Jonny Sonic

The Idea "Jonny" is anonymous (i.e. "Jonny No-name", "John Doe"). "Sonic" is sound. Jonny Sonic, the idea, is that voice inside all of us that propels us to say what we need to say, to do what we need to do. The Artist Jonny Sonic, the artist, is Rick Kowal - HandPicked Entertainment's producer-at-large. He is a composer, arranger, engineer - and remixer (lamb, Radiohead, Fading Collection, Twilight Babies). His tunes have appeared on MTV's Real World, The Discovery Channel, and Fashion Week runway shows in NYC. He is one of the vocalists in renown traveling circus band: Super Geek League - headlining their own BuskerDoozie stage at last year's Sasquatch Music Festival. By day, he writes/produces music for TV spots (VH1, Chevron, Dr. Pepper, Toys'R'Us, Chase, BMW, Starbucks). By night, like a pied piper of players, he steals the choicest musicians from a gaggle of Seattle bands to build one of the biggest horn-driven hullaballoos to hit the West Coast. This pet project starts in the studio where the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist lays down the foundations for his compositions and sets the stage for... The Band Jonny Sonic's Phenomenonsemble is a 13-piece that proves that we only accomplish anything together. The backbone of the rhythm section is Kowal's long-time musical collaborator, drummer Tacket Brown. Add in two tubas (Miles Ward's "The Funk Engine", Scott 'Boomer' Bloom), two baritone saxes (Emily 'Emperess' Smith, LuLu Belle), two tenors (Blizzard Fay, Stanley Pierce), and three trumpets (Lip Service by Sunshine, Lu Badu, Brasswax). On the live stage, bassist Chris Cullman and keyboardist Erik 'EMC' Chillman ply the gritty rhythmic particulates, and Willy Will Wax adds additional vocals. The Album With his third full-length release, "The Grit", Jonny Sonic displays a modern musical polyglot reaching the top of his songwriting, lyrical, and production games all at once. With mind-bending beats, elephantine horns, and hooks to hang your harried heart upon, "The Grit" has something to say and says it again without it's mouth full. It's a rare treat when music that makes you move also makes you think. "With so many ingredients, these addicting hooks and frighteningly heavy beats prove Jonny Sonic to be the best dope pusher in town." -- Seattle Sound Magazine