Chonny Jash Q&A

Introduction

With the release of Chonny’s Charming Chaos Compendium, the CJFS admin team thought his audience would be interested in asking questions about his process, storywriting, inspiration, general curiosities, and more, so hosted a Q&A, taking questions from server members. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions, and thanks to Chonny Jash for taking his time to answer them!

On with the questions and answers!

Story Writing Process

What was your thought process behind the story of CCCC in general?
For a while, I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the idea of duality and mental dissonance, not just from an artistic standpoint but from a social/moral perspective. The idea that the same brain can produce completely separate and juxtaposed conclusions from a single input is strange, and something I’ve noticed fairly frequently throughout my currently short life. CCCC is a manifestation of those dissonances from an extremely personal and biased perspective, in song form.

What inspired you to do the separate consciousnesses concept? Does it have any connection to the idea of dissociative disorders?
I think the idea of separating concepts and emotions into characters is something that shows up a lot in fiction, so I probably just gravitated toward it as a result of that. (The Sins from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood spring to mind, it being one of my favourite shows of all time.)
Truthfully, the world of dissociative disorders is one that I hadn’t really considered until CCCC had already built up a lot of steam, when more and more people had shown that they related to these songs from DID, Plural, BPD and similar-specific lenses, which is awesome.
So while I didn’t initially write the songs with those intentions, the fact that people are hearing them and finding relatability in those ideas is extremely encouraging to me, and I would never disparage that reading of it.

Where’d you get inspiration for the specific characters of the Heart, the Mind, and the Soul? Did you come up with any of them earlier than the others, or consider having different/more characters?
That trinity of concepts is one that I’ve seen in quite a few places, personally, though they’re sometimes slightly different. Essentially, I had the basic idea of “Logic v. Emotion” set in place in my head for quite a while, and needed something to represent that, leading to the natural conclusion of Heart and Mind.
The Soul is slightly separated — fittingly — in that I didn’t know exactly what to call the character when I was first bringing them to fruition. ‘Body’ was the original name if I remember correctly, but it felt kind of wrong, as I wanted the character to be a little less concrete/tangible. The third character was always meant to be a sort of husk/shell/veneer, and so it took me a while to settle on ‘Soul’
Past that, I never really had any intention of adding more characters. (The character people refer to as ‘Whole’ is just… like… me.)

Did you always intend for so many of your Tally Hall covers to tell this overarching story? Or was it something that was kind of unplanned at first that you later put more thought and intention toward?
Not always, no. It’s hard to remember exactly when I decided to make it into more of a concept album than just a collection of songs, but I would say it was probably around Haiku/Banana Man where I began to plan a bit more ahead for the sake of creating a story.
Spring and a Storm was really just a school project that I did while getting my Diploma in Sound Engineering, which spiraled slowly into what you see today.

Did any fan content inspire any changes to the story/characters/album as the songs were released?
Not a lot comes to mind. The reference to Soul having a trident in TfaR is the only one that I can say with confidence was lifted from fan content. Of course, I’m not vain enough to think that everything I did in the album is 100% original, and it would absolutely not surprise me if I was inspired by a bunch of different fan designs and concepts, but in terms of things I specifically chose to incorporate, that’s all that I can think of. (I did specifically request sly to use her designs for the Instrumental Anarchy cover art, as well.)

Did you do any character work for Heart, Mind and Soul? Such as Notes, character design work with the outfits and editing, if you did, how did that process go?
Not really, no. Pretty much all of it happened over time, and it was all essentially just kept in my noggin for safekeeping. My artistic skills are worse than lacking, so I find it easier to keep the vague idea in my head and try to bring it to life during the process.

How long did you plan for the story of CCCC to be a loop?
For a little while before completion — probably by about Two Wuv. I spent more time than you might think planning, scrapping and re-planning the order of the album to best suit the story I wanted, and after standing in front of the proverbial corkboard like Charlie Kelly screaming ‘PEPE SILVIA’ for what felt like eternity, the loop was the only thing I felt comfortable with.

Do you have a specific, set narrative in mind with CCCC? Or is it more up for interpretation?
This is going to sound like a copout, but… yes’n’t? It has a pretty important meaning to me, in both vague and specific ways, but I also believe that now that the first album is done and released, it’s no longer up to me to decide what it’s about; I’ve lost that privilege. By saying the album is about one thing, I would effectively nullify any other readings, which is something I absolutely don’t want to do.

Does The Before have a story? Or is it just a collection of songs?
Just a collection of songs… sorry. (But again, if someone considers there to be a story within, my original intentions should not discourage that idea.)

Music Process

How did you get into songwriting and music? How long have you been playing music for?
I played Piano for a year or two when I was REALLY young (young enough that I don’t remember the age) but was pretty useless at it. In the final two years of Primary School we had a thing called ‘Music Group’ where we basically smacked Marimbas without much thought.
Where it really started, though, was when I began playing Drums at the beginning of High School (about 10 years ago now.) Not long after that, I first p̶i̶r̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ downloaded FL Studio and started messing around making music.
Those two things snowballed into me joining school bands, enrolling in every music subject offered at my school, learning music theory, making video game remixes, writing original music, studying Music Performance at University, quitting Music Performance at University, studying Sound Engineering, and creating a YouTube channel.

Who are your biggest musical influences and inspirations? (Other than the obvious…LOL)
I could write a document double this one’s length if I really wanted to, but to keep it somewhat brief, I’ll just list a bunch of artists I consider to be genuine inspirations (as opposed to simply ‘I like them’)

Tally Hall (d’uh), Streetlight Manifesto, Samsa, That Handsome Devil, grandson, Toby Fox, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jonathan Young, Brian David Gilbert, Louie Zong, Tim Minchin, Will Wood, NateWantsToBattle, FamilyJules, J-Music Ensemble, The 8-Bit Big Band.
…Destiny Potato.
Those are the big ones that come to mind.

What’s your mindset when thinking of how you want your cover/song to sound?
I tend to come up with an idea before I even create a project file, which will usually guide me slowly toward the final product. This can be as broad as “This is a Mind song”/”This song will be separate parts” or as hyperspecific as “I want the start of the song to be this specific length and tempo, then change time signature here and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc.”
What this ends up meaning is that I very rarely have any real concrete mindset when working on music other than ‘Make Music’. I work holistically, using techniques I’m confident in and trying out new things where I can. If it sounds shit I just scrap it and move on, but if it sounds good then… good! And I just continue that process.

What is your process for making music? Specifically, for the instrumentation and for the lyric writing?
Continuing from above, the fine details of how I make a song change hugely from project to project, so I can’t really enlighten you on the process very much, other than the fact that it usually goes:
Get Idea > Write Down and Extrapolate Idea (usually where lyrics happen) > Create Outline of Song (full structure with one/a few instruments) > Fill In Song > Record Vocals > Export All Instruments Separately > Create Mixing File > Mix > Export > Master Album (when all songs are done.)

Favorite part of the music-making process?
This is a strange one, because it happens in every single song I work on, but always at different points. Essentially, every song follows a progression of:

This Is Absolute Dogshit, What Am I Even Doing?
Wait Hang On, I’m Actually A Living Legend And This Is The Single Greatest Piece Of Art Ever Created
I Don’t Know Anymore. This Could Be White Noise Blasted At 500% Volume And I Wouldn’t Be Able To Tell.

That middle section always happens extremely suddenly — as I add some kind of instrument or change some kind of setting — and only lasts a couple of minutes, sandwiched by hours upon hours of indecision and hesitation, but every time it happens it reminds me why I’m bothering in the first place, and it sort of reinvigorates me every time.
I also — unsurprisingly, perhaps — love the feeling of finally releasing a song properly. This is mostly due to the sense of relief and closure I get from doing so, thinking “Okay, this song is this song and I’m under no obligation to obsess over it anymore.” But it’s also due to the overwhelmingly positive community I’ve garnered thus far, and the kind words that tend to pour through in the comments.

Any general advice/tips for composing, producing, recording, etc music?
Again, this may sound like a copout, but my best advice is to just, fucken… start?
Or if you’ve already started, continue! You and I are human, therefore inefficient. We’re not built different. We’re not heroes.
If you start over-planning and over-analyzing and over-hesitating you’re just going to fall on your ass under the weight of your own inefficiency and instead of learning from a mistake, you’ll just throw the whole plan into the trash.
Everyone’s way of learning and doing things is different, so I won’t bother spouting any more nonsense than that.

Do you have any tips for getting started with music creation, production, and covering?
Basically, same as above. If you’re new to anything, you will suck. Just try to suck less. Watch a random tutorial video on the program you’re using, or a music theory video, or even just search up the lyrics or chords to a song you like.
I’m too far lost in the sauce to know if I’m actually any good at this anymore, so my goal is always just to not be the same as I was last time I checked, and I think that concept should work at any experience level.

