When Robert Jon Burrison first heard a song he wrote played on 95.5/FM KLOS last year, he said he felt like a kid in a candy store.
It caught the frontman and guitarist of Orange County-based rock and blues band Robert Jon & the Wreck and his bandmates — co-founding member and drummer Andrew Espantman, lead guitarist Henry James, bassist Warren Murrel and keys player Jake Abernathie — completely off guard, but one of them was able to record video of the radio playing the song “Pain No More” on their phone.
Burrison compares the moment to the fictional band The Wonders hearing their song on the radio for the very first time in the Tom Hanks-directed 1996 movie “That Thing You Do,” which was also filmed in Old Towne Orange.
“That scene, where everyone freaks out, that’s what it’s like and that’s how it should be always for any band that gets any radio station ever to play their music,” he said while hanging out on the patio at Scarlet Kitchen & Lounge in Rancho Mission Viejo.
Following a quick run of shows in the U.S., the quintet is home for just a couple of weeks before heading back to Europe for headlining shows and festival dates. They’ll also be playing a hometown gig at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Friday, July 14.
“The hometown shows mean a lot more to us now,” he said of the forthcoming gig. “It really is a homecoming now because we don’t have the time to play around like we used to and it means a lot to see all of the people we know and it’s always a blast.”
While “Pain No More” has landed in regular rotation on KLOS and Burrison was even a recent guest on music legend Matt Pinfield’s “New & Approved” show on the station, he said the sudden boost in exposure has been humbling.
“Whenever I hear it now, it brings me joy every single time,” he said. “It’s not something I’m taking for granted because it’s something you do strive for as a musician. You write and record a song that you…
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