Vibes Drop In

Vibes Drop In: John Ondrasik

• Santa Cruz Vibes Media, LLC • Season 1 • Episode 5

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A familiar chorus can change your life twice—first when it finds you, and again when you hear it years later with new eyes. That’s the energy running through our conversation with John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting as we unpack what happens when “Superman” and “100 Years” trade arena volume for a string quartet’s precision. We talk about rebuilding beloved songs inside intimate rooms, letting stories breathe between notes, and why a seated theater can feel less like a show and more like a novel you get to experience with the author.

John shares how the orchestral shift started as an experiment and became a lens that sharpens his catalog. With elite Broadway players at his side, he steps offstage mid-set to let the quartet surprise the room—Rachmaninoff one night, Led Zeppelin the next—then returns to songs that grew up alongside his listeners. We dig into the way meaning evolves: a track that hits at 28 means something new when you’re holding a child, saying goodbye to a parent, or simply earning the lines you once sang for fun. The personal meets the universal when his daughter opens the show and joins him to sing a tune they began when she was four, a full-circle moment that still brings tears.

We also explore music’s civic muscle. From ALS benefits to performing with a Ukrainian orchestra and releasing a new version of “Superman” tied to hostage awareness, John makes the case for songs as bridges in polarized times. A melody can lower the temperature, invite questions, and start conversations where speeches fail. He talks candidly about the pressure and craft of pin‑drop concerts, the code of giving your best to the one person who may only see you once, and the renewed gratitude many artists feel after the shutdowns. Looking ahead, he’s drawn to purpose-led projects—musicals, television, and an initiative to put a music teacher in every school—while leaving the door open to whatever song arrives next.

If you care about songwriting, live performance, and the quiet places where art becomes service, you’ll feel at home here. Follow the show, share this with a friend who loves strings and story, and leave a review to help more listeners find conversations like this.

SPEAKER_00:

Go. Vibes drop in. It's John Androsik, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. Yes, very good. It's rare that people get it right. I just answered a John.

SPEAKER_00:

And I did that exactly right. But those things matter, I think. And you know, from um Vibes Drop In and you know, Five for Fighting, Superman, 100 Years. I think it's fair to say you don't know it probably when you're writing it back in the day that you'd be part of uh weddings and graduations and all of the, you know, there's that human element. There's no way you're thinking that emotionally when you're writing it. But I think it's songs we all know, you know, and it's songs that um might maybe they rest in the guilty pleasure song for some. There's fans like me that that, you know, it's on a playlist all the time. But the bottom line, it's kind of in the zeitgeist, it's in our world. I've heard it a lot. You've played it a lot. And I guess the best way to lean this first one is I think you've probably played it so much you've reimagined how you want to play it. Is that what's going on with this tour?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know, we started doing uh shows with the orchestra about 15 years ago. And it was so um, for me, invigorating to have a 32-piece orchestra behind my back. And and certainly for the popular song Superman 100 Years, you know, it takes it to another level. But also I've had songs that I typically wouldn't play with the rock band um in my catalog that have incredible string arrangements. So uh as you mentioned, you know, it has a certain intimacy, it has a um a different dynamic. And uh again, for me to kind of reduce it to these, you know, string quartet uh arrangements and be able to take it to smaller markets, that's what's amazing to me. I love that we can come to smaller towns, smaller markets, and really provide a different kind of experience for fans. And and I'm a fan. I'm a fan watching these guys every night. They're all elite Broadway players. You know, Katie won a Tony Award. So I'm a fan of theirs. So for me, it's like the best of all worlds.

SPEAKER_00:

You've got a little who's who in there. I mean, even from the press release I saw and doing the homework, you've got that. You've got it sounds like some members from Post Malone in there. It sounds like you've got a bunch of different members in that band, which is, I'm sure that's refreshing for them also. Not necessarily, but I think um, you know, you you're turned up and you have your tours and you have your you're, I guess in a lot of ways, you go to work. You're an artist, but you're going to work. And this one is um for you and I think the crew probably. The question I had, it jumps ahead a little bit. We'll ask it right now is do you see a different reaction in your audience that sees it in this version for the first time to songs they know presented this way? Can you see it out in the audience?

