Jon and Roy

'Jon Middleton, with regular guest percussionist Roy Vizer, opened for Current Swell....
[Middleton and Vizer] have some die-hard fans. Even though the pair wasn’t headlining this show, there were people in the audience only there to see them. A smaller venue would have suited their lullaby-like music more, but it was still beautiful — the perfect road-trip music.'
- Martlet (University of Victoria's Independent Newspaper)

There’s a particular style of music that sounds like an island. It turns your mind into a slow-motion summer haze, echoes the calm sound of the beach and creates a relaxed surfing vibe.

You can try to classify the musical genre of Victoria-based duo Jon and Roy, but their music is hard to describe. As percussionist Roy Vizer admits, the music is “a blend of folk, reggae and hip-hop with an island tinge.”

An “island tinge” takes different musical genres, blends them together and then throws in a distinct local sound.

The song “Cadboro Bay” stays true to this style. Its folky reggae sound is as refreshing as the feeling you get while sitting back on Cadboro Bay’s painted logs, with a cool breeze and a warm sun.

And for those UVic students who hate waking up hungover to their violent alarm clocks, “First Thing in the Mornin’” gently awakens the senses. The song channels the sound of Sublime’s unique guitar and combines it with tropical island percussion. The result: you feel like you are in a hammock, with a beach to the left and a drink to the right.

“The music really just stands on its own: simple, rhythmic and melodic,” says Roy.

“It’s minimized.”

Songs such as “Focus” and “Sittin’ Back” take a sunny day, mix it with two parts music and pour the creation into your ear.

It’s easy listening, and it’s easily likeable. Jon and Roy are the kind of act you have to see to appreciate. Their music is hard to describe yet easy to observe.

- Martlet (University of Victoria's Independent Newspaper)

Best known locally as half of the duo 'Jon & Roy', its appropriate that singer-songwriter Jon Middleton's solo debut is called 'After a Trip', as its got that certain 'end of a summer day' feel to it. Middleton's guitar lopes and strums along with his lazy day, sittin' on the beach vocals, emotionally punctuated by the occasional harmonica break. With a voice and style reminiscent of Jack Johnson, this is a surprisingly good indie effort. Credit to Middleton for focussing on the basics on this wonderfully simple recording and avoiding that all-too-often popular impulse to clutter things up with musical friends. While these 11 songs only add up to a 35-minute run-time, if acoustic guitar and husky vocals (with just a touch of hip-hop inflection) are your surf and turf, be sure to add 'After a Trip' to your summertime playlist. - Monday Magazine

Another Noon is the second disc for guitarist Jon Middleton and percussionist Roy Vizer, capturing a wonderfully unassuming, open-mic, coffee-shop vibe that charms and welcomes us in. Though the duo of just guitar and percussion occasionally leaves the ear yearning for the familiar thrum of a bass, Roy Vizer’s use of the kit, combined with melodic, percussion-like congas, fills in the gap. The percussive element also appears in Middleton’s singing, which rides, rich and warm, above and through the variety of labels that could be given to the songs, some strictly folksy, like “By the Sea,” where a swaying melody is punctuated by a subtle tickety-tap of drumsticks. Others swing with a soft, reggae-like groove (“Moonlight”) or blend into a plinking ukulele melody in “On A Hill.” There is something comforting and familiar (maybe a distant echo to a VW commercial?) in the songs but without losing a sense of the fresh and new. - Exclaim! Magazine

It must be all the snow, because Jon & Roy have me pining for Victoria, B.C., and its "cherry blossoms in February" excuse for winter. Another Noon is songs for 7:30 a.m. hoodies on beaches, singalongs chorusing after an all-night party, waves lapping the majestic down of Vancouver Island's pebbled coastline. Man, I could use some of that now. Thankfully, Jon & Roy have bottled that idyllic state, with songs like Thanks for That and To the Beach standing out from the pack. Miss the West or thinking of heading out for a trip? Another Noon will take you there. - Ottawa Xpress magazine

‘I might have to call you back,” Jon Middleton announces, as he picks up his phone. He speaks loudly—he has to—so that he can be heard over the squawking birds, the howling wind and the crashing waves in the background. “I’m on a ferry right now, and the cell service here is just totally cutting out.”

Usually, Victoria is the city that Middleton calls home. Today, however, he and his bandmates are in Vancouver, taking care of some last-minute details before they head out on tour. At the moment, making their way over to the city’s national hockey arena is at the top of the group’s to-do list; in just a few hours, Middleton has to be on the ice to sing the national anthem, and so begin the night’s game. Is he nervous?

“Honestly, I’ve been too busy to really think about it—and that’s probably best,” he laughs. “I dunno ... I think it’ll go totally fine; I’m pretty used to playing in front of people.”

He pauses, and then nonchalantly confesses that it will be pretty different from what he’s used to:

“The [biggest audience I’ve ever sung for before] would have been like 1200 or something. And when you’re with a band it’s completely different—you have that group dynamic. So when you’re just up there by yourself ... I’ve never done it, but we’ll see how it feels.”

Up until about a year ago, the only other person contributing to the “group dynamic” that Middleton talks about was his long-time friend, Roy Vizer. For the longest time, Vizer added his “percussive boom” to Middleton’s vocals and guitar and the two performed together under the direct-and-to-the-point, albeit not very creative, band name of Jon and Roy.

Recently, however, the pair has been joined by another long-time friend, Ryan Tonelli, on bass guitar, and some have begun to wonder if the time has come for a name change.

