J. MARINELLI
Twisted one-man-band mayhem that's part Billy Childish, part Hank Williams, part Daniel Johnston and all fun and weird.
- The Washington Post
...unsophisticated basement brilliance. - Jersey Beat
Marinelli is a true talent... a refreshing change of pace from the over-produced, processed, homogenized crap shoved down our throats on a daily basis.
- Punk Planet
…somewhere between Guided by Voices, a lost mountain troubadour and a classic 70’s punk outfit from your dreams.
- Subversive
...joyous anthems of personal resistance.
- RVA Magazine
(J. Marinelli’s) style on Stray Volts has transcended one-man band songwriting.”
- Razorcake
Hearts raced and his set careened at times to breaking points where you would have no idea if he’d just kick a hole in the bass drum or what. All this by one guy sitting down behind a drum set with a guitar and going full on. This is what rock n’ roll is about!
- Buddyhead
...sounds like the funnest maddest person that you know picking you up and swinging you around the room while simultaneously explaining to you the most important secrets of existence and mysteries of life. - Little Gem
The grandson of an Italian immigrant coal miner (and proud-and-loud son of the central Appalachian Mountains), Norway-via-West Virginia punk-folk troubadour J. Marinelli has taken the do-it-yourself idea to its furthest extreme.
That is to say, he’s his own band; after cutting his teeth in ‘90s and ‘00s punk notables Samuel and Les Trois Malheures our boy abandoned the notion of a backing band, and decided to do the dirty deed his damn self.
Thus: a booted right toe booms the big bass drum while the right heel keeps time on his hi-hat. His left foot snaps a snare, while his veined and gnarled hands grapple and grip the well- worn neck of a sturdy silverflake six-string -- barehandedly smacking a cymbal between syncopated strums.
He tops this well-edited Gotterdammerung with a crackling croon of a voice that recalls the forgotten apex of every aging lo-fi junkie’s vinyl collection (for you trainspotting music nerd-types, imagine the Fall, Billy Childish, the Urinals, and Guided by Voices filtered through the dusty arcana of early 20th century American folk music).
After bringing his one-man avant-roots juggernaut to the endless sprawl of his home country, Marinelli has recently completed four tours of Europe -- charming audiences in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway.
Putting the World to Rights, Marinelli's forthcoming LP, was written and recorded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and is slated for vinyl and digital release this August on Los Angeles punk/jazz/indie juggernaut ORG Music. He will be making another European and US run in support of this LP. You can preorder the LP here.
BIOGRAPHY
D I S C O G R A P H Y
Pity the Party EP (Little Sailor Records, 2006)
Keep It Fake CD (A New Morning Books & Records, 2006)
Dirty Poncho EP (Squoodge Records, 2007)
Stone Age Kicks Volume I and 2 cassette (Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2009)
Pre-Emptive Skankery Sessions LP (Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2010)
Stone Age Kicks Volume 3 LP (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue 2011)
Young Spillers 7" EP (Stencil Trash Records, 2012)
J. Marinelli/Elsinores split cassette (Space Cadet/Karmic Swamp Records 2012)
J. Marinelli/MA Turner split cassette (Brave Captain Records, 2012)
The Moray Eels Eat the J. Marinelli 7" EP (Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2013)
Sovereign Slates EP (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2013)
The War On Pleasure 10" EP (Stencil Trash Records, 2014)
Stop Paying Attention LP (Twin Cousins Records, 2015)
Stone Age Kicks Volume 4 LP (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2016)
All the Sad Parts cassette (Pop's Analogue Records, 2016)
Triumph of the Shrill EP (digital only), Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2017)
Stray Volts LP (Twin Cousins Records, 2017)
The Big Listen EP (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2018)
Laughing All the Way to the Fretex (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2020)
Post-Fake EP (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2020)
Fjorden & Fjellet EP (digital only, Commodity Fetish Analogue, 2021)
Are You Terrified? (digital single, ORG Music, 2022)
Putting the World to Rights LP (ORG Music, 2022)
N E W S
Howdy! I hope y'all are maintaining during what is hoped to be the last gasp of the COVID-19 pandemic. As for me, I'm actually playing my first live gig, one year (to the day) after my last live gig. It's at the Trondheim Fringe Festival in Trondheim, Norway on Saturday October 9th. See "Upcoming Shows" for details.
I've kept myself sane by (a) recording the follow-up to Laughing All the Way to the Fretex, and then (b) deciding that I didn't like it, and then (c) writing a few more songs for it, and (d) then recording it again from scratch with the new songs added. What sets this collection of songs apart from the previous records is that I decided to track all the instruments separately, and used a "proper" drum kit, as well as a bass, and the prodigious use of handclaps. You can listen to a few of the songs on this website, in the "music" section, and stream it via Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services.
What's got me really excited is the fact that this new LP, titled Putting the World to Rights, will be available this summer on vinyl and digital via the good folks at ORG Music -- you can preorder the LP here.
That's it for now -- thanks for reading and stay safe!
UPCOMING SHOWS
VIDEOS
Thursday, June 2 - KAP 37 - Munich, Germany
Friday, June 3 - Zur Linde - Hof, Germany
Saturday, June - Bessunger Knabenschule - Darmstadt, Germany
Sunday, June 5 - ALTER - Mannheim, Germany (free show)
Wednesday, June 8 - Zwille - Leipzig, Germany
Thursday, June 9 - Kevin Brewery - Zwickau, Germany
Friday, June 10 - Galeria Lunar - Hanover, Germany
Saturday, June 11 - Heile Welt - Munster, Germany
Sunday, June 12 - Lou's Bar - Liege, Belgium
Wednesday, June 15 - Emma 23 - Heilbronn, Germany
Thursday, June 16 - Quarterdeck - Basel, Switzerland
Friday, June 17 - KOHI - Karlsruhe, Germany
Saturday, June 18 - Kommando Cup - Tübingen, Germany
Sunday, June 19 - Juze - Bad Neustadt, Germany
Thursday, June 30 - Galactic Panther - Alexandria, VA
Friday, July 1 - Sky Stage - Frederick, MD
Saturday, July 2 - 123 Pleasant Street - Morgantown, WV
Sunday, July 3 - Shred Shed - Pittsburgh, PA
Thursday, July 7 - Short Story Brewing - Rivesville, WV
Friday, July 8 - Jack Caffrey Center for Arts & Culture - Welch, WV
Saturday, July 9 - The Mountaineer Hotel Ballroom - Williamson, WV
Sunday, July 10 - WTSQ - Charleston, WV
Thursday, July 28 - Hop Yard 62 - Columbus, OH
Friday, July 29 - Louisville Fringe Festival - Louisville, Kentucky
Saturday, July 30 - The Green Lantern Bar - Lexington, KY
PHOTOS