SPEAKER_01:

I think you do. And and the nice thing about this format too is it's it allows me to really give some background on the songs. Um, where you can't do in an outdoor summary show with 5,000 people. You know, you can talk about where we where you were when you wrote the song or stories. So it really is a storyteller's kind of um experience. And then, as I said, to have the quartet just kind of add that layer. They're such amazing musicians. And halfway through the show, actually, I just leave the stage and I let them jam because for me, that is just so exciting. And people, it always ends in a standing ovation, and you never know what they're gonna play. It could be Rach Moninoff, it could be Led Zeppelin. And that's the great thing about these guys, you know, and and they love playing pop music. Of course, they do Broadway, they could play any classical music, but they're like kids in a candy store when they get on a rock tour and play pop songs, you know. So for them, um, you know, they are as excited as I am. How long ago did Superman come out? Frame of reference. Ish. It's hard to say and and and and speak it without, you know, kind of getting it. For the bandage 25 years, you know, it's been 25 years since Superman, a little over 20 for a hundred years. And, you know, as you mentioned, uh for a songwriter, you know, to have a couple songs that seem to stand the test of time, it's very humbling. And and in many respects, those songs are as kind of notable now as they were when I wrote them, which is kind of wild to even talk about.

SPEAKER_00:

The question is more for you though. Um, here's the deal is like, I'm just a you know, I basically am a consumer of this music. So I listened to a song 25 years ago, maybe it is Superman, and it means something to me at that point as a 27, 28-year-old. I'm 57, so do the, I'm not gonna do the math, but it means something as I'm driving down I-25 in Denver, back home in California now. But Superman can change. And this, I'm talking for me and I'll get to you, but I can have a kid and the song completely reimagines itself. You know, you can lose a parent, and then I hear it, and it's like it's not what it was to me when I was 28 as an artist, and we'll carry it all the way through to the string quartet. Can you take me through the evolution of like your life with a song as like this, you know, you you create this beautiful little thing and it means something at 10 p.m. on a Friday night whenever it comes to you. What does it mean in 2025 with the string quartet? But take me back first.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know, it is interesting how songs evolve for us and that we listen to them, you know, at a different age, a different stage of our life, and it has a certain impactful meaning. I hear that a lot with hundred years, you know, folks are like, yeah, I heard it. I was in my 20s and I liked it. And now, and now I'm a grandparent, right? And I'm, you know, I turned 60 this year, you know, so I'm in, I'm in the bridge, you know, the suddenly you're wise verse. I'm with you. Yeah. Right? So we're both in the suddenly we're wise. So we have a little more experience under our belt. And I think hearing the song and playing the song, um, you know, we we relate to it differently. My daughter is now opening for me on this tour. She was three years old. She was three years old when I wrote 100 years. So now, you know, I'm kind of, she's in the stage where I was when I basically kind of wrote the song. So I look at life through her eyes. But I think that's the beautiful thing about music, right? It certainly brings us back to the times that we kind of found the songs. But also, um, just recently I did a new version of Superman for the hostages that, you know, has a global resonance. I can never imagine that after 9-11 and the concert for New York. So it is an amazing thing with music that it has a way to permeate our lives like nothing else.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, there's no way we're mentioning your daughter without solo band. Let's give the plug right here to our uh tens of thousands of uh Bonterey Bay Area magazine readers. What, sir, tell us about her career real quick.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, she's a NYU theater kid, and uh she she has two projects. One is Lace and Lee, which is a folk rock duo with her friend Caroline from NYU, and they open for us on this tour and they bring the house down. Crosby, still, and Nash, kind of indigo girls. Love it. Very old school. And then she has her solo thing called Vi, which again is kind of Tori Amos, but but yeah, it gives us again, we see the joy that they have and the nerves, and we're back again, kind of like living the dream. And and so, yeah, for a dad to come out and perform with his daughter. I have a song called I Just Love You. Talk about, you know, songs standing the test of time. I have a song called I Love You. I wrote it with her when she was four years old, and now she comes out and sings it with me when she's 23. You know, I haven't gotten through it yet without a tear or two. That was my next question. My next question was can you make it through it? I haven't yet, you know, maybe by the end of this run, but um, that's that's that's what makes this so fun and and and this format so great. And again, as a California boy, I made the Battle for Everything in Montecito. Uh, you know, I've kind of lived, you know, coming going up and down the coast. And my wife, you know, her favorite show on the tour is Monterey. So she can sit for hours and watch the seals. And she does. Yeah, she sits there for hours and watch the seals. I watch the waves, so it's almost like you know, our second home.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, if it wasn't the logistics were bad, I'm looking right out. We live in Capitola, so I'm looking right over to the Monterey Bay. We live on live right on the cliff in uh Capitola, so I'm looking out towards where you'll be playing when you come out for it. One question, again, you uh I'm gonna jump backwards and go forwards to something you just said, but the backwards is so 15 years or so, you kind of you kind of pivoted to elevating this music in this way. Did it elevate your ear? Did it elevate your style of playing, or did it, did you change what you do for this, or is it just a kind of an integration of what you were doing? Um, did it create something unique for you?

