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Justin Bonitz

American singer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Justin Matthew Bonitz (born 1990)[2][3] is an American singer, songwriter, musician, vocal coach, and social media personality. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the band Tallah, the bassist and vocalist of the band Graystone, the sole member of the project Hungry Lights and a contestant on Seasons 1 and 2 of the reality gameshow Musician Mansion.

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Career

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Early projects (2007–2015)

Bonitz's musical career began at the age of 10 due to playing the guitar against his will, causing an initial dislike of it, although this view had changed by the following year after writing original material.[4] Bonitz's career as a vocalist began at age 17[5] after forming a band named "6 Minutes to a Wheelchair", which was later renamed to "Blind Can't Follow" and then "amnaeon".[4] He initially experimented with screaming in an attempt to stay awake while driving; the album playing at the time was State of the Union by Rise Against.[6]

All other members of the band eventually left, resulting in the continuation of amnaeon as a Bonitz solo project.

Hungry Lights (2015–2017)

After the folding of amnaeon, Bonitz started a new solo project titled "Hungry Lights".[7] He started another YouTube channel for this project, as well as a second channel, "Hungry Covers", intended for cover songs.[8] These channels experienced a considerable boost in popularity after entering a competition hosted by fellow musician Jared Dines, ultimately emerging victorious.[8]

Joining Tallah (2018–2019)

Tallah was formed in 2017 by drummer Max Portnoy, guitarist Derrick Schneider and bassist Andrew Cooper. Portnoy knew of Bonitz through the channel Hungry Lights, and asked his father Mike Portnoy to contact Bonitz for a place in the band.[9] Bonitz has stated that he did not initially recognise Mike Portnoy.[10] He officially became a member of the band on New Years' Day 2018.

On 18 July 2019, an incident at Lizard Lounge (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) unfolded where Bonitz attacked a member of security staff in self-defense, incorrectly believing them to be an aggressive fan of the band.[2] The security guard apprehended Bonitz due to him hanging from a beam of the ceiling mid-performance. Bonitz continued to perform until being arrested in the middle of the set.[11] Following the arrest, Bonitz was believed to have gone missing; it was later revealed that a miscommunication stated that he had been released whereas he had instead been transferred to another prison.[12][13]

Tallah, Graystone and collaborations (2020–present)

Bonitz has also collaborated with several other musicians on YouTube outside of Tallah, such as providing vocals for a brief guitar cover of "Overconfidence" from Matriphagy by Andrea Boma Boccaruso,[14] "Core Theater" by Jared Dines,[15] and a cover of the Lil Pump song Pump Rock x Heavy Metal alongside Steve Terreberry.[16]

In mid-2023, Bonitz was involved in a YouTube series called Musician Mansion, hosted by Jared Dines and Angel Vivaldi. 15 YouTube musicians (including Bonitz) were split into 3 5-piece bands and took part in various different musical and non-musical challenges over the period of a week. The series was filmed in a mansion just outside of Seattle (where the band and film crew lived during the week's filming) and in the city of Seattle itself. The 5 episodes of Musician Mansion were released on November 4, 2023.

As part of his time on Musician Mansion, Bonitz was put into the band Graystone along with Austin Dickey, Nik Nocturnal, Paula Carregosa and Damien Ward. The band stayed together after the end of the show, and released a studio version of the song they wrote for the contest ("Bleed the 5ifth") after the show was premiered. On 19 December 2023, Graystone released a cover of "Jingle Bell Rock".

On September 27, 2024, Justin was featured as a vocalist in Nik Nocturnal's cover of the Linkin Park song The Emptiness Machine.[17]

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Discography

Beautifully Worthless Beings

Singles

  • Give Me a Day (2018)

Call It Ego

Studio albums

  • Back to the Old Way (2016)
  • The New Elevator (2021)

From the Looks of Things

Studio albums

  • The Summit (2017)
  • Flicker (TBA)

Graystone

Singles

  • Bleed The 5ifth (2023)
  • Jingle Bells Rock (2023)
  • Bock 22 (2024)
  • S.O.S. (2024)
  • Pond Shrieker (2024)
  • Ghostbusters (2024)
  • Rikki Tikki (2024)
  • Slam Dogs (2025)

Hungry Lights

Studio albums

  • The Awry Ascent (2015)
  • Heavy is the Crown (2016)
  • Three Gods & Me (2017)
  • Mudoo Ra (2019)
  • Untitled Fifth and Final Album (TBA)

Otto Rocket & The Proamates

Studio albums

  • Uncle Tito (2015)
  • Elephant Seal (2017)

Prilly T

Studio albums

  • Dear Rudiff (2017)
  • Dear Rudiff 2 (TBA)

Snailfetus Kidney Sacrifice

Studio albums

  • The Crawling (2016)

Tallah

Studio albums

Extended plays

Non-album, non-EP singles

  • Gooba (2020)
  • Vanilla Paste (2021)
  • Hard Knock (2023)
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References

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