Jonathon Newby

Jonathon Newby was the lead singer of the rock band Brazil until August 2007. Jonathon and his brother Nic are also 2 of the founding members of Brazil. On earlier Brazil recordings Jonathon played drums but eventually became the lead singer. Fans of Brazil know Jonathon for his use of obscure lyrics and interweaving themes.

He has also been trained formally on the piano, on which he wrote most of Brazil's songs.

Vocal range

Jonathon's vocal range has been compared^[1][2] to that of Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At the Drive-In/Mars Volta.

Pre-Brazil

Before becoming one of the founders of Brazil Newby left the U.S. to live in the Arab quarter of a small Belgian town.

When returning to the U.S. he moved into a chapel of an abandoned church it is there where the concept of Brazil was begun. Brazil's first demos were recorded out of the basement of this same church.

Lyrical influence

“After more or less nine years of living out of a suitcase I started to become enamored with the concept of absurdity because I had seen and experienced so much of it in my life already. Absurdity became the order of the day in writing and recording the new record. Absurd subject matter, absurd lyrics, absurd volume.”

— Jonathon Newby August 2006 Interview

Post Brazil

Currently he is writing under the name Autobody and he has a record label and publishing company called Young Tobacco, devoted exclusively to the release of Autobody material.

Newby also has a blog titled 500 Days of Night which is going to have a blog about every concert performed by Brazil.

In December of 2012, Newby was asked to curate a playlist for UK radio program Garden of Earthly Delights, joining the ranks of other guest mix curators such as Grimes, Richard Ashcroft, Daddy G (Massive Attack), The Streets, M83, Fever Ray, Grinderman and Four Tet.

Newby lives in Yorktown, Indiana.^[3]

Writing (non-musical)

Pataphysical Odd Occurrences, or P.O.O. - are grassroots reading circles devoted to the literary work of Jonathon Newby.

Web (non-musical)

Jonathon also has created numerous now-famous avatars for message board patrons.

Discography

Studio

References