A New England - Music

Jonah Matranga Is A Singer Songwriter And Guitarist Who Has Released A Variety Of Solo Material Under Both His Own Name And Onelinedrawing And Has Previously Been Part Of The Bands Far New End Original An Anagram Of “onelinedrawing” And Gratitude. Jonah Matranga Grew Up In And Around Boston Massachusetts. He Left In 1987 To Attend Pitzer College In Claremont California Where He Majored In English. After College Jonah Moved To Sacramento Where He Lived For 8 Years. 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 To Remain Close To His Daughter. He Currently Lives In San Francisco.
In 1991 Jonah Formed Far With Shaun Lopez Chris Robyn And Malcolm Keefe. Keefe Left In 1993 And Was Replaced By John Gutenberger. Far Made Four Albums Before Disbanding In December 1998. After Far’s Breakup Jonah Began To Perform Under The Name Onelinedrawing Which Had Been The Name Of A Cassette He Had Released On Kevin Seconds’s Pop Rockit Records. 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 He Now Intends To Release 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. Matranga Can Also Be Contacted There Personally.
In 2005 Matranga Put Out “Sketchy EP #3″ As Well As A DVD “There’s A Lot In Here” Which Featured Acoustic And Electric Live Performances As Well As Videos Made With His Close Friend Darren Doane. In Addition He Re-Released Two Early Solo Releases On CD The Recordings Initally Came Out On Cassette . Many Of Matranga’s Solo And Band Releases Are Available On A Sliding Scale ”pay What You Can” From Matranga’s Personally-Maintained Online Store. As Of This Writing “There’s A Lot In Here” Is Being Re-Released As A 2-Disc CD DVD Set Through Equal Vision Records.
Jonah Has Contributed Backup Vocals To Thursday’s Album War All The Time On The Track “Steps Ascending” And With Deftones Has Contributed To A Cover Of “No Ordinary Love” A Sade Song. He Has Also Contributed To Previous Matt Nathanson And Lupe Fiasco Releases As Well As Two Songs By Fort Minor The Side Project Of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda. In 2005 He Co-Wrote Taproot’s “Calling” The First Single From Their Album Blue-Sky Research. In 2006 Jonah Also Released A Joint Ep With Frank Turner Former Front Man Of Million Dead Containing 2 Tracks "A New England" And "All I Want" “In Numbers 15 Years 4 Band Names 6-Full Lengths 6 EPs A Few Splits Several Comps 100 Songs 1000 Shows. Sinead O’Connor Meets Cheap Trick. Zeppelin Are The Rulers. Neil Young Is A Huge Hero For The Chances He’s Taken. Anyone That Takes Chances Be It Prince PE Fugazi Sinead Miles Dylan… I Love That That Is What Inspires Me. I Am A Mess Of Art-School Ideals And Populist Sentiment And I Love That Paradox. I’m Okay With And Happy About Being Considered Influential In The Context Of Post-Hardcore Anti-Macho Rock But I Take No Responsibility For McEmo As It Generally Manifests Today. I Deplore The Commodification Of Sincerity And Big Budgets To Make People Look/sound ‘authentic’. If I Go There It’s Real Not A Clever Put-On. Bands Have Been A Tough One. Far Was A Good Growing Up. New End And Gratitude Were Nightmares In Many Ways Though I’m Really Proud Of The Songs And The Shows. It Taught Me Finally That While I Love Rock I Can’t Do It In A Traditional ‘band’ Way. I’m Not Good At It And I Don’t Like It. Nothing Special About Playing Guitar It’s About What You Put Into It. I Still Love Singing And Am Overwhelmed Regularly Listening To Music. I Am An Utter Rock Geek An Art Idealist And I Absolutely Believe In The Transformative Transcendent Power Of Rocking The Fuck Out. Rocking The Fuck Out Is In No Way Tied To Volume Or Mood It’s Just Letting Go.”
- Jonah Jan2006 San Francisco. Solo Releases Jonah Sonz Matranga - Songs I Hope My Mom Will Like 1994 Cassette Jonah Matranga - Jonah’s One-Line Drawing 1998 Cassette Onelinedrawing - Sketchy EP #1 1999 Onelinedrawing - Sketchy EP #2 2000 Onelinedrawing/Sense Field - Split EP 2000 Onelinedrawing - Always New Jan-Jun 2000 Online 2000 CD 2001 Onelinedrawing - Always New Jul-Dec 2000 Online 2000 CD 2002 Onelinedrawing - Always New 2001 2001 Online Onelinedrawing/Rival Schools - Rival Schools United By Onelinedrawing 2001 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 - There’s A Lot In Here CD DVD 2006 Equal Vision Jonah Matranga And Frank Turner - The Jonah Matranga And Frank Turner EP. 2006 Jonah Matranga - The Three Sketchys 1999-2005 2006 Band Releases Far - Sweat A River Live No Lies 1991 Cassette Far - Listening Game 1992 Far - Quick EP 1994 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 read less