Do you have a favorite, from Heart, Mind and Soul to play/record for, or maybe a favorite overall?
Not really. They each bring slightly different challenges and joys. In general, I struggle the most with vocals from a performing and mixing perspective, and the slight differences between each of those three characters don’t really add or subtract to that process.

What programs do you use to make your music?
FL Studio, almost exclusively. I will occasionally use Melodyne for pitch-correction, but even then I usually prefer to use NewTone, which is part of FL Studio.

What instruments, microphones, and any other equipment do you use?
Okay, quick rundown of the gear I frequently use. Get ready! It’s underwhelming.
Old Acoustic Guitar I stole off my sister half a decade ago (unbranded)
Second-hand Fender P Bass
Mahalo Ukulele I got for my birthday
Frankenstein’s Drum Kit (various second-hand pieces I found from friends/online)
Behringer U-Phoria UMC1820 Audio Interface (the most expensive piece of equipment I own)
K-Mart USB Microphone (mainly for recording placeholder vocals)
Rode M5 Matched Stereo Pair Microphones
A PC

That’s really it. The vast majority of what you hear is programmed in FL Studio using virtual instruments, synths and samples. I will also get a friend to play guitars when possible, and if someone I know has a piece of equipment I’d like to use for a song, I’m never above kindly asking to borrow.

How many instruments do you play? How long have you played them? Same with music software?
I’m pretty good at Drums for a non-professional (about 10 years experience), and I can play rudimentary Bass Guitar (did 2 years of lessons in High School.)
I mostly use Piano as a visual aid for music theory, though I can play some basic stuff.
That is all.
I use FL Studio, and have done so for somewhere around 10 years. I used Pro Tools when studying Sound Engineering but haven’t opened it since I dropped out of the Advance Diploma in 2021

What was your favorite instrument to play?
Though it’s a little sad to admit, I don’t really enjoy playing instruments all that much nowadays. I chalk this up to the fact that during the later half of High School, playing Drums became basically my entire personality and life, resulting in a burnout that’s still lasting to this day.
I was in every band at school, I would spend lots of lunch breaks practicing, most of my classes were music-related and I would ditch the ones that weren’t to go practice.
That, combined with the fact that my real passion — at least for now — is writing and creating finished pieces of musical ‘product’ means that I just don’t tend to play instruments themselves much at all.
So, to answer your question… Bongos!

Hello Chonster. What are your favorite synths to use in songs?
I’m not all that knowledgeable when it comes to the world of synths, but I make heavy use of Harmor, Vital and Nexus. Vital in particular seems to be an incredibly powerful synth (and free!) that I’ve barely scratched the surface of.
I’ll also occasionally check out a random video from SeamlessR, Andrew Huang, Venus Theory and other similar channels that I haven’t seen before to try and find some kind of new synth or preset.
(Never be ashamed to learn from those in your field!!!)

What’s your method for vocal layering? When composing parts of songs with harmonies, do you record each one separately? Or distort one recording in different ways?
Wherever possible, I’ll always try to record separate vocal takes if there are harmonies. Duplicating any instrument — including voice — as a carbon copy can introduce phase issues, which is something you pretty much always want to avoid.
It may sound tedious but it is always worth the little bit of extra effort to record multiple takes for harmonies and unison melodies.

How are Soul’s, Whole’s and Heart’s vocals distinct from each other? How did you decide on these differences? Why did you make Mind’s voice so distinct from the others?
The main difference between Soul and Heart is the type and intensity of their pitch-correction. Heart is made to sound like a normal take, using pitch-correction only to fine-tune the notes that they sing to sit better in the music, while Soul’s is heavily cranked to sound almost robotic, even though each is in the same register.
For some songs, Soul’s vocals also get layered on top of a Vocoder that’s programmed to replicate the melody of the song (noticeable in Two Wuv and Light.)
The fact that Mind’s voice is so distinct isn’t really a specific choice I made, just that out of the three characters, he seemed to best suit it.
Finally, from a sound/mixing/production point of view, the voice of ‘Whole’ as you all seem to refer to me is almost identical to Heart’s. This isn’t really for any thematic reasons, and instead just because it feels the most natural.

What filters and effects do you use to change your voice? Both for the different characters in CCCC, and generally? Is there any free software you’d recommend for vocal editing?
The voice for Mind is just a normal take pitched down an octave and formant-shifted down (you’ll have to Google how to do that for other programs than FL Studio) and Soul’s voice is just extreme-autotuned. Aside from that, everything I do is pretty typical in terms of vocal mixing. I won’t bother going into details, just search up some videos. EQ’s, Compressors, Delays, Reverbs, Distortions, Saturations etc. are all useful.

Was Mind sounding more robotic in Be Born and Just Apathy intentional?
Not really? That’s just how it turned out.

How come you usually change your accent when you’re singing?
The Australian accent is one suited to very few styles of music, in my opinion. The accent I use for my ‘normal’ songs isn’t very specific or planned-out, it’s just what feels right when singing.

Are there still a significant number of lyrical references you’ve yet to see anyone pick up on?
No! I think I’ve seen at least one person spot every single one at this point, as well as some that were not intentional at all.

What prompted you to put the swing section in Storm and a Spring? The structure of that one in particular is super cool, going from the slow beginning to the fast swing section only to slow down again. It’s not something I hear often in songs, so I was wondering what inspired that in particular?
Nothing comes to mind. Just felt right? I guess. I think it mostly came from wanting to create a clear distinction from my first cover of Spring and a Storm, as opposed to just being the same song with different lyrics and a different-sounding voice.

Is the silly pop sound effect at the end of the word “him” at 2:39 in The Bidding cover intentional? It is very funny and I cannot help but smile every time it happens, I gotta know if it was an accident or if it was put there on purpose lol
I’ve seen this brought up before. I don’t even know what pop you’re talking about. I’ve listened out for it multiple times and can’t hear it. (So to answer the question, unintentional.)

What instrument did you use for the intro to your cover of WTTH (the wind-like instrument, idk what it is but it sounds cool)
If you mean the very beginning of the song (before/during the “WELCOME TO CHONNY’S CHARMING CHAOS COMPENDIUM” section) then it’s just a bunch of the then-already-made Tally Hall covers played in reverse, layered over the top of each other.
The very, very first one you hear, though, is the ending of Haiku (played in reverse.)

what are the chords in all the songs with ukulele please i need to know
You’re smoking A-Grade reefer if you think I’m transcribing every Ukulele part I’ve ever written right now.

are the chicken noises in mucka blucka you, or sampled from the original mucka blucka?
Both, layered.

In your Ruler of Everything cover, why did you change the lyric “I’ve been you” to “I pin you”?
Felt like it, largely.

What do you think is the maximum number of Tally Hall-related songs you can layer on top of each other (like the ending of Special)?
I don’t know! We may find out, one day.

How long did it take to come up with all the chicken puns for Mucka Blucka?
I don’t remember, but in general it takes me about a week or two to come up with a song’s worth of lyrics. (I’ll do this in advance while working on the previous song, usually.)

Would you mind sharing what the mini keyboard that we can see in the music videos is? It’s been a lil bit of a mystery for us because the text on it becomes so pixelated on the vids but honestly I’m just curious about it if you’re willing to share.
It’s an Akai MPK Mini MKII. Truthfully, I never actually use it as a MIDI Keyboard, I just used it as a prop in those videos.

did you sing the high opera-like part in welcome to tally hall or did you use joe’s voice
That’s me.

i can hear a very slight hint of megalovania about 25 seconds into we’re gonna win was that intentional 👁👁
I think you’re just Undertale-pilled. That isn’t there.

so in the soul eclectic instrumental, am i going crazy or are there reaaaally really quiet vocals? specifically of the original mind electric i swear to god i can hear it.
This one is real. The original TME is layered under the entirety of The Soul Eclectic. In most of the song it’s EXTREMELY quiet, but I did boost the volume for a couple of bars during the Labyrinth/Demo 4 section (“And you fall inside a hole you couldn’t see.” 53:40 in the Instrumental Anarchy YT Video)

Video Process

What’s your general process for making the music videos?
Similarly to the music itself, the process for making the videos changed a lot throughout the creation of CCCC. Originally, they were just typical lyric videos, which doesn’t need much explanation. Then for a while I would write out one or two parts that I knew I could play with a bit of practice, and film myself recording those takes so that they were 1:1 with the audio. For those songs (e.g. The Bidding, Two Wuv) I wouldn’t plan much of the editing in advance, and instead figure out the video as soon as the song itself was fully completed.
Then, toward the very end of CCCC (Really only L&N, TMR and TfaR) I started making a very clear effort to plan the entire video at the same time — or before — I was working on the song. This would consist of extremely basic, bullet-point style ‘storyboards’ in my Notes app, but by the end of each Note I would have a full video planned out in my head, allowing me to work much more efficiently once I got started. This is also the point where I eschewed the process of filming and recording my vocal/bass/drum takes at the same time, and instead started using behind-the-scenes magic to make it a little more convincing.

