Growing up, Jon Muzikowski idolized bands like Green Day and Blink-182. They inspired him to take up bass when he was 13.
This spring, Jon was shopping in a grocery store right near his home in Wayne when he found out his band would be sharing the same festival billing as Blink-182 this September.
“I just left my cart behind, went outside and started Face Timing our band, just thinking ‘Holy God, is this really happening?’,” he admits.
Including Jon’s band, NOT YER BABY, and Blink-182, Asbury Park’s sold-out Sea Hear Now Festival lineup includes ZZ Top, UB40, Lenny Kravitz, Hozier, Sublime, 4 Non Blondes, Public Enemy, Spoon, Alabama Shakes, and many others.
Asbury Park was where it all began for Jon, and it’s where the band would eventually make their name, headlining sold-out rooftop shows, making MTV-worthy videos, and having some rockstar dreams fulfilled. Not bad for a guy who happens to have the nickname of Music, thanks to his last name.
And none of it may have happened if it wasn’t for some crowd surfing. About ten years ago, Jon was in Asbury taking in a show when the six-foot-six former Division II basketball player suddenly decided to ride the crowd “an absurd amount”. He was eventually deposited alongside another rather tall person, a woman named Carrot. They struck up a friendship, and after Jon saw a video of her singing on Facebook, suggested that they start a band.
Eventually, that band became NOT YER BABY, an Indie dance-punk band that’s full of energy and known for crowd-wowing performances that captivates this mecca of Jersey music. (Jon believes that the name, as you’re probably wondering, came from a line from Scarface.)
When he’s not playing bass with NOT YER BABY, Jon works as a group home manager for people needing psychiatric care, and also is a caretaker for a friend’s special needs son. “It’s not a job to me,” Jon says. “He’s special. I’m just his buddy.”
This special mentality is evidenced throughout the band. “Every one of them is just a great human,” Jon boasts.
“We genuinely care about the people who are around us so maybe that's why we have our following and our scene in Asbury. I think people like being around us and we like being around them so it's kind of great.”
Jon’s path almost went a completely different way. He had a contract offer to play basketball in Australia that wasn’t taken. But he found his calling in Asbury, during one random night of kismet. You never know where destiny is going to take you, or when surfing a crowd might lead to something life changing.
This summer, why not take a day trip to Asbury Park, where you can not only spend a nice day at the beach, exploring the Asbury scene, and maybe (if you’re lucky) find out what magic might come from crowd surfing during a NOT YER BABY show?
Not Yer Baby can be found online on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram (@defnotyerbaby), Facebook, etc.