Jojo Stella is a lyric focused Funk-Rock & Soul outfit, with elements of Jazz and improvisation. They've quickly carved out a name for themselves via a flurry of tours and live performances showcasing their high energy stage communication; even earning a slot as a preferred act of the infamous Merry Pranksters for their gatherings.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

David Vaughn Morris - Bass Guitar

Daniel Scott Konold - Drums

Christopher Lee Metchis - Guitar/ Vocals

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Jojo Stella How long has the band been around?

Jojo Stella has been around since Feb. 2014. This group is actually a continuation of another failed group originally called The Bricks. David and Christopher have been performing together since 2012 regularly.

Dan joined when we officially became Jojo Stella after seeing us perform at Howard's in Bowling Green, OH around 2013.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Christopher usually writes out the lyrics, and a bare skeleton of the tunes then brings them to rehearsal. The band usually then flesh out the arrangements together. Much of the time writing consists of sitting in different positions, pacing, mumbling mantras to yourself.. That kind of thing. Being present mostly. Our songs range a gambit, but are all based on true experiences... Travel, Heartache, Friendship, Work, The Human Condition... We try to present them through a lens of symbolism. The language changes mostly.. Our sound has changed a lot. We are recording our songs chronologically and do very little overdubbing. We just released our debut album.

It will be interesting to see how folks react to the newer songs by the time they're released this year or in two years, and by then we probably will have moved on to an entirely different wheelhouse in terms of what we perform live (as is the case with our debut album now). At some point we might do a record or maybe only a few tunes where we track everything separate (as opposed to tracking all the instruments live and dubbing the vocals). I think that would make a large impact on our delivery, sound, and lyric structure. Also, our techniques and styles change a lot as we get older and practice more.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

Far too many to list. We've been listening to a lot of White Denim on the road together lately though.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Not really... We each had a very different introduction to music, what it meant, and how it affected us personally. For this group we try to shy away from pegging ourselves against any one artist. We borrow from so many places musically, culturally, lyrically, and philosophically. Ultimately music is a language for us, and we are very much having a conversation when performing together. I think that's probably the key stone of this group (The musical conversation).

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc.

Mentally play through the songs, enjoy the act before us, check for equipment issues.. Our pre-game practices are very sterile.. haha

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

Performing for and meeting some of the OG and Neo Merry Pranksters was a big highlight that introduced us to folks from all over the country and a few outside of the US. It got us quite a few gigs

(Including the Venice Beach Music Festival), and far far more memories and friends. We continue to perform at private functions for some of the Neo Pranksters here and there. They're a fun crowd.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Foxy Shazam. would love a chance to talk to Eric Nally about his work in that group. It would be real fun to share the stage with someone like Theo Katzman. Huge fans of his voice and songwriting; all of the Vulfpeck cats really, haha. Chance The Rapper would be amazing to meet.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

We just released our Debut album, 'The Zen & The Art'. We recently finished a single we're looking to release this summer called, 'Fallin' Asleep at The Wheel'. It's definitely a very different sound from our album, and delves into Roots-Rock territory. In Fall we'll be releasing an EP as well. May 24th we'll be performing at Urban Artifact in Cincinnati for NXNS (North by Northside). Also September 6th - 8th we'll be at Sacred Harvest Music Festival in Grand Rapids, OH. We are planning to perform Aqualung by Jethro Tull start to finish. Hopefully we can get that professionally recorded, and distributed. We have a few extra musicians working with us on that one.