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bio_01Hailing from the same scene that championed The Strokes, the Mooney Suzuki, Fountains of Wayne, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jonny Lives! takes cues  from the Brit-pop, rhythm ‘n blues, and LES punk scenes of the 60′s and 70′s and updates it with unbridled, anthemic rock..

Road-testing in the UK proved that Jonny Lives! is on to something. NME Magazine raved: “Jonny Dubowsky quakes like a hairless hellcat,” and “You might just eat the magazine  from sheer lust and excitement… Yes, ahem, Jonny Lives! Quite good. Ones to watch.”
NME also wrote “indeed Jonny does live…..but we had no idea he was in a NY rock and roll band from the inner-circle of NYC rock bands with guest appearances on their debut album featuring Nick Valensi (The Strokes), Jodi Porter (Fountains Of Wayne), and Sammy James Jr. (The Mooney Suzuki)…On ‘Get Steady,’ Jonny Dubowsky manages to sound exactly like ‘Raw Power’ era Iggy.”

There is no higher praise than that, folks Dubowsky, who graduated with top-honors from NYU as a student of interdisciplinary studies (philosophy, environmental management, music), has been “inspired by great writers: Walt Whitman, Marcel Proust…I read a lot,” he chuckles.

“We’re enchanted with The Kinks, the Stones, and The Who,” says Jonny, who writes “little vignettes…I paint a situation out of thin air, play around with the characters, and tell whatever story I want to tell.”

From the street to the art-scene, Jonny’s “Everybody’s Trying to Break You Down,” on the other hand, was inspired by Yoko Ono’s exhibition of interactive performance art at Carnegie Hall.

“She stood on stage wearing only a burlap sack, and everyone in the audience came up and cut off a piece, bit by bit, until she was naked. The song is about a bartender who hates where she is in her life, who feels like everybody is picking her apart, taking pieces of her. It’s  from the perspective of a guy who is in awe of her and doesn’t understand why she’s letting people treat her that way.”

“Cliché,” featuring some guest-star guitar cameos (Nick Valensi of The Strokes, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, and Sammy James Jr. from The Mooney Suzuki), is a night in the life of a New York summer…

With a strong fan base for their live shows in the UK, a hand-full of impressive performance write-ups, and some brilliant rock songs, Jonny Lives! is currently finishing their much-anticipated 2nd album “Revolution For Free”, which will be released in late Spring of 2011.

More on Jonny Dubowsky and The Rock ‘n Renew Foundation

Jonny Lives! has appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The CBS Early Show, Good Day Live, Good Morning America, and every major radio program in the nation. At 12, Dubowsky played his first punk-rock show at C.B.G.B’s. Since then, he has performed with Stevie Wonder, Debbie Harry, Meatloaf, Everclear, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, The Fountains Of Wayne, The Wu Tang Clan, The Kaiser Chiefs, The Strokes, The Killers, John Legend, The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and many other legendary artists. Dubowsky has penned songs for movies such as Van Wilder 2, The Rocker (featuring Rain Wilson), and many others.