Photo Dylan Schattman
It’s a muggy late summer day when Jawny bursts through the doors of Inked NYC. The heat is of the oppressive kind, the kind that thickens the air and saps all the energy from your soul as soon as you step outside. Even New York City slows down on days like this, but here Jawny is untouched. His blond hair falls from the brims of a knitted hat – yes, a knitted hat on one of the hottest days of the year – framing a face that radiates happiness.
Touring is a particularly grueling experience for artists, but New York stops are often the busiest — hours that one would spend on a bus in Cleveland are filled with back-to-back media exposures. It’s understandable when musicians treat these visits with the excitement of going to the dentist. But Jawny lacks a hint of weariness as he tells his story, which is filled with gratitude for each chapter.
Jawny, born Jacob Sullenger, grew up in Northern California surrounded by music. His father had given up his own dreams of musical fame to start a family, but his guitar was around the house calling for a young Jawny.
“That was of course what attracted me, I always wanted to play the guitar as soon as I was old enough to get my hands on it,” he recalls. “My mom always had a lot of Barbara Streisand and whatever else was on Top 20 radio. I was always around music but as soon as I got old enough for it [becoming a musician] being a possibility at all, like in my early teens, I was pretty keen on being a rap producer.
“That was my daydream, I just wanted to make rap music and be a guy behind the scenes,” he continues with a chuckle. “I tried that from 15 to 20 and was massively unsuccessful, I never got cuts. Just a lot of wasted time in the studio. You’d think that would have put me off…”
Photo Dylan Schattman
It didn’t deter him. Though he jokes about failing to become the next Scott Storch, Jawny has learned many valuable lessons throughout this time in the studio. He probably wouldn’t even have continued making music if he hadn’t acquired the technical know-how over those years that allowed him to write and record his own music at his own pace, giving him time to develop a songwriter.
It has taken him some time to hone his own style which, if we’re being honest, is such a mishmash of influences that it’s impossible to categorize it into one genre. When you spin one of Jawny’s singles, you’ll hear odes to Beck, some hip-hop roots, a lo-fi production à la White Stripes, and a lyrical flow reminiscent of classic funk. The result is a style all of its own that is not always easy to market.
Simply put, none of his songs sound like the other. “They don’t, almost to a failure, but I kind of love it,” laughs Jawny. “I have kind of an ADHD brain and all my shit sounds different, I do whatever upsets me that day. We had asked [Interscope] for creative autonomy so I could put out what I wanted, I could bet on myself and they would put it out into the world. If I wanted to do my crazy experimental shit and make every song sound different, they would release it under contract. But when it tanks and crashes in a fiery firestorm, they have an opportunity to walk away. So far this has not been the case and they have supported me tenfold.”
The full support of the label is perfectly illustrated by the video for “adios”. For three minutes and 39 seconds, a camera attached to a drone follows a ’67 Camaro as it speeds through city streets, drifting and making donuts while Jawny hangs out of the passenger door and sings along. Viewers will feel like they are watching a run through of one of the Grand Theft Auto games as the single shot follows the unfolding anarchy. And every second of the action was filmed live on closed streets in Los Angeles.
“We had the idea of making something that nobody would believe was real,” he explains. “No special effects, no movie magic. What you see is what you get, it’s a fucking IMAX movie man. We shut down nine blocks and did a one take one shot course with different vocal moments, it was fucking crazy. I’m super thrilled that I have a label that believed in my crazy ideas and helped fund this crazy thing. It cost a lot of money and you had to get insane insurance on everyone because you could die on a set like that. They empowered it, we made it safe and I’m really proud of that.”
It was the viral video for “Honeypie” that gave Jawny his first taste of success, so he understands how eye-catching visuals can amplify a song’s power. His years spent breaking into the industry not only prepared him to take the leap musically, but also kept his head firmly on his shoulders so he wouldn’t get carried away in the madness of overnight fame .
“I stumbled across this beautiful thing that just kept getting bigger and bigger,” he says with a smile. “People liked the songs and here we are. It all started with a massive failure that turned into a happy little accident and I’m pretty grateful for that because it’s pretty awesome.”
Jawny loves every minute of life these days and he couldn’t be more grateful.