“I dunno,” Middleton chuckles doubtfully. “I don’t think that Jon and Roy and Ryan has quite the same ring to it.”

But, surely, Tonelli must feel a little bit left out?

“Hah, it doesn’t really matter [how he feels],” Middleton laughs. “Nah, I’m just joking ... but I think he’s pretty cool with it. You know, we haven’t had any breakdowns at four in the morning—drunken breakdowns with him letting us know how he feels about that—so I assume it’s good.” - Vue Weekly

Don't look for rock-star attitude when Jon and Roy come to town. As a duo, the guitarist and percussionist constitute a left-coast embodiment of the word mellow, in both music and approach. That's what happens when your musical career develops around a campfire on the beach.

"The first couple of years we'd almost always have practice at the beach or somewhere outside," says Roy Vizer, the percussion-playing half of the Victoria-based acoustic duo, "and we're pretty much always going on camping trips with friends, bringing instruments and just chilling by the campfire and playing a lot of music."

It's a form of exposure that creates a devoted audience, explained Vizer during a phone interview. "It's not going to be a huge audience, but they have more of an intimate connection with the music if they've seen it with no mikes, no amplifiers, no cover charge. They're just hanging out with you and playing music.

"We're all about having no barrier between us and our fans and friends. We like intimate shows and we really like being responsive to the crowd.

Things like that are important to us."

There's no mistaking their love of nature either, especially when you hear the melodic, ocean-inspired songs on their most recent album, Another Noon. Guitarist Jon Middleton handles the singing and songwriting duties, while Vizer keeps the beat moving with his crisp playing, and adds texture with an array of percussion instruments. Together, it's like Jack Johnson playing with Beck.

The pair first met at the University of Victoria. Vizer, 28, was attending college in Vancouver at the time, but transferred to Victoria after clicking musically with Middleton, 27.

"It was just a mutual unspoken musical understanding between the two of us," says Vizer. "I don't try to overdo it. I come from the Ringo Starr School of Drumming where I just try to complement the song as much as I can.

"Jon is a very, very fluid guitarist. He's one of those guys where you don't really notice that what he's playing is very difficult to pull off. He does it quite easily and he's always bringing fresh cool stuff. He plays off the drums and he listens. A listening musician is something I really value."

They got serious about recording in 2005, put out their first disc,

Sittin' Back, and toured Australia. Momentum grew with the follow-up, Another Noon, which came out last year and appeared on several bloggers' best-of 2008 lists.

Also encouraging was the fact that Volkswagen used a Jon and Roy song on a television commercial that had a nine-month run in some parts of the U.S.

"It came with some money and we thought it might be really good exposure. We saw what the Mac commercial did for Feist," Vizer says. "As much as some people consider it selling out, those people don't realize what it takes to be a musician or that me and Jon have to have full-time jobs in order to pay rent and this and that."

Though it wasn't the breakthrough they hoped for, the brief association with an international brand seems to have legitimized the act, at least in the eyes of promoters and booking agents. Their last few concerts have sold out, and they are back on the road. Both are taking time off their jobs (Vizer is a cook for a friend's company, while Middleton works at a make-your-own-wine establishment) to make their way across Canada, landing at Algonquin College on Feb. 11 and the Black Sheep Inn on Feb. 14, with Jenn Grant.

Plans are also in the works to record another album this spring. As for the wisdom of launching a career in music in uncertain economic times, Vizer says "we've put so much of ourselves into this career, we would be fools to stop at this point."

Besides, even when times are tough, people still go out to see their friends play music.

"It's escapism, I guess," he says, noting that their fan base has been steadily expanding beyond the beach and campus crowd. "We definitely would not be doing this if we didn't see that people were appreciating it all over the place. Although the money doesn't ever actually find its way down to us, we're going to keep going and see where it takes us."
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen - The Ottawa Citizen

Victoria, BC’s Jon and Roy may lack the head count on stage seen with other bands touring Canada, but they certainly have a support team of heavy hitters backing them up. Their sophomore album Another Noon (Blue Heron/Pacific Music/Warner) landed them a nine month North American ad campaign with Volkswagen (replacing Wilco), sent them overseas to tour with Buck 65, and their Jon and Roy Holiday Special show in December sold out the 810 seat Alix Goolden theatre in advance and was recorded by CBC Canada Live to be broadcast across the country later this month. Together Jon Middleton (vocals, guitar) and Roy Vizer (drums, percussion) are touring through Canada with full time bass player Ryan Tonelli in tow and stopping in Vancouver where Jon has been invited to sing the national anthems for an NHL game.

‘Another Noon’ contains 15 beautifully crafted original compositions drawing from folk, reggae and hip hop influences. Do yourself a favour and listen to the track ‘Little bit of Love’ here: http://www.myspace.com/jonandroy

"Another Noon captur[es] a wonderfully unassuming, open-mic, coffee-shop vibe that charms and welcomes us in." - Exclaim!

"Sincerity and passion infuse their performances." - Focus Magazine

Catch Jon and Roy when they hit your city on their Exclaim! sponsored tour:

Jan 16 – Vancouver, BC – Richards on Richards
Jan 24 – Victoria, BC – UVIC Sub – SUBurban (student ID required)
Jan 28 – Vancouver, BC – GM Place (national anthems for NHL Vancouver Canucks/Nashville Predators)
Jan 30 – Prince George, BC – Coldsnap Folk Festival - Vancity Buzz