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♪You♪ ♪don’t do politics it’s true♪ ♪Politics always do you♪ ♪Don’t do politics it’s true...♪ I'm Glenn Richards, and this is Amplified showcasing some amazing artists for your listening pleasure.

On this episode, we're going to meet Gainesville multi-instrumentalist, ska musician, JER.

With Jeremy “JER” Hunter on vocals.

Emily Williams on saxophone, Elwood Bond on drums, Ricky Weber on guitar Candice Maritato on bass, Esteban Flores on keyboards, and Rob Verdugo on trombone.

From 2025’s “Death of the Heart”, here's “The Way You Tune It Out” from JER on Amplified ♪♪Trying to figure out♪ ♪and see what you perceive♪ ♪rationalize inhuman idiosyncracies♪ ♪the notion that our national devotion is of freedom♪ ♪laughably a lie♪ ♪Insidious god given right to commodify human life♪ ♪But you don't want to hear it♪ ♪We can tell by the way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪Ocean boilin’ the climate is recoilin’♪ ♪Out planet dying for the profit of the oilman♪ ♪Don’t want to hear it wanna live in your delusion♪ ♪Don’t wanna seet it wanna find your own conclusion♪ ♪Go ahead and flip the script♪ ♪We know you don't want to depict♪ ♪reality of what's going down♪ ♪We can tell by the way you tune it out♪ ♪the way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ Amplified!

Thank you so much for having us.

My name is JER.

About ten years ago started a YouTube channel called Ska Tune Network where I make ska covers of songs.

But about five years ago, I started writing my own songs with my own message and putting them out under my name JER.

So hello, my name is JER and this wonderful group of human beings with me today is the JER band.

Now I want everybody at home to put their hands together for the one, the only shred master himself on the guitar, Ricky Weber!

♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪ ♪The way you tune it out♪♪ Amplified thank you so much for having us today.

We put out a record last year called “Death of the Heart” and we’re gonna be playing a bunch of songs off that record including this next song coming up.

This song is called, “Couldn’t Be Me” ♪♪Me today, you tomorrow♪ ♪Clock is ticking I sorrow the time you livin on♪ ♪ain’t yours, it’s strictly borrowed♪ ♪Can you really act surprised♪ ♪Like the devil hasn’t lied♪ ♪in the very fabric of this land♪ ♪Don't you understand?♪ ♪Demonize, demonize anybody that they can no iota for the human decency quota♪ ♪the band of frequency too high for human hearing♪ ♪As they steering our demise, you surprised♪ ♪when they leaving you behind?♪ ♪Did you lose your safety?♪ ♪Guaranteed by the roots of your family tree♪ ♪soil so fertile centuries decomposing♪ ♪fruits of the labor and pain of ebony bodies♪ ♪Could not be♪ ♪Could not be me♪ ♪Masters house is burning you tryin’ to renew your lease♪ ♪Four more years, ignore the screams, the tears, negative peace♪ ♪Melanin voices tried to tell you, heeded no warning♪ ♪no need in mourning a conflict you’ll never find the middle♪ ♪End up like Solomon with a fiddle♪ ♪Now can you riddle me that?♪ ♪Fascist umbrella growing wider, now you under attack♪ ♪Now you feel like it’s dire suddenly an insomniac♪ ♪American Dream expired cannibalized by the desire of occupiers♪ ♪Did you lose your safety?♪ ♪Guaranteed by the roots of your family tree♪ ♪Soil so fertile, certuries decomposing♪ ♪Fruits of the labor and pain of ebony bodies♪ ♪Could not be me Could not be me♪ ♪You don’t do politics it’s true♪ ♪Politics always do you♪ ♪Don’t do politics it’s true♪ ♪Politics always do you♪ ♪Do you♪ ♪Did you lose your safety?♪ ♪Guaranteed by the roots of your family tree♪ ♪Soil so fertile centuries decomposing♪ ♪Fruits of the labor and pain of ebony bodies♪ ♪Did you lose your safety?♪ ♪Guaranteed by the roots of your family tree♪ ♪Soil so fertile centuries decomposing♪ ♪Fruits of the labor and pain of ebony bodies♪ ♪Could not be me, could not be me♪ That's “Couldn't Be Me,” from JER on Amplified.

