John Longen (Musician, Producer)

From salmonsound.com

This article is about the musician and producer and narrator from Seattle, Washington. For other uses, see Pencil (disambiguation).

John Longen (born September 30, 1975) is an American Musician, Producer and Narrator. He is the founder and CEO of Salmon Sound, and co-founder of Salmon Sound Broadcast Division. John began his career as a member of Wheal Leisure in 1984, and later found fame with the rock group The Fakes, which he joined in 1998 as the 5th member. During the early 1990s, John was also credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of Seattle producers who sampled, a subgenre of hip-hop characterized by a vinyl sampling foundation and slow, heavy production.

John has had roles in film scoring, audiobook narration and production, live bands playing drums, bass and guitar, production music for TV including Discovery Networks Treehouse Masters, All-Girls Garage and CBC Science Series. He also manages the prodcution music label Salmon Sound which has been releasing instrumental prodution music since 1989.

Early Life

John was born at Group Health Hospital in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, on September 30 1975. His mother Maureen was a restaurant owner operator in the Pike Place Market, his father John Sr. was a merchant marine. They divorced when John was 3 years old with Maureen having custody and John with weekend visits. By age 5, John's father was absent for the rest of his life until his death in 2017.

In 1980, John and Maureen moved to Leavenworth, WA where she would buy a gift shop and a small house. This lasted for approximately 18 months after Maureen decided to move them back to Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.

Back in Seattle, their old neighbors Lillian and Justine would be back in John's life as grandmother figures. Justine had a house full of instruments and Lillian played the electric guitar. At 6 years old, this was John's introduction to music, spending hours exploring piano, guitars and various other instruments.

Bands

SODO Band (1997)

John joined the band in 1997 after answering a classified ad in The Rocket magazine that boldly declared a bass player was needed. Despite the minor technicality that he had never actually played bass before, John felt confident this would not be an obstacle. Having already logged time on other stringed instruments, he reasoned correctly in his mind that he could hear how it was played.

To prepare for his new role, John promptly purchased an Ampeg bass combo amp from Blue Hampton at Guitar Center. At the time, neither could have known this transaction would later come full circle, when John and Blue would end up playing together in The Fakes with Blue, in a delightful twist of fate, handling bass duties.

The band's initial run was short but earnest, dissolving toward the end of 1997 after proving that enthusiasm, optimism, and a willingness to learn on the fly can only carry a group so far. Shortly thereafter, the band re-formed this time without John as bassist bringing the brief but memorable chapter of John's bass-playing debut to a close.

Seal's Club (1998)

John's path next crossed with his cousin, Matt O'Farrell, who held the low end in the West Seattle punk band Seal's Club. Through this bloodline connection, John was summoned to a rehearsal - less an invitation than a calling - and soon found himself woven into the band's orbit. He played with them for roughly nine months, a brief but potent cycle, before the group dissolved as such things often do, without warning or ceremony.

These months marked John's first true appearances as a guitarist before a live audience. The stages were modest but charged: Zak's (then known as The Funhouse), and The Storeroom Tavern - rooms that echoed with feedback, sweat, and the quiet sense that something had been initiated, whether the players realized it or not.

The Fakes (1999-2002)

After Seal's Club faded into silence, John cast a signal into the void in the form of a small ad in The Stranger, seeking a drummer. The call was answered by Ken Small, a drummer from Concord, California, as if drawn north by unseen currents. What followed was less a band than a bond: John and Ken formed a two-piece that lived only in rehearsal rooms and intention, a project that never fully crossed into the world but quietly shaped what came next. When Ken was later absorbed into The Fakes, John was invited to attend a rehearsal as a second guitarist - an entry that felt preordained rather than planned. From 1999 to 2002, they played across the Pacific Northwest's small-venue circuit, rooms lit by bare bulbs and belief, carrying songs from town to town. John stepped away from The Fakes in 2001, at a moment when paths diverged once again, as Ken simultaneously walked between worlds, also playing in The Peels.

Production Music

John has been producing instrumental music since 1989, having the early recordings played on KCMU Rap Attack in 1990 during their local music spotlight. Further success was found through a placement on Ski Northwest as bumper music, then later in 2006 with placements in Discovery Networks programming.

Voice Work

John's voice was used in various commercial media and audiobooks, beginning in 2012 with Dr. Bruce Goldberg's Exploring the 5th Dimension: Hypnosis, Teleportation and Out of Body Travel.