Johnny Dynamite Releases “Wannabe” – Donating All Sale Proceeds To COVID-19 Response Fund

by | Mar 20, 2020 | Culture, Featured, Music


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Today Johnny Dynamite (Whiner, Ashjesus) releases Wannabe, a dreamy, 80s-infused B-side from his 2020 album Heartbroken.

Wannabe is ethereal and transcendent: a welcome, if melancholic motif for these chaotic times. It fits right at home in a veil-straddling David Lynch diaspora, its thoughtful and shimmering synth reminiscent of a late 80s college radio discovery at the midnight hour.

“I wrote it before I thought about going solo, before I took on the name Johnny Dynamite,” he says.  “It’s a track about self reflection, inward thoughts, and finding peace within. I never felt like I had a real home. I grew up on Staten Island and I moved around a bunch. Then I left to go to college in New Paltz, where I lived for 4 years. I moved back down to NYC after, and at the time, home felt like nature. The line, “I say to myself, ‘you’d be alone if you were someone else’, I wannabe alone”, reflects the loss of self when you have no place to call home. I felt an emotional attachment reflecting on this song right now, because I left NYC as soon as there was a mention of a quarantine. I’m currently down in Maryland staying with my girlfriend at her parents’. Coincidentally, this is also the state I finished recording the song in.’

Dynamite read that the CDP was starting a COVID-19 Response Fund and immediately wanted to help.

“I was already planning to release a B-side on Friday on Bandcamp, who are waiving their revenue that day to help all affected artists. After reading the article on the CDP, I decided that all the proceeds I get from my song will go to the response fund. We’re in some bizarre times right now and we all need to work together to get through this. The donations will focus on supporting hourly wage workers, workers in the gig economy, new American populations, older adults, people with disabilities, mental health, and economic impacts of the pandemic. As we all know, every dollar helps right now and you can donate a dollar or more to help support the cause.”

Photo: Alice Teeple

The album cover art (and the Johnny Dynamite moniker) came from the artist’s grandfather, Pete Morisi, who co-created the comic book private detective character in the 1950s with writer Ken Fitch.

You can purchase the beautiful track here AND help a good cause:

https://johnnydynamite.bandcamp.com/album/wanna-b-side

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Downtown Magazine