Jonas Selander

"Any artist who begs that art not be inherently "political" or "radical" is at best guilty of criminal incompetence at their chosen vocation (...) Political power is wielded by quantities of people enacting a similar narrative; it is through culture that these narratives are formulated and transformed. (...)
Fundamentally, art is the process of transforming reality. Whether this transformation is objective or subjective, physical or psychological, is not the important question to ask when considering a piece of artwork. Rather, we must ask ourselves: "Does this change the world forever? (...)
Consider it your obligation to surprise me, motherfucker, and use your power for something remarkable!" /Pat The Bunny.
ORDER MY CDS FOR FREE OR FOR DONATION OF CHOICE!!!
SUMMERNIGHT MAKE-OUT ANTHEMS (2009)
THE GOOD MISTAKE EP (2009) with Richard Allison and Dave Henderson!
SPLIT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC (2008) with Jessie Williams!
Hi. I'm Jonas and I was born on the 6th of april in 1983! I grew up in the idyll of Jonsered - a really old village (my parents house was built in the beginning of the 20th century) filled with musicians, actors and even a monastery! My mother now works as a pedagogue for children with special needs and my father is a leftwing politician and a union organizer! My younger brother studies to become the best chef in the world! We kids had the best of times building huts in the woods, riding our bikes everywhere, filching fruit from peoples gardens and staying up all night and plunder the grown ups neighborhood summernight parties on beer! There were also waterfalls, a lake and even a great river full of fish with large trees hanging over it making it look like the Amazon and great for rafting!
In 2004 me and Jessica moved to the outskirts of Göteborg and we now have a son called Lio and two cats living with us too! Me and Jessica have been together since 2001 and Lio was born the 4th of march 2008! Being a parent is more awesome than you could possibly imagine and you should really try it sometime! Me and Jessica also runs this d.i.y.-distro called Wild Bunnynights with loads of mindblowing amazing music and global shipping! Check it out here on Myspace.
I also study at Gothenburg University's "School of global studies" for a degree in global development studies and my interests are foremost post-colonialism, the distribution of global recources, social power relations and sustainable development! I like stuff like biological diversity so I can sleep outdoors, breathe summernight air and get lost in the forest and live on berries and mushrooms. I also studied sociology and archaelogy. Jessica, Lio and I are now trying to move out of this town so we could enjoy the outdoors better!
I've been a vegetarian since I was 8 years (1991) old and I'm always trying to be a vegan because I believe that animals have minds and souls and lives. I've played guitar for a long time now and I intend to get good at it someday. I also play some drums, piano and flute and I've been in lots of bands like Pickadoll, Duck Dolls, The Trouts, V.T.Ä.G. and Oljud and with The Performance I once played live at national radio! And I've heard that they played some songs with me (as The Department of Correction) on a radio-channel in Santa Barbara, CA! I also made a split-cd with Jessie Williams from California under the name The Department of Correction which you can get if you talk to me. I had a song from that album on the first Peace Punx-compilation which I'm very proud to have been a part of. This one time I also played drums at a wedding!
I recently got a job at this awesome café/restaurant called The Universeum (along with sharks and monkeys and mind blowing hi fi) where I get to do a lot of different things like making food and cafe lattes, serving, cleaning, dishwashing, stand behind the counter and eating as much yummy vegetarian stuff I want! Earlier I've been working as a dishwasher at a bar/nightclub and also nighttime "events" in the Universeum. One time I washed the dishes at this eye-doctors conference with 300 eye-doctors! I've also been washing dishes at The Göteborg Jazz-Festival which was really cool and a whole lot of dixie! You should listen to Sidney Bechet! Another time I worked cooking food over the weekend for 70 persons at a conference. Imagine the chopping of onions! I cried. I also work summers and christmas's sorting mail at the post-office and for a while I worked handing out free newspapers to people in town. I once practiced for two weeks at a veterinery clinic and helped delivering labrador-puppies with a c-section!
