{"id":342987,"date":"2026-09-10T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342987\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:58:10","slug":"houston-based-rocker-jonojono-drops-new-album-ahead-of-new-york-city-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342987\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston-based rocker JonoJono drops new album ahead of New York City tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Houston-based musician is bringing his unique blend of grunge, metal and R&B to New York City.\n<\/p>\n

JonoJono remembers his initial start in music at church, but it was riding in the car with his grandmother that initially pushed him to start singing.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this actual gospel song that they always liked to sing when we were in the car and it was \u2018Oh Happy Day\u2019 from \u2018Sister Act 2.\u2019 My sister and my brother were in the front seat and they were encouraging me and they\u2019re like, \u2018Hey, why don\u2019t you try to sing the high note?\u2019 I ended up hitting the high note in the song and they were blown away,\u201d said JonoJono.<\/p>\n

He ultimately started singing in the church choir and as he grew, he started to explore piano and guitar. By the time he was in middle school, JonoJono was fully engrossed in rock music, discovering bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Nirvana and Exodus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered this whole entire scene of music. Thrash metal and punk and grunge started to be in the forefront of my playlist while R&B and gospel and soul and jazz, those kind of things were also in my playlist,\u201d said JonoJono. \u201cIt just became an identity for me, really. As time progressed, you know, I just was putting more and more effort into learning the riffs, learning the licks, learning the solos.\u201d<\/p>\n

In college, JonoJono started to toy around with releasing music. He often spent time in his apartment writing riffs and recording them, blending together his favorite genres, and it was his friend Christopher who pushed him to start releasing his music, which ultimately stemmed into a ten-year career.<\/p>\n

JonoJono\u2019s latest single, \u201cClear,\u201d embodies the growth as a musician both musically and mentally. The song looks at what work needs to happen to achieve a peaceful state of mind.<\/p>\n

\"JonoJono<\/a>JonoJono (right) and his band are coming to New York City.Photo courtesy of The Fox and The King<\/p>\n

\u201cIt basically tells the listener that you can be clear, you can be freer no matter the circumstance that you\u2019re in. Whatever you may be facing, whether it could have been something financially going on in your life or having relational things going on in your life, loss, any of that stuff,\u201d said JonoJono. \u201cHow are you doing the work? How are you doing the self-work to be able to pass that energy on to somebody else that could be of help? It\u2019s an encouragement to really stay ten toes down no matter what life throws at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sept. 10, JonoJono is dropping his latest album \u201cWE ASKED FOR MORE.\u201d JonoJono told amNewYork that the album has elements of hard rock and punk while touching on several subgenres of rock throughout, with some R&B added as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want people to feel like [I was] gonna commit to this one sound,\u201d said JonoJono.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

JonoJono said that the tracks on the album have been released since the beginning of 2026. He said that there was an intentionality behind the releases to give his audience a journey, starting with anger and ending with self-awareness and being at peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe album is gonna basically start off with outrage at the external stimulation of what\u2019s going on in this world and the political climate, while it kind of progresses to the introspection aspect of, of what are you doing for yourself, what kind of self-work are you doing if you\u2019re so upset about something that\u2019s going on in your life and putting in the work,\u201d said JonoJono. \u201cTowards the end of the album, it basically goes into, \u2018Okay, now you did the work because you were upset, now you\u2019re doing the soft work, but then now this is the result of you doing all that hard work.\u2019 Now you\u2019re at a peaceful state of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The point, JonoJono said, is to have a human connection while seeking better for yourself.
\n\"JonoJono<\/a>JonoJono (center) and his band are coming to New York City.Photo courtesy of The Fox and The King\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overall point is to kind of give a human connection through this heavy music and basically asking for more out of, not only the government, society, world, but also asking for more within yourself and reaping the benefits of those things as well,\u201d said JonoJono.<\/p>\n

JonoJono is particularly excited to release the album because he hopes he can inspire more Black alternative artists to be themselves and release the art that they want to.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now in the ecosystem of music, we\u2019re starting to notice more eyes on Black alternative artists. I\u2019ve been doing this since 2016-2017, and it just wasn\u2019t accepted at that time,\u201d said JonoJono. \u201cI just love to see that we\u2019re seeing a lot of these new and up-and-coming artists doing the sound and they\u2019re opening doors. I just love to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To celebrate the new album, JonoJono is heading to New York City for the first time to perform. On Sept. 17, he will play at Walnut Bar & Grill in the Bronx<\/a> (883 E 134th St.) with Kaymars, and on Sept. 20, he will play The Bowery Palace<\/a> on the Lower East Side (327 Bowery) alongside Markzen and Bvdmind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very, very excited, and it\u2019s a blessed feeling, because I have a lot of good support in New York, especially over the years. I\u2019ve seen New York on my radar, and I\u2019ve always wanted to go up there and perform,\u201d said JonoJono. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be able to come up there and really just do my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can follow JonoJono on Instagram<\/a> and Tiktok<\/a> @jonojono_official. His music is available for streaming on Spotify<\/a> and Apple Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n