SPEAKER_01:

It did. I mean, these are much more musical shows. I mean, you know, I have this great kind of pattern of going out with string quartet in the spring and the fall and the rock band during the summers. So I get the best of all the worlds. Yeah. You know, when the rock band, you know, look, you're running around, you're singing, it's a big show. If you miss a note, if you're a little out of tune, it's like, you know, whatever, it's rock and roll. You know, these shows with these musicians, they put a little pressure on me to actually, you know, be be a little more musical. And again, it's pin drop kind of playing. And but also I love the storytelling and I love the intimacy where I literally see buddy's somebody's face in front of me and and you can see the reaction, whether it's a joke, whether it's a tear. And we can interact with the audience. People, I sometimes say, what do you want to hear? What do you want to talk about? You know, you can't do that in the big rock show. So again, that for me, it's if I was gonna see my favorite artist, it would be in this format. I want to see James Taylor with the guitar. I want to hear everything about the songs, and that's why I think, you know, and also you get to sit down, you know, you're sitting in the theater, you're not.

SPEAKER_00:

You're not you're so in tune with it. Because I do I have an analogy because we do love following bands that do this on some level or independently. And there's a difference between like when we go to a concert at the film or something like that, it's clearly the lyrics and it's a story, it's a consumable story. But when you basically sit down for something like this at Golden State, you know, it's a novel, it's a narrative, it's a it's a real kind of immersive. It's a there, you're not running as fast. You're gonna basically be able to enjoy a little bit. And I I I love that you said sitting down because um that takes the pressure off the audience. It takes that kind of like there's because no matter how fun a concert is, there's still that sort of there's logistics standing up and dancing. There's logistics to the whole movement of a concert. I can't big six foot six guy just stood in front of my wife. All of these things are going on. You know, something else, you know, but those are that's why you go to a concert because you want that dopamine, right? But I do like that that thought of it. Um, and so how many stops on this West Coast? Is it all West Coast tour? Is it all over?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no, yeah, yeah, we're basically going to do a few gigs in Arizona, then we'll kind of run up California, head to uh Washington and Oregon. So yeah, we're just kind of heading up and down. And you're right, I think it's you said something very interesting, and I agree. I think this is more of a concert than a show, right? There's concerts and there's show. I'm playing the same songs, you know. Sometimes I tell the same stories, but this really is kind of a more intimate uh experience and a more musical experience. And also you never know what's going to happen. You know, sometimes we'll, you know, someone will say, play this song, we had no idea of doing it. We have videos that we show that kind of talk about our career and um and some moments of my experience. I I went to Ukraine and performed with Ukrainian Orchestra. We show that and I talk about that and that experience. And so, again, these are things that you can only do in this format. And again, when you add the string quartet and their musicianship, forget about it. You know, I'm just in cloud nine.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and that that gets to the other one because you told you mentioned it early, you've mentioned it twice now. You are not afraid to wade into letting that artistry and your feelings about the world, it doesn't seem to have ever stopped you from basically doing something about it or using your platform uh to at least connect with your audience and a greater audience about it. What compels you there? What what what um what moves you in that direction?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think you know, tonight I'm actually doing an event for ALS, my pal Augie's Quest charity. And I think one of the most beautiful things about having a few songs people know is that you can support causes that are important to you, but you can also give voice to the voiceless. Um and also you can present ideas in a you know in a very tribal world that um that people may listen to differently through music. You know, we're we're so kind of polarized. And I find when I listen to somebody talking and playing a song, I listen a little bit more. There's a certain heart there. So um, so yeah, wrote a song about Afghanistan for our troops that you know, nobody was speaking for them, you know, whether the Ukraine song or going to Israel and PostgreSquare, you know, I think for me, when I feel emotional about something and passionate, I feel it's a certain obligation to say it. Do I feel everyone should agree with it? Of course not. You know, that's the beauty about music. There's been a history of music and people speaking their mind, and you get an idea of the culture and the times through the you listen to the music of the 60s, you certainly feel the times. Yeah. And so, you know, for me, um, especially kind of on the backside of my career, I really, you know, have no qualms about, you know, saying what I feel about certain issues. And will that make some people angry? Um, of course, but that's kind of the nature of discussion. But music does allow us to have the conversation. And that's my goal. Have the conversation. We're not always going to agree, but at the end of the day, for the most part, as someone who travels through every state, I hit my last 50th state last year. Blue states, red states, purple states, green states. At the end of the day, we have a lot more in common that divides us, and I see that firsthand in my job. Wait, did you just announce a presidential run?