And ahead of that “The Way You Tune It Out.” Both from 2025’s “Death of the Heart”.

Thanks for being here!

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

I saw you guys at Less Than Jake’s Wake and Bake a year ago.

A lot of fun, high energy.

Love it.

Your career has taken, quite a journey.

Bands We Are The Union and Ska Tunes Network, session musician, composer.

And who dubbed you the “CEO of ska”?.

That was, like, collectively, TikTok.

Okay, there.

Like, when I first got on TikTok, I started making videos talking about Ska music, the history, as well as doing covers.

And people at the time was a trend.

If someone to talk about makeup like a CEO of makeup, someone's talking about like sports, CEO of sports, I was talking about Scott and the comment section was CEO of ska, CEO of ska.

And that's kind of like where that came from.

So how did you get into Ska?

Because I mean, you know, I got into the, the second wave.

So you must have been like the third wave or I've lost track of how many waves.

Are you the fourth wave?

Fifth wave?

What?

Depends, honestly, depends on who's asking.

Or who you ask is, is the question because, you know, I feel like the genre, has just been kept going, and they have, like, these pockets of popularity, all across the world.

So depending on who you're asking, what they believe is a wave or not, I focus on the whole ocean.

I'm not looking at a wave, you know so well.

So, I mean, originally in the 60s and then like the 80s, had a revival with bands like The Specials, The English Beat and The Selecter, and then in the 90s you know, bands like Gainesville, Less Than Jake at a bunch.

I was born in the 90s, so Less Than Jake was already a band happening when I was, coming into this world.

So I found them actually, Less Than Jake was the first band that I found.

They were on a soundtrack for the Digimon movie, and that's how I discovered the genre.

Just digging through the internet in middle school and eventually, discovering bands like them, Real Big Fish, and by the time I entered high school, I was already hip to The Specials as well as like the Skatalites, original Jamaican ska as well.

So... That's one thing it's fun about music is like you, you- the entry point of a band, and then you go like deep down the well to find out everything that came beforehand.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's good stuff.

So- What?

So walk us through then, like, you know, you you joined a band, and another, another band and another band and, and now you've got your own solo project.

So talks a little bit about your history.

Yeah.

So, when I was living in South Florida, which is where I'm from, I worked at a venue called The Talent Farm, and that was a local music venue.

So you had larger bands that were touring.

You also had smaller bands that were starting out, and they would host any of all bands I could fit in the venue, and that's how I started playing in bands, joining bands.

I started my own band, booking touring ska bands as well as other bands, and that kind of led one door to another, door to another door.

I got connected first with We Are The Union through those that that same circle of people that I met through just touring through, that venue.

And as I started playing with We Are The Union, I started to meet other musicians.

That's kind of how I've met everybody who's in my band now is we've played in other musical projects before, gone on tour, meeting each other.

So we all have different, like musical paths that all connected through just simply playing music with people and meeting other people.

So as you said, before you started writing your own music, like five years ago.

Yes, yes.

So what inspires you?

Besides, you know Ska, or- But I mean, topic wise.

Yeah.

So about five years ago, when I started to, like, hone in on writing my own music, I've been writing music since I was in high school, and the songs kind of always just existed.

I didn't really do anything with them, and I was focusing a lot on the other bands that I was playing in.

But as I started to develop the Ska Tune Network covers you know, recording 500 songs in my room and learning a lot about just like songwriting and stuff, and started to feel a lot of different, like feelings that cannot be conveyed with words like music is that next step, right?

And being able to convey that music, the message with the music is kind of what inspired me to just start to take the things that I believe in and putting them into song.

All right, well, let's hear another one.

What do you want to tell us about this one?

It's it's kind of speaks for itself, but- Yeah, I think it speaks for itself.

I think it's, it's a song that is about, the fact that, we live in a world where profit is put in front of people.

And I believe that we should live in a world where people are put in front of profit, and that we should, prioritize love over prioritizing, making the most money as possible.

