Joywave

If y'all knew the members of Joywave, you lot'd know that their desire to take a baby crocodile join them on-phase isn't that crazy of an thought, especially since it's coming from a ring who thrives off whatever weird & unique ideas.

I can't recall the last time (if there ever was one) a band sampled sounds from a record that was aboard a spacecraft back in '77, simply Rochester-ring Joywave likes to practice things a piddling chip differently, and they do just that on their third total-length album Possession. The indie-rock band is known for its clever production and whimsical witty lyrics while also taking a magnifying glass to issues happening in our daily lives.

After sampling the Voyager Golden Records, two records that contained sounds that would aid describe what life on Earth was like if any aliens stumbled upon them, Possession fixates on the concept of space, control (or lack thereof), and learning how to embrace who you are. It's an anthology that pulls you out of your ain caput and asks you to really think about whether or not you really should exist stressing about things yous can't exactly control.

The band, which celebrates its 10-year ceremony this year, saturday down with 1883 alee of its London gig supporting PVRIS to talk all things touring, Possession, and why they actually want to bring a infant crocodile on-stage.

It'southward been ten years since the band has formed. How would you lot say the band and music have grown and developed in those x years?

Daniel:  When nosotros started the band, the thought actually was to just be able to practice whatever nosotros wanted, whenever we wanted, and to make the music that nosotros wanted and accept the band grow with u.s.. I call up we've really followed that! [laughs]

And you lot'd say your music likewise has grown while you guys have grown up, also?

Paul: Yeah, for certain. I mean, our early stuff was more stone before we first got signed and at present it'due south been a perfect alloy of indie and rock.

It's also near been three years since Content was released and now Possession dropped this month. How was the recording process for Possession? Was there anything yous guys did differently, whether information technology'south in songwriting or the instruments yous used, from Content ?

Daniel: The procedure was very dissimilar. Possession, nosotros rented a barn outside of our hometown.

Paul: You mean Content.

Daniel: Oh, sorry! Yeah, Content , it was Content . We rented this barn outside of our hometown and it was the first time where we really just kind of got in one identify and made something in a four-month bridge birthday. It feels similar a lifetime agone. Possession , nosotros did in the same studio in downtown Rochester where we recorded the starting time record. Nosotros did it when we had downtime from touring, so the process for the first and the third record was more similar and the 2d was kind of an outlier.

Okay, and how did the songwriting change?

Daniel: I think the new tape is similar a combination of the offset two. The commencement ane is actually dancey but not as deep lyrically, and the second one's a lot deeper lyrically, merely less fun. This one is like a combination of the two. It'south pretty deep lyrically, merely you could be forgiven for being like, 'this is a really fun song and information technology makes me happy to heed to', even though the lyrics might non be besides happy!

Since July 2018, y'all've been slowly releasing singles leading up to Possession's release. Why did you guys make up one's mind to take a long period of time between releasing singles and then dropping the anthology?

Daniel:  No, it'south function of a marketing strategy that supposedly works in the industry [laughs]. Things are spaced out ahead because something similar a new Netflix show arrives and people binge it in one weekend and nobody's talking about information technology anymore. The idea is that if you infinite things out, supposedly the tape cycle lasts longer. Now the release of the record is the halfway point of the record's actual lifecycle which is kind of interesting. You know that was definitely a label decision.

Not a personal decision?

Daniel: No, but I'm glad that nosotros still get to brand records though.

Yes, some artists seem to release singles only.

Daniel: Yeah! Exactly.

Speaking of singles: I honey the single 'Half Your Age'. Can y'all tell me a fleck virtually the song and the inspiration behind it?

