Jon Klages has a new album out on April 1st, called ‘Fabulous Twilight‘, and this song from it is a fabulous thing in that it acts as a biography for a large slice of the readership of Americana UK. Not an exact biography of course, that would be…bizarre…but there’s a shade of shared experience. When Klages sings of seeing “the advertisement that changed my life / the fine print below I did not read / but the bold headline said “ten albums for only a penny” / my vinyl mania had begun” there’ll be many nodding their heads in recognition.
Klages’s own musical history began in the 1980s, when he was the lead guitarist for the acclaimed band the Individuals. Along with the Bongos and the dB’s,the Individuals led a new wave of N.Y.-based indie rock that influenced generations of bands to come. After releasing two albums with the Individuals, Klages left to make his own well-received solo EP for Coyote Records, ‘In a Dream’, which featured the recording debut of Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. Soon after, Jon realized a personal dream when he joined forces with one of his guitar heroes ,Richard Lloyd, from the legendary band Television. For two years, Klages toured with Lloyd, and then, looking for a change of musical scene, moved to Los Angeles.
After laying down roots on the West Coast, Klages quickly established himself as an in-demand musician, performing/recording with such L.A. notables as ex-True Westmember Russ Tolman, Steve Wynn (the Dream Syndicate and the Baseball Project), and Stephen McCarthy (the Long Ryders), and having his songs appear on albums by artists including power-pop favourites 20/20 and on TV series such as Knots Landing.