Here's another one from “Death of the Heart”.

This is “Capitalism Breeds Devastation” from JER on Amplified.

♪♪Strip the Earth of all its life♪ ♪No conscience♪ ♪Eternal state of theft and conquering♪ ♪Endless mindless consumption running rampant♪ ♪Rotting from manifest destiny♪ ♪The nature is lack of nurture severing us further and furter♪ ♪from humanity, community, trust in knowing each other♪ ♪Why should I bat an eye♪ ♪the wealthiest maximize profit from leeching, no preservation♪ ♪nothing but devastation♪ ♪Greed devours, respecting no existence♪ ♪Bomb the children, send them to the mines♪ ♪Corpses build, the violence is relentless♪ ♪Record profits at the expense of mankind♪ ♪The nature is lack of nurture♪ ♪Severing us further and further from humanity♪ ♪community, trust in knowing each other♪ ♪Should I bat an eye the wealthiest maximize profit♪ ♪from leeching, no preservation♪ ♪Nothing but devastation♪ ♪From Palestine to the Congo♪ ♪and from Cuba to Lebanon, and from Sudan to the United States of America♪ ♪Nobody is free until we're all free♪ ♪from the capitalist corporate greed, greed, greed♪ ♪Greed, greed, greed♪ ♪Greed, greed, greed♪ ♪Greed, greed, greed♪ ♪Greed, greed, greed♪ ♪Justifying carpet bombin childern♪ ♪Empathy for no one but the villains♪ ♪Forced eviction ona helpless mother♪ ♪No compassion for one and another♪ ♪Justifying carpet bombing children♪ ♪Empathy for no one but the villains♪ ♪Forced eviction on the helpless mother♪ ♪No compassion for one and another♪ ♪Justifying carpet bombing children♪ ♪Empathy for no on but the villains♪ ♪Forced eviction on a helpless mother♪ ♪No compassion for one and another♪♪ ♪♪We wake up and we scroll, watching bodies pile up♪ ♪Must be getting pretty old♪ ♪Watching kids in the trenches♪ ♪Digging for techbro’s gold♪ ♪Anything to make them rich♪ ♪Crimes against humanity, systems keeping us busy♪ ♪Making us bicker, so pedantic♪ ♪Keyboard warriors arguing trivial semantics♪ ♪Who’s the wokest in the room?♪ ♪Most identifier prefix to flip the script from your lineage♪ ♪How long can you rig the image upholding your privilege?♪ ♪What will you say♪ ♪When they disregard my humanity♪ ♪to take my life away♪ ♪Let’s run it back to our regularly scheduled program♪ ♪To flip the script from terrorism to thugs here in our homeland♪ ♪Obscurity, claim its it’s for our security♪ ♪Pledge allegiance to the flag, responsible for apartheid♪ ♪Body bags in mass, criticize the violence sentenced to treason♪ ♪When the tear gas asphyxiates the citizens♪ ♪Leave them wheezing♪ ♪Will you still try to justify the reason?♪ ♪Brothers out here, they bleeding♪ ♪The cops out here, they beating♪ ♪Facism keep proceeding♪ ♪What will you say?♪ ♪When they disregard my humanity♪ ♪To take my life away♪ ♪What will you do?♪ ♪When the genocide spreads to your backyard♪ ♪Will you still ignore the truth?♪ ♪Ooh♪ ♪Oh oh♪♪ This next song is for the people who may feel like they're failing in life.

Maybe at this age, your parents owned a home and you don't own a home or maybe you have a degree or 2 or 3, and yet you still work food service, and yet you still, work in retail or maybe, you just got a degree or you're about to go into college.

You don't know what you're going to do with life.

You can't find a job.

If you feel like a failure for any of these things, just know that you are not a failure.

Because these are all things that has been made, by our society over the last 100 years.

But the things that are integral to this world, the things that are integral to humanity, the things that are integral to life itself, is community, is art, is love.

These are things that are the reasons why we are put on this earth and our value comes from there.

Our value does not come from how much money we have or our title or our possessions.

Every single person has something beautiful inside of here, and they are meant to share with this world.

And it might not be the most profitable thing.

