Sonar Music’s Jono Ma on the Magic of Sonic Subcultures
Jono Ma is an Aussie-born award winning composer, producer, mixer and musical director. He is a founding member of Jagwar Ma, and found international success as a performer, producer and writer.
Jono has worked with musical legends such as Tame Impala, Markus Dravs, Underworld, Jamie XX, Temper Trap, Warpaint, and Andrew Weatherall. He has toured around the world, performing sets at iconic music festivals such as, Glastonbury, Coachella, Splendour in the Grass, Laneway, Lollapalooza, and Reading & Leads.
Today, Jono is back in Sydney where he co-founded Sonar Music with Matteo Zingales, Antony Partos, Andrew Lancaster and David McCormack.
LBB’s Toby Hemming spoke to Jono on how King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard is redefining what it means to be a band, and what a healthy amount of “music-for-music’s sake” looks like.
LBB> Your career has been pretty illustrious, but you never followed the norm. How would you describe your creative journey?
Jono> From an early age and mostly through my older brother, I was exposed to the magic of musical subcultures. I was drawn to these leftfield worlds that seemed to exist in parallel to “normal life”. And ever since, I’ve tried to search for threads of inspiration whether it’s in film, TV, albums, or events that give me that same feeling I used to get as a kid. I don’t really know how to put the term “creativity” into words, but I love this idea of turning a thread of inspiration, or a personal human experience, good, bad or both into a tangible artefact that becomes a shared experience. Making something out of nothing.
LBB> Why did you set up Sonar, and what’s your mission for the company?
Jono> Like most of the trajectory in my career, Sonar was very much an organic evolution from what came before it. Myself, Matteo, and David were all working at Supersonic which was owned by Antony and Andrew. We all decided we wanted to start something that was as much about having a healthy creative environment as it was about smashing out jobs. In a way, Sonar was the rebellious "on-the-spectrum" kid born from Supersonic.
LBB> You worked on the left side of culture, with some of the planet’s most interesting and visionary artists. What have you learnt from this that you bring to your brand work with Sonar?
Jono> I feel so lucky to have worked so closely with some of my musical heroes. With all the pressures that come with film, TV and advertising, sometimes the composition process can be corrupted over time, or over-thought. I always try to balance out my diet with a healthy amount of “music-for-music’s sake” work because it keeps me connected to the magic of music I felt as a kid, and then that attitude and energy can be applied in all the Sonar work we do.
LBB> Having travelled the world, you are now back in Australia. What’s your view of the local creative community, and do you think we are adequately represented and respected on the world stage?
Jono> Musically, I think we’ve always punched well above our weight and we continue to do so. In the past decade, some of the most profound impacts on global pop music have come from Australian artists. Kevin Parker, Sia, Flume and their tangible influence on American pop culture. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard with their re-definition of what a band is, Courtney Barnett re-defining how to write a song… even Fisher with his re-packaging of Tech House from the club to the stadium. I think for a relatively small nation, we’re well represented but I’d still like to see more out there especially from the film and TV world.
LBB> LBB exists to champion commercial creativity, and the people within it. Who do you personally admire on both the local and world stage?
Jono> Locally, I’ve really admired and enjoyed working with Owen Trevor and Chris Riggert. They all share very similar musical tastes and so that’s always a great starting point. I’ve currently been working with Stef Hunt and the choreographic extraordinaire Vanessa Hunt.
Working with a director/choreographer duo is fantastic because it means that music will always play an important role in their work. From the UK andEurope, I had the honour of working a little bit with Sam aka Floating Points and visual artists Ana and Pablo aka Hamil Industries… They recently completed a bunch of work for the San Francisco Ballet company on a contemporary ballet called “Mere Mortals”. I don’t know much about ballet, but I know that this blew the roof off. It blew my mind, and felt like a big shake up of the ballet status quo. I’m looking forward to working more with them.
LBB> Finally, I’ve been a huge admirer of Andrew Weatherall’s work and philosophy for decades. What was he like to work with, and what’s the one most important thing you have learnt from him?
Jono> It’s sometimes difficult to talk about Andrew because I can’t really put into a condensed string of words just how much he meant to me, both as a musical inspiration but also as a person. It’s so rare that we get to meet our musical idols, let alone share a studio with them and even rarer to become close friends with them. Every Monday morning when I walked into the studio, Andrew would run out to greet me with this teen-like energy. He’d be holding a stack of newly purchased records and say “have you heard this yet? You need to get this! Have a listen to this one too! You’re going to love this record!”. He’d just start shoving music down my throat with this youthful excitement and joy... he was in his 50s at the time. I think that was the most important thing I learned from him… to not take things too seriously, not overthink things, and to just keep loving and discovering music with that same excitement we all had as kids.
