Hunkered down with family during pandemic, My Hero Zero’s Jason O unveils new musical project

Jason Olcese, aka Jason O, has been a staple of the Centre County and East Coast music scene for well over a decade.

That influence remains healthy and vibrant, even during the often tumultuous COVID-19 era, during which time Olcese has spent significant time on his latest project — JAOH — the latest iteration of his evolving brand. It derived from Olcese’s vast musical background, the great success of State College band My Hero Zero, and Olcese’s enthusiastic ambition to write, record and share his original music.

“For the last 18 months we’ve been working on starting a new project called JAOH,” Olcese said. “We wanted to try something new and we’ve been making new pop music under that new brand name, but we hadn’t released any until (May 15).”

JAOH is predicated on a significant amount of original material, coupled with Olcese’s — and his manager and wife Angel’s — ability to market and release that music.

“We’ve got an album in the bank, and we’re ready to to start releasing singles and shooting videos and trying to create an artist experience for people that captures what I am right now.”

I’ve been listening to Olcese’s music for a few years now, including rocking out to My Hero Zero, digging on his solo debut at The State Theater a little over a year ago, and now exploring JAOH material. Olcese has wonderful energy and a seemingly endless source of musical and entrepreneurial inspiration, and it’s easy to hear in JAOH’s new single, “Pulling Me Up,” a shoutout to someone who has been supportive.

The song starts very subtle — the muted guitar chords are practically a whisper, with a distant, murmuring keyboards. But it’s the foundation for what’s to come, which includes Olcese’s vocals as well as the layering of additional instrumentation. Soon enough, the drums and bass trickle in. The keyboards mimic and harmonize with the melody, while Olcese repeatedly sings, “It’s a long way down,” and “You’re pulling me up.” The music peaks and resets, some tasteful electronic samples tie everything toward the end, and there it is. Catchy, meaningful, creative, and, as per Olcese’s norm, full of heart.

The single is the first of many to come, Olcese said.

“We want to think of the art more from a content creation standpoint where we’re pairing singles with videos,” he said.

Part of the rollout includes getting a membership-based Patreon page started, and continuing to find ways to engage listeners and other artists.

“(Fans) want to know more,” Olcese said. “They want to be part of shaping things. They want to give suggestions for what they’d like to see from an artist, and my entire career has been about service. So, this gives fans more direct access to being part of the journey.”

JAOH picked up significant momentum when Olcese decided to hunker down with his brother and parents during shelter in place regulations implemented as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“All of our shows got canceled, so (my brother and I) decided to hang out and we started shooting videos together,” he said. “It’s been really a cool way to spend this time.”

Olcese was raised in a home that featured two parents who are accomplished musicians and were also music teachers, so studying, performing, recording, and writing music is in his DNA. That lineage called Olcese home and has resulted in a significant amount of new material.

“My dad and I used to record albums together,” Olcese said. “We have a studio out in the garage, so we’ve been making arrangements of songs and practicing them and shooting videos.”

All of JAOH’s new music will be released in tiers, with, in some cases, initial access dependent on listeners’ level of involvement on sites like Patreon, as well as additional perks.

“We’ve just started mentioning it,” Olcese said. “The goal is it builds slowly over time. When the world gets back to normal there’ll still be live shows with My Hero Zero, so I want to make sure we are building behind the scenes relationships so we can take people on whatever ride happens next.”