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Chelonis R Jones - Rehabilitated

Author: 3D
Monday, March 23, 2009

American wordsmith and Get Physical-signed Chelonis R Jones speaks frankly with 3D on the topics of house music, creative expression and his father.

Has moving from the US to Europe changed what you are doing artistically-
Yes. It is obvious, I guess. I’ve simply followed James Baldwin and nearly every other artistically charged Afro-American artist over the last 60 years – seemingly frustrated with being black in America.

How does the creative process differ for you when creating music compared to your other artistic expressions-
I’m asked this quite often. I am a poet. It is all – all – poetry. Simple as that. Poetics are my faith...and my curse! And I can still recall the pills, razors and ropes trying to cure it! I simply allow my face to fool the public. It lubricates my landing, thus allowing me to slip into an interesting crack or two at times.

In your darker moments what irritates you about your own work-
That I was still alive to even be irritated by it.

In your lighter moments what do you love about it-
That I surpassed/inherited it from my (biological) fuck-up loser of a father: a simple case of Oedipus complex with a cosmosexual, or  faux-lesbian twist, I suppose.

Your relationship with Get Physical – how did that occur and how does it facilitate what you do-
It was a freak coincidence back in 2001. I stumbled into their office with my compositions for my client/singer. And they wanted me instead. I rejected them, then changed my mind under the conditions that I would never market myself as some discofied, cliched, strobe light singer. I’ve told this story 1,000 times but it is the truth, crazy as it seems. They are a good label: wonderful personalities. They deserve their praise! Chelonis R. Jones is like puzzling in a void, and sensational, once you get over the joke (entertainment part). So I’ll most likely deserve mine.

Have you always been into house music- Do you define it or prefer not to label-

Since the first CD (Dislocated Genius) I’ve broken all the rules for house/tech-house/pop. I’ve used rock guitars before, many in the vocal-house genre started (I spent over 12 years in rock groups). I vocalised over poems (Mythologies), lost myself in a 1982 roller-rink funk workout (Bathroom Mirror Legend)
awashed myself in over two minutes of echoed feedback (Middle Finger Music), I sung about an airplane crash (The Cockpit) and my last single (Rehabilitation) didn’t even own a single beat, let alone a house beat! I mentally have nothing to do with house music, but physically music has always been a house for Chelonis R. Jones.

What has been the feedback on your most recent release, the Rehabilitation EP-

Brave. Excellent. Daring. Different. Thank god for the remixes. Too crazed. Overblown. Crippling. Original (all flattering. I assumed I would be, again, overlooked).

If you could tell everyone one thing – what would it be-
Why has it taken so long for more people to see that I am here- If I were related to Thom Yorke, would I still be overlooked- And now I am use to the shadows, so leave me to lurk in them! Goodnight...and thank you.

WHO: Chelonis R. Jones
WHAT: Rehabilitation through Systematic Recordings
WHEN: Out now
MORE: chelonis.com

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