Who is Jon Bunting? I was able to catch up with the local musician over some Chinese food to talk about his debut EP.
Originally from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Bunting has been in the Bay for 13 years, where he started out playing banjo before experimenting with a variety of other instruments. Bunting took classes in electronic music but drifted toward writing songs on the acoustic guitar after listening to a lot of American folk. After listening to “Fat” and “Redingtin” off his new EP, I immediately had questions, which I asked him over the chatter of the restaurant.
What drew you to write about “Redingtin”?
It was actually a dream about about Redingtin being a system of pipes under Salt Lake City. I’ve never written a song inspired by a dream before. Anyways, I was running around inside these large pipes, which were actually pretty warm and well lit, with my friends and we were having a great time. This song became kind of interesting to me when it became about living in this makeshift home in the pipes with the people you care about. It ended up sounding kinda like those fun 1960’s honky-tonk songs about living out West, like… “I wanna go *somewhere* with you…” I dunno, I’ve never really had a dream song before.
I definitely hear a lot of folk influence in your music, however I don’t want to, or really know how to exactly place your music into a genre. How do you feel about this?
Some people would categorize my music as “anti-folk.” That term is kinda growing on me.
Would you subscribe to that definition for your own music?
Yeah, why not!
Put yourself in the position of a Jon Bunting listener. What setting is ideal for that experience?
Waiting in line at the DMV, definitely. Or, anytime it happens to be like a sunny weekend day and you have to walk somewhere cool. That’s probably when I take the most joy in listening to music is when I gotta walk somewhere far.
*Around this time, our waiter at King Dong brought Bunting his order: the largest plate of solely broccoli I’ve seen in my life*
I noticed you were releasing about a single a month last year. Was this pattern intentional?
Yeah, it was intentional! I would always write songs and be a little self-conscious if the recordings didn’t sound exactly how I wanted them to, so in 2018 I decided that I was going to put those songs out. Even if I felt like they weren’t good or not ready, it was still going to be a free and nice experience, which it was.
What are your thoughts on Daniel Johnston?
I honestly don’t know who that is.
Wow, that’s honestly really surprising. Okay, so…where did the energy in this album come from?
It came from feeling like I have to put out my work, because I’ve kinda dedicated myself to doing music right now, I have a bunch of material, and I want to have something to show for it.
That’s very honest and I totally support you on your pursuit. If you ran into the Men in Black and they said you could only keep one song off your new EP and all the other were going to be erased from your mind, which one would you keep?
Oh, Jesus. That’s a tough one….Either the song “Fat” or “I know the Meaning of Life,” but I’d probably be wondering why and how I met the Men in Black in the first place.
Facts. Lastly, I have a bonus question: Bed, Bath, or Beyond?
I don’t know about Beyond, because you don’t know what you’re getting into. It could be something scary like a colonoscopy, or you could end up like Adam Sandler in that one movie Click. He found that remote in the Beyond section. I think I’d choose bath, then.
Check out Jon Bunting’s EP, now on most streaming platforms:
Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jon-bunting/1342377522
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/0jVHfVogt9OFkfTG7RW3Mm
Bandcamp: https://jonbuntingtunes.bandcamp.com/album/ep
Article and Photo by Josefina Ruggeiro