What made you start making videos in the new format instead of the old one? What prompted you to begin including live footage in the videos?
It kind of just felt like the natural progression. I make an effort where possible to make small improvements constantly, in as many aspects as possible, and as someone whose artistic skills aren’t too flash, live-action seemed most appropriate as opposed to art/animation/3D stuff.

What single shot from the live recordings was hardest/took the most effort?
Nothing comes to mind as being exceptionally difficult. I know my own limits and skills, so I only ever pushed myself a tiny bit out my comfort zones for most things, but if I had to pick the most annoying, it probably would have been the one-take vocals in The Heart Acoustic.
I knew going into it that I wanted it to be one full take, and that my video editing skills weren’t nearly good enough to fake it, so I basically just had to film it over and over again till I got a good one. I remember doing a bunch, settling on one, and then hating it the next day and re-recording.
That annoyance mainly came from poor planning, though. I didn’t practice the part as well as I should have, and the blindfold I wore — and continued to wear for the rest of the album — wasn’t see-through so I couldn’t have any visual assistance. That, combined with the fact that I’m just one guy without any kind of ‘crew’ made the whole thing a little tedious. (In truth, it wasn’t that bad. But it was probably the most annoying.)

which video was the most fun to make?
Probably L&N and Taken for a Ride, tied. They were both made using the ‘storyboard’ process I outlined earlier, which was new for me, and turned out to be a lot of fun. Far more work than all that came before it, undoubtedly, but still fun.

Bit of a silly one, but I’m curious. Do you look as funny as I’m imagining when you’re recording yourself chuckling for certain parts? I can picture you practicing repeatedly into a mic to get just the right amount of crazy in
I would imagine so. I make an effort to record when no one’s home, and put the blinds up so neighbours can’t see (though I’m sure they can hear.)

Are the white x / dots that appear over footage in the covers from a video filter?
I think my lens is just dirty… but after a while I found it too funny to clean.

How did you come up with character designs for Soul, Mind, and Heart?
Slowly, over time, as I mentioned before. Little pieces and touches were added as I fleshed out the characters in my head, but there was no real ‘process’ behind it.

Yo, what made you use different colors for the lips to separate each character? Did you have any other ideas/designs? Do the colors you’ve assigned them mean anything in particular
This mainly stems from the early live-action covers. I wanted Soul to slowly incorporate each of the five Tally colours using their respective instruments, and the most logical one for Red was the lips, to represent vocals. Then, when I added Heart and Mind to the mix in live-action, it just made sense for their lips to also be different colours.
This is also the reason behind something I see asked a lot, which is “Why is Heart purple and Soul red, as opposed to the other way around?”
I incorporated Soul first, and wanted him to have the five colours, and Heart and Mind came later, meaning Red was already taken.

What brand of lipstick did you use for each of the characters?
I have no idea, the branding isn’t on the stick itself anymore, but it’s all cheap chemist stuff. I use a generic red for Soul, and the same bluey/purpley lipstick for Heart and Mind, then adjust the colours to taste in the editing process. (Shocking, I know. Heart and Mind are actually wearing the exact same lipstick.)

Where did you get the necklace that Mind wears? If it wasn’t ordered online/is hard to find/something along those lines, could we get a closeup picture of it?
My mum bought it for me for my birthday a few years back. I have no idea where she got it, but it’s just a pair of small drumsticks on a thin necklace chain.

Can you tell us what kind of corduroy jacket you wear so that me and the rest of the fan base can purchase every single one in stock? Thanks
It’s just a brown/tan corduroy jacket with a fleece lining the same colour… I’m sure you can find one at your local trendy clothes store (in the right season.)

Where did you get that tan and black jacket?
If you’re referring to the half-and-half one that’s in Time Machine Reprise, that was given to me by a friend. I have no idea where he got it from, sorry.

What editing studio do you use to edit your videos?
Adobe Premiere Pro

Was the bisexual coloring on “lovable” in WtTH intentional, or representative of your/Whole’s sexuality?
Not really. Just thought it looked good.

Why did heart and mind switch colors in the later songs? Mind used to have a black background and white text and heart had the opposite.
This is retroactively justified by their placement in the album, mostly. VoaC and WGW in particular are representative of Heart and Mind seeing more from the other’s perspective, so the fact that they’re swapped also represents that.
I am choosing to ignore RoE, instead of admitting that it’s just a theming mistake.

Why did you pick The Unseen as your font of choice?
Found it randomly, ages ago, before even starting Tally Hall covers. Just thought it looked good and ran with it. It wasn’t until pretty far into CCCC’s creation that it became part of the album itself.

General Online Presence

Have any personal favorite songs of the ones you’ve worked on? Overall, and for each album?
My favourite song that I’ve made tends to just be the most recent one I’ve released. I try my hardest to make whatever song I’m working on something that I really enjoy, and it’s been working out thus far.
Gun to my head, though, the #1 for each album (in my very personal opinion) would probably be Wings of Wax, Alone With My Thoughts, Light (Full) and The Heart Acoustic (Instrumental.)
FUN FACT: C. Hudson plays the Space Saxophone in Alone With My Thoughts, as well as the good ol’ fashioned Earth Saxophone in The Heart Acoustic!!

Which song did you have the most fun making?
The three parts of TME were definitely up there, as a fun exercise in arrangement, trying to make the same song feel unique in three separate versions. The recent Jekyll and Hyde songs were also super refreshing, but that could probably just be chalked up to the fact that they’re the first songs I made after finishing CCCC Vol. 1.
Similar to the previous question though, I tend to just consistently enjoy the process of making and finishing music, so I don’t really have favourites.

Which song was the most fun writing/modifying lyrics for?
Again, it’s too hard for me to say at this point. It’s just all fun.

Out of all the individual songs created, what one was the most difficult (By individual i mean dividing TME into the 3 parts)
I touch on this at a different point, but Banana Man, WtTH and Be Born were all pretty difficult to get off the ground, ideas-wise. Those songs in particular were ones that I likely never would have touched if I didn’t decide to do all of MMMM, so they were especially challenging.
But even then, I know what I’m capable of and I know how to push myself a reasonable amount without ruining everything, so it was all quite straightforward, even though I’ve learned heaps in the process.

do you have any especially memorable moments you’ve when making your music?
Nope… it’s all one big blur, mostly. There is one moment that sticks out, but it has less to do with the cover itself and more to do with my real-life circumstances, which I don’t want to get into.

What inspired you to change lyrics and make up entire new songs based on covers?
It’s something I started doing years ago that slowly evolved into changing more and more of the songs I’m covering, so it’s hard to say. I do remember which song was the first to ever get that treatment, though. She Only Loves Me When I’m There was the first time I ever sang properly, and I made a tiny modification to the lyrics (literally just removing the ‘kid’ from “I don’t wanna live like this anymore, kid.”) as well as added a synth solo and an extra bridge section.
It all just kind of snowballed from there.

Who/What is your biggest inspiration?
Oddly enough, it’s less of a motivation to do music, and more of an intense demotivation to do literally anything else as a career path. I was told over and over again throughout childhood and puberty that I would — sooner or later — have to get on the proverbial treadmill and work a normal-ass job for the rest of my life. That idea puts a gaping pit in my stomach to this day, and I intend to do all in my power to avoid that outcome.

How do you choose songs? Do you choose based on songs you already like, songs you want to improve, songs you think are popular, a mix of all, or what?
There are really only two criteria:
1: Will it be fun?
And 2: Do I have an idea?
If the answer for both is ‘Yes’ then it’s viable for creation.
Past that, sometimes it will come from an effort to ‘improve’ the original (narcissistic, I know), sometimes it will come from not liking the repetition in the original (The Moss is a good example of this. I love that song to death but the repeated verses annoyed me, which was the main motivator when I initially made that cover), and sometimes it’s to give myself a challenge. Other factors are relevant too, but those are the big ones.

Do you have anything you think you should’ve done differently in terms of your wonderful creations?
There is one song in particular that I truly wish I could go back and re-do, purely from a mixing perspective. I tend to be pretty good at putting songs ‘to bed’ and accepting that they’re past creations, and that if I do dislike a song of mine for some reason, it’s a good sign that I’ve progressed. But there is one CCCC song in which I just cannot stand the mixing. I’m opting to keep it unnamed, just so I can’t ruin it for anyone or affect anyone’s opinion, but that’s the only example I can think of.
(I know y’all hate the tiddy line in Haiku btw, but frankly I think that’s an absolute banger lyric so suck it, buddy.)

How come all song titles and the album name itself in “the before.” end in periods
Just some fun theming that helps to separate them from CCCC and any future albums I make. No deeper meaning behind it, really.

