ISYA

1. Give us an introduction to yourself / the band members and the instruments each person plays.

My name is Jake Brown. ISYA stands for I Send You Away. It’s my solo project and also kind of an alter ego. The name is literal. It is me sending a certain part of myself away. Or maybe sending it out.

Day to day I am pretty grounded. Husband. Dad. Marketing guy. Responsible adult. ISYA is where the other thing lives. The freak part. The Frankenstein part. The pro wrestler cutting a completely unhinged promo in an empty room.

I write and perform everything. Synthesizers, drum machines, bass guitar, vocals. It is electronic music, but I want it to feel physical. Sweaty. Confrontational. Dirty.

Before this I was in Twothirtyeight, Moments in Grace, Decahedron and Frodus. Very different worlds. My time in Decahedron and Frodus especially reminded me that intensity and conceptual freedom are worth protecting.

Long before I was in any of those bands I was remixing their songs on a primitive computer in the mid nineties. ISYA feels like the version of me that never stopped doing that.

There is humor in it. There is exaggeration. I love pro wrestling because of the commitment. ISYA is not really a character. It is more like turning the volume up on something that’s already there, lurking.

2. How did you get started? When did you begin, what influenced you, who helped you along the way, and were you trained or self taught?

Hearing Tears for Fears on the radio changed everything for me. It was the early nineties and “Break It Down Again” was the single. I asked my parents if I could buy Elemental on cassette, and it is still my favorite album of all time. Roland Orzabal is my hero.

That record felt vast and layered. It sounded like a world. That is what pulled me in. I have always been more interested in building emotional environments than playing blues licks or writing straightforward rock and roll.

I started playing guitar and picked up a Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm drum machine. I filled cassettes with original songs and occasional covers and mailed them to artists I admired. Some of them wrote back. I kept pen pal relationships with a few for years. It felt like discovering a secret network.

Around that same time I fell hard for Nirvana, Helmet, Circle of Dust & Nine Inch Nails. I was completely self taught and pretty learning avoidant for a long time. I wore that like a badge of honor when I was younger. It probably slowed me down in some ways, but it forced me to trust instinct quite a bit.

3. What was your first live performance like? Also, what has been your favorite and least favorite show so far, and why?

My first ISYA show was under a lucha mask at one of Andrew Chadwick’s Action Research events in Gainesville. I played alongside a strong lineup of electronic artists, including the touring act Curse. That community is a big part of why I started performing. When you are making music that does not fit neatly anywhere, even a small group of believers means everything.

It is hard for me to pick a favorite show because I genuinely enjoy playing. If I am on stage, I am committing fully.

Opening for Godflesh at Conduit in Orlando stands out. It was my first larger show with ISYA and the crowd response was overwhelming in the best way. I have played rooms that size before, but usually behind a bass guitar. For it to be just me and for the audience to be fully on board felt surreal.

The least favorite show was an early one at a dive bar in St. Augustine that I usually love. The band before me heckled me to my face while I played and then walked out.

One person stayed.

After the set he apologized for their behavior and told me he never expected to see something like that in St. Augustine. He said it reminded him of Matmos and bought my record and every piece of merch I had. So even the worst show ended up being a good one.

4. What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Balancing work, family, and music.

I am married with three kids and I take that part of my life seriously. Music does not automatically come first anymore.

I have four or five albums worth of unreleased material sitting on hard drives because finishing records takes time I do not always have. That can be frustrating, but it has also forced me to be intentional. When I carve out time for ISYA, it means something.

5. What sets your music apart from everything else out there?

Where suppose where ISYA differs is in how it is built. I start with rhythm, almost always. In that sense it leans toward dance music, but I might write the beat in 7/8 or cut it in an unexpected place. I like fast intensity that feels slightly disorienting. Think March of the Pigs as a kind of roadmap. Physical. Urgent. A little bit of a mind bend.

From there I layer big arpeggiated synths, massive low end, sometimes distorted bass guitar, sometimes just blown out synth bass. Whichever feels right at the moment.

Even though it is electronic, I avoid making it too clean and quantized. I record synths live. I let beats skew slightly (or signficantly). I like things to feel slightly wrong.

