Jonny Dobbs
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Jonny Dobbs

Band Pop Singer/Songwriter

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"JONNY DOBBS LIVE AT THE BASEMENT, YORK - 15/07/08"

'Jonny Dobbs is one of those acoustic acts in York that get your attention simply because he almost unconsciously chooses to be honest to god different. He fittingly coined the phrase ..Light and Dark.. to define his music and you will undoubtedly find no greater truth. His percusive slapping and smoky voice colaboration justify the 'Light and Dark' adjectives. But there is more to his music than a subtle and discreet emotional charge. In the low ceilings intimate atmosphere that is The Basement at The City Screen, a very competent guitarist that is Jonny Dobbs proves that he deserves more than being recruited as Shed Seven..s T in The Park guitar tech in Spring 2008.

Dobbs has admitted that he doesn..t deliberately endeavour to be different but he hopes that difference is one noted aspect of his art work. If you ever get at a stage in your life when ordinariness gives you a severe spell of clinical depression, please rest assure that Jonny Dobbs is refreshingly engaging and his guitar and voice are the secret of his future success (there should be more to Dobbs ambitions than perform in a small city). 'Skies' with its beautiful guitar strokes prove to be one of the tracks in his live performances that expose an ability to engage an audience without any fuss or tricks. If ordinariness is what defines musical boredom and Jonny would prefer to steer clear of it, he needn't worry because it's not natural to him. What is natural to him is the ability to pull numbers up his sleeve and surprise the audience with a variety of tunes that drive them to want to buy his CD. What I fail to understand is why such high quality music is being offered for free at the bar. Surely we should be paying for quality and hard work. Especially if it is home grown local sounds. Both 'All or Nothing' and 'Weeping Willow Tree' can be heard on www.myspace.com/jonnydobbs as a testimony of his quality as a recording performer. In turn, those sounds should, or will entice you to make a date on your diary and watch Dobbs at Kennedy's on 1st October 2008. '

- sandra garçao

- Talk Magazine


"JONNY DOBBS LIVE AT THE BASEMENT, YORK - 15/07/08"

'Jonny Dobbs is one of those acoustic acts in York that get your attention simply because he almost unconsciously chooses to be honest to god different. He fittingly coined the phrase ..Light and Dark.. to define his music and you will undoubtedly find no greater truth. His percusive slapping and smoky voice colaboration justify the 'Light and Dark' adjectives. But there is more to his music than a subtle and discreet emotional charge. In the low ceilings intimate atmosphere that is The Basement at The City Screen, a very competent guitarist that is Jonny Dobbs proves that he deserves more than being recruited as Shed Seven..s T in The Park guitar tech in Spring 2008.

Dobbs has admitted that he doesn..t deliberately endeavour to be different but he hopes that difference is one noted aspect of his art work. If you ever get at a stage in your life when ordinariness gives you a severe spell of clinical depression, please rest assure that Jonny Dobbs is refreshingly engaging and his guitar and voice are the secret of his future success (there should be more to Dobbs ambitions than perform in a small city). 'Skies' with its beautiful guitar strokes prove to be one of the tracks in his live performances that expose an ability to engage an audience without any fuss or tricks. If ordinariness is what defines musical boredom and Jonny would prefer to steer clear of it, he needn't worry because it's not natural to him. What is natural to him is the ability to pull numbers up his sleeve and surprise the audience with a variety of tunes that drive them to want to buy his CD. What I fail to understand is why such high quality music is being offered for free at the bar. Surely we should be paying for quality and hard work. Especially if it is home grown local sounds. Both 'All or Nothing' and 'Weeping Willow Tree' can be heard on www.myspace.com/jonnydobbs as a testimony of his quality as a recording performer. In turn, those sounds should, or will entice you to make a date on your diary and watch Dobbs at Kennedy's on 1st October 2008. '

- sandra garçao

- Talk Magazine


Discography

Deeper Down EP (2008) 8 Track

All or Nothing (EP) (2008)
- All or Nothing
- Brand New

Photos

Bio

It’s often events that shape a person and Jonny Dobbs has experienced several episodes that would have had a profound affect on even the most unnerving individual. Like the time he was “blown-up” when an oil refinery near his home in East Yorkshire exploded, or the time he was “nearly crushed to death” by a colossal oak tree when camping at university. But despite these extraordinary incidents, Jonny has remained true in his beliefs and ideas. And music, for the majority of his life, has played a large part in that.

With a tongue-in-cheek, Jonny cites early memories of singing along to Mowtown artists like Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye, as well as striving to play the Top Gun theme tune on his first guitar, an instrument that he purchased at a car-boot sale when he was only 7. Now he refers to the likes of Ben Harper, The Foo Fighters and Damian Rice as major influences on his “light and dark acoustic” sound; a term that he coined due to his difficulty in writing a song that he describes as “sitting in the middle”. But Jonny’s songs will never “sit in the middle” because he is a master at writing deeply loaded songs. Songs that will inevitably make you laugh or cry.

During the autumn of 2006, while in need of a well-earned break, Jonny stumbled across the Atlantic to spend time with friends in New York City. He admits that the trip was partly a means of escaping some troubles in his life but he reveals that he used the excursion to revitalise some stagnant ambitions and ideas. Jonny found New York to be just the therapy he needed and although reluctant to return home, he landed back on English soil several weeks later with renewed optimism and a new perspective. A bout of insomnia coincided with the writing of the track NY Demo, a song that he refers to as the door to his “dark-side” and “the turning point for his writing”.

Jonny’s transition from playing music for pleasure to playing at some of Yorkshire’s top acoustic venues has been seamless. Within weeks of shifting a couple of demos he has secured slots at some of Leeds and York’s finest, and you got the impression that if he’d said “no”, they’d have dragged him in kicking and screaming anyhow. But the music scene has taken to Jonny quickly because he has always been an ‘insider’. He instinctively surrounds himself with interesting and diverse people, and this variety reflects in his music. Like a musical magpie, he picks out the shiny stuff, while he discards the less remarkable ‘fluff’ in his life.

It’s difficult not to like someone like Jonny Dobbs, as he’ll sit you comfortably before playing you his favourite songs on his favourite guitar. His abilities are always evident as his husky voice orchestrates the dexterous riffs and emotive melodies that he creates. And as soon as you stop for a moment, I have little doubt that you’ll greedily digest that “light and dark acoustic” sound, and then you’ll realise what all the fuss is about.