Rediscovering the Sound: J.R.’s Return to Music After 30 Years and the Story Behind Another Day
After a 30-year hiatus from music, J.R. has made an unexpected yet powerful return to the industry. What sparked this creative resurgence? A moment of global pause—the pandemic—offered him the time and space to reflect, reconnect with his passion, and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of music production. In this candid interview, J.R. delves into what it was like to dust off his old gear, adapt to modern recording technology, and channel the emotions of that time into his latest release, Another Day. He also shares insights into his influences, the creative process behind his music video, and what fans can expect next.
LISTEN TO ANOTHER DAY BY CLICKING BELOW
YOU WERE ON A 30-YEAR HIATUS WITH MUSIC. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RETURN TO MUSIC NOW AT THIS POINT IN YOUR LIFE?
"...It was the pandemic...There was this time in the world where it almost felt like it stopped spinning for maybe about a year. We lost birthdays, we lost holidays, we lost everyday moments. The grocery stores were (even) a challenge. I mean, I remember wiping down food and all these sorts of things, and not that any of that was bad because I don't think we really knew any better at the time, but...it cost us all some time and so with that, it brought some reflection for me, some deep reflection."
"Considering a three-decade sort of, unintentional pause or hiatus, I was looking around my studio, with a lot of old gear and some newer gear. And then some brand new gear as a result of the pandemic, you know, deliveries, deliveries, deliveries, because we couldn't go anywhere. It was the kind of thing that was a forcing function. Let's dust this off (and) dig back in now that we've got some time."
HOW DID THE PANDEMIC AND SPECIFIC TIME OF YOUR REASURGENCE INTO MUSIC INFLUENCE THE SOUND AND THEMES OF YOUR MOST RECENT RELEASE?
"The frustration out of what we're just sort of starting to touch on, in being kind of cooped up and the monotony of the same old thing every day, as it sort of intensified, right? The knowledge by which we had was in its infancy stage, I think we're all sort of learning about it in real time, including those talented officials that were trying to understand what was going on. Where did this come from? Can we get a cure or some sort? So I started sort of thinking about what that meant to me and those in my circle of influence, family, and dear friends and colleagues. And so I started sort of crafting some ideas around a direction of a song, and that included really thinking about what's to come on another day. Is it going to be the same as yesterday? So, that sort of helps steer the story behind the tune. That kind of started to bring out, just toggling around with beats and riffs in the early days of my dusting things off and getting to know how things are written. I understood, but how are (songs) recorded now? Cause it's not on a two-inch reel-to-reel anymore."
TO EXPAND ON THAT THOUGHT, COULD YOU GO MORE IN-DEPTH ON SOME CHALLENGES YOU FACED WHEN IT CAME TO THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF RECORDING? OR, WHAT WERE SOME ASPECTS OF IT THAT ENDED UP BEING EASIER THAN YOU THOUGHT?
"It definitely was a discovery tour, if you will, looking at how to record mix and produce all on one's own. Not to say that that isn't or, was not the way that things were done all those years/decades ago...But (it was) so much different then because there was not really the entry of things outside of an analog pushing into a digital world back then."
"We had things called DAT decks, right? Digital audio tapes. And moving things from reel to reel to the DAT deck was an exciting moment, I think, in the early '90s when, so many, what we called signed bands back then were discovering with, of course, label support and things like that. So when I fast forward, across three decades...Let's just say I learned a lot. I mean, it was frustrating at times but also incredibly rewarding. There's something about having full creative control...The access to those tools and the barriers by which was so difficult to get them three decades plus ago are gone. A DX Seven keyboard in the eighties was whatever it was, ten or twelve thousand dollars, which was a lot for a few kids in high school trying to put a band together, and then maybe write some originals and get on a club bill somewhere in San Francisco or Santa Barbara or something. But now, it's with maybe a nominal fee for certain plugins and software elements. Everybody can get it...So you can get really any sound you want from John Bonham to, you know, Dave Grohl and everybody in between on drums or whatever it might be. It's really fascinating because that barrier having been shattered enables, I think, hundreds of thousands of people and bands and artists alike to really give it a go. And I think that was the most overwhelming (part), was trying to navigate around a platform that was new to me, right? It's sort of like, I think about it when we were first given a PC laptop back in the day and trying to use the right-click function. It was like, there's this menu of things for regular, and then, oh, if you right-click it, there's 300 other things to select for your Excel spreadsheet or whatever platform you're working on. So that was exciting. Overwhelming, but exciting to sort of start to check those boxes as I started to understand workflows."
