John Jacob Magistery is an alt / folk band from Montreal, Quebec who released their debut EP 'Narcissism Unto Loneliness' in spring 2014. The four track EP was recorded live in one day at Montreal's Fast Forward Studios. Following a successful release, the band has been receiving encouraging feedback from fans and media alike. One of Montreal's biggest radio stations CHOM 97.7 picked up the group’s first single 'Greatest Story Ever’ and began playing it in heavy rotation. Shortly after, the band released an online music video to the song, which generated over 50,000 views. To kick off 2015, they were voted one of CHOM's 'Best Music Discoveries of 2014' by both Terry DiMonte and Jason Rockman. CHOM listeners responded by voting 'Greatest Story Ever' as one of the top 30 tracks of 2014. Since then, they have shared bills with Blue Rodeo, Daniel Lanois, The Barr Brothers, Basia Bulat, and the Struts and they were featured in this year's CMW, NXNE, Osheaga, Pop Montreal, Festival YUL EAT, TWiM, and M for Montreal. Lead by singer/songwriter Johnny Griffin, John Jacob Magistery is a band well-grounded in raw talent and authenticity. The body consists of Anthony Lombardi (drums), Mackenzie Myatt (violin / vocals), Antoine Ferron (bass), and Francois Jalbert (guitar). Outside of these core members, the band is still kind of a revolving door. They love to experiment with different sounds and musicians, always finding new ways to be inspired, and to add depth to playing the songs live. Having spent years as an acoustic musician, Griffin composed many stripped down tracks to add to the band’s repertoire. It adds versatility to the band's performance and gives them the opportunity to focus on Griffin and Myatt's strength as vocalists to connect with an audience. "I always have a vision of where I want to take things..", says Griffin, "..it just takes a solid group of people to bring it there and give it the life it needs." The actual recording of ‘Narcissism Unto Loneliness’ was done with a group of musicians that had never played together before - or after the day the EP was recorded. Griffin approached musicians on the street and asked some friends if they could help out. The band on the recording consisted of some notable Montreal players (Simon Angell of Patrick Watson and Thus Owls on electric guitar, Justin Wright & Kate Maloney of Sweet Mother Logic on strings, Michael Felber of FelBarr [The Barr Brothers] on bass, and folk solo artist Genevieve Toupin on back-up vocals). They all graciously and enthusiastically lent themselves to the project along with Jon Matte (friend and former band mate to Griffin in The Franklin Electric) who helped produce by hooking up studio time with the award-winning engineer Rob Heaney. "It's surprising to see how fast it's been growing. A lot of positive support and feedback from such unexpected places," says Griffin. "Interest and support from bloggers, mainstream and indie radio stations, and fans in places we've never been to. It gives us even more energy to just keep on sharing the best of what we've got and hopefully it'll all keep touching and inspiring people." This initial praise has helped the band to refocus and get back to work.
The core group continues to tour and evolve John Jacob Magistery's sound and live experience. They have worked with Jace Lasek (member of The Besnard Lakes, producer or sound engineer of Patrick Watson, Suuns, Wolf Parade, etc.) on their first full length album entitled 'Phantom i'. After winning 1st prize in the international Recording Festival, JJM was flown out to the Grouse Lodge Studio in Ireland to for two weeks to finish up the album. It is scheduled to be released in 2015. In a recent interview with the Montreal Gazette, Griffin commented on the band’s direction and vision for their debut album. “We’re fine-tuning the sound for Phantom i,” Griffin explained. “We’re trying to nail the proper energy for music about finding courage and fighting through fear. It’s going to have beautiful parts, because you need that on a record, but there’s an anger and frustration, and you need that too.” The debut album is set to be released in early 2016.