Bathed in purple overhead lights for a crowd of dozens, Los Angeles-based indie punk rocker j solomon brought his latest EP, “KILL THE ROCKSTAR,” to life at the Moroccan Lounge on Wednesday night. With a setlist featuring tracks off the EP alongside earlier hits, j solomon’s intimate performance excited audience members, with him even jumping into the crowd during a song.

Wednesday night’s show not only brought j solomon fans out but also the supporters of other musicians because of Sonder Music Group, a concert promoter run by students at the Thornton School of Music.

USC student acts Small Talk and Ayla Claire opened for the Pennsylvania-native headliner, adding to the dynamic energy of the show. Claire, a sophomore majoring in popular music, said the show was her second time performing at the Moroccan Lounge.

“All three sets bring their own special twist to the show,” Claire said. “We just keep building off of each other in the indie realm.”

The lead vocalist for Small Talk, Sammi Wallace, a sophomore majoring in popular music, said opening for j solomon was an exciting experience for the group. She also said she thought the combination of the three acts was “pretty brilliant.”

“Ayla had a beautiful pop, slower vibe to begin the night, and … we really got to bring the energy up and get people ready for j solomon,” Wallace said. “We were able to set it up really well for him, and then he just killed it.”

j solomon said he was excited to perform and connect with people by focusing on having a solid set.

“I get nervous every single time for 24 hours. I can’t control it … And every night I go to sleep thinking about, ‘This is what I’m going to do when I play.’” j solomon said. “The reason that I am a musician is to play shows.”

“KILL THE ROCKSTAR” began as a throwaway project around the same time he moved to L.A. from New York City, he said. While he wanted to make an album in the singer-songwriter, Americana genre, he didn’t have the budget or the audience to create it.

Instead, he took songs that were “sitting, collecting dust” and created the EP as his last indie rock release before he killed off the indie rockstar character.

“I fell in love with these songs again, and it grew into a real passion project,” j solomon said. “There was a whole visual component that really tied it all together, and now I look back on it, and it was a super ambitious project that I did that I’m really proud of.”

j solomon’s musical evolution is a reflection of him maturing and becoming a fully realized person, alongside his changing environment and circumstances.

“The music I’ve released, it’s just been a log of how I’ve grown up and evolved,” j solomon said. “Because everything that I’ve put out has felt very true and real in the moment, and looking back, I don’t know if I can relate to that as much now, but it was true and real in that moment of my life.”

In writing music based on where he is in life, j solomon said being in L.A. and trying to pursue his dreams as a musician plays a huge role in shaping the themes in his songs. He said the L.A. music scene is different from what he experienced in New York, where it was less common to work with different producers and songwriters every day.

While he said he prefers to write on his own and bring it to a producer that he likes and trusts, New York did offer accessibility and spontaneity in the music scene.

“In terms of a scene, it’s a little bit harder, I think, to break in, because everything in L.A. happens behind closed doors,” j solomon said. “People are more likely to hang out at a house than barhop, which makes it so that a lot of things are exclusive, which is the allure of L.A. in a lot of ways.”

As j solomon continues to release new music, he tackles the challenges an up-and-coming artist like him faces in learning to connect with fans and grow a fanbase. He said the greatest barrier is having fans that are located globally, rather than concentrated in one place.

“I have fans pretty much in every city and every country in the world, which is insane,” j solomon said. “It’s really hard to reach all those people in person. And I think the in-person component is what really solidifies this relationship.”

j solomon connects with his fans through various online platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Discord, but playing live shows is a different experience, as they allow fans to hear his music and experience his artistry in person.

“The folks that have been here for years, I basically know who you are in a lot of ways,” j solomon said. “I love to like experience being in the same room, you know, and have you actually hear my music in person.”