Jonah Matranga

Jonah Matranga
Background information
Birth name	Jonah Sonz Matranga
Born	August 11, 1969 (1969-08-11) (age 42)
Origin	Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock, emo, indie rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals guitar drum machine
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Equal Vision Records Jade Tree Epic Atlantic
Associated acts	Far, New End Original, Fort Minor
Website	jonahmatranga.com

Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga (born Jonah Sonz Matranga, August 11, 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") and Gratitude. He now continues to work and tour under his own name as a solo artist.^[1]

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-released, 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,^[2] 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 ([1]) 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's song "Crush on Everyone" was featured in the score to the 2008 John Humber film Dakota Skye

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 two Fort Minor songs for the album The Rising Tied: "Red to Black" with Kenna; and the single "Where'd You Go" with Holly Brook, where he also appears in the video. "Where'd You Go" managed to reach the #4 spot at the Billboard Hot 100.

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 lied, '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 Records in France.)
• Jonah Matranga - And Furthermore (And B-Sides & Acoustic Versions)
• Jonah Matranga - Fort Teen (2009) 100 hand numbered, hand made cd of home recordings between 1984–87
• Jonah Matranga / Kevin Seconds - split 7 inch vinyl (December 2009)(Blacktop - Canada)
• Jonah Matranga - You're 16, You're 23, You're 32 (DIY boxset)

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)
• Far - At Night We Live (2010 Vagrant)
• Far - Pony 7" on Bright Antenna (December 2009)
• 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)

iTunes Releases

• I Believe Barack Obama 2009 ^[3]
• I Still Miss Someone (J.Cash Cover) 2009^[3]
• What Beyonce Said To Jay-Z Before She Left Him For Me (Irreplaceable Cover) 2009^[3]
• Live In Rotterdam 15th Dec, 2007 (15 song set with new, old and cover songs) 2009^[3]
• Live At Hotel Cafe, LA, CA May 6, 2009 (various songs and various covers) 2009^[3]
• Live in Rotterdam DIY Download 2009-07-14 (17 song set with Iamani)^[3]
• Live in Amsterdam DIY Download 15/07/09 (14 song set)^[3]
• Live in Leuven DIY Download 2/03/09 (17 song set)^[3]
• Random Covers, Vol.1 DIY Download (11 homemade recordings of various covers) 2009^[3]

References

1. ^ "Live Review". inTuneMusic. http://intunemusiconline.com/2008/09/11/matt-pryor-kevin-devine-jonah-matranga-asbury-park-94/. 
2. ^ Jonahmatranga.com
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Jonahmatranga.com

External links

• Jonah's Website
• A 2009 interview with Jonah Matranga
• Jonah Matranga interview on Rockmidgets.com

Persondata
Name	Matranga, Jonah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 11, 1969
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death