ANOTHER DAY IS DESCRIBED AS A FUSION OF NOSTALGIA AND MODERN INDIE. WHICH PAST INFLUENCES AND CONTEMPORARY ELEMENTS DID YOU INCORPORATE INTO THIS TRACK? ANY SPECIFIC ARTISTS OR NAMES?
"What I typically think about is I always put the Beatles and Led Zeppelin over here. Those two bands are arguably the best bands that ever were. It's a full stop for me at that point. However, there is other music, and so much of that for me when I came up, was part of what we called or what was called the New Wave Invasion. There are scores and scores of bands, so, those that I would list certainly is not finite. Of course, we would want to talk about The Clash, Blondie, The Police, The Fix, Duran Duran...Then we've got The Cult, I'm a big fan of The Cult, Ian Ashbery and Billy Duffy. Rush, of course...And then onto the Pacific Northwest Invasion, right? Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, just amazing bands. And then, I'm a huge fan of reggae. I always have been. Early exposure to Steel Pulse and Bob Marley, but am ever close to Ziggy Marley, who happens to be the same age as me. For current acts, I've really gotten into Tame Impala. St. Vincent, really love what she's been doing, just incredible production, oh my goodness."
WALK ME THROUGH THE OVERALL MEANING AND MESSAGE OF THE MUSIC VIDEO MADE FOR ANOTHER DAY, WHICH WAS DIRECTED BY Justin Hurd
"So there's this pandemic piece that we've talked about, so lots of reflection and intro looking at, what have we done with our lives. And we can't really go out and do anything. Should we change the carpet? What should we do? And so I think that yielded a consideration for looking back at, in this case, my life, but I think in so many cases, our own lives as we lost that time. So the video opens with me going through a garage full of just like old memories and boxes of artifacts, trophies, old pictures and lunch boxes and family photos, old beat-up van shoes, and finding some 45 singles of Foreigner and Madonna and Van Halen and all this sort of stuff. And then seeing this TV, that sucks me in and takes me back to looking at how things were when I was 9 and 10, how things were when I was 18 and 19, how things were when I was 38 and 39, and the struggles across those stages in life. And struggles, certainly not meant in a negative tone, but just sort of like what was going on in the world at that time."
"I'd like to hope that most of our childhoods coming up were simple or simpler, right? We didn't have rents and mortgages and utilities and, in many cases, far less technology to distract us and interweave into our lives. And in our late teens, the notion of, you know, likely getting out of high school for most folks and sort of either heading off to college or maybe going to staying home and going to junior college or getting a full-time job at the hardware store, the movie theater, or something like that...And then that 30s element where, in the video, I'm just sort of holding my head in the office, just like, every day, just grinding it, pecking it out and turning out another widget. And do we see another dime or not? The infamous cult classic by Mike Judge, Office Space, depicts that so very well, right? When Peter Gibbons is sitting there talking to the Bobs, and he's saying, look, if I kick out a few more units for Inateck, I don't see another dime, you know? So where's the motivation? So I think that's part of looking back at those 30s and raising a family. What am I getting out of my career and losing time with them?”
“So the video looks at all these spaces, and how we rip all that apart. And try and long for connection that we've missed, not only in the pandemic but across those three stages. I just talked about when life was simpler, sort of riding our bikes down the street...or, you know, late teens, just sort of like, I'm going clubbing with my friends, and we're going to go get drinks or whatever it is. And then in the late thirties or whatever, it's just this kind of thing of like, well, I had all these things I wanted to do, but there's no time for them anymore. How do I square that? How do I rationalize that?"
WATCH THE ANOTHER DAY MUSIC VIDEO BY CLICKING BELOW
ANY COOL BEHIND-THE-SCENES MOMENTS FROM THE MUSIC VIDEO YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?
"So many! We turned a lagoon into a desert, made a suburban house look like it was in the middle of nowhere, and played around with some wild makeup effects. And of course, plenty of laughs."
WHAT CAN LISTENERS EXPECT FROM YOU IN THE FUTURE?
"The plan here is, I'm dropping a new single every other month this year. So there would be six more...So, those will be exciting to debut and drop and I look forward to sharing them with you guys at Amplified SD and everyone else."
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL EVER PERFORM LIVE?
"Who knows? Maybe I will bring this to the stage, but I think for now it's one step at a time, right? So, it's certainly in the cards."
As J.R. looks ahead, his return to music is just beginning. With plans to release a new single every other month this year, he’s fully embracing the creative freedom that technology now offers artists. Whether he eventually takes his music to the stage remains an open question, but one thing is certain—his journey is fueled by a renewed passion and a desire to connect through sound. For those who lived through the uncertainty of recent years, Another Day is more than just a song; it’s a reflection, a reckoning, and a reminder that the next chapter is always waiting to be written.
