We were lucky to catch up with John Daues recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am so much happier as a creative. I felt the creative pull my entire life, and have had the desire to create music and art the whole time. For awhile, I fought the urge to pursue it full time, I don’t think anybody had it out for me, as much as people don’t always encourage you to be your inner weirdo. So I used to think, I “threw away” a lot of time in my teens and 20’s, being afraid to truly pursue being a creative, like, following up with a backup plan, building a “stable life,” all that. Well, that life wasn’t so stable was it! When you’re living life as a backup plan, it’s depressing, and lame!

Around 29 years old, at what felt like rock bottom at the time, I decided to be truly honest with myself, embrace being a creative, a musician, and I decided that I had to put it all on the line, even if it meant failing and being a “loser” to some. Well, I’d rather be a loser than keep lying to myself and everyone around me!

I found a mentor and worked so hard for the last three years and never looked back. Every nugget of wisdom, moment of learning, applying a new skill, felt like one step closer to freedom. I was hungry for it, I still am hungry for it, I keep feeding that desire to grow into my true self, and it feels AMAZING! If you are a creative person, you owe it to yourself to DO THAT THING YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT! I have had so much more fulfillment in life, a feeling of purpose, and have had some moments along this journey I will never forget. <3

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m John! I’m a 90’s 00’s pop-punker, transplanted into 2024. I’ve made a splash writing jams for cartoons in the indie animation field, most notably “Piece of Trash” from Ramshackle! I sound like a lot of pop punk bands from that era, including Green Day, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup…AND MORE! I am a one-stop shop for clients with punk rock needs, including conceptualizing, writing and recording, mixing and mastering, marketing and distributing music!

I am most proud to work in the indie animation field, a rag-tag group of artists, voice actors, and other epic creators, as we flip off major studios and record labels that seek to take advantage of us! It is awesome to participate in music making and cartoon-foolery with people who value creativity, identity, and the challenges of being an independent artist.

The main thing I want people to know about me is…we are bringing the 90’s back, we are building a platform for ethical creators, and Scotty Doesn’t Know, Scotty Doesn’t Know, Scotty Doesn’t Know-ow!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I want to create a really awesome sound one day. You know, just something really sick. That makes me laugh and tear up because well, sick music does that to me haha. I have loved every bit of my music journey, learning new things and climbing to new heights. I am excited to think about, just what I can even be thinking about one day! I wanna know what John’s jamming 5 years from now!

Besides that, I really want to get my own indie animated series going! I have no idea where the time is gonna come from for that, but…We will never sleep, ’cause sleep is for the weak, We will never rest, ’til we’re all ******* dead, right?

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

OH YEAH. Lol. I mean, rock music is a funny thing. The sound design of it, in my eyes, it’s not like, insanely tricky, it’s just that, most rocker guys are “too cool” to be a quality educator, you know? I wish I had been a little more willing to learn about electric guitars, the guts of them, how they work, and not felt so scared of them, like it was too daunting to figure out all the switches, knobs, and dials. Dude, it’s FUN STUFF! It’s NOT SCARY! I work in a music store now and get to help people pick out their first guitar + setup all the time, and I love putting people on the game and explaining this stuff. I had a guitar with the wrong pickups for 15 years…but that doesn’t mean it has to happen to everyone! LOL.

I was extremely lucky to find a mentor who would explain this stuff to me. Once I had it straight in my head, I was like, “this doesn’t happen, people don’t spell it out with rock music sound design like this,” I started writing things down, saving notes on my PC, basically trying to make it a formal education of some sort. I might have missed out on a rock music education as a teenager, learning by screwing around, but I’d like to think I can share what I’ve learned with people I encounter through songwriting, teaching, or at work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/johndaues
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_daues/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://x.com/john_daues
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIZAerE-R8UeWCc0eM5oTqA
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4vFZV7Cx2pmfqbhsguusCL?si=GWo8ypIxTIK_MzudHqdOBQ

  https://music.apple.com/us/artist/john-daues/1686783436

Image Credits

Pictures 2, 3, and 4 were drawn by @ghoulyards my bestie
Punk Rat Poison was drawn by @Partulla the director of Punk Rat Poison
Ramshackle art drawn by @zeddyzi the director of Ramshackle