JPG: The wellness aspect of it. When did that come in because that’s become a very popular subject recently?

JD: Since I’ve been at St. Francis I got my Master’s in Educational Leadership and really came to understand how to get any kind of information to somebody in an effective way. Another part of it is I had had some health problems, mainly revolving around anxiety that caused me to do a significant amount of research for myself to find out what do I got to do to stay on the planet because I’m heading the wrong way? And in doing that I came across so much really great information that turned my health around, that was natural, that I realized, “My God, I can integrate all of this and the students are going through a lot of the same stuff that I’m going through. I can build a three-credit course just on this stuff.”

So, we do lots with anxiety, lots with sleep patterns, all these different things that mix together, and I surround all of it in ways to use music to get to that end. The nice thing about the University is they let me develop it. They give me freedom that I’ll make them something good and everybody wins.

JPG: At one point did you realize that people outside the University were into it and you were able to do workshops around the United States and Europe?

JD: I had already started to do that early on, like in 2000. At first it wasn’t the wellness stuff, it was more of the drumming, the African music. Basically, I used my association with Rusted Root to get my foot through the door. People would at least be willing to give me a shot to come to a festival or come to their town. Over time, all these people who had come and seen it and liked it and wanted me to come back again that it gave me lots of different places to return to, and I still do.

JPG: Back on the album, on front cover, the way the type is set it looks as if it’s by Jim Donovan and called “Sun King Warriors” but elsewhere it’s listed as Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors.

JD: When it to a point where I was gonna release it I wasn’t sure, “Are we going to play this live or is it just going to be a release?” This is how little I let myself think about it. What I knew was that if it was going to be live the band was going to be called either Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors or just Sun King Warriors. That name’s got to be in there somewhere. Some of the guys in the band weren’t even on the record because I didn’t have the final lineup solidified. The drummer Joe [Marini] is not on it. Dan Murphy is only on one song with vocals. So, it’s not a Sun King Warriors record yet even though that’s what we’re playing. We’re developing who we are.

My goal was to introduce people to it. I didn’t want to just call it Jim Donovan Love On Me or something like that. You only get to release one first record like this and I wanted to make sure I at least have the opportunity to have a band do this stuff and that was gonna be exciting. I had a feeling it would be.

So, yes the name of the record is Sun King Warriors and the name of the band is Sun King Warriors. It’s a little…confusing. (laughs)

JPG: That reminds me. Is there anything behind the name, Sun King Warriors, and the image of the painted elephant?

JD: There is. The name is simply put, the ‘warrior’ part is the fight. It’s the struggle. The ‘sun’ and the ‘king’ it’s about becoming that next best version of yourself. All the times that I’ve tried to do that it’s always a struggle. There’s setbacks, challenges, reverting to old ways…all that lives in there. So, the Sun King Warriors is like, “What’s worth fighting for?” is becoming the next best version of ourselves.

The elephant, I wanted an image that was powerful but also joyful. I was looking for elephants with its trunk up. I looked at so many freekin’ elephants, and I found this one by a guy from Sedona, Arizona who had been to India and he took this beautiful shot. I fell in love with it and I contacted him directly and asked him I could purchase it. He was happy.

In Hinduism the elephant, they call it Ganesh, is the remover of obstacles for those who like that kind of stuff. We have elephants all over our house. My wife loves them. The idea is that they can move anything you need to move. That’s what that’s about.

JPG: Speaking of your wife, obviously she’s been supportive during this endeavor but was there a lot of explaining and convincing before you started this?

JD: Oh yeah. The reason I married her is because she will always check me on stuff. She’s been way more supportive than anyone can ask for. She checks me on it, “What are doing that for again? I thought that was over and you’re not doing that anymore and now you’re doing this again. What is this all about?” I would just face her and say, “I don’t know what this is. I just need to do it. It makes my head right.” So, she’s like, “Alright, if you need to do it you need to do it.”

Then, when I decided I’m going to put a group of guys together and play this stuff, she’s like, “You were in Rusted Root when you did all that, what is this about? Is this your ego? Do you need people to clap for you?” So, I explain to her about how challenging at first it was for me to even sing in front of people and that I needed to get past that, I needed to conquer that and feel good about it. Also, I need to do this because it makes me feel good. I love hanging with these guys. I love the stage. It’s part of who I am. And that whatever I would I would always make sure that everything was right at home, that when making decisions the family thing is always gonna be first. What we’re gonna do works inside of that then beautiful.

What we’re not doing right now is getting on a bus and going to every club from here to California. What I want is something, a vehicle, that I can, and we, the guys, can go play when we want when it’s fun and always have this mechanism that can be the outlet for creativity and camaraderie. There’s always conversations. She never minces words. If it sucks, she’s the first one to tell me. If it’s good she tells me, too. I can trust her.

JPG: It sounds in a way like an egoless endeavor.
JD: The ego is always an endeavor. I check it. That doesn’t mean I beat it all the time. I’m aware of it. I’m aware of what out of control ego can do to an individual and also to a group of people. I’m feeling good about how all that is right now.

JPG: Not trying to pan anyone from your Rusted Root days but is that one of the lessons learned from previously being in the music world and around the music business and seeing the negative things to avoid?

JD: Oh, sure. Absolutely. It’s challenging to see the worst in people. Being on so many tours and even in myself, seeing how the lack of sleep and the unnatural environment that that can be, how it can bring out the worst in someone. I’d always thought in the last 10 years or so, “Oh, I wish I knew then what I know now. Man, I would have approached so much of this differently.” Even with just how I would take care of myself on the road. I wish I was running all these years, I would have been a different human being. You get to see some really amazing stuff out there and then there’s some really not amazing stuff. I keep my eyes open, I’m always gonna learn something about how not to be.

JPG: You’ve been releasing albums but they’ve been mainly sold at your events or online, here you’re dealing with crowdfunding and distribution. That goes back to a learning curve.

JD: Oh, God yes. It’s a completely different business than it was when I left. I understand pieces of it. I have friends who understand more of it. So, I ask them lots of questions and get some good help.

I’m not rushing. The biggest most wonderful piece is that there’s no one in the world that was waiting for this. I’ve no pressure. I own the thing. So, it’s not like a label is pressuring me to do anything. And that’s all very consciously designed.

JPG: Is the Sun King Warriors project more than just an album, more than just a group?

JD: Definitely. Going back to the idea of putting everything under one umbrella, there’s a lot of information that I am really interested to get into people’s hands — education, the wellness pieces, the community-building pieces through music. Part of my design with this project is to provide another level of a platform so that I can share what I do and what we do on a much wider level so that I can go from a regional awareness to a national and maybe even an international awareness of all the education pieces.

Included in that is this idea of service. We do a lot with feeding the hungry, work with kids who lost parents; a couple of these causes that I’ll continue to spend energy and time bringing people in, whether it’s to a show or whether it’s some educational event and connecting the attention that we get from this and helping to divert some of that to other places and really use it for all it’s worth.

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