Singer of Jon Hardy and the Public, Jon Hardy would describe the band’s live show as being intentional energy.
The St. Louis community will be able to experience this intentional energy on Jan. 21 at The Sheldon.

“We have enough of a spectrum of songs that [the show] is not entirely just straight rock n’ roll music. In all of our songs, we do a good job
of pouring ourselves into the performance,” Hardy said.

Hardy explained that he is excited to have been asked to play at The Sheldon because it gives the band an opportunity to play their music for new people.

“It’s a great space,” Hardy said.

The band enjoys playing in their native St. Louis because they have been able to establish a reputation.

“We have people at our shows that know our music and specific songs. It’s nice to be part of that familiarity,” Hardy said.

In addition to their show at the Sheldon on Jan. 21, the group has recently performed two other shows in St. Louis.
One of these took place at Off Broadway on Nov. 12 and the other took place at The Firebird on Dec. 18.

The group’s most recent EP “A Hard Year” was released in late 2010.
It features songs like “Nobody Like You,” “Restless Again” and “A Hard Year.”

According to Hardy, the songs for “A Hard Year” were started a while ago.
Some of the songs are intended for a more general audience while some were meant to be connected to more specific people and, therefore, have a more specific subject matter.

While the songs on the EP were influenced by a variety of subjects, they all have one thing in common.

“All of the songs were written with the intent that people would be able to easily find something to relate to as they listen. Anyone who listens can find something for themselves in there,” Hardy said.

Hardy said the EP was trying to touch on something real.

“I think a lot of people, in the last year or two, have gone through tough times. It’s easy when that happens to isolate yourself and shut down and go on cruise control,” Hardy said.

The band wanted the EP to remind themselves and listeners that life should be intentional and that sometimes we need to be woken up.
The band’s previous EP’s include “Little Criminals: Songs from Randy Newman” and “Sugar,” which were both released in 2009, as well as their LP “Working in Love,” which was released in 2007.

“A Hard Year” proved to be a challenge for the band to pull off.

“The songs were fairly different from our last couple EPs,” Hardy said.
The band had to ask them if they were going to be able to pull of these different songs and still come away with something successful.
In the end, Hardy believes that they did.

“We wound up in a different place then we thought we would,” Hardy said.

The recording process of “A Hard Year” was the first time the band worked with a producer.

“We did significant changes to the songs, which was new to us,” Hardy said.

Jon Hardy and the Public is currently in the process of doing another small recording.

In fact, some of the songs they plan to play at their show on Jan. 21 have not yet been recorded.

In addition to this recording, the band is also in the process of finishing a music video for “A Hard Year.”

Jon Hardy and the Public’s performance at The Sheldon will begin at 8 p.m. They will be joined by special guest Maid Rite.

The Sheldon is located at 3648 Washington Blvd.
General admission will be $10.