Hey Chonny, I was wondering if you had any tips on handling a big project such as your album? how do you prevent yourself from burning out?
For one, make sure it’s something you enjoy doing, for the love of God. That’s the bare minimum.
The only other real big bit of advice I can think of is to try and change, evolve and adapt over the course of the whole project. I doubt it’s all that visible from the outside but I can personally point to one or two new ideas or concepts or techniques that I tried out in every single one of my Tally Hall covers. They’re not all amazing ideas, and there are some things I might not ever do again, but they were worthwhile nonetheless and it really helped avoid stagnation.
Basically, if you start to find problems with earlier work in a project, then that’s a very, very good sign.

Did you ever expect this when you started making music?
Absolutely not.

Why do you use Steve-o’s head for your music videos?
That face was on a meme I saw years and years ago and it stuck with me ever since as being a hilarious image just on its own, and when I first made the channel it was intended as a home for shitposts and memes, so it just seemed to fit.
The dichotomy between the profile pic and the music on the channel that took itself way too seriously was really funny to me for a while, but when I started thinking about releasing my music on more official platforms, I decided that changing it would be for the best, which is why I decided to commission a profile picture that was obviously reminiscent of the Steve-O face, but far enough separated that it wasn’t necessary context.

Why did you change your PFP to that for the full release of CCCC?
As stated above, I wanted to move away from the Steve-O face. Mainly for artistic reasons, as it just didn’t fit, but also for potential legal reasons.

Why did you abandon CanOfSoup?
As mentioned, the Chonny Jash channel was originally made as a hub for shitposts and memes, and I didn’t feel comfortable putting those up on my first channel. Truth be told, though, I kind of just found the name ‘CanOfSoup’ to be really cringe, and I wanted to move away from it to go along with the new branding. I can’t pinpoint why I don’t feel the same about the name ‘Chonny Jash’, but I’m much, much less embarrassed about it as a name.

Are you proud of what you’ve made? With your covers, with your story you’re telling, of the community that’s formed from your work? Are you happy for yourself? I guess I just wanted to ask as artist to artist, because even the biggest creators and artists sometimes don’t enjoy their own work. But I really think it is something to be proud of, and I hope that whatever you continue to make also makes you happy. And for this community to continue to grow and support you along the way.
100%! I say it a lot throughout this QnA, but I make an extremely explicit and conscious effort to make music that I enjoy listening to, and music that I enjoy making. Even in situations where I’m ‘pandering’ to an audience I do a pretty good job of keeping myself interested and invested.
TME is a good example of this. It had been requested for a long, long time before I made it. I decided very early into those requests that I was going to get around to it, eventually, but I resolved to not do so until I had an idea I was actually confident in. If my goal was purely ‘number go up’ I would have given in early and undoubtedly created a worse product. In that alternate reality — and if it got as much attention as this reality’s — I might be more inclined to be disappointed in myself, but that’s not where we live.
I like to think I’m constantly progressing and improving. A byproduct of this is that every song I make is my ‘best’ for that time. I may not be up to the standards of my heroes, but I’m still climbing and catching up, slowly and consistently.

CCCC Related

Did you have a list set from the beginning of songs you wanted to cover, or did you make one later?
Not right at the very beginning, but as I made my way through the Tally Hall covers I decided pretty early on that I would cover the entire MMMM album.

Why did you start making covers of MMMM songs? Did you always plan on covering the entire album, or even just a few of the songs?
As stated above, it wasn’t my immediate plan, but I decided on it pretty early. The first cover (Spring and a Storm) was just a project for my Diploma, and the couple after that were also just for fun, but by about Good Day or Haiku I had made the decision to do the whole album. This was mainly to act as a catalyst for ideas that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to think of, especially for songs like Banana Man, WtTH, Be Born etc. that I probably wouldn’t have touched.

What did you first think when you started CCCC
“Oh, we have a recording project for this term? It’d be sick to record my own music instead of finding a band or something…”

When in the process of making the album did you have the order of the album planned out
As said in a prior part of the document, probably by about Two Wuv, after lots and lots and lots of trial and error.

What’s the difference between Calamity/Cacophony/Concord on the album, are they all like official songs of the full thing?
I don’t wanna say any specifics, but I consider them all to be part of the ‘lore’, if that’s what you’re asking.

When selecting songs to make covers of for CCCC, did you look for ones that could be utilized best to tell the story you wanted to tell? Or did you pick your favorite songs to create covers of regardless of how they could be used in the narrative? Was it both?
Most of it was all down to the decision to do the entirety of MMMM.
With the extra songs outside of MMMM, though, it was just a combination of my liking the song and having some kind of idea for a cover of it.

Was there a specific reason you went outside of MMMM (TME, Time Machine, etc.) for vol. 1, or did you just want to include them/they fit the story best?
No real specific reason other than that they were Tally Hall related, and that I thought they’d suit the album well (and be fun to make.)

What made you want to solely focus on Tally Hall covers (aside from just finishing CCCC)?
It just sort of worked out that way. I had a story I wanted to tell but I didn’t want to move away from Tally Hall covers, so I combined both.

Whether you intend to do any more Tally Hall covers or not, what’s one song by them that you have never wanted to make a cover of and why?
I struggle to think of any. I found that the more ‘difficult’ ones to make ended up being the most fun. Banana Man was a struggle as someone who had problems with the original, WtTH was initially awkward to come up with ideas for, and Mucka Blucka was… well, Mucka Blucka, but that difficulty ended up making the process more rewarding overall.
So while there are some songs that might take a little more time or effort, none stick out as something I want to avoid.

When did you come on the idea of making three The Mind Electrics (as well as two Light & Nights)?
Being my most requested song (by far), I realized early on that I wanted TME to be something special and unique. The first comment I got requesting it was on RoE, and it appeared in the comments on pretty much every video since. I spent ages keeping it on the backburner and deciding what exactly I wanted to do, and how I’d make it interesting, and having the same song in three different styles for each of the characters just felt perfect.
Light & Night is a different story, in that I wanted to use it as a comparison to my early TH covers and see how far I’ve come.
Night is reminiscent of early covers like Spring, NMtK and Greener in that they’re pretty standard, simple songs. To that end, I wanted to compare how far I’d come from a recording/mixing perspective for a ‘normal’ song like that.
Inversely, Light is similar to my more ‘weird’ covers, such as WGW, The Bidding and Mucka Blucka, and I wanted to compare my ‘updated’ self to those songs, again from a recording/mixing perspective, but also from a composing/arranging point of view.
To those ends, splitting up Light & Night into two separate songs made a lot of sense, and ended up being heaps of fun.

In regards to when, I’d say it was probably by Be Born that I’d decided on TME being three parts, and the idea to split L&N up into two was the main reason I even ended up covering it… though I can’t remember when that was.

Were there any inspirations for CCCC outside of the songs you covered themselves?
Not really, no… At least, nothing comes to mind. More of an amalgamation of my past experiences and interests.

What in your life inspired you to start this project? Did it come to you as something you wanted to do specifically for Tally Hall, or was in more connected to your interpersonal life and relationships and Tally Hall was just a medium you wanted to use to express that? Was it a mix of both? Love your stuff, by the way!! ❤
This is answered over the course of three or so questions throughout the document, but in short form: Mental dissonance has been a big part of my life for a long time, and the story I told is a natural progression of my own experiences and emotions regarding it. The fact that it’s a Tally Hall cover album is mostly coincidence. They’re my favourite band and I loved making covers for them, so I decided to create a story within those covers.

Did the new/changed lyrics in your “The Moss” cover inspire you to create HMS? :O
Nope.

What prompted you to create Storm and a Spring/re-cover Spring and a Storm? At what point did you make this choice?
I just thought it was a fun idea to go back and revisit the very first Tally Hall song I did, and it was a fun challenge to come up with appropriate thematic/story reasons to do so, as well as showcase how far I like to think I’ve come in music production.
Also, I had the idea to have the clue say ‘22’ at the end, instead of what it should have been (‘2’) and couldn’t resist it.

What was going through your head when you decided to make Mucka Blucka one of the most lore heavy songs in CCCC Vol. 1?
It really was a matter of thinking “Well, I decided to do the ENTIRETY of MMMM, and it’d be very, very funny if the dumb chicken song was the most verbose in the album.)

Are there any references in CCCC we as a community haven’t picked up on in songs? Are there any subtle, small references you’ve added to your work that no one has caught?
Don’t think so, no! You lot have done a pretty good job of spotting them.

Do you feel like you’ve learned a lot during the making of cccc?
More than I could ever put into words. I’m too far disconnected from the listening audience to know if it’s visible from the outside, but the sheer amount I’ve learned over the course of these 27 songs — in pretty much every aspect of the process — is honestly kind of astonishing to me.

