Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling singer-songwriter Five for Fighting (aka John Ondrasik) will be hitting the road this August, bringing along his band: drummer Randy Cooke, guitarist Peter Thorn and bassist Whynot Jansveld. “If it’s summer, the Five for Fighting rock band is back on the bus,” said Ondrasik. “We look forward to playing the songs people know and love, some of the newer songs … and telling stories about the music along the way. We can’t wait to see you this summer!” Then in September, Five for Fighting will be playing a series of special string quartet shows. The intimate nature of the evenings will allow Ondrasik to go behind the music with stories and sagas.
Ondrasik’s passion for supporting humanitarian efforts and freedom has been a longstanding commitment. Recently, he’s been taking a non-political stance on key events around the world, writing songs from a humanistic perspective, including “Blood on My Hands” about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, “Can One Man Save the World?” which was recorded in Kyiv in support of Ukraine, and “OK (We Are Not OK)” in response to the terror attack of October 7, 2023. Hours before Iran’s missile attack on Israel on April 13, 2024, Ondrasik performed “OK (We Are Not OK)” and his 9/11 anthem, “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” in Tel Aviv.
“‘OK (We Are Not OK)’ is not a political message, but a moral one—a call to action,” explained the Los Angeles native, whose heritage is Slovak. “Sometimes, simplicity in songwriting is the hardest thing to do. Very simple: We are not OK.”
Ondrasik continued: “I was inspired by [New York Mayor] Eric Adams’ speech after October 7th, when Adams said, ‘You know something’s broken when we have thousands of people celebrating these atrocities in Times Square.’ I wasn’t planning on writing a song, but we all saw, over the next few months, the collapse of the press, many becoming kind of media propaganda for Hamas, the college campuses in America run amok with antisemitism and assaults—something you really couldn’t imagine in 2024.”
Ondrasik, who is not Jewish, said that performing in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv recently, and in the October 2001 benefit “Concert for New York City” after September 11 were the most significant things he has ever done. “Being able to talk to hostage families,” he said, “it’s kind of my mission to keep them front and center. There are no words to describe what they’re going through. We owe it to them to do everything we can to keep their plight in front of not just American people but the whole world.
“I’ve never had a desire to preach. I am not one of those celebrities who get on their soapbox.” Ondrasik noted. “It really started with Afghanistan, when we abandoned our citizens and allies to the Taliban. I spent 20 years singing for our troops. I love our military. Many Afghan vets were so gutted, I felt obligated to write [that] song.”
Ondrasik added: “I had no plans to do another one. Then Ukraine happened. After October 7, I just felt obligated to say something, particularly when nobody was. Many Jewish artists couldn’t even say simple things like ‘release the hostages’ or ‘Hamas is evil.’ That shouldn’t be hard to say but for so many musicians, it seems to be. It’s just another example of ‘We Are Not OK.’
The artist recalled a conversation he had with Natan Sharansky, who relayed that 20 years ago, somebody asked him: “What was the biggest threat to Western civilization?” His answer: “American academia.”
Ondrasik continued: “Jewish people tend to be the tip of the spear; this goes way deeper than antisemitism. It’s anti-Americanism. It’s anti-capitalism, and that’s what we’re fighting. Unfortunately, on the other side, you have the U.N., you have many leaders of the Western world who, in my mind, have lost their sanity as well as their soul.
“It’s a big fight, but the arts must be part of it. You don’t win this war with bullets. You win it with culture. The best way to get to the younger kids, particularly, is through the arts.
“I’ll be turning 60 next year,” the musician reflected, “and to still be able to sing songs and have people sing them back to me, to have Israelis walk to the stage and leave a dog tag from a hostage family, to be able to use my platform to shine the light on heroes—that’s why I feel so fortunate that I can use my platform and shine the light where it belongs.”
Upcoming shows:
Saturday, August 17: The Wolf Den At Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT (free show)
Sunday, August 18: Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, NY
October 9: Count Basie Center for the Arts – The Vogel in Red Bank, NJ
October 10: Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington, NY
To learn more about other upcoming shows, visit www.fiveforfighting.com/tour/. Follow Ondrasik on X (formerly Twitter) @JohnOndrasik.
