The Loop : Onelinedrawing -Visitor

Onelinedrawing - Visitor (2002)

After crossing over into full blown obsession Junior year of high school, I tried to see Coheed and Cambria TWICE before actually getting to see them play live. The first time we drove all the way down to The Nile to see them open for Juliana Theory, only to found out they had temporarily broken up that afternoon and flew back to Nyack (obviously getting back together shortly after) We then tried to see them open for Thrice at the Bash on Ash, however their van had broken down somewhere in the middle of New Mexico, leaving them with only borrowed acoustic guitars instead of full blown rocking (that was still really awesome though) By the third time when the announced a headlining show at The Mason Jar, I was DYING to see them in their full form. We showed up and all instruments and band members were accounted for, so we were ready to rock.

After the opening band played the crowd was getting antsy. We expected another "rock" act to jump on stage, but instead it was just a dude and his guitar who called himself Onelinedrawing. We joked that he was the "older, awkward version of Chris Carraba" but found ourselves enjoying his music and banter and eventually following up in the "internet" later to find out more about him.

Turns out his name was Jonah Mantranga, and he had gone under several monkiers up to the point where we saw him randomly open for Coheed. He had been the frontman of two cult bands, New End Original (an anogram of Onelinedrawing . . . cute, right?) and Far then later Gratitude and finally under his own name.

To this day, my brother and I still refer to him as simply "Jonah", because regardless of his many personalities, he's just this nice guy who we like to see play. In talking to other fans, he's presented himself in the same way to them, creating a culture of honesty in both his music and his live performance. He sends out e-mail blasts highlighting events in his life and his music and putting hand scribbled notes in place of text on his website (where he also offers the "pay what you want" method for music and merch). Hell, the guy even named his first compilation of music, "Songs I Hope My Mom Will Like". He is as sincere as you can get without crossing that line into going through the "nice guy" motions, and I think it's obvious to his fans that he simply just loves what he does. He is always willing to talk not only after the show, but to the fans during the set. He's one of the few artists I can say creates an actual "experience" at his concerts, be it encouraging fans to sit on the floor with him or playing beats off of an R2D2 doll (which he later retired).

I think it's important to revisit all of his work, but for the sake of this blog and the time period we're working with, Visitor is his defining work. With lines like "it's time for a bit of in the bed disco", he's kept up his quirky charm in a record that overall feels very dark. Jonah has never taken himself too seriously and built up his fans not because he's always "re-inventing" himself in egotistical ways, but just because he likes music and wants to play it as much as he can, in whatever formation he can.