Daniel: When I was a child, I desperately wanted to exist an NHL hockey player for the Buffalo Sabres. I was so irrational in my belief that I would attain this, that I was 14 and I could non even ice skate. I was like, 'I tin can effigy that out! I have 4 years to figure that out before the draft! I got enough of fourth dimension!' I fifty-fifty played roller hockey and I was not skillful at it, I was probably the fourth-best player on my team at a roller-skating rink in Rochester. Merely still, I had this insane belief that I'll definitely be a pro hockey player and so many people are similar that, and clearly, I'yard one of them because my next nifty thought was 'Oh, I'll be in a successful ring!' and that one actually did work. But for most people, they have these ambitions or dreams and stuff and anybody's like, 'never give up on your dreams', and that's not right at all.

Some dreams you do need to permit go of so y'all can discover other things.

Daniel: Yes, correct. Exactly. Sometimes you're not good enough, you're non strong enough, or you're not talented plenty and maybe y'all're supposed to do something else! Like, maybe I should be handing sticks to the players on the team or maybe I can find something else to exercise with hockey? It'due south just learning that you demand to exist okay with giving up after a certain amount of time because otherwise, you're holding yourself dorsum.

Yous guys sent random fans vinyl to promote 'Half Your Age'. How has seeing the reaction of fans getting a surprise been?

Paul: Yeah, nosotros just decided as a ring it would be cool to achieve out and be able to straight contact people. We thought virtually all the money that every label is spending on digital advertising only trying to get somebody to click on something. We have all these names and addresses from people who have bought from our site or signed up for a newsletter. Those flexes are relatively cheap to brand, so we thought why not send the vinyls to our listeners straight. I always think people will respond better to having something physical.

Yeah, I was checking out the reaction on Twitter; at that place'south a bunch of people tweeting near it.

Daniel: It seemed like 75% of people who got one took the fourth dimension to post about it. Yeah.

Paul: Which is great considering it makes it both tangible and digital.

Daniel: So when you think about if yous were working in the digital realm, getting people excited enough to and so share the thing that you got them to await at is astronomical.

The title rails 'Possession' has lyrics that read ' Am I a letdown / Am I a bore at present?' Can yous describe what the rails is about and why yous decided to proper noun the album after it?

Daniel:  I guess I named the runway actually afterward the record but that song is kind of well-nigh settling down and like giving yourself over to some other person and being really vulnerable and the fears associated with that.

Would y'all say in that location's like a common thread throughout each song earlier each song on the anthology?

Daniel: For sure. The record is put together with these samples from NASA's Voyager. Information technology's this Golden Record, which Carl Sagan is supposed to have curated information technology to have the sounds of the earth basically; if aliens ever detect a record of our civilization, they tin can know what we were like. The record actually starts from the closest to Globe'due south perspective and just feeling similar you're drowning, every Goggle box you lot're walking past screaming breaking news at yous, and all that shit like that. As the record goes, it kind of slowly pulls out into this course of acceptance with not existence able to control the world we live in and your own life and simply kind of learning to comprehend existence okay with that.

Yeah, space and the universe seems to be a big theme in Possession; you guys typically sample dissimilar pieces of media in your music. Why did you lot choose to sample something similar that?

Daniel:  I was a history major in college and I basically wrote every single paper I could on the space program. The story of Apollo Viii was always very inspirational to me; it'southward a mission that was in 1968 and you think about all the things that went incorrect in America that year — Martin Luther King Jr assassinated, Bobby Kennedy is assassinated, there are riots everywhere — they read this peaceful bulletin, they read a passage from the book of Genesis in the Bible, on Christmas Eve, dorsum to the earth in this broadcast everywhere, and it kind of ends with this line of good night to all the good people on the good earth. Y'all think about what they're looking at, and they're thinking near how insignificant our differences are. They're looking at the earth, information technology's very small in the distance, and they await out the other window and it's just infinite. I kind of wanted to exist able to bring a picayune bit of that into the record by playing the samples from the voyager's road, which is like xiii and a half million miles abroad from earth. It's the furthest away that mankind has ever sent annihilation. Information technology'southward the furthest back that we can zoom out.

Each single y'all've released has had a special infinite-themed patch to match. What made you retrieve of doing those?

