Geek rock’s new king

For years, Jonathan Coulton felt as if he were living two lives simultaneously. In one of them, he was a writer of computer code, a cubicle cowboy at a small software company in New York City. In the other, he was a writer of quirky songs, a balladeer who mused on topics such as fractals, robots and monkeys.

Then he had a “Mr. Mom” moment — sort of like the one Jack Butler (played by Michael Keaton in the 1983 film) has when he drives his children to school for the first time and goes the wrong way around the facility’s circular driveway. “Dad, you’re doing it wrong!” the youngsters yell.

For Mr. Coulton, though, this voice came from inside his head.

He and his wife had just had a baby girl, and he stayed home from work for nearly three weeks to care for the infant.

“When it was time for me to go back to work, I thought, ‘Whoa. I don’t really want to go,’ ” Mr. Coulton says by phone from his Brooklyn apartment. “I had nursed the music-hobby thing for my entire adult life, and here was this new child who was going to look at me as an example of what to do. It just seemed really dishonest doing that [software development] job.”

So, in September 2005, “contrary to every shred of reason,” he walked away from his steady paycheck and into the uncertain world that surrounds a full-time musician.

Since then, Mr. Coulton has used a combination of magic, talent and marketing savvy to turn what could have been just another starving-artist tragedy into a fairy tale.

His folky reworking of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” was an Internet smash, and another tune, “Code Monkey,” became a favorite of key crunchers everywhere. He has been written up in the New York Times Magazine, mentioned in the music rag Blender and invited to appear on National Public Radio. He has a publicist; gorgeous, glossy full-color press photos; and an income that surpasses that of many signed artists who have been in the game a heck of a lot longer. (According to the New York Times Magazine, Mr. Coulton’s music sales bring in as much as $5,000 a month.)

Then there are the fans. They volunteer to organize gigs for him, work his merchandise tables, make free music videos for his tunes and create other “JoCo”-inspired works of art — be they illustrated books or fuzzy vibrating pillows.

When asked about his success, the now 36-year-old songwriter says without a hint of irony, “It’s actually very easy to do.”

First, he started with an original sound. We’ll call it silly-yet-smart geek-rock, but it’s far more nebulous than that.

To 25-year-old Pittsburgh resident Bonnie Bogovich, it’s best summed up as “the skill of Billy Joel, a hint of [Albert] Einstein, and the quirkiness of Weird Al Yankovic, but with a more pleasant singing voice.”

“It’s funny, sweet and crazy all at once,” adds 31-year-old Chicagoan Andrea Crain, speaking from the Windy City.

Next, Mr. Coulton embraced the tools of the anti-album, pro-single generation.

“When I left my job, I had a very, very vague plan, which was essentially make music, put it on the Internet, then something happens, and I make money,” Mr. Coulton says.

Story Continues →