John Wayne Hero

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Born in early 2007, John Wayne Hero is the orphan child of the recently deceased DC punk art-rock outfit, Jinxed at Twelve. With the deterioration of his former band, singer/songwriter Binh Ngo took on a new musical aspiration with a collection of songs under the name John Wayne Hero. These songs, in contrast to Jinxed at Twelve's youthful punk agression and nature, focused its energy more intently on the delicacy of the lyrics and the way the instrumentation would help transpose that. "I wanted these songs to be able to translate with the same emotion and feeling, whether it's being played by a solo guitar or a full band and orchestra," Binh said. "The key to songwriting is whether or not, when it (the lyrics) stands alone on a page, it can hold its own weight." Citing influences ranging from Roy Orbison to Smashing Pumpkins to Bob Dylan to Screaming Trees to Bruce Springsteen, much has to be said about the diversity of the band's musical composition and direction. "It's important to have an open-mind and be tolerant of all forms of music, whether it be rock, folk, pop, hip-hop, or even country," Binh added. "You have to let it influence you, just like everything else in the world, because without it, there's no room for musical growth and maturation." This reflects in John Wayne Hero's songs, which can reach into arena rock territory, with the battalion-marching-rhythm ferociousness of "Marilyn Heroin", or pull back into a quieter number, such as "Before You Go Away", whi

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