The rock world seemingly caught up with Ayron Jones on his third studio album, Child of the State, but while radio play has finally come and given him a broader platform for his music, his ambitions go much further. During a recent chat with Classic Rock, Jones shared his goal, hoping to eventually be considered as his generation’s “guitar” guy.
From Hendrix to Van Halen, there have been guitar gods through the generations, and Ayron Jones is hoping to leave his musical stamp on this generation with a specific goal in place. Now supporting his Chronicles of the Kid album, the singer-guitarist tells Classic Rock, “There’s so much more to me. I want to be our generation’s guy. We don’t have a guitar player; we don’t have that one guy that everybody can just get behind. I want to be that guy.”
At four albums in and still in his 30s, the musician is coming into his prime, currently climbing the charts with the emotionally-charged, scorching bluesy rocker “Blood in the Water.”
Ayron Jones, “Blood in the Water”
Speaking about his onstage persona, the guitarist says, “I’m definitely projecting this ego, this internalized thing that I try to put out whenever I can. I can be cocky and brash and arrogant,” but, he adds, “I try to make sure that guy stays on the stage.”
Over the years, Jones has drawn comparisons to another Seattle native Jimi Hendrix, and while he appreciates and understands why the nod is often made, he explains why it can also be a little problematic as well. “People need something to compare things to. But he’s the closest comparison they have to what I’m doing. He also happens to be the greatest guitar player of all time, so I welcome the comparison,” says Jones. “But I think there are complexities to my playing that are different from what he did. Obviously no one’s going to complain about being compared to Hendrix, but when there’s an element of casual racism… [in an affected star-struck voice] ‘Oh yeah! You’re Gary Clark Jr, aren’t you?!’ [laughs].”
Speaking with Loudwire Nights’ Chuck Armstrong earlier this month, Jones also spoke of growing up in Seattle and the impact it had on him. “As a kid you just can’t conceive, you’re living on one of the greatest eras of music and it’s happening in your town (laughs), but the influence is everywhere. Everyone’s going platinum and the music at that time, there were a lot of kids pick up guitars. I look back now and think every time, any school I was a part of, there were kids with guitars in their hand and singing songs and that’s what Kurt [Cobain] did to everyone, including myself, so you couldn’t help but have that be part of your ethos.”
“I feel just blessed to be from this town that’s created such music history from Quincy Jones to bands like Heart and Kenneth Gorelik, you know, Kenny G. [laughs] But to all these cats, music history was so impactful and I made it a point even from a young age to continue that legacy and do whatever I could to continue that.”
“I’m from Jimi Hendrix’s neighborhood, so my guitar playing, it’s like awesome as a kid. In my neighborhood, a lot of the guitar players sound like Jimi. So all these things kind of came together in my music and Seattle, that playing is just a part of me,” he adds.
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Chronicles of the Kid is available now. Be sure to check out “Filthy,” “Otherside,” “Strawman,” “My America” and more to check out some of his playing. You can also see Jones’ guitar work in action as he hits the road in Europe over the month of July, with a North American tour to follow in August and September and an appearance at the Aftershock festival coming in October.
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