Live concerts are finally coming back. And with them, also the new tour of John O’ Brien, who just released the single “STOP!!”, the perfect song to listen live, available from April 9 on Spotify.
Catchy, rhythmic, and danceable – STOP!! is a trip into the knowledge of ourselves through the connection with another person and the limits that this person makes us push.
In a fresh atmosphere that imprints the song in our minds from the first time we listen to it, we partake in the story of a man who finds himself too attract by a “lady of the night.” And starts with her a steamy relationship from which he later tries to escape…
The song was created thanks to an inspiration that brought to John the idea for the perfect riff of bass, on which he built the rest of the melody and the lyrics (that came out perfect the first time he wrote them), creating a harmony between the different elements, which resulted in a memorable tune.
Another soon-to-be success for John O’Brien, who last August released the EP “That Girl Is Trouble,” with four songs that count more than 300,000 streams on Spotify. Over his forty years of career, he played live on the stages of the whole world: it is not surprising that he was ready to start playing again as soon as possible.
His fans and everyone who is interested to listen to him live will have different chances to do so: STOP!!, with other new songs, will be the protagonist of John O’Brien’s new tour, named J.O.B.E. – The John O’Brien Experience.
The first date will be on October 3rd at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham, followed by a show at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth on October 5th, and others at The Bullingdon in Oxford on October 7th and at the Camden Assembly in London on October 8th. If you cannot make it to any of these concerts, remember to check for future news, because other shows may be added.
It will be the chance to listen live not only to STOP!!, but also to the other songs that will be part of John’s new album, which will be released in August 2021, right before the beginning of the tour.
Attending the John O’Brien Experience tour will also be the chance to see the eclectic artist experimenting with new styles. In fact, during the pandemic, John has been very productive, and he has been working remotely with musicians from all over the world, writing new songs and trying new genres.
The results of this personal research will be available to enjoy by anyone who will attend his concerts and will bring a new facet to the varied production of John O’Brien.
This is only the last experimentation, in order of time that John O’Brien did in his prolific career. As his followers know, over the years John released seven albums, which included songs of different genres and styles, ranging from country to pop and others, effectively demonstrating how the artist is always capable to grow, giving his fans something new every time.
We are sure that in the future John O’Brien will delight us with more tunes, albums, and projects. In the meantime, he is waiting for you at the first shows, live on the stage after the pandemic.
We cannot think of a better way to go back to enjoy live music than this one. To find out more about John O’Brien and some anticipations about the next live shows, keep on reading the following interview. 
J.O.B.E. UK Tour Dates
Hi John. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Happy to find you, once again committed to releasing a new piece of rewarding music!
Four decades spent on the scene, performing professionally on various stages around the world, from the US to Tokyo, from Sydney to the Caribbean. When for an independent artist we think of his audience, we often speak of a reference niche. But in your case, is it perhaps a “restrictive” boxing?
That is definitely the case with me. It all starts with writing songs and there is no “box” for me. I like writing pop songs, country, EDM, folksy ballads and all kinds of different music. It happens when I hear something in my head and I just find the concept theme and a couple of notes and then there’s a percolation process, a musical progression and after about 4 to 6 weeks I have a song.
Then several releases, including 7 albums to date. Yet if we also look at your latest work, “Stop!!” yours is a creative spark that doesn’t hint at sitting down. Where does this refreshing streak come from?
I just get a thrill out of writing a song that I think people will like. I’m also trying to change things up as I go. For instance, the song Stop!! was written on a bass guitar rather than my normal instrument which is a six-string.
I also write some songs on the piano which are the lovey-dovey ballad type songs, usually either about being in love or lost love. I’m in the process of putting two other compositions together that I wrote on the bass guitar which naturally sort of turn into an EDM piece.
On the other hand, working with my British colleagues, I’m just putting the finishing touches on recording that’s reminiscent of the band Chicago and has all of the pomp and circumstance and brass instruments of an early song by Chicago. It’s just plain fun.
Do you feel more comfortable in the control room of the recording studio or do you live more for that adrenaline that only the stage can light up?
There’s no doubt about the adrenaline on stage, but I actually get a rush off of the process of writing and producing a song. For instance, the bridge of the song is a very important part of it, and when I feel that bridge come along and how it both contrasts to the main musical progression and complements it, I definitely get an adrenaline rush.
Even more so, the end of the bridge is usually the beginning of an instrumental solo part of a song, and how the end of the bridge and that part of the song is put together is usually the climax of the song too. I really do get off on that piece.
And then on top of all of that, you get to take the product of all that wonderful work put it together with live musicians and, with any kind of luck, bring an audience to their feet, and then the adrenaline is complete.
There really is no one part of the process that I get off on more than any other, every step is a fulfilling, adrenaline-ridden adventure.
