Meet Jay James | Immortality Projects | Lead Singer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jay James and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jay, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?

Life has no end. It goes on with or without you. You were given this once in a moment opportunity, the greatest opportunity in existence, and it’s here right now, it’s consciousness, you hold it, you hold it right now in your hands, it’s yours, it yours to do with it what you will. You can either squander that and waste it or you can give it your best shot.

When I was around fifteen there was a quote that dawned on me that helped me a lot in life and it was simply “Life goes on.“ sometimes written “L.G.O.” and I remember writing that on my arm at certain times because, you know things got so hard sometimes that it felt just like, everything; and that if, that wasn’t happening anymore or, like if I wasn’t around, that, you know, it felt like life would completely stop. And that was just complete… completely wrong. Like the ultimate honest truth of it all is that no matter how hard stuff gets for you, no matter how hard things are right now, no matter how hard things are today… if you just died, like life goes on, everything doesn’t stop because you died because of how hard it got, you know. And so giving up is not an option. Period. That’s what it says to me in my head. Its like “Oh well my stuff is so bad well…” and it feels like everything, it feels like your entire life, it feels like existence itself – right; because these things get so heavy and so strong and so emotionally charged and that emotion just, engulfs you and its just, it just blankets your entire perspective of what life is. And if its something that you can’t get out of or you just can’t find a way to cope from it, its that thought where its like “Well… if I didn’t exist” it almost makes it feel like things would be better you know, you think that something would change because – you think that, you would feel better, if you didn’t exist; and its just like okay so imagine you die – *bam* – powerful effect… people are hurt for a second right, but life literally goes on. And so I mean giving up is not an option – that just tells me giving up is not an option. No matter how bad things are for you… NO MATTER HOW BAD THINGS ARE FOR YOU –  you had this one opportunity right, and if you give up, like you just throw it all away… tomorrow still comes. The sun still comes up, people go out and go to work… buses are still on the street, cars are still running, animals are still out in the woods, rivers are still flowing… like nothing literally stops. Whether you give up or not nothing stops. You can give up if you want but the world just keeps on spinning, and you just wasted your chance, and there are still people out there getting the exact things that you wanted for yourself, and the world does not come to an end. – so… giving up is not an option. That’s how I know giving up is not an option right there.

When I was about, I think I had just turned 21, my best friend at the time had died, and so uh… being an only child at the time he was the closest thing that I knew to a brother, and… it was a lot. It was… a lot to deal with. But um… here we are… Over a decade later, like ten years later; things have changed so much, the world’s a completely different place. Our favorite video game that we used to play, the sequel to it finally came out after we had been waiting for so long you know. And um… that’s the answer for me. Is that, no matter how good you feel right now, or how bad feel right now…no matter how sh*tty things are… no matter how amazing things are… when you die life goes on, so giving ups not an option, you might as well give it your best shot. You might as well do what you want, enjoy your time here, and enjoy yourself. This is a game, play it how you want. Enjoy your game.

A quote that I used to live by daily back in high school and college… my friends remember this quote because I used to pull them out of the house at all sorts of crazy hours, like, I don’t know, 2AM, to go climb buildings around the city. And um, this one quote that I used to live by was… “If you died tonight would you be happy with what you did today?”. And I embodied that quote; every day I woke up and thought about that and it pushed me so hard to go out and live life to the fullest and just push, and test the boundaries. Just push and push and push and just tear, and do my best and what was within my power to make… things happen; just things. Even when it just came to things of like developing myself, like, it pushed me to live the greatest life that I could at the time because I knew that we would never get that time back. And its thinking like that that helps you discover your own power. And when you know your own power, giving up is not an option, because you know that you have the power to change the world.
Living with this quote in mind encourages you to live an entire lifetime in a day. It gives you no excuse to half *ss and wait for tomorrow because tomorrow may not come. Instead it focuses on loving yourself and loving your life as much as possible every 24 hours, as if you wouldn’t exist beyond that 24 hours.

