Jon Zaremba

As a teen, he discovered techno and the rave scene by picking up fringe radio signals from Carnegie Mellon University. Right around the brink of the rave era that Jon began making my own electronic music. With no friends or guidance on this venture...he just bought some used gear and fiddled around with it.

Eventually obtaining a computer sporting Windows 95 and the "old old old version" of Cakewalk; he started sequencing, which leead to self-releasing 3 or 4 albums over the next few years on my own label Shoryuken! Records. Zaremba then started a band named Soulpsychadelicide which sported several imaginary members, each representing an aspect of his personality. These personalities also released several solo albums throughout the 90's. In his own words, he was "wildly unsuccessful" with every attempt to gain even underground interest in his work.

Around the turn of the century, Jon decided to begin releasing music under his own name instead. His music has always been very personal, but was now putting all his energies into making music that was even more specific in its meaning. He knew he'd "probably never get a record deal" so why not just make the music that he wanted to hear? Jon began dealing with philosophical subject matter in such a way as to alienate me from the rest of the electronic music crowd. He stopped using breakbeats and musical samples and began composing more melodic tunes instead. The music began to sound more like heavy metal than the disco that most people expect from electronic musicians.

Zaremba had some small successes on a few indie labels in Germany, South America, and Australia. Most of these releases were home-pressed onto CDR and only distributed by hand at local shows in their countries. Ironically, most of these releases were centered around his least favorite album. The experience left Jon unsatisfied to say the least.

He decided to release more stuff under his own name. Most of this was only heard by a few friends of mine. In 2006, Jon started a new label called Exceliza Records. He made another heartfelt attempt to gain interest by other labels with the second Exceliza release "Vigilante Romance" in 2007. After spending around $1,000 on demos with few responses; Jon decided to try and promote/sell on my own, spending another $1,000 to have copies pressed. Since then, he's sold less than 10 copies of "Vigilante Romance".

It is now 2008 and Jon Zaremba is releasing the follow-up "Mayberry Romance" with plans for a fourth Exceliza album by the end of the year.

The bottom line is this: Jon Zaremba will never stop making the music that he wants to hear. He'll never start making the music that the masses yearn for. That's the big payoff Jon is banking on...and one that he alone has complete control over.