Is that a real saxophone being played in The Heart Acoustic and The Whole World & You?
In The Heart Acoustic, yes.
In The Whole World & You, no. (Well, it’s a real Saxophone, I just got it from a sample library as opposed to recording it specifically for the song.)
(Shoutout to C. Hudson)

Lore/Characters

what are the differences/distinguishments between soul and whole??
I’m not explaining this one more than I already have in the doc. You decide the differences.

Do the Heart, Mind, and Soul have any identification differences from the vessel or you? Like, via pronouns or preferences or favorite items or literally anything that sets them apart?
That’s a good question! I have my own personal answer, but I’m choosing to withhold it. It’s up to the public now to decide.

What are the pronouns of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Whole?
See above. (He/Him for ‘Whole’, though, seeing as it’s just me.)

What kind of gun did Heart shoot?
An angry one.

What would The Mind sound like talking instead of singing?
Like a normal dude but pitched down and formant-shifted.

So, we have The Heart, The Mind, The Soul and The Whole, but also The Host is mentioned as well. Soul says to refer to him as “your host” as one of the options, but is The Whole and The Host the same individual or is one technically the Physical and the other is The Internal??
This is deep lore stuff I’d rather leave to interpretation… You decide!

Are Soul, Mind, and Heart (or even just Mind and Heart) outside of the Self/body/Soul; or are they all in one brain/body of the Self/Soul?
The original writing is that they’re all within one psyche, but like… You decide!

Are there any headcanons from the fans that you don’t agree with but still enjoy?
Nope. Headcanons are free game by definition, so I don’t really have strong opinions on them in general.

I think the first few days of mucka blucka’s release you added Soul 1 and Soul 2 to the description, Is there a second soul character?
I’m very happy to finally clear this one up. When recording the video and audio of the main vocals for Soul in that song, I had two separate takes. To make sure I knew where each take was used in the audio as I was working on it, I had notes scattered throughout the lyrics document saying SOUL 1 or SOUL 2, to identify where they switched (for editing later, making sure the video was synced with the right audio.)
When copy-pasting the lyrics from the document, I just forgot to delete one of those notes at the very start. I deleted it as soon as someone noticed it for me, but the effect of that mistake has lingered ever since.
(Soul 2 is not real.)

Do HMS remember the loops all the way through- meaning, do they forget about this having happened before at any point, or do they remember and yet repeat their mistakes?
(Sing along if you know the words!) This is up for interpretation… You decide!

Are there meanings behind the colors that Heart Mind and Soul are associated with?
Not explicitly. They’re more just about separation and keeping the identities unique to each other. Soul being red is relevant to the Tally tie colour scheming I did, but not for any specific story reasons.

Is there red or black whiteboard marker on the “Mucka Blucka” text in Taken for a Ride?
Red

why the names heart mind and soul?
This is answered at other parts of the document. (TL;DR, it felt right.)

Are the hole(s) mentioned in TME, TSE, & Be Born literal or metaphorical; and are they separate holes/times/people in them or just one?
You decide !

Is the gun that Juno/Heart shot literal or metaphorical?
You decide !

in your Mucka Blucka cover, you mentioned that either The Heart, The Mind or The Soul, will pay the toll. Who, in fact, payed the toll, Chonnathan?
You’ll see… Eventually…

is there a true meaning to CCCC that is solvable? or is it all just up to the listeners interpretation?
Again, as mentioned prior (or later? I’m doing this QnA in a whack order (fittingly)) I have a very personal and meaningful connection to what I wrote and it’s about something important to me, but I’d never vocalize that in any explicit way.
So… You decide !

Are there any like ‘head canons’ for the lack of a better word that you have for HMS that you wouldn’t have a chance to share otherwise?
Soul can kickflip the trident.

What are the Jashlings coffee orders?
Heart gets Mocha.
Mind gets Black.
Soul gets a case of Sugar-Free Monsters twice a month.

How was Heart blinded?
You decide !

Is The Before related to CCCC at all, as in, part of the same story?
In a literal sense? No. Both albums are written by me and about me, so it’s impossible to avoid similarities, but they aren’t separate acts of one story or anything like that.

Is HMS/Whole supposed to be representative of a system or just metaphors?
As stated earlier, this is no longer for me to decide. I didn’t initially write it that way, but that no longer matters.

Is the love interest of HitS and Haiku relevant to the overarching story?
*cough*
You decide !

Which songs have Whole in them?
*sarcastically points to the whiteboard, eyes peering over glasses*

Is Soul a real character?
…yeah? Is this in contention?

Much of your work includes symbolism for identity, are any of these lyrical choices intended to refer to gender?
Not really, no. For as insecure and confused and scared as I’ve been throughout my life when it comes to my own identity, gender has never really been a point of contention in my mind. I was born a man and that has always been fine by me. I’m a default-settings cisboy, sad though some people might be to hear it.
(But again, not to beat a dead horse, if anyone listening finds a sense of camaraderie or relatability from a gender-specific lens, that’s a completely valid and welcomed reading of the art.)

Do you subscribe to the popular headcanon of Heart having wings/angel-like traits?
Certainly to an extent. I asked sly for her designs on the instrumental art, after all.

Why does Mind, in Night, sing the first sets of the lines, “I’m arriving alive and alight” instead of any/all of the others?
You decide!

Why do both Heart and Mind laugh in the drop of The Soul Eclectic?
Felt right.

Will we ever get official lore confirmation?
This document will probably be the best you’ll ever get.

What is the entire Chonny Jash lore I need to know I physically need to know please please ple
Cry about it.

Personal (serious)

Hey man, hope you’re doing well. Question is: Would you consider setting up a PO Box (or auspost parcel locker for one-time stuff)?
Not any time soon, that’s for sure. I’m not all that into keeping many possessions, and I don’t love the idea of narrowing my location down more than it has been already, so it just doesn’t seem like a high priority to me.

What are your pronouns?
He/Him

Are the characters you created in your music based on your own experiences, or have they simply been made for the sake of telling a story?
A bit of both. They’re exaggerations and recontextualizations of my own thoughts. I’ve experienced that sort of mental dissonance plenty in my life, and the characters and story are there to represent that.

Where’s the line between fiction and reality?
It’s hard to say… So I won’t.

In some of your original work, you made it a point to say not to call them headspace. Does this also apply to CCCC?
I think you might have misinterpreted? ‘headspace’ is an Australian organization that helps youths and young adults deal with mental health issues. The songs I put those notes in are ones that lean on the depressing/sad side, even by my standards, so I put that there as a little lighthearted joke to say “don’t worry, they’re just songs.”

Did this project help you at all with dealing with your own internal conflicts and identifying them or did it just exacerbate it and make you feel like you were feeding the fire of internal conflicts you were trying to fight?
Absolutely the first. Putting the aforementioned dissonances into words and giving them a more physical form has helped me a lot to identify my true opinions on various things, but more specifically my own life and how I handle myself.

Is the egotistic queer line in relation to CJ specifically or is it the character(s) depicted (HMS, whole, etc)? (Don’t have to answer this it’s very personal tbh, just wanted to ask)
Me, and therefore the characters as well. I’m pansexual (and egoistic), which is what that line is specifically referring to, but it also acts as a double meaning for the ‘traditional’ meaning of queer (‘weird/abnormal.’)

Was it scary showing your face online for the first time while recording footage for CCCC?
Not really. I made the specific effort to… microdose? For lack of a better term. Starting with Drums and hands in Special, then a bit more of me with the Bass in Two Wuv, then my mouth in The Bidding etc., so by the time I was showing my full face in the more recent ones, it was much less daunting.

Is Whole’s frustration at the end of Taken for a Ride representative of your own feelings?
Yes, but by identifying those feelings in that song I’ve been able to construct a plan for my immediate future to avoid getting bogged down in any kind of rut.

As a (sub)system we find your music helps us cope a lot. Would you describe yourself as plural? A system?
As I mentioned earlier, I’m not personally part of any kind of plural system, and the characters are just representations of parts of me. Again, though, this is absolutely not to discourage that reading of the album. It’s amazing to me to see people from walks of life that I wasn’t all that aware of find relatability in my music.

Additional questions from the admins based on other responses:
You’d said in one of the answers that what many people have taken to referring to as Whole from the album is just you. This stemmed a few questions around preference for how people discuss the album.

Is people using “Whole” to refer to you/the elements of yourself in the album is something you’re comfortable with? Personally and from discussions with others, one of the main reasons we’ve used “Whole” rather than “Chonny Jash” when talking about the album has been to avoid people seeing the depiction in the album as being your ‘complete self’/having the sense of knowing you personally based on listening to/interpreting the album, but I can understand it being potentially strange having people talk about you in that way. Figured it best to clarify your preferences around this.

I think the way it’s been handled thus far is completely fine. I think ‘Whole’ is a great way to keep the discussions reasonable without it getting weird, and overall everyone seems to be behaving, so no problems there.