SPEAKER_00:

What's going on here? You could be my campaign manager, Brian. Let's do it. We'll save, we'll save the world. I'll send you, I'll send you because you actually be interested. An editorial magazine just dropped today. I'm in the midst of unloading 15,000 copies. But the editorial in this one's very on point with what you just talked about. And we sort of have the saying at vibes where, you know, engagement is the fastest path to empathy. And, you know, and empathy is the fastest path to change. You know, so it's a simple little thing, but I think you engaging with the audience, you engaging with in this particular political climate, which is daring us to just stay divided, daring us to not dive in with common sense. I do think you have a powerful um, you know, including your, you know, five for fighting, including like your dynamic kind of like way you lead into these ones. The I think more people doing what you're doing, which is, you know, which is sort of a calm in the storm, let's have a conversation about something. I'm not converting you, I'm not asking you to change your opinion. I'm basically just shining a light on something. I think we need a lot more of that.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree with you, especially especially in the music business. I mean, that's been the history of the music business, right? To talk about issues and and give voice to the voiceless and and you know, speak to power. And and I love your line about empathy and engagement leads to empathy because I think, you know, getting up on your soapbox and screaming and lecturing people, like frankly, so many people do in Hollywood, that doesn't that doesn't move the needle, right? It just kind of is annoying, and I think people just tune you out. And that's why a song can be so much more powerful than 10,000 speeches, 10,000 options, you know, because people will hear it and they'll have an emotional reaction, and then they may listen to your words in a way something else. Superman, again, this new version for the hostages. I've I've had many conversations with folks who say, you know, my kids had this kind of view, whatever, and they listen to your song and they were asking me questions they'd never asked before about, you know, who is this alone OL, this piano player who's been hostage for two years? I'd really never heard of him. So again, it allows conversation. And that's basically for me, that's basically my goal with the with all this stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

I love it. Usually I ask this question and it it can be explosive after a few minutes, but I get the sense I know what this answer is going to be. Are you still having a good time doing this?

SPEAKER_01:

I am so blessed. I am so blessed, you know, you know, 30 years later, to still have people singing my songs back to me, to have the interaction with audiences. You know, I think particularly after COVID, all of us who kind of do this for a living have a new gratitude about audiences and being on the road and the musicianship and the camaraderie of the road that was all taken away from all of us as audiences and performers. So I think there is this new humility that many of us have about wow, we are so blessed to live in this great country and perform our music, say what we want to say. And I've I've never felt kind of more inspired too. I kind of feel like I was when I was 16, 17, just like, I'm gonna write a song and whatever happens, who knows? Who cares? And that's a wonderful freedom to have, you know, when you're uh when you're on the backside of a hundred years.

SPEAKER_00:

