Jayce Levi is the mastermind behind a number of musical projects, but has recently been best known for his work running Sunny Sounds Recording Studio, where he offers his production expertise and impressive resume, as well as Repairland, where he fixes up, revives and cleans instruments. Levi recently moved his two businesses to Indio—he’s celebrating the grand opening from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, July 11—and hit viral fame on Instagram around the same time. At instagram.com/worldfamousrepairland, sitting at more than 131,000 followers as of this writing, you can see Levi’s infectiously soothing voice and quirky sound effects narrating his repair wizardry. Levi is the latest to take The Lucky 13; here are his answers.
What was the first concert you attended?
The Beach Boys. My dad worked the back gate at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and brought me in.
What was the first album you owned?
Tupac’s All Eyez on Me on double cassette.
What bands are you listening to right now?
Bully, The Supremes, beabadoobee, Chappell Roan, and The Regrettes.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
I try to find something cool about everything.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Smoking Popes. I bought tickets a few years ago and completely forgot about it, and it makes me so sad.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
I don’t really feel guilty about liking anything. Technotronic is probably something I listen to way too much while I’m just chilling—and I’m not doing anything they are talking about in their songs, though.
What’s your favorite music venue?
Outside at Pappy and Harriet’s is pretty great!
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“It was a charity event, but the Hulk didn’t show,” Macho Man Randy Savage on “Be a Man,” his Hulk Hogan diss track, or “Phil is my father, because my biological didn’t bother,” from Shaquille O’Neal’s “Biological Didn’t Bother (G-Funk Version),” from the album Shaq Fu: Da Return.
What band or artist changed your life?
Jerry Garcia. The way he speaks through his guitar, you can hear his emotions and personality come out through his fingers, whether it’s his optimism and radicalism when he is younger, or his frustration and sadness when he gets older—and everything in between is really inspiring.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I’m asking Thelonious Monk what it sounded like when he pushed the piano out of his apartment window.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Probably the song “Sherlock” by my band Astro Safari USA.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Nas, Illmatic.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
“Sick Ride” by Karen Dió.