Once me and Jessica worked together making a documentary about the homeless situation and they showed that at a social board meeting in the municipality. We've also climbed to the top of a volcano and looked down that crater!
One year when I still lived in Jonsered I was elected as chairman of the young socialists where I come from but I did a pretty bad job. At least I learned a lot and we arranged some pretty good gigs with local bands to prevent the youth-clubs to shut down. But they did anyway.
I've been beaten up by nazis and had to tape my ear back! I once thought I had cancer so they carved my stomach out and stapled it together. It turned out to be benign though which was fine with me. This one time on the greek island Zakynthos me and Jessica got attacked by an escaped guard-monster-dog that ate Jessicas flip-flop while she ran screaming and hunted me down on my bike and bit my shoe to shreds! I almost fell into a wall when the dog pushed me but made it and kicked the dogs face while bikeing and got away! I was so scared I almost puked! And this other time I paddled a kayak on the open seas which also was frightening, mainly because I drown if I fall into water!
I also took part in the 2001-riots in Göteborg and tried to stop the EU-meeting here and send George Bush home but we didn't succeed and instead a lot of people got hurt and one guy got badly shot and we all lost faith in the cops and the state and the media.
I've also been in a car crash which destroyed the car but left me and my dad living. I once saw a guy getting hit by the train and lost his butt (but he was most worried about his lost wallet) and another time me and a friend found this dead guy in the river that had been thrown from a bridge with a weight around his neck. I've been a longboarder, graffiti-painter, shoplifter and weedsmoker, but longboarding is not a crime! I've seen a couple of giants live - like Bob Dylan, Jonathan Richman, Kimya Dawson, Manu Chao, Kris kristofferson, B.B. King, Lou Reed, Toots and The Maytals, The Pogues, Morrissey, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, John Cale, Jurassic 5, Flogging Molly and a couple of local favorites like Blå Tåget, Stefan Sundström, S.O.B. Pariassound, Peter Dolving, Thåström and The Kalashnikov Boys. Actually I've met Kimya Dawson and she made a drawing of a mountain goat on the back of the shirt I bought from her! Also Chris Burrows from Asking For It came all the way from Tasmania (to go any further away you have to go back in time or out in space) to sleep on our couch and hang out and play some music which was awesome! We'll come visit you soon Chris! Also Richard Allison (Haha! Evolution) and Dave Henderson came to live with us for a week and we made an EP together called The Good Mistake.
When I was a kid Augusto Pinochet's sister knitted shirts for me. Yes the dictator! And yes it's true, she escaped his regime and lives here along with lots of other Chileans!
I've been to Beijing before they tore the whole city apart and destroyed the hu-tongs and shit, (Been running up the Great Wall inspired by the smell of pink spring flowers the day my father turned 50 yrs old!) we saw a marathon at the Tiananmen Square (which is HUGE) and we visited the Ming tombs, Forbidden City and lots of other places. I've traveled most of Europe - Paris, London (100 club!), Berlin, Prague (We lived on a boat!), Poland, Firenze, Venice, Amsterdam, Brussels, Austria, Norway, San Marino, Denmark, Luxemburg, Fuerteventura, Tenerifa and Stockholm, but I like Greece and Athens the best and island hopping in the mediterranean in particular. Paros, Poros, Zakynthos, Santorini, Anti-Paros and Naxos! Bring a sleeping bag if you're going and stay on the beach! If you wanna stay at a camping you should totally check out Camping Kuola on Paros and from the port there you can go anywhere! Hotels are totally unnecessary.
One time on our way there our airplance caught fire on the runway and once on our way home we got caught in a blizzard while landing.
I've had meningitis and been almost dead and my heart has been told a lot of lies so for 3 years I ate pills to calm it down! They said I should be taking them forever and that's why I quit. This is my music! Talk to me if you want a record! And if you're employing - consider this my CV.