That is the power of the artist, it is the power of the alchemist, it is the power to change existence. How you exist, how you think… how you belong.
So giving up’s not an option. Life is the greatest thing you’ve ever known, it’s the greatest thing you’ve ever experienced. Keep going and take control… And save yourself, when you need to. This is what you have to do to better your life. Do whatever it takes, and get to where you want to go.

Death is my greatest motivator.

Besides our own lives and the daily things we deal with, we have to maintain a healthy mindset and a healthy lifestyle. Health is the overall focus. Health leads to happiness. We have to be respectful of what our minds and bodies need, as well as the needs of others, and of the other life forms on this planet that we call home. To maintain this amazing life that we have been blessed with, we have to take extremely seriously the health of the planet, of the ecosystem, and of the organisms that share this existence with us. Of these many different species the shark is one that needs our help the most right now.

At One Ocean Diving our new and ongoing Shark Research and Conservation efforts include:

-New shark deterrent tests for devices for the Baja area collection diving fisherman who have had negative interactions with sharks.
-Hawaii shark behavioral data from specialized cameras.
-Newest data point of “human impacts” recording the number of sharks who show signs of, or carry gear from human impact per dive.

Some of our newer and ongoing conservation projects include:

-Reef clean ups via Save The Sea Turtles International / One Ocean Conservation (which continue) with accumulated marine debris being shared for an upcoming awareness art piece.
-Our Plastic reduction project in the Maldives is on going: Nature Friends of Maldives – water filtration x share awareness project on the island of Fuvahmulah and its efforts to spread information to hotels and to other local islands.
– New conservation media for predator importance is currently underway, with a few other projects that we can’t share just yet.

In regard to Global issues: The European shark fin sale/trade ban was successful in moving along and we’re hoping that part of the team or a global ambassador will help push for Florida and southern states to ban shark fishing tournaments.

Come join us in making the world a better place with a beach clean up and help us keep our oceans clean and healthy for all of us to enjoy.
Beach clean ups help us protect the marine ecosystem by getting rid of the trash that poses a danger to aquatic animals and plants. Human rubbish can be toxic to both the beach and to these marine environments… we don’t want that at all. Join us for a Beach Clean Up today and lets keep our planet, ourselves, and the ecosystem healthy.

Change begins with you.

Let’s get it.
A better world. A better life. Let’s go.

– Jay James, Immortality Projects

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Pop Metal Rock Band | Los Angeles, California

We’re super human: the children of an atomic bomb.

I’m most excited about our brand new music video about to drop ‘Jacaranda – Immortality Projects’
Its such a VIBE

I’m most proud of the brand new Music Recording Studio that we just built in Los Angeles, California; and of hanging out with Tommy Lee from Motley Crue while watching the Buenas Noches – Jay James ft. Zarutt Malai music video together.

We got to where we’re at today with ‘san’ and ‘mok’ – a solid foundation and focused direction.
Wasn’t easy, but it was always fun. We overcame the challenges by always staying true to ourselves.

Learned so many lessons along the way. The one for today is:
“You can get what you want, or you can just get old.”
– Elton John

I want the world to know that we’re coming for it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Favorite spots in the city:

Venice Beach!

Rodeo Drive!

Favorite Thai Restaurant in Thai Town which shall not be named!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A huge shout out to Justin Gray: CEO @songistry.ai, Partner @weareantigravity, half of @bogartandgray, aka Ribbit @madpandaandribbit for all of the mind blowing support, knowledge, coaching, and mentorship.

Follow me on Instagram now: @jayshuriken @immortalityprojectsband

Music Can be Found Here: Tiktok: @jayshuriken Spotify: Jay James Immortality Projects Apple Music: Jay James Immortality Projects iTunes: Jay James Immortality Projects Google Play: Jay James Immortality Projects Amazon Music: Jay James Immortality Projects Youtube Music: Jay James Immortality Projects

Image Credits
Fiamma Films Joshua Penamata Videography & Photography