Daniel: Information technology was Paul's idea!

Paul: Yep, all mine! We've been fortunate enough to get private tours of NASA in Houston. In the bout, we've got to get into one of the old mission controls that they no longer use and there are patches lining the walls. It's incredibly cool. It's got all of the astronaut'due south concluding names on them, each one has a different blueprint. It really made a lot of sense with the theme.

Daniel:  And to add to your question earlier about the release schedule, the patches continue with that. Each release is this niggling mission leading up to the greater mission.

You're on tour with PVRIS and you have an upcoming North American tour in the Spring. How was it exploring Europe with PVRIS?

Daniel: It'southward really great. I beloved the United Kingdom.  I've gone out and gotten java, I've seen the greenish room, it'due south been nifty. [Laughs] I struggle with the food hither because I'm tragically lactose intolerant and that'due south non a thing. I ordered a burger at a restaurant the other day. Information technology was like a identify that has a lot of vegan options, it was salubrious. I told them I was lactose intolerant and when they brought out my burger they literally say 'allergy burger, allergy burger?' And I'chiliad similar, wow, making this sound very appetizing! I am dreading trying to order stuff in France. I always thought that we were not that American because similar we were never into bro things like football or whatsoever! That, to me, that's American culture. Then I got here and I realized that I am literally wearing a flag downward the street.

The shows have been good though?

Daniel: Yeah, PVRIS is amazing. I co-wrote ane of the songs on the new record and the new EP, and then that is why we are here [laughs]. When Lynn and I were working on a song, I was like, 'Oh, hey, you're really famous, side by side fourth dimension you go, can we go with yous?'

Paying it frontward!

Daniel: Yes. So that worked out.

And you have ii tours coming up in Northward America — 1 beyond the Us and some other that is specific to Florida. Why did yous make up one's mind to have a Florida-centric tour?

Daniel: People e'er tweet 'come up to Florida' which very few artists do because information technology's kind of a pain. It's and so weird to get down to and honestly, there'south not a lot of ring or rock music — information technology'south primarily hip hop and EDM that exists in the state. For years, we've actually never played a headline evidence in the state. We thought we would be really funny and do a Florida home tour. Information technology'due south going to exist ridiculous. The premise is that we're really over-delivering, then if the entire tour doesn't sell out, we'll never go back! [laughs]

Paul: We don't even accept an opener however. I wanted to bring like an animal wrangler to bring out a baby crocodile that people could pet, just then it was pointed out to me that in that location are probably big organizations that wouldn't be happy with united states of america.

Daniel: We're also doing a headline tour in August and September! Beyond the Usa and we're going to Toronto, too!

What else are you lot guys looking forwards to in 2020?

Paul: It's actually merely gonna be about the tape and touring the record. I'm actually excited almost it. I'm very proud of it. I call up it'southward the best thing we've done. It's a super cohesive record. It'southward a message that I call back people need to hear considering everyone is just constantly bombarded by far-right and far-left viewpoints and those people like throwing things at each other. For me, any argument to me that's presented as blackness or white or i and aught is flawed.

There's no nuance right now

Paul: Right? It's actually hard for me to employ social media besides because that'southward all information technology is. Every algorithm is designed to evidence you the thing that has upset the near people that twenty-four hours, so you lot get delivered that and and then you're just similar, why am I seeing this?! And then you lot realize that with something like Twitter, information technology's gamed against you lot; it's like a new algorithm matter. This is my favourite telephone. It'due south a new algorithm matter that's called home and y'all can turn information technology off and turn it back to see the latest tweets instead, only when the home thing is on, it shows you lot tweets by people that you lot don't follow that person that y'all follow like. It'due south so aggravating. It makes me angry and I'm sure it makes a ton of other people angry likewise. I hope anybody can but kind of calm downwards, simply I remember we're probably all doomed.

interview by Kelsey Barnes

Check out Joywave's album Possession below!

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Source: https://1883magazine.com/joywave/

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