INTERVIEW WITH JONAH BAYER FOR THE EIY HANDBOOK

JONAH BAYER, 30 (New York, NY)

WRITER, MUSICIAN (United Nations)

YEARS IN MUSIC: 15

ON THE WEB: jonahbayer.org // twitter.com/mynameisjonah

PROJECTS: United Nations; Editorial Correspondent for MySpace Music and freelance writer for 
 Alternative Press, Inked, Revolver; Music Editor at Alternative Press 2002 – 2005; Freelance 
 music writer 2005 – present

WHO FIRST GOT YOU INTERESTED IN MUSIC? My mom took me to see Guns N’ Roses at Richfield Coliseum in 1991 when I was 12. I had bifocals, curly hair and blood stains all over my shredded Levi’s because I got a bloody nose before the show and thought that the dried blood stains would make me look more legit.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU FIGURED OUT WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE? In addition to playing in countless terrible punk and hardcore bands in high school, I began working on a zine called Law Of Inertia my sophomore year of college with a guy named Ross Siegel. I had never written about music before, but discovered I was pretty good at it and started interviewing my favorite bands, such as American Nightmare, Pedro The Lion and Anti-Flag. I even talked to Jack Black before the first Tenacious D disc came out. When I was 21, I switched into all writing classes and began spending more time working on the zine than on my schoolwork. That was probably the moment I realized that I could possibly make a living as a music writer.

WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WHEN YOU FIRST GOT STARTED, AND WHAT ARE THEY NOW? Initially my goal was to make Law Of Inertia a full-time gig, however a few weeks after I graduated college I got a call from Alternative Press (where I had formerly interned) to see if I wanted to work for them on the 2002 Warped Tour. Shortly after the tour ended, I applied for and landed a job as their music editor and continued to work there and on the Warped Tour for the next three years. Eventually, my goal became simply to make a living off my writing, which is something that I’ve achieved. I’d also like to publish a book at some point, but don’t have anything concrete just yet.

WERE YOU ALWAYS ON THE PATH YOU’RE ON NOW? Yes, originally I wanted to play in a band, and from 2002 – 2006 I was in a band called the Lovekill who actually played some shows on the EIY stage. Thankfully I was editing/writing the whole time I was in the band, so when we broke up it was easy for me to fall back on my writing. I realized I liked it better than driving eight hours every night to play to 10 kids. Right now I have the best of both worlds, because I play in a band called United Nations, which is really fun but isn’t a full-time touring project.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU ON A DAILY BASIS? Just the people around me: my friends, family and all of the people I’ve met over the past decade.

HOW MUCH OF YOUR SUCCESS HAS COME FROM LUCK? TALENT? HARD WORK? I think a decent amount of my success has come from luck. For example, the job at AP was perfect timing because the former Music Editor was leaving after a nine-year tenure. That said, I also worked extremely hard on my zine, and had various internships during the period before I got the job, and I think that’s why I got hired. When a lot of my friends were partying in college, I was at home editing interviews and/or setting up shows with bands like Discount and Atom & HIs Package.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS? Just moving forward and slowly gaining more and more accomplishments. As long as I don’t feel stagnant, I’m happy.

DO YOU HAVE ANY REGRETS SO FAR? Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I had continued to pursue music full-time but I definitely wouldn’t call that “a regret.” I gave the full-time touring thing a shot and got to travel the world and meet tons of amazing people and I’m able to maintain those relationships and stay in that scene now via my writing. Just because you’re not playing music full-time doesn’t mean that you can’t still be vitally involved in the music community in some other capacity.

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Read Jonah’s answers to 50 questions about music and the music business in the EIY HANDBOOK, available in print or eBook version at www.earnityourself.com

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