The samples are big and abrasive. The vocals are often modulated and alien. Lyrically, it can feel like a rant from my darkest shadow. Sometimes it is personal. Sometimes sarcastic. Sometimes it is about injustices I perceive and the social chaos we are all living through. The newer material especially leans into that.

6. How do you personally define success for yourself or the band? Do you feel being based in Jacksonville has benefited your career more or less—and why?

In the mid 2000s I toured extensively with Moments in Grace alongside bands like My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, Finger Eleven, and Hot Water Music. I saw how quickly things can scale, and the personal cost that sometimes comes with that.

Success to me now is loving what I am doing. If ISYA can tour consistently and play for a steady, small crowd that genuinely understands the work, that is enough.

Being based in St. Augustine and Jacksonville has been great. I love what The Walrus is building. There is serious creativity here with artists like Severed+Said, Glass Chapel, Ducats, Black Caligula, Snore, Everything to Me and so many more. Community is not a stepping stone, it’s the point.

7. What projects are you currently working on or promoting?

Today I’m finishing up another remix for Glass Chapel, this time for their song “Reflection”. I’m also slowly finishing multiple albums worth of material and focusing heavily on live performance. Even though the project is electronic, I improvise and reshape structures on stage, tightening songs over time the way bands used to before recording.

I also run Computer Club Records. The long term goal is to open a brick and mortar record shop and small venue focused on electronic, experimental, pop, and hip hop artists, along with educating young people who want to learn how to make this type of music.

8. Have you toured yet? If so, how far outside of Jacksonville have you made it, and where would you love to play most that you haven’t yet?

In previous projects I toured the United States many times over and played shows in Canada and Spain. I’d love to continue traveling now that my kids are getting older, I’ve really missed it. Would love to tour Europe, Japan, South America, Canada and the United States. Or maybe I’ll pull a Horse The Band and play 1 show in every single country in the world…(see the Horse the Band - “Earth Tour” documentary).

9. What are your craziest “on the road” or wild adventure stories?

While on tour with Moments in Grace, I had a strange premonition I would run into someone from Blonde Redhead in New York City. We stopped at Guitar Center before a show and one of the Pace brothers was standing downstairs by the synths.

I nervously told him I was a huge fan and then walked away like a total dork.

Touring makes you realize how small the world really is. You start running into people everywhere. The degrees of separation get thinner and thinner.

10. If you could collaborate or perform with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Roland Orzabal is my favorite songwriter of all time. Tears for Fears changed my life. His production work on Love in the Time of Science by Emilíana Torrini is incredible.

That said, my writing impulses lean darker. I suspect I would collaborate well with Trent Reznor.

11. What do you do with your time outside of the band?

I’m a husband and father first. I also work in marketing and spend a lot of time building Computer Club Records. Lifelong cassette, cd and record collector and pro-wrestling fan (AEW!) Most of my life revolves around art, family, and community.

12. Name one thing you love most about the Jacksonville music scene.

There are core figures in the scene who do it purely for the love. They show up. They do the hard work of getting people out of their houses and into rooms together. Jacksonville has its own cast of characters keeping that spirit alive. I love these people.

We need people out of their houses and back to mingling in person over shared interests. Damnit, you’re looking at your phone too much!!!

13. What are your top three favorite local venues and record stores?

In Jacksonville:The Walrus, Hard Love and Tiger Records

In St. Augustine: ToneVendor, MusicMatters Remixed and tie between Shanghai Nobby’s & Rocking Chair Records

14. Best advice for local bands?

It does not matter how many people are at your show.

Moments in Grace was signed to Atlantic Records after a performance with zero paying attendees. If there is one person in the room, ten, or five hundred, give it everything you have.

I once saw Har Mar Superstar play for four people the night after touring arenas with Red Hot Chili Peppers. He brought the same energy. That commitment is everything. People will notice your energy and give you back what you’re putting out.

15. Where’s the best place for fans to connect with you?

Tour dates and updates are at isendyouaway.com

Instagram is my main hub:

instagram.com/isya.exe

booking: isendyouaway@gmail.com