The second question is towards how people talk about your depiction in fan works/discussion/analysis. Along the same lines, you’ve said the album is a depiction of yourself, but are also happy about different interpretations/views on the storyline that don’t necessarily reflect your experiences directly. Especially around the portions of the narrative about you individually/”Whole”, are you comfortable with people discussing this in a more fictionalized/conceptual way, or would you prefer discussion keep within the realm of talking about a real person?

Similarly, I’m happy to keep it as real or as conceptual as possible. Ideas surrounding ‘Whole’ don’t necessarily need to be attached to me myself, if that makes sense.

Personal (non-serious)

How old are you!
22

how tall are you
BARELY not 6’… not that I’m salty about it or anything…

Is your name pronounced as “Ch-onny” or “C-onnie”
Ch- (I say it out loud in WtTH)

Do you have any pets?
Dog, Greyhound named Billie, absolutely adorable but will knock you over if you don’t have the right footing. (It will be an accident but she WILL be arrested for manslaughter.)

are you a cat person or a dog person?
See above.

What’s your opinion on cats?
I actually do like them a lot, I just don’t have any. (I’m allergic as well but I have medications that work pretty decently.)

Do you like any animals/have a favorite? And if you do, what animals do you associate with Heart, Mind and Soul? Also, what mythical creatures do you like?
Dogs (specifically Billie) and Orangutans.
I don’t associate HMS with any specific animals, personally.
I’m not all that into mythical beasts and that sort of thing, so I don’t have a good answer, sorry.

favorite kind of aquatic beast/creature
Unagi, but specifically from Mario Odyssey.

what is your favorite fish?
See above.

opinion on bugs?
Kind of hate them, but I appreciate that they’re mostly harmless and I make a conscious effort to avoid stomping ’em. In saying that, I will mercilessly destroy any daddy-long-legs that’s foolish enough to cross my path when I’m in the shower. Have some bloody decency you eight-legged perverts.

Do you have a favorite type of bird?
Kazooie.

What’s your favourite pokémon?
Electivire.

opinion on mothman?
Never met him, seems like an alright bloke.

do you find the guitar jokes funny (you know the ones)
I don’t know the ones.
(Edit: I was informed this might be referring to the jokes regarding how I hold the guitar in videos/my skill level? If so, I’ve found them pretty funny, usually. I know I can’t play guitar and it’s a good little laugh.)

Second favorite ice cream flavor?
Choc Mint (Tiramisu #1)

fav kinda sandwich? this is very important
There are some questions best left unanswered…

when was the last time you ate milo (dry)?
Never? That sounds dreadful.

Are you lactose intolerant?
Almost the opposite. I shock friends with how much milk I drink, and I’m not even at my prime anymore.

What is your favorite color?
Pink, probably, though I’m unsure.

who is ur fav fnaf character .
Markiplier. (Note: I haven’t played FNaF since the first game came out in 2014.)

Who are your favorite characters in Undertale/Deltarune? And what are your favorite Toby Fox songs?
Probably Spamton, even though it’s the normie pick. He’s just such an amazing blend of haha-funny-goofy-fella and lore-bait.
It’s impossible for me to nail down absolute favourites from the OSTs, but aside from all of the classics (Megalovania, Heartache, Bonetrousle, Field of Hopes and Dreams, The World Revolving etc.) I have a soft spot for Ruins, Snowdin Town and Here We Are, for some reason.

Do you have any personal predictions for Deltarune Chapter 3+?
No. I make an effort to not think about it in the hopes I’ll just forget and be pleasantly surprised when it finally releases.

Have you ever heard of the webcomic Miasworld? or this specific video https://youtu.be/qYmcBuA6WOg ? if so what do you think of it?
I have not heard of Miasworld. I hadn’t seen that video till now either, but it’s super neat! I like it.

Do you know what Sanders Sides (by Thomas Sanders) is?
I had not heard about Sander’s Sides at all until it was brought up by fans. I still haven’t seen it, but I can understand the comparisons from the tidbits I’ve seen.

are you a homestuck? 😃 😋 😚
I have not read homestuck… sorry.

What is your current favorite song? Favourite song of all time?
It fluctuates wildly, so I’ll name my unordered Top 3 that have been in recent rotation and then my unordered Top 5 Albums that I always come back to (that aren’t Tally Hall related) because I won’t be able to pinpoint songs. (To clarify: MMMM and G&E are genuinely tied for #1 spot, but I’m answering the question as ‘besides them, obviously.’)

Recent (I changed my mind, I’m naming two songs per artist):
Memento Mori/Becoming the Lastnames by Will Wood.
Sirens/Rivers Is A Vampire by Bear Ghost.
Pelicans We/Tardigrade Song by Cosmo Sheldrake.

All-Time Albums:
The Hands That Thieve by Streetlight Manifesto (and its unreleased, acoustic companion album that got leaked to YouTube.)
Your Parents Are Sellouts by That Handsome Devil.
“In case I make it,” by Will Wood (I do also like The Normal Album a lot but I prefer this one.)
LUN by Destiny Potato.
OK ORCHESTRA by AJR

are there any specific genres of music that you listen to? or bands [besides the obvious]
Not really. I find that I like specific aspects of songs, rather than genres overall. The only genres I would say I don’t like are Country and Pop, but even then, there are always outlier songs that I end up liking anyway.
Similarly, I actually tend not to listen to specific bands all that much. Most of my Spotify playlist is just one or two songs from an artist that I liked, that got recommended to me through their algorithms. There are even a few songs in there that I don’t know the name or artist of, I just like the songs.

What’s your favorite Tally Hall song? Or Tally Hall-adjacent song?
This has become impossible for me to answer. I’m too far lost.
BUT as a compromise, I can probably name my Top 5 nostalgia-songs. These might not still hold up as my ‘favourites’ today, but they’re easy to identify as the ones that meant the most to me when I was a fresh fan.

Those are (in no particular order (therefore, album order)): Greener, Just Apathy, Ruler of Everything, You & Me, Who You Are.

What do you enjoy about Tally Hall?
It would doubtless be a fool’s errand to try and name every single thing that has made me love Tally Hall over the years, so instead I’ll summarize it in a word!
FUN. It’s just all so fun. Even the darker songs are fun. The T.H.I.S is fun. They all seem like fun people, and even the fact that they’ve been on permanent hiatus since whenever-the-hell adds to that idea. They had fun and decided to pursue other avenues afterward.

(Fun little story ‘cos I have nowhere else to put it: I used to be obsessed with one particular series of ‘YouTube Haiku Compilation’ videos, right when I was beginning to use the internet as a pastime (Like, 10 or 11 years old) and one of my absolute favourite clips from those videos — even at the time — was from T.H.I.S, meaning that Tally Hall is inadvertently a core memory of my childhood and teens, long, long, long before I truly discovered them. (The video was What You Don’t Know — Evolution, btw.))

How did you come to be so acquainted with TH and its fandom prior to creating your covers? When did you first discover them?
At some point in 2017 or 2018 I happened to stumble onto a Twitter video of Link in Breath of the Wild, holding bananas and bringing them toward the camera in a few different cuts with Banana Man laid overtop. I then tracked down the song, which led me to the music video, which led me to the band itself and so on and so forth.

If you were to get your own colored tie, what color would you want it be?
I would never impose myself unto such an honour. Those ties are sacred and for me to claim any would be blasphemous.

what do you think of Aristotle’s Denial by Joe Hawley?
Great song.

What’s your fav band/singer (other than tally hall) ?
This is an almost impossible question to answer, but Streetlight Manifesto, J-Music Ensemble, grandson and That Handsome Devil are all in contention for the #2 spot.

Excluding the obvious/ones you’ve covered, what are some of your favorite musicians?
I’ve listed quite a few of them throughout this doc, so to spice it up I’m just going to recommend a couple of songs from a band called The Tiger & Me.
‘Big Trapeze’ and ‘I Left the Wolves Behind That Night’ are both great songs. I don’t even know any other songs from them but I love those two and I’ve listed my big inspirations already.

Are you a fan of Johnny Cash? Or is there any reasoning why you settled on the name Chonny Jash?
Hilariously enough, I know basically nothing from Johnny Cash.
I may or may have been intoxicated when I first made and named the channel…
It was originally going to be called ‘Sneeb’…
That’s the level of intellect and forethought we’re talking about here.

Do you listen to Eiffel 65?
Nope. I don’t even like ‘Blue.’

What games do you like to play?
I don’t really play video games much anymore, but I was always a venn diagram of the Nintendo Kid and the Indie Kid. Some personal all-time favourites are:
Undertale/Deltarune (big surprise), Super Meat Boy, Banjo-Kazooie, Zelda: Majora’s Mask, FEZ, Celeste, most Pokemon games, Picross S series on the Switch, CTR Nitro-Fueled, Mario Kart Wii.
My most-played game is The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, unless you count the entire Pokemon series as one game, in which case it’s not even close.