I I hear you. You know, and that's exactly it. Is like I think it's on uh Aziz Ansaris, the comedian, right? And he did a stand-up, yeah. And you start talking not so much of the life of head of ahead of you, you actually start talking about the amount of hangs you have left with people. It starts to get to you're really kind of sitting there going, like, oh shit, I'm 21 and it's all ahead of me, and I'll see you a million times. Then you get to 60, and I'm talking about my parents, my dad's gone, and you have these ones, and you're like, oh, we're talking 17 to 18 hangs left on the entire docket. So it is perspective. One question I always ask though, and I and I'm just interested from an emotional standpoint, like not to put you on the screws, but ballpark, how many times do you think you've sang Superman? You know, ish. You know, it has to be close to, you know, 10,000 times. That's exactly. Well, 10,000 of anything makes you an expert. So you're an expert musician. But the the question I have is like on a Friday night, on a Tuesday night, you know, touring, is it just almost the conversation we have, like to emotionally connect to a song for the 10,000 and one time? Because I've seen you, I've watched some live videos and stuff. You're still deeply connected to that song. Not it, not it's as if you're singing it for the first time and the band's playing it for the first time in a lot of ways. And I know that's probably not all the way true all the time, but mostly it is. How do you do that?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think there's two answers. You know, first of all, I'm very lucky that I still love playing those two songs. There are other Five for Fighting songs that if I'd never played them again, I wouldn't shed a tear. But I, and of course, with the new kind of with hundred years, you're always in there, right? Yes. So you're always, you're always somewhere. And with Superman, with the new kind of version, and also every time 9-11 rolls around, Superman it takes on a certain weight. But I also have, you know, I I a friend of mine who's an elite athlete said to me, you know, he's he's been playing soccer games every Saturday since he was five years old. And everybody, he's a world famous, he's Landon Donovan, the famous guy. And he said to me one time, he goes, Every every game, there's one person that came to that game to see me, and it's the only time he'll ever see me play. I owe that kid, that person, my best. And I feel that too as a performer. It's like you may be exhausted, you may be fried, it may be the six gig in seven nights, you may be a little sick, but there's always one person in that audience that this is the one time they came to see you in their life, and they want to hear that song. So you certainly owe them your best effort. Is it amazing every night? Is it perfect every night? No. But that I think that obligation for artists is real and I take it seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

I love it. And I and I think you did you've done a great job with it. I can feel it in your music. And I think um, you know, we always try to keep this around 20 for the artist and us, and we've got a lot out of it. But I think, you know, the the the last question that I sort of have is you know, the classic all-encompassing as far as, again, perfect age to be talking about this with the perspective of where you are, um, and sort of even on this tour, you know, in your career now, as you start to look at it in whole, is there anything, any stones left unturned right now, you know, as far as musically? Um, you know, is there anything else kind of left in the tank that you're like, man, that one more thing?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I always uh like to think my best song is still ahead of me. Yeah. But um, you know, there's things like musicals. I've dabbled in musicals, I've dabbled in television. There's various, we have a new uh kind of NGO charity called Let Music Fill My World that is about making sure every school has a music teacher. Yeah. So a lot of the things for me are they're music related, but it's not like I need to make another record. It's something like I want to do something that has purpose and um and at the same time have a song or two attached that um for me is gives me a reason to write it or something to say. So I'm very excited about um different projects, musical projects, but it may not be just like let's make another Five for Fighting record. Though that could happen too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And I think you've done a really good job. I think with your sort of position, we talked about a few of the bigger things, but you're also involved with quite a few nonprofits. It looks like you spread that love around as much as possible. I think I saw one that was either feed the children, there's a lot of different charities that you're involved with. Um, and those will definitely make their way to the article. But as far as in 20% of vibes, all of our platforms, the TV network, podcast management, um, the magazine itself, we abdicate and give away to nonprofits. And for me, that kind of is my um that's my energy. That is sort of what keeps me rolling. It feels like it connects me to, you know, I'm I've got my head down doing the media company, but it's those small, quiet moments with the nonprofits where I guess it grounds me a little bit, John.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm telling you, I I'm I'm right with you. You know, I've been the honor of my career just to be performed for our troops and go around the world and play for them and working with my buddy Gary Sinise. So those things for me, to spend a moment with a Gold Star family mother or a hostage family mother, it's like those special moments. When you see people who are incredibly strong and going through challenges we can't imagine, it's very easy to support them and to have energy to write a song or sing a song or give them, you know, give them the love they need. So I'm with you. And and this has been such a wonderful talk, Brian. I I wish every interview was as you know invigorating. And we certainly, I think, share the same brain.

SPEAKER_00:

This is a great conversation. I love these drop-ins, kind of the perfect amount of time, and this one could have gone much longer. Um, you know, but we'll do it justice in the article, do it justice on the TV network. And then I know Stacey and I are gonna be out there on the 25th at Golden State Theater checking you out. So beautiful. Well, come backstage, you know, hang out, meet the band. I'd love to meet. Is this your wife that's coming with you? Yeah, she's co-owner of the magazine, and um, she'll be out there with you know, fans all the way around. So I think I held it in check for 20 minutes. Um, now I'll get off the phone and let the uh let the air out a little bit. Thanks, my brother. Yeah, dude. Well, look forward to seeing you, look forward to meeting you, and thanks again. All right, we'll see you on the 25th. Thanks, John.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, take care.