Meet Jeremy Lopez of J.J. Wolf

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Lopez.

Jeremy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was always Performing music since I can remember. My mother used to tell me that at about three I would be hearing music in my head and singsonging all the time. Music was always present in my family and my grandmothers Evelia and Magda had always encouraged me to do so.

However, it was my mother who really expanded my horizons as to what types of music there was in the world. I did a lot of music in school, and by the time I hit middle school I was in choir, and that continued on into Highschool, and by then I had finally picked up the guitar my sophomore year. In all that time in high school, I had played in the church that I was attending, and after that, I started a small guitar duo with a friend that eventually turned into a trio, and we played all kinds of gigs from pizza places to just busking on the streets.

I continued my musical education in college, first attending Mt. San Antonio college then, later on, I ended attended Chaffey college and that time I had gotten to learn alot more about music, and it even afforded me to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City and as a kid living on the west coast and traveling so far as Las Vegas it was something I would always cherish.

Later on, I ended up not playing as much as I would have liked for a while amidst a multitude of troubles in my life. Then, some two and a half going on three years ago by some chance, I stumbled upon a Craigslist ad for a company called Sonicbox. This company paid artists to sit in front of a green screen and play music for about eight hours or so a day, and it thrust me into the scene here in Los Angeles.

Through that avenue, I was able to not only enhance my skills but also interact and make friends with such a wonderful community of like-minded artists, and it has been an awesome experience ever since and it is still going.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As with most things as the saying says: “Rome was not built in a day.” There were some things in my life that greatly put some serious stepping stones in my way.

Whilst learning how to play guitar in the Church, I found that my peers were not exactly very open to the idea and as with all things when you are the “new kid on the block” there is an already established clique and often times I was made fun of by these kids after leading worship with them. During my time in College, my Grandmother Magda was battling cancer, and at the same time, my estranged father and I were finally talking again after not seeing each other for more 15 years of my life.

During my trip to NYC, she was given the diagnoses that she didn’t have long and she and my mother had been planning to take the trip to NYC to see me, but it never happened. She ended up losing the battle, and my father disappeared, which, to me was no surprise there… though I kept on playing my shows with my friends, yet even that was shortly ending.

After playing together for some time the band had a falling out, and I was kicked out for “failure to practice” and that I was “holding the group back” due to my lack of skill. Yet, between going in and out of school, working, and my own personal issues, I found it hard to carve time to develop. As well at this time, my family was moving to Montclair CA, and it made it difficult to meet to practice with them.

Along with this dejection, my personal life apart was suffering as well, and in attempts to continue my creativity, it was often stifled by a relationship I was in at the time. I became clear that it was not enough and that I wasn’t all that good at it and the fear of being with a struggling musician was no life to be had.

As time has ticked on there have been many more setbacks and many more frustrations, mostly financially and trying to gain a following it been very hard at times but the love of performing and creation is often the only thing that makes sense to me when I feel like I’m losing it.

Please tell us about J.J. Wolf.
I specialize in musical performance, I can play a multitude of instruments from Guitar, Harmonica, and I even play the Irish Tin-whistle.

So I guess until I find the right group of people I aim to be a one-man band and just for fun on occasion I come up with songs on the spot for a bit of fun to get the audience involved or often I will sing a cover song in the voice of the artist who sung it for example if someone asked for a Bob-Dylan tune I will conjure up the personality and let it take over.

Often times I have sung like William Shatner or Random Cartoon Characters. It can get pretty wild, but I tend to keep it Music Centric.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
To be honest, I would have finished my education first. I would have given more time for self-development and also to hone my skills to have a better understanding of music.

I would never have my self be deceived not by my own doubt but the doubt of others as well… (and even today it’s still an ongoing fight). I would not have thrown away time sitting on something and doing nothing about it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jjwolfmusic.wixsite.com/website
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: j.j.wolfofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/J.JWolfOfficial/

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