Some of my earliest memories are of my parents listening to the Beatles and Bob Dylan, and a songwriter named Laura Nyro. I loved her music and by the time I was 11 yrs-old I was using chopsticks on the kitchen table playing along to her songs. That same year I played conga in an African drumming class that was taught in a room completely filled to the ceiling with percussion instruments. But the only thing I wanted to play was the drum set, even though my feet couldn’t even reach the pedals.

My first band was called the Bondage Babies (which was slightly better then our alternate name of Johnny Coat Hanger and the Abortions) and we tried to be like the Pretenders. All of us went to a high school for the arts that everyone thought was Seattle’s version of the school in Fame. We weren’t dancing in the halls, but I did get to take acting and guitar, and in my senior year, played drums every day in a class called Pop/Rock Ensemble.

Since then, I’ve been in bands and projects covering just about every style of music except polka and speed metal. More recently, I’ve played with a lot of solo acoustic singer/songwriters, and in 2009, toured all over the US, Canada, UK, and Netherlands with an amazing band from Canada called Po’Girl.

I first met Girlyman in 2003. I was an instant fan and knew we’d be friends when we discovered a shared love for Hayao Miyazaki’s anime movie Spirited Away. I officially joined Girlyman in 2010 and it’s been my dream come true: traveling the world, playing amazing music, and spending time with some of my favorite people.

Things I Like

Cooking and eating organic food, running and working out, outer space, Eckhart Tolle, playing Frisbee, breakfast, Gretsch drums, yoga, a smorgasbord, San Francisco, cats, my house, disk golf, old science fiction books like those by Ray Bradbury, stained glass, Downton Abbey, bittersweet chocolate, Neolithic artifacts, champagne, Chuck Taylors, cool boots, playing guitar, juggling, Amsterdam, cosmology, neuroscience and philosophy, books by Louise Erdrich, good movies, being outdoors, my bike.

JJ is endorsed by Gretsch Drums and Latin Percussion (LP).