What is your favorite game released this year?
Again, I don’t play video games much, but I’m extremely keen for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and will be making an exception for it.
As for my favourite game from 2022… I genuinely don’t think I bought a single new game that year other than Pokemon Scarlet, which was not very good, frankly. (Look, it had heaps of really good game design choices and mechanics, and the new pokemon were cool, but like… it wasn’t finished… anyway, I’m rambling.)

Do you play VRChat?
Never played.

Do you like Pizza Tower?
Never played, but the Wario Land style of platformer was never really my jam, personally.

What is your favorite Minecraft mod?
I’ve sunk some hours into Thaumcraft once or twice. I tend not to play with mods though, and I also tend not to play much in general.

Out of the trio, which one would you say you empathize or relate to the most (and why)?
It would be truly unfortunate to empathize with any one more than the other two, seeing as the whole point of that album is the idea of myself coming to terms with all three’s importance.

How do you feel about the beta.character.ai text bots of the heart, mind and soul, have you interacted with them
Haven’t interacted with them. It seems strange, but I’m not really against it.

Did you major in English when you were in university?
Nope. I studied Music Performance for a Trimester in 2019 before dropping out, then in 2020 I got my Diploma in Sound Engineering. I started the Advanced Diploma in Sound Engineering in 2021 but ended up quitting during the final stretch due to mental health issues.
In High School, English was without question my worst subject, and the only reason I did it was because it’s mandatory. I did okay in some creative writing projects, but even then it was nothing special. I only know what I know now (which to clarify, isn’t all that much) because of music and lyric-writing.
Google is an immensely powerful tool.

How do you get your hair the way it is?
Luck and cheats.
If my genetics were to have their way, I’d actually be bald as fuck right now, but due to stubbornness and vanity I started taking medication for it a year or two ago.
In terms of the actual ‘style’ though, I don’t do anything special. Condition and comb every day, and shampoo every few days. Past that, it does whatever the hell it wants most of the time.

As someone else who has curly hair, what hair products/ hair diffuser do you use, mr.Jash?
I’ve been meaning to get more invested in hair care. I just buy what looks good to me at any given moment.

What’s one really weird/random skill you have that never comes up?
Nothing comes to mind. All of the things I practiced and obsessed about as a teenager tended to all funnel down into a broad bubble labeled ‘Music.’
I’m pretty good at two of the Human Benchmark thingies? 113wpm on Typing and 168 points on Verbal Memory.

Trans rights? :D
Always.

how is the grass touching going?
Better than you’d probably expect.

how are you ?
Pretty good, surprising though that may be.

Do you follow the AFL lol, if so what team?
I don’t, really, and identifying which team my family brainwashed me to barrack for could help to dox me, so I’ll remain silent on the issue.

Do you have an instagram i should/could tag in fanart?
Nope.

Odd question, but are you perchance color blind?
Nope.

do you actually know japanese or did u just sing in japanese cause u know, haiku?
I started learning Japanese for a little while, but fell off pretty soon afterward. I can read hiragana and katakana, and I know some Kanji, but I know nothing about grammar or sentence structure. So basically, I could pronounce a phrase wonderfully, but would have no idea what the hell it means.
I got a Japanese friend of mine to help out with that little section of Haiku.

Community

What are your thoughts about gaining a fanbase?
While I’m still small and humble as a creator online, the following I’ve gained thus far is one I’m incredibly fond and proud of. It’s still extremely freaky and surreal to see so many people enjoy my music, and I hope that novelty never wears off.

What was your reaction to/ how do you feel about all the fan content spawned from your covers?
I love it! The idea that my music isn’t just being seen and enjoyed by people, but that it’s inspiring all new creations and art pieces is incredible to me. Some of the talent I’ve seen is also amazing. There are some real damn artists in my fanbase, that’s for sure.

What kinds of fan content/derivative works are you ok with people making with your music? (ex. animatics, edits, music for “tribute” videos, mashups, etc)
Pretty much all of it! There’s a bit of etiquette to keep in mind, of course (I’m not overly fond of raw reuploads, for example) but the things you’ve described are all super cool to me.

Did any reaction to any of the videos surprise you? Anything you didn’t expect ?
Not particularly. I was able to predict pretty accurately in advance which videos would do well or poorly, which ones people might not like as much, and which ones people would lose their mind over. I decided early that I was doing this as a passion, though, so the numbers don’t mean all that much to me anyway, and I find it very easy to separate The Shitters from The Discerning Critics, which allows me to take criticism pretty well.

Are you disappointed that your covers get more attention than your original music?
I think that largely stems from the fact that I built a following after I posted my original music. The release of ‘the before.’ was also muddled alongside five other uploads, which skews the statistics.
Overall, though, I’m fine with the covers doing better than originals, and fine with some covers doing better than other covers. Online attention will always be finicky and difficult to predict, so I try my hardest to just make whatever music I want to make, and if people listen then that’s really just a bonus.

Hi!! I was wondering, what are your thoughts on fan creations/interpretations, and inspired work?
This is touched on already, but in a word… ‘Awesome!’

Do you have a favorite piece of fanart?
Not at all. They’re all super cool to me, and I’m not nearly invested enough in art as a medium to know what’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The fact that there’s fanart at all is insane.

How do you feel about people making and selling fan merch?
I’d have to judge on a case-by-case basis, but I don’t have any real immediate problems with it I guess? An email or message requesting permission i probably the bare minimum though… I don’t know…

what do you think of the chonny jash fan server?
I think it’s a really cool space and I’m super happy with how it’s been crafted and cultivated over time. I remember the pure surreality I felt when I first found it, and that novelty hasn’t really worn off yet. Like… y’all here for lil’ old me? Golly gosh, you make a man blush.

Will you join the cjfs minecraft server
Who’s to say I’m not already there???
(jk, i’m not. but imagine?)

What are some of your boundaries with fans?
In a sentence: ‘Don’t go to my personal socials and don’t think you know me.’

I understand all too well how easy it is to fantasize about becoming friends with people you admire, or idealize them, or borderline-deify them, but I want it to be clear that I am truly just a random 22-year-old schmuck from suburban Australia.
The flipside of this, though, which I find less touched upon and accepted, is that the version of me you see through my music and videos is one that I’ve specifically crafted and chosen. It’s me, through and through, but it’s not all of me, and I’m not overly fond of the idea that people think they know me like a bestie as a result of my art.
I realize that this little blurb comes off almost as aggressive, and I apologize for bursting anyone’s bubble if I’ve done so, but I want it to be clear that if any of you have put me on some kind of pedestal (which I’m aware is a tiny number, if any), I don’t deserve to be there.

Past that, it’s too difficult to set out any clear and concise rules, and it’s something I’ll have to continue dealing with on a case-by-case basis.
We’re all weird, and that’s amazing. Just… don’t be TOO weird.

If a fan was to encounter you in real life, could they ask for a photo or hug?
This is so exceedingly unlikely that I don’t even know what my answer would be in the moment.
But hypothetically, I’d be fine for a photo and a g’day.
Hug is a bit much, though.

Are friend requests ok?
On my personal socials? Absolutely not. On my public ones? You can send them all you’d like but I’m probably just going to ignore them.

are you ok with dms?
In general, yes. Usually they’re just questions that curious people want answered or kind words. Occasionally I’ll get one that’s just strange and doesn’t warrant any kind of response. Those ones confuse me, but again, I reserve the right to just ignore them.

Do you have any opinions on people kinning your characters?
I don’t REALLY know what that means, but from a quick search, I have no problems with it.

how do you feel about people drawing heart mind and soul in dresses? or more gnc clothing
I don’t mind it at all. If that’s how you’d like to draw the characters then that’s how you should draw them.

How do you feel about so many systems (people with plurality/multiple consciousness) relating so heavily to your music?
This has been touched on already, but in short: Even though I’m not in that category… Awesome!

hey, as an introject of soul, how do you feel about systems with introjects of you and/or your characters?
I had to Google what this means (forgive my ignorance) but from my cursory research, I have no problems with it!

For introjects of Mind, Heart, Soul, etc. in DID/OSDD systems; do you mind us/them using screenshots of your videos/face as face-claims, or would you rather we use art and/or other non-irl-photo depictions?
If I had to choose, I’d prefer art pieces (with permission from the artist, of course) — or even cosplays? But I also can’t stop anyone from doing that anyway, sooooooo… yes’n’t.

Are you aware of how much you inspire other people?
To some extent. I try my hardest to keep my ego tamed, but the occasional email/fan-art/fan-cover etc. always gives me an extremely pleasant feeling when I see it.
I will always try to remember that at the end of the day I’m just a guy with a hobby, but the kind words and sentiments I see do still mean a lot.

