03.15.05
He has a knack for acoustic rock, and he's from
our beloved Garden State. So we had to interview Jon
Fritz!
 Where
in NJ did you grow up? When did music come into the
picture?
I grew up in a little town called Barrington, in South
Jersey about 20 minutes from Philly. But I have lived
all over the state at one time or another. It was in
Trenton, NJ, for instance, where my older brother first
turned me on to bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Humble Pie, Alice Cooper and Steppenwolf. I was a preteen
then and blown away by the whole idea of rock and roll.
It wasn't until our family moved to Barrington where
I really got into the music that I really enjoyed.
Who were your musical influences?
I was mostly turned on or influenced by close friends
or girlfriends. Elton John was a huge influence as well
as Bad Company, Styx, (Peter Frampton). Any melodic-based
band I perked an ear to.
Tell us a little about your album, When It's Over.
You seem to transverse genres easily...
You can probably understand why I can "transverse"
genres so easily when you read my answer to the question
above! But, throw in influences of more recent bands
like Counting Crows, Tonic and Collective Soul, and
I got classic and modern rock pop acts to be influenced
by. But I have been in bands all my life playing a wide
variety of music from Black Sabbath to Live, and that
has also influenced my songwriting. The new album simply
reflects that variety of what styles I can write. I
could have easily recorded an album of all ballads but
i didn't want to show only one side of me. I wanted
fans to see ALL sides!
Where were most of the songs written? What/who
served as inspiration for the songs?
All were written on a bed or couch of some sort either
in my own living quarters or a motel. "Surrender" for
instance, was written in a motel room in Warrenton,
Virginia, a couple of days after I split up with my
now ex-wife. "May Be" was written about a girl I was
infatuated with. "Still Dreamin'," a song about no particular
person, was written in Jersey City! "Somewhere In Her
Eyes" written in Philly about my then current wife and
"Bitch" about a bitch, um — excuse me —
about a girlfriend I caught in bed with someone else.
Yeah that's a little bit of an angry one, but still
expressive. So who do you compare yourself to, musically?
Me — Jon Fritz....I don't compare myself to
anyone anymore; I am original.
Any plans to tour the northeast or further?
Yes! We have plans right now to branch out slowly from
our base in the DC area.
What do you think this album brings to the indie
world?
Something that is actually well-produced, well-written,
and well-performed... I don't hear a lot of that right
now in the indie world.
Thanks so much Jon, keep us posted!
Interviewed by Kristen Fischer
DiscoveringArtists.com
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