moment. We weren’t rushed, and I could change whole verses and lyrics one week from the next.

Speaking of the DC music scene, you are clearly heavily involved beyond your musical contributions given your work with Babe City Records and Songbyrd. DC can sometimes get written off when compared to larger cities like New York or Chicago. Could you describe the essence of the local scene to someone who might be unfamiliar? How has it changed over the years in your eyes?

Hard to say, there’s so many facets of the scene in DC. I think DC is big enough to have a “punk rock” scene and an “indie rock” scene that don’t usually overlap. Witch Coast is definitely working to change that. I think DC will always be written off compared to larger cities because we don’t have the capacity, venues, or amount of bands to have as many shows as those huge scenes. I think a lot of bands move out of DC once they get a better offer in another city, too. However, I definitely think we rival scenes like Philly & Baltimore, and I think there are and will always be people constantly working to make DC well known. Babe City is definitely fighting that battle. I don’t think we’ll ever “take down” a big scene or be necessarily compared, but I think we will always try, and that will get eyes on DC. These articles in particular I thought were great for DC from the outside: Noisey on DC Hiphop and Bandcamp on DC punk.

You’re currently in the process of recording a new album and setting up a tour. How has it been going? Aside from the length of the recording process, which you mentioned will be longer this time around, are there any changes we can expect from the previous releases to now?

Actually not recording, because we finished the album! Took a year, and very proud of it. It’s currently being mastered this week. It will be louder than the previous album, and the songs are better crafted. And the lyrics mean more to me, at least for now. I think previous Sea Life fans will dig it, but everyone’s growing up, including me. I think the songs and the band will grow with us. Dying to tour. We never not want to be on tour.

-Kate Fletcher