Did you ever think about how many people were going to listen to your music/covers when you first started?
Never. Strictly speaking, I ‘first started’ making music about a decade ago, and ever since then it has always been about making what I enjoyed listening to, and what I enjoyed making, and trying to get better at it. The fact that people are now starting to listen is incredible, flattering and bizarre, but it was never really part of the plan.

Future Plans

what are you planning on doing now that CCCC Vol 1 is over? Go back to Originals, cover some other bands, start a podcast about the end of the world with Chris Dunne, or something else entirely?
You’ll see… Eventually…

Do you plan on using exclusively original songs to tell a story the way you did with the covers or will you be sticking to doing covers for future projects? or perhaps a mix of both?
You’ll see… Eventually…

Are you ever planning on doing assorted covers like CiD or original songs like the before. again? Or do you want to stick to artist-based albums?
You’ll see… Eventually…

I noticed CCCC (Vol 1) had 10 “free space” songs (songs not directly on the tracklist of MMMM, a la Special or Storm and a Spring). There were 24 boxes on the “blank” whiteboard in Taken for a Ride. Is this just an arbitrary number for visuals or is it a true teaser? Will Vol. 2 continue this trend?
You’ll see… Eventually…

Will you ever come back to making original songs? (like the ones on “the before.”)
You’ll see… Ev- wait, you’ve already seen this one.

Do you still have a storyline in mind for Heart, Mind, and Soul? Are you planning to use the old characters, and/or have new ones?
You’ll see… Eventually…

will you do a version of “turn the lights off?
You’ll see… Eventually…

Will you be covering more Miracle Musical songs?
You’ll see… Eventually…

Do you plan on making any cojum dip covers?
You’ll see… Eventually…

have you heard of will wood or his music? if you do, have you ever considered covering any of his songs in the future? :oo I’ve always found your style of lyricism similar to his in a way..if that makes sense
I’m not extremely familiar with his music, as I’ve only really heard “In case I make it,” and The Normal Album, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve heard! Laplace’s Angels had been a staple in my playlist for ages before I finally got around to checking out more.
In terms of covers… I don’t know! Maybe, maybe not. I’ve got other plans for now.

Will chonny jash cover lemon demon
I do not know any Lemon Demon songs, so it’s impossible for me to say with any certainty. Niel Cicierega has been a recurring character in my life as a child/teen growing up on the internet, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised.

Will there ever be physical album releases?
Maybe, down the line. For now, it’s just out of my range as a solo artist to organize that kind of thing, especially seeing as most of my fans are international.

Is there ever going to be official Chonny Jash merch?
Same as above. I struggle to imagine any near future where I am able to organize and distribute merch.

Will you open a Patreon anytime soon?
I doubt it, at least in the near future. Even though I completely understand and agree with the concept of Patreon, the idea of making my own seems kind of… gross to me, for lack of a better word. I struggle to think of rewards that are worth paying me a monthly fee, and for people die-hard enough to spend money directly on my music, (which I do NOT expect by the way, keep your cash) Bandcamp is an open avenue to do so.

in the further future, would live concerts ever be a thing?
Unlikely. There’s a reason I hide behind my mixing software as a recording musician.
With some practice and de-rusting, I could feasibly play Drums in a professional, live capacity. Besides that, I’m not nearly good enough as a vocalist or instrumentalist to create any kind of live show any time soon that would be worth putting together.

Do you ever plan on releasing instrumentals from the before. and Covered In Discontent?
Nope. (Sorry.) Those project files are simply lost to time, and the instrumentals similarly so. The only reason CCCC was able to have an accompanying instrumental album was because I planned to do so well in advance.

Are there any plans to release acapellas/other stems for your tracks?
Acapellas? Maybe, but doubtful. For the other stems? Almost definitely not. The sheer time it would take to do that retroactively is agonizing just to imagine.

Are you planning on releasing the instrumental CCCC album on Spotify?
Nope, sorry. Distrokid/Spotify has a strangely vague ruling when it comes to what is and isn’t allowed to be uploaded that equates to:
Original Music = All good!
Covers = Acceptable, but you have to pay a fee for each cover.
Remixes = Absolutely not.
I pretty easily managed to pick out and choose which CCCC songs were straight-up ‘covers’ and which ones were changed enough to be ‘original’, but when it comes to the Instrumentals, that line is far too blurry for me to be able to make out.
At best, I would have to pay another yearly fee to have them there (approx. $150/y) and at worst I would break their terms and services and screw myself over completely.
SoundCloud is much more forgiving when it comes to uploading — and it’s a lot less tedious to do so — so they’ll probably always be the hub for the ‘extras’ like that.

will you put sheesh choir on spotify 🥺
Naaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Do you plan on releasing sheet music of the covers?
If I had any, I would… so no.

HELLO!!! this is more of a request than a question but as a fellow youtube music user I plead of thee to PLEASEEE please please change the category of your videos to music!! my data is dying from listening to your songs so many times… Love you a lot, thank you for what you do.
I never considered this… oops. I’ll literally do it right now. (Should be done by the time anyone reads this.)

Perhaps stream occasionally? Could be fun
Perhaps one day, but not any time soon, methinks.

after you’ve covered basically all the tally material (including jh, rc, and mm content), what’s next?
You’ll see… Eventually…

Joke/Silly

What is your favorite yo momma joke?
There is no such thing as a good yo mama joke.

what is ur fursona?
I do not have one… sorry.

For a short amount of time in your Taken for a Ride cover, there is a drink in a glass that has been a meme on the discord server, I must ask, what was the drink, Mr Jash?
A can of Coke No Sugar, poured into a glass with ice cubes.

Hello, Chonny. I am inquiring on the status of the bottle containing an unknown liquid, visible in the Taken For a Ride cover for a few seconds (specifically on the right side of the screen). Is it okay? Is it safe? Will it be in a future video?
It died valiantly and the caffeine it provided me was a valuable part of the process. It has become one with the very art it fueled.

why are you austrialian
Luck. Whether it be good or bad is not for me to decide.

Viva la quebec!!!!!!!!! 🏴󠁣󠁡󠁱󠁣󠁿🏴󠁣󠁡󠁱󠁣󠁿🏴󠁣󠁡󠁱󠁣󠁿⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️
Good chat.

What’s your opinion on canada, do you think its real
Probably. Some friends of mine went recently and they don’t seem to be the types for global conspiracies… or maybe that’s what they want me to think???

What about texas
Surely mythical.

Do you have hurricanes in australia? Is it florida levels or no
Not very much at all, as far as I’m aware. The occasional heat wave and the occasional flood, and the occasional nation-wide, forest-devastating wildfire.

chumbus bumbus glumbus
Wise stuff.

Will you be going on a 10 year hiatus like tally hall?
I certainly hope not.

Chickens; yes or no?
Delicious. The main reason I’m not vegan.

How do you feel about bees?
Truly despise them. I know they’re harmless, but the fear they instill into me multiple times a week is one that I really wish to be rid of.

Shrimp?
Prawn, actually.

Pineapple on pizza or no pineapple on pizza
Do whatever the fuck you want bro it’s just pizza.

Do you like how you walk?
Impossible for me to say at this point.

sir. sir important question. do you like pineapples.
Yea.

is soul a shrimp? and is mind a crab?
I’m beginning to regret my resolve to answer every question.

Do you like Waffles? Do you like Pancakes? Do you like French Toast?
Solid 6/10 on all three.

did you do a blood sacrifice to make songs so good?
Just a social one.

Tips on gains?
You’ll be shocked to hear this one. Exercise and a good diet. :O
(Author’s note: I’m terrible at taking my own advice.)

wooah oh oh story of chonny jash?
Truuuuly regretting.

can you make your cover of be born again, but just have it be the country bit? (jokes)
Imagine??? Hahaha jk… unless??

hey, chwonny gash, do ewe hiwt the gwiddy?
I’m technically a zoomer but this shit is beyond me.

bad day simlish when?
When hell freezes over and I truly sell out.

Will you ever cover “Metal Pipe Falling — Sound Effect”?
That one’s in the vault, never to be heard by feeble mortal ears.

when is the gaming channel gonna launch?
When hell freezes over and I truly sell out.

Do you water your’e cat everday?
God…

opinion on bbq sauce?
Not really.

will you ever bust a move?
…

Grug?
Yeah okay this is about where I give up…

can i have your gender? (i’m stealing, not asking what it is)
Wait, hang on, there’s a reasonable one coming up.

why did you use the line “voluptuously endowed”
Because it fit the song well, and there’s something really funny about such a needlessly loquacious phrase that essentially means “nice rack.”

Do you like mac and cheese..
And we’re back.

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?
Y’all ever seen that video?

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
‘the rapidly dwindling sanity of valve programmers as expressed through code comments’

are you real?
Good video…

chonny jash
AAAANNNNNYYYYWAAAYYYY…

Is that a Chonny Jash reference?
Yeah.

How did you get so cool? Asking for a friend
I didn’t.