Texan rockers Jonah The Runner have gone about crafting an engrossing blend of indie and alternative influences, combining intricate guitar work and a resonating vocal, underpinned by an instrumentally driven post-rock tone.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Ean Tillett- guitar/vocals
Daniel Wilson- guitar/vocals
Kevin Phan- bass
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Jonah The Runner? How long has the band been around?
Ean was in a band called The Response, Kevin a band called Four Letter Language, and Daniel a band called The Marshmallows, all were fairly small local bands. Ean and Daniel met through their previous bands and started Jonah about 3 years ago now.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
We get asked this question a lot, most people ask if it’s biblical since Ean and Daniel do work in churches sometimes, but our band is 100% secular. In all honesty it’s just a name that Ean and Daniel came up with and thought sounded nice. There have been no changes to the name since Daniel and Ean started the band.
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?
Daniel and Ean do all the writing, while usually each person writes songs on their own, they have co-written before. Most of the Ean’s themes tackle dealing with depression and also just general thoughts from past breakups. Daniels main themes revolve around problems faced becoming an adult as well as breakups. The themes will most definitely change as we grow and mature as songwriters, we are always pushing ourselves to try new different things as far as songwriting goes.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
We are inspired a lot by bands such as Thrice, The Dangerous Summer, Balance and Composure, Joyce Manor, Turnover, It Looks Sad.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Not really, after parting from previous bands, Daniel and Ean had been sitting on musical content when Daniel decided he wanted to actually put the content to use so he contacted Ean.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
Generally, we just like to hang out before shows, every now and then we’ll run around or just do stupid stuff to get rid of pre-show jitters, but we just like to all be around each other to get in the right headspace to perform for people.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We actually have a few, playing with Drake Bell has definitely been one (was like we were back in 2003). Ean got to play with his favorite band The Dangerous Summer, so he considers that to be the bands biggest highlight. But in all honesty, it’s so hard to point out a biggest highlight, every moment we all get to spend doing this feels like a highlight.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
I think we would all just like to tour with bands we like, Foxing or From Indian Lakes would definitely be at the top of the list. Taking Back Sunday would also be awesome to tour with, we always get told we have similar sounds (and are extremely honored by that)
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We have been putting our all into this band and are very proud of new stuff created. We will be putting out a new EP this winter titled “Cardinal Park”, and the growth from the last EP to this is noticeable. We are so excited to put it out and hop