Jon Nelson (guitarist)
| Jon Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 15, 1965 Santa Monica, California |
| Genres | Hardcore punk, heavy metal, punk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Associated acts | Suicidal Tendencies, The Brood, Uncle Slam, Shrapnel, Nasty Habits, Jackie Lee Cochran, Anthony Gallo, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Screaming Fetus, Neighborhood Watch |
| Notable instruments | |
Jonathan D. "Jon" Nelson (born December 15, 1962 in Santa Monica, California) is best known for playing lead guitar in the controversial punk band Suicidal Tendencies.
Nelson grew up in Culver City and started playing guitar at age 5 when he got his first acoustic guitar. His first band was at age 8 and the band was called "Symbols" and included his sister on maracas. At around age 9 he was introduced to the music of Jimi Hendrix, that's when his life changed and he then knew that his future would be as a professional guitarist. At age 13 he played his first night club with cousin, Ernie Centeno. After dropping out of school, Jon took several music courses at UCLA and at age 18 started his own record label. He started out in the venice underground punk scene as the manager and producer for the Venice band Neighborhood Watch on their self-titled eight song EP, which was also released on his Indie label Deeter Deets Records. Jon also produced many demos in his makeshift garage studio in the early 1980s, including Entropy, No mercy, The beer Nuts and Crux Ansada. Neighborhood Watch became the opening act for Suicidal Tendencies and in 1983 Nelson joined Suicidal replacing original guitarist Grant Estes, who recorded the guitar for their debut album on Frontier Records. Nelson initially was to join as a second guitarist playing rhythm and Grant Estes would do the leads, but Estes permanently left the band and Nelson got the gig. In February 1984 Jon Nelson appeared on the cover of Flipside Fanzine #41 with the band who had just been voted Best New Band. (they were voted "worst band and biggest assholes" in 1982). Years later Jon Nelson was erroneously credited in place of Grant Estes when the album was first released to compact disc-format on pressings of the album circa 1987. After a few live performances and the recordings Estes left the group to join the heavy metal band Hostage.
Nelson was in Suicidal Tendencies for over a year. He wrote music and played guitar for the 1983 tour of their self-titled debut album across the United States including Alaska. He co wrote the song "Look Up... (The Boys Are Back)" which appears on the "Welcome to Venice" album released in 1985 on Suicidal Records. Nelson also co wrote "War Inside My Head" which is featured in the game Guitar Hero: Metallica, "You Got I Want" and "Human Guinea Pig" which was recorded for Suicidal Tendencies second full-length studio album Join The Army, it also resurfaced on Suicidal Tendencies 1992 F.N.G compilation release. Unfortunately Nelson traded his writers credit and publishing to lead singer Mike Muir for $500.00 and a Gibson Flying V guitar that was a prototype made for Eddie Van Halen, Nelson had initially sold it to Muir while on the road for $80.00 and Mike knew he wanted it back. In 1984 Nelson left Suicidal Tendencies teaming up with drummer Amery Smith who also played on Suicidal's first record, as well as Suicidal's current guitarist Mike Clark and formed the band The Brood which later changed drummers to Sal Troy.
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