It might not be the thing that makes you the most money or a lifelong career, but it is worth so much more than that.

You are worth so much more than that.

♪♪Wrote a message to my former self♪ ♪Afraid of the future♪ ♪Wasn’t really too sure♪ ♪If anything would ever work out♪ ♪Floating through the ether waiting for the reaper♪ ♪Jaded, and burnt out♪ ♪A three-time college dropout♪ ♪Not a single direction to meet the expectations♪ ♪Of my family to get a degree♪ ♪They said that’s all I need♪ ♪Like a normal person would♪ ♪They all said that I should♪ ♪Writing this message to my future self♪ ♪For when things are getting pretty tough and life is full of --- stuff♪ ♪Know that everything will work out♪ ♪Take a look at how far you've come and all of the things you've done♪ ♪Jaded and burnt out ian official college dropout♪ ♪They doubted every goal you made♪ ♪But the worth of the words they started to fade♪ ♪So cut the bull, and trim the fat♪ ♪Take the weight right off your back♪ ♪And let it go♪ ♪Cause they don't know♪♪ That's “A Message to my Future Self” from JER on Amplified.

A 2020 single.

“What Will You Do?” and “Capitalism Breeds Devastation” ahead of that from the 2025 album “Death of the Heart” So you're dubbed the CEO of ska, but there's much more.

You have much more interests than Ska, and you bring it all into, the music.

Talk about your other stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

Before I found ska music, I was primarily raised on a lot of hip hop, R&B, jazz music, and those are all musics that I still love, still listen to.

And as I was working on my record in particular, the most recent record I was trying to hone everything and make everything kind of just ska And I just kept writing like songs that weren't completely ska.

And at one point I realized, wait, I'm JER and, this project is called JER.

So if I write a JER song, it is a JER song And rather than trying to, like, force myself into a box, just, fit some sort of standard that someone I don't even know wants, I just decided to be my authentic self and write what I feel, which could be a ska song.

Could be a punk song, could be a hardcore song.

Could be a jazz song.

Could be a hip hop song.

Those are all different, sides of music, you know?

So rather than creating these, like, fictional barriers and dividing music so much, I figured, why not just pull from all the things that I love and have that be, all pieces of the entire message and the entire piece of art?

Yeah.

It's better to have, and not need than to not have it.

Need it right.

-Yeah.

So, you know, -Yeah So, you know makes for quite a gumbo.

Yeah.

You had, like, everybody in the whole place.

I haven't seen the crew, like, bopping along like this in a while.

I mean, there were, like, skanking in in their chairs in the control room.

So, I mean, ska is so many different things.

I mean, it's like party music on the surface, but, I mean, there's a message as well, and that's gone back through the whole timeline of of Ska.

So, why does that work so well?

What do you think?

I mean, being the CEO of Ska, what is your analysis of this?

I think I think that it is a music that it was birthed out of Jamaican independence.

Jamaica became an independent country.

It was a time of like, celebration.

And that's kind of where the music came from.

It was also a music that is a gumbo in itself.

There is like Jamaican mento.

There's a lot of West African music that went into the influence.

There was also a lot of, influence coming from the United States, from African American music as well.

So it was an amalgamation of all of these different styles of music, and it truly was like a celebration.

And like they still had struggles, they still had things they were fighting through.

But you can't have like anger without joy.

You can't have joy without sorrow.

You can't have sorrow without anger.

Like these are all, like I said, like it's like the art itself.

There's all these different sides of it.

And it's the same thing, like all these different emotional sides that make the whole, you know.

So I think that is part of why it works so well in so many ways.

And the rhythm can fit into so many different styles.

And if you trace most genres, modern genres back for some reason, Jamaica has had such a huge influence on modern music as a whole.

We wouldn't have most, if not all of the styles that we do play without, like the Jamaican music itself.

So I think that also plays into a part of it.

Well, it all fits together.

And I love picking it apart and finding those through lines and stuff.

So Ska Tune Network, what, you’ve done like three albums of of covers that you said you've recorded like 400 songs and stuff, and you take, like pop songs and make them.

You ska-ify them.

