Jacob Nolen is a multi-genre artist, songwriter, producer, and music entrepreneur from Northern California.

Maybe you’ve seen him make a fool of himself in The Gnarly Pints, rock crowds with No One, or hold it down in a dive with nothing but his zingy guitar chops, variegated voice, along with some awkwardly extroverted wit. His influences range from smooth jazz and downtempo electronica, to literally every genre of rock & roll and remarkably heavy metal.

Jake is available to perform (solo or with a full band) at live show events, festivals, private parties, pubs / clubs, bar mitzvahs and quinceaneras.

Watch the music video for Jake’s latest single “Doubt” here:

Jake’s TLDR Artist Bio:

Jacob Nolen grew up poor in the remote high desert climate of Northeast California with little to no opportunities to cultivate his musical creativity. Like-minded artists were scarce and resources were limited, but that would only intensify his passion for the world of music artistry, live performance, songwriting, and production.

At just 1 year of age, Jake could whistle melodies. By age 11 (in 2001) he was already writing songs, poems, and had even created his own language and business selling duct tape wallets — all before ever truly knowing the internet even existed. Jake picked up a cheap guitar at 13, started a band (well, several bands actually) and the rest sort of unfolded from there.

Throughout most of his late teens and early twenties Jake Nolen toured with various local bands, with whom he independently released several albums, EP’s, and singles. Jake has toured much of the Western USA with The Gnarly Pints, whom he co-founded with his wife Emily Nolen, opening for nationally-acclaimed Celtic duo “Men of Worth”, 4-time Grammy award winning artist Kevin Max, as well as other accomplished music acts. The Gnarly Pints went on to headline festivals, release two albums and multiple singles — music that was all co-written and produced by Jake.

In 2013 Jake released his debut album The Project, which boasted an explosive album release concert in a sold-out rock club in Northern California. Throughout the 2010’s Jake wandered and experimented with genres in pursuit of artistic identity — and it drove him into a long season of musical homelessness as an artist with so many contrasting sounds. Aside from sporadic, rare live performances and a handful of singles, the vision that Jake had once held for his music career seemed to be dying. And die it did, for nearly a decade.

In 2018 Jake had started pre-production on another album – from which he had written a song about the devastating fires that ravaged Northern California that year. Weeks after the deadly Camp Fire, which burned into the city limits where he currently lives, Jake released an iPhone-filmed music video that reached thousands of locals on Facebook, more importantly, helped inspire healing in a hurting community. He scrapped the album, however, in pursuit of something more befitting of his original roots in rock & roll.

In 2019, Jake was hopeful of a career relaunch and even had the opportunity to work with professionals in the Los Angeles area, including record producer Jonathan Smith aka TheRealJonSmith. A handful of powerful rock songs were crafted in hopes of becoming the fuel necessary to lift things off the ground and put Jake Nolen back on track as an artist and performer. The 2020 Covid Pandemic, however, put a very swift end to that relaunch and any momentum behind it. The sudden death of a beloved best friend and former bandmate dealt the final blow that almost pushed him to retirement from music altogether.

Years of hard work was salvaged, however, when Jake returned to his first-love of rock music and he founded the band No One, with whom he is still very much active! The very initiation of this project was itself like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, and rekindled a passion that Jake once thought long dead and gone. While the future of his solo career was still up in the air, there was real tangible direction for the first time in years.

In 2022 Jake released “Lull” his first single in almost 5 years, and reemerged as a mainstream artist, producer, and performer with a newfound zeal to create and share music that is unerringly inspired. In 2023, Jake Nolen released his second full-length album Too Late To Party, launched exactly 10 years after his debut album The Project. TLTP was a deeply personal journal entry, made to purposely sound homemade, unrefined, and as raw as possible in order to reflect the emotional and pain-filled lyrical content. Check out the wacky music video for the album’s main single “How To Be Useful”.

“I’m not as cool as I think I am, but I’m cooler than you think I am”

Jake Nolen is not just a dynamic music artist from Northern California; he is also a multi-instrumentalist, producer (who has studied under Grammy-winning record producer and mix engineer Jacquire King), a multi-genre songwriter, and most importantly, a husband and father. His spirited guitar playing, dynamic vocals, and extroverted stage presence have earned him praise from Nashville to LA - and he’s just getting started! Watch the HD music video for his newest single “Doubt” - now available on all major platforms!

Jake’s past and present music projects include, but are not limited to:

Jake Nolen, The Gnarly Pints, No One, Stem The Lynching, Matrem, The Limbic System, and Action Violence.

For professional inquires please fill out the contact form way up toward the top of this page.

Wow! You read all of that? You music be an extraordinarily sexy human being >_<