AGL Live Session: johnnycola

Posted: 29th June, 2018 by The Editor

Something good has finally come out of the Trump campaign and it’s the song “Just Like Me” by New Brunswick, NJ band, johnnycola. When keyboard player and vocalist, John Colaiacovo III, first heard Trump talking about intensifying the deportation of people who weren’t born in America his response came through song. “Can you ban someone if not yourself?” Colaiacovo sings, “What makes us different from anyone else?

Colaiacovo heavily incorporates his roots in jazz on “Just Like Me,” with bright legato keys that contrasts yet creates a smooth fusion with Arnav Chevula’s airy, psychedelic guitar. Bassist Kyosuke Nonoyama and drummer Evan Tsoni keep the whole song rooted and playfully uptempo, almost to slightly offset the melancholy nature of the lyrics.

“All these things in life, how are they real?” Colaiacovo sings, questioning things like why families are being forcefully ripped away from their loved ones and referred to by the leader of his own unfortunate administration as “animals.” When it come down to it, everyone is really the same, and johnnycola wants to instill that idea in the listener with the message, “I’m just like you, you’re just like me.”

You can download all of this live session along with all our previous sessions for Pay What You Want HERE!