-Yeah That's so much fun.

-Yeah.

And I mean, and they work.

It's like you would think, like, well, that's not going to work.

I mean, it does, what I mean, so you've like, learned from that experience and that informs your, your own music.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's quite literally, the best way is like, it's like speaking a language.

You can do all the textbook reading as much as you want, but you're not fluent until you actually go to the country where they speak that language and just have the conversations.

And to me, the same thing with music.

It's like you could read the Wikipedia on what Sky is and talk about walking basslines and upstroke rhythms on two and four, but you're not really going to know how to play the genre until you actually go to shows.

Start listening to all the bands.

But same thing with writing music.

You could read all of the textbooks about what makes a song good and a dominant chord going to like a, you know, a plagal cadence or all these like music theory terms, but like, we're not textbooks.

We’re human beings that are experiencing the thing.

So part of it is like as, as I started covering these songs, I started to learn like, oh, that's why this song makes me feel this way.

Especially taking a song out of its original style.

You know, like a song that might sound mournful and making it into ska, but finding how to make it work and how to, like, still capture that mournful element in a genre that is known to be upbeat.

Sometimes it's a challenge doing that, but it has allowed me to learn how to truly, bend the dynamics and expand the dynamics of the music that I'm creating.

Do you, co-write stuff or is it all yours?

I write the the bulk of it, especially with “Death of the Heart”.

I wrote the bulk of it, and then we actually went into a studio and jammed the songs as a band.

So we went into the actual studio, we recorded like, semi live.

We did a rhythm section, and I played bass on that.

And then we did horns together.

So, everybody did bring their own flavor of things into the, into the music for this most recent record especially.

Cool.

Well, where's the best place for people to find your music and, and learn more about you?

Yeah, you can find, the music on all the streaming platforms.

You can Spotify, Apple Music, all of those.

Typically if you search JER “Death of the Heart”, it'll come up because I made the mistake of being the, like, 700th JER who's making music.

So, if you search the, the artist name as well as the record name, it typically comes up.

I'm also on Instagram @jer.band And yeah.

All right.

Cool.

Well, time for one more.

We're going to go back to, the first album.

Yeah.

2022’s “Bothered/Unbothered” Here's JER with “Nobody Can Dull My Sparkle”- I believe it- on Amplified.

♪♪Imma be real with you I started being real with me♪ ♪I can't be bothered by you wasting my energy♪ ♪Good morning, how are you?

What it do?

What it be?♪ ♪I’m vibin, I’m thrivin I’m living my best life, G♪ ♪Can’t you tell?

That I’m well That I’m swell, my best me♪ ♪By the way that I move when I groove to this rocksteady beat♪ ♪Imma be real with you♪ ♪I started being real with me I can’t be bothered by you♪ ♪Ain't nothing but a leech♪ ♪Got better things to do, better places to be♪ ♪I can't be bothered by you wasting my energy♪ ♪Are you good, you okay?

See you sippin on that hate-orade♪ ♪Puttin work to be a jerk I see you at it everyday♪ ♪But not me♪ ♪I believe in investing my energy♪ ♪Into people who believe in fostering community♪ ♪Cause I know that they love me♪ ♪And I know they're not trying to drag me down♪ ♪We’re all growing, we’re understanding♪ ♪And we don't need your wack vibes around♪ ♪Where are you?♪ ♪and I'm so sorry♪ ♪Imma be real with you♪ ♪I started being real with me♪ ♪I can't be bothered by you♪ ♪Ain’t nothing but a leech♪ ♪Got better things to do, better places to be♪ ♪I can't be bothered by you♪ ♪wasting my energy♪♪ Amplified!

Thank you so much for having us!

Once again, my name is JER!

And in the band you know Woody!

Candice!

Rob!

Em!

Esteban and Ricky!

Byeee!

That's “Nobody Can Dull My Sparkle” by JER.

You can find out more about Amplified and check out past episodes at wuft.org/amplified I'm Glenn Richards.

Thank you to JER for being here and performing for us.

Thank you for checking us out.

We'll see you next time.

♪Where are you?♪ ♪and I'm so sorry♪