JONAH BAYER

Jonah Bayer is a music journalist, plays in the band United Nations, co-hosts the Going Off Track podcast, and co-created the web series Sound Advice With Janessa Slater.

What was the food highlight of your year?

I took a family vacation this year to Santibel Island, Florida. There is not a lot to do there other than lie around and you could get a dozen gulf oysters at most places for a quarter of what they would cost in New York City. I ate a lot of oysters down there, like, a lot. Oh also my sister caught a fish (I think it was a trout) and we took it to a restaurant that night and had them prepare it. That was a highlight, too. This story probably would have sounded a lot cooler if I had caught the fish but everything I caught was either too small or got away. Story of my life.

What was the music highlight of your year?

This year my band United Nations played Fest again and I was lucky enough to get to see the Marked Men when they performed at Bo Diddley Plaza in between our soundcheck and set. The Marked Men are one of my favorite bands and almost never tour anymore so it was a real dream getting to witness how tight and solid they were live. They also closed with "Fix My Brain" which is probably one of the most perfect rock songs I'd ever heard. I'm sure if we had got in early enough the previous day when the Descendents played that would have been on this list as well but even though we were only down there for one day I still got to see The Melvins, Frameworks, Whores, Hot Water Music and a ton of other great acts.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

We did a west coast tour with a band from Los Angeles called Silver Snakes in November and they managed to know about every cool coffee shop or brewery in every single city. It was real amazing to get to hit some of the best spots in both of these categories and get to sample everything that they had to offer, even if it meant showing up to the shows extremely late in most cases. I'd also say getting fish tacos in Berkeley the day we played 924 Gilman was a huge highlight as anytime I have a chance to eat Mexican food on the west coast, it's a real treat.

@mynameisjonah

JONAH BAYER

Jonah Bayer is a music journalist who’s served as music editor of Alternative Press and head writer of Stephen’s Untitled Rock Show (MTV). He is co-host of the Going Off Track podcast and co-creator of the Sound Advice web series.

What was the food highlight of your year?

This is a tough one for me since I mainly subsist on take-out within a two-block radius of my apartment, but earlier this year I ventured to Asia and had some amazing meals in South Korea. I got extremely lucky by making some friends who lived there on my connecting flight from Taiwan and they helped me have some super authentic dining experiences that ranged from Korean BBQ joints to nondescript food stalls on the street. From my experiences you can’t go wrong with anything that’s served on a stick. Plus you don’t have to deal with utensils, which is a huge bonus for me. 

What was the music highlight of your year?

Seeing Saves The Day play a super late secret show at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn was pretty incredible. I wrote my first cover story on them for Alternative Press over a decade ago so it was pretty surreal to be able to hear them play a lot of that material again live in a small club setting. They performed Through Being Cool in its entirety and Chris even dedicated my favorite song “Banned From The Back Porch” to me since it was my birthday. I still kind of can’t believe this happened but I’ve seen a bunch of photos from that night so I’m pretty sure it did. 

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

A few months ago my band United Nations played Fest in Gainesville and had some amazing meals at a place called The Jones, which served a ton of delicious local food. Better yet since so many bands were in town for the festival, every time we went we’d run into someone that we knew and hadn’t seen in a while. I remember one meal in particular where I had some amazing biscuits alongside the guys from Paint It Black and Octaves. Oh also some band called Knapsack played at one point, you should check them out. I think they’re pretty new. 

@mynameisjonah