“Elliott Smith with a cello” would be a lazy and reductionist way to introduce the music of Luke Janela, despite the parallels between the two songwriters — namely, their intimate, minimalist, melancholy acoustic elegies originally born in the bedrooms of gray and rainy Portland, Oregon. Janela’s inclusion of a drum machine and effects pedals, combined with the rich, deep, sonorous tone of his cello, gives his performances the time-collapsing atmosphere of ancient eras meeting the future. This is no mere gimmick at work, though: Janela’s welding of words to melodies is as accomplished as any erudite troubadour." — J. Graham - SF Weekly"
Luke Janela paints epic landscapes of sound using an emotive cello as the primary muse with his wild and passionate voice as its compliment. The music is urgent and innovative, moving from punk to classical to electronic as a cohesive, contemporary whole.
From the woods of Northern California, to the drizzly streets of Portland, OR, to the bright dry lights of Los Angeles, he has barefooted (literally) hundreds of stages around the country. Using his toes to provide rhythm and distortion (drum machine), his voice as an emotive soundscape, and his shivering pull of the cello, his performances show a complex harmony between serenity and angst.
In Janela's hands the cello acts as a fully formed baroque buzzsaw, as at home in the roar of a rock club as it has been for centuries in cloistered concert halls. In moments of sweet sonic revery, hints of Bach will float over deep and resonant beats.
Janela has performed iconic venues as The Catalyst, The Aladdin Theater, Old Ironsides, The Knitting Factory, House of Blues, and the Troubadour among many, many others. He is not shy in admitting some of his stranger performances including the Miss Teen Idaho pageant.
He has been featured in the Portland Mercury and SF Weekly and has collaborated on albums with well known and underground artists that include Alela Diane, Adam Carson (AFI), Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Jeffrey Clarke (Grant Lee Buffalo), Aaron Ross, and Molly Allis (Huff This!).
"Tomorrow Was", under the moniker "Midnight Door" is Janela's most recent album. A diverse blend of dreamy cello, dark beats, aching melodies, and smart emotional vocals, this album describes an artist that is unhindered by the latest requisites of indie cred, and instead blasts forward with full force and assured conviction.
His degree in music and cello performance was hard fought and earned from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his discography of his solo work alone numbers more than one can count on both hands. Add in collaborations with songwriters and bands and the network of his associations begins to get more vast. Or perhaps, looking at it the other way around, the wide swath of influences begin to explain the complexity of his singular sound.
The Long Story:
Luke Janela was born in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado during a thunderstorm. He grew up in a beautiful small town in Northern California called Ukiah (which is incidentally, haiku spelled backwards) where very large pick up trucks, unemployed loggers, aging hippies, an abundance of marijuana, and many amazing kids all co-existed in a more or less harmless manner. Instead of getting wasted and learning “his limit” in high school, Luke played guitar and cello and listened to any and all music he could get his hands on.
It was there in Ukiah, CA at age 12 that Luke picked up the cello and guitar. He began to discover classical music and jazz in High School and excelled at both. Dvorak’s 9th Symphony fueled an unrequited desire for powerful, structured passion in music. John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” inspired the intuitive and equally passionate side of musical expression. Luke went to college at the University Of California, Santa Cruz. He found himself clapping strange rhythms and singing atonal exercises at odd hours of the night in preparation for endless tests in music theory, history, performance and composition. Luke became wrapped up in the music and lives of Beethoven, Dvorak, Bach, Reich, Bartok and others. He played in several small ensembles and quartets, the UC Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra, and moonlighted as a jazz cellist. Eventually he earned a BA in Music.
On the other side of the musical spectrum, a bootleg tape of Jimi Hendrix playing ‘Little Wing’ in a smoky blues club changed Luke’s life and made him want to pick up the guitar and never put it down. Folk and rock music was a natural; nearly every night growing up Luke fell asleep to Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’ or Bruce Springsteens’ “The River”. He pretty much did not put that guitar down, in High School substituting most social life for time spent with Nirvana and Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, The Doors, headphones, and his own band. That band played out a lot and gained a big name for that little town and it changed a lot of people’s time there, especially Luke’s.
Luke continued to play in bands and orchestras and especially solo after moving to Portland, OR. His innovative cello playing was very useful with recording and performances with rock bands, singer songwriters, and others. He fronted The Key with whom he produced two albums and toured the west coast. He played almost every venue in town at least once either as a solo performer or with a band: The Ohm, The Fez Ballroom, The Ash St., Berbati’s Pan, The Red And Black, Stumptown, The Mississippi, MusicFest NW. He composed music for theater and dance for solo cello.
After a few years in Portland, Luke played one last show with a flamenco dancer and packed it in to move to a cabin in the woods in the rural small town of Mendocino, CA. From there he played San Francisco and the west coast and from a distance had his music licensed for film and television with the music licensing company ‘Rumblefish’. After a year of seclusion in the woods, he set off on the road, traveling across the United States living in a pickup truck, writing new material and staying seperate from the “real world” for a life changing year. When the camping got cold and the money ran out, he found himself in Nevada City, California.
Since moving to Nevada City Luke finished work on three albums: MIDNIGHT DOOR, REDWOOD SUMMER & JUNEAUREVOIR. He also began playing art shows and parties as a trance meets cello electronic musician, produced and recorded Aaron Ross’ album “Paranormal Attitude”. In addition, he has recorded cello and collaborated on albums for Aaron Ross, Mariee Sioux, Alela Diane, Cody Coyote, Jeffrey Clarke, Chuck Ragan and many others.
After a little time in the woods, Janela packed up his cello and beatboxes and headed down to sunny Los Angeles. He lives and records there from a hill near Sunset Junction.