“That Girl Is Trouble” is your previous EP released in August 2020. Critically acclaimed, we talked about it a few months ago in our article. Comprised by 4 hit songs, it was streamed widely, amassing over 300,000 streams on Spotify. Would you have wanted a different omen for your next tour?
I have to kinda laugh at that one! Since we’re going to the UK for our tour that we have rescheduled now for the third time, I think the best omen would be for the whole Covid situation to mitigate or just plain go away. That would be the omen.
We are grateful that people did like that EP a great deal, and we kind of felt that it would do well based on the quality of the productions. I won’t comment on the songwriting because I’m the songwriter and it would be rather gratuitous, but I do think the songs are pretty good.
The title track came to me when I was walking down the beach near my house, and I saw a really stunningly beautiful young girl sitting on a beach towel staring out into the ocean, but she had kind of a nasty look on her face. As soon as I saw her, I said to myself, yep– that phrase! The title of the song.
I had been working on the song Siboney for years and it just all came out of me when I got together with the background singers, Mother Ocean was inspired by the bass player I grew up with as a child who heard a riff I was playing on the guitar and said “sounds like your gonna save the ocean”.
And the song Take It Home was written with the notion that a whole bunch of young wild crazy British boys and men would be listening to it live in London, as it turns out on October 8 at the Camden Assembly in London.
The EP was put together mainly as my creative inspiration for the UK tour. I also have to comment that we have seven songs we are combining the four songs on the EP with two release a full-length album in August.
So your next tour is already planned, set to run in the UK. Re-scheduled for October, it will touch the stages of Birmingham, Bournemouth, Oxford, and London. Being as the perfect showcase for your current act, that sound and visual machine that is J.O.B.E., The John O’Brien Experience, what can we expect?
The fact is that when people go to see a show, the reality is the music is secondary to the visual experience. You know you have to play well and you have to get the essence of the song across, whether there’s enough phalange on the guitar or echo on a certain vocal almost becomes irrelevant.
We have set out a choreography for the stage show, we have developed scripts for lighting sound and the bank of video visuals that will be projected behind us and on the monitors in the venues, as we are performing. I have been working on both headset performance and handheld mic performance as well as playing the guitar which I will do for probably half of the songs.
The tempo of the show has to change too. You can’t come out and just rock, rock, rock for 75 or 90 minutes. You have to give the audience the experience of being jacked up to all heights and being relaxed again to listen to a beautiful song, then do it all over again.
We have been recording with the British musicians that we will be performing with, so the reality is even though those musicians would normally be hired guns for the live show, because of the pandemic and our work with them remotely on the music we are recording for our new album, we all have sort of becoming a band now rather than just an act for the show. It will be quite a show to perceive, and we think everyone will walk out with permanent memories of a great show.
Your band boasts a roster of thick UK artists, talented musicians, and active visual effects. How do they help you take The John O’Brien Experience to the next level?
One thing we like about the UK is that they have an insatiable appetite for live original music. That exists to a far lesser extent here in the US. Mark Connolly, my music partner and keyboardist, and I had a conversation with the ex-president of a major record label about the direction we were taking.
He sat us down and very emphatically started yelling at us “this is showbiz!!! It has to be an experience they will never forget”. He implored us to concentrate on the show and the rest would follow.
We’ve studied the creativity of Tom Jackson, who is probably one of the most renowned directors of live shows that exist, and we have been crafting our music since our 2019 album “The Love You Need” to be worthy of live performances that would bring an audience to their feet.
Do you want to make a personal invitation to our readers to join you in what seems like a remarkable string of memorable nights?
I can tell you that everybody on that stage has been working hard and will continue to work hard to bring you a show that will be unforgettable.
The talent on the stage and the capacity to entertain will be amazing and we, after decades of live performances, have developed the ability to integrate all of our experience with a lot of hard work (which we love) to bring you a show that will knock you out.
That’s why we call it J.O.B.E. “The John O’Brien Experience”.
Read more on John O'Brien
John O’Brien “J.O.B.E.” // The Spider’s Love Web
Producer, Performer, Recording Artist and Songwriter John O’Brien “J.O.B.E.” weaves his new “The Spider’s Love Web.”
John O’Brien // Sweet Ballet
Recording artist and performer John O’Brien releases Sweet Ballet, the single and the video, taken from his highly anticipated album.
You can also discover "STOP!!" and John O'Brien music by listening to our playlist NOVA ERA, a weekly rotation featuring an eclectic selection of artists covered by Nova MUSIC blog.
<\span>Listen now to "STOP!!," the latest Single by John O'Brien, available in streaming on all major digital platforms. You can find your favorite one via linktr.ee/johnobriensmusic
To know more about John O'Brien and his music, find and follow John O'Brien all over the web by checking the links below:
<\span>- .: Nova MUSIC blog // April 2021