A Solo Act No More, Joyfriend to Debut Full Band at Sleeping Village
Photography by Michael Salisbury
The final week of October marks the one-year anniversary of Joyfriend’s autumn record, Scratch Sailor. Rooted in a punk ethos, Scratch Sailor was a home production consisting solely of Joyfriend, a few instruments, and a duct-taped mic. However, as time progressed, the artist naturally found himself seeking to expand from his solo work. Graduating from working alone on his apartment floor, Joyfriend has invited a few friends and family to join the process for his next project.
This Monday night, Joyfriend, Michael Russell, John Bucaro, and Dominic Folino will be making their debut as a full band at Sleeping Village’s $1 Beer Night alongside the courts and LUNCHBREAK. Make sure to grab a ticket, a cold PBR, and enjoy the band’s collection of new demos as well as renditions of some classic Joyfriend tracks.
Read our Q&A with Joyfriend below where we talk about forming the band, navigating collaboration, and preparing for the upcoming show.
Tell us a bit about how the band came together.
The band began forming last winter when I finally began to book shows in the city. I knew I wanted to start filling out my sound in a bigger way and so I initially looked to my older brother Michael for some help, who is now our lead guitarist. From there, John Bucaro filled in on bass and I eventually reached out to my friend Dominic Folino who now plays on the kit for us. It all fell into its own pretty naturally, both due to similar tastes in music and an already comfortable chemistry. Fleshing out the previously released songs with a full band, that were once pieces I was doing on my own, was somewhat of an experiment in seeing how far we could take things and that experiment turned to excitement really quickly. As we continued playing cuts from my previous record Scratch Sailor, I came to find how much more I enjoyed the sound of them with the band surrounding me and I knew immediately where I wanted to take the new songs. Thanks to them something totally new is happening that I’ve never experienced before. We’ve been playing together consistently for just under a year now and it seems we only continue to mature in both our sound and approach to the music in general.
What’s on the set list and what can you tell us about some of these songs?
I don’t quite want to give out any of the song titles just yet, or the set for that matter, but I will say that we will be playing 80% new songs while the remaining 20% will be familiar tracks including “Dog Fight” and “Dumbo.” A lot of these songs feel and translate through a certain sort of energy. I can’t quite put a finger on it yet, but in a literal sense we are increasing our volume while in a less tangible way I feel there’s something coursing through this new sound. Something that’s caught between thin air and the words that I’m chewing. I believe it’s a place I would have never arrived at if not for the members of the band. We’ve all been bringing something true to the table and that’s what makes it feel good.
In rehearsing for past shows, I’m assuming it was a very solitary practice for you. How does it feel now to be practicing with the band? Anything you’re surprised to be enjoying more about being in that environment?
To be with the band feels really natural. I always knew that someday it was going to be the step that I needed to take with the project, and for it to finally happen just makes sense. It’s been a really good learning experience for me to play with John, Dominic, and Michael because they’ve all been in this situation before, they’ve played in various bands and been on tours, etc. So, to be surrounded by not only their talent, but their experience as well, allows for me to feel comfortable in our setting. There’s things I’m still learning about what it means to play in a rock band and what that dynamic looks and feels like, but I’ve just been taking it in stride and they help me along the way. I guess what’s most exciting is just the open collaboration of it all. Nothing is ever being forced. I’ll bring a song to the table that in my head is considered “finished” and I come to find out that it wasn’t finished at all. Everyone will each have their own, “Let’s try this instead,” moment and sure enough there’s all these cool new elements to the piece. This is the most inspired and creative I’ve felt in a long while and I think I can say the same for the band. We’re locked in.
There’s a certain level of intimacy on stage when it’s just you and your acoustic guitar. How would you describe the atmosphere you’re hoping to create with a full band for the Sleeping Village show?
I don’t quite think that level of intimacy will necessarily change, or at least I hope it doesn’t. Having the band up there makes things more involved, it shows this unique kind of trust and understanding that you don’t quite get while you’re playing by yourself. This new thing I’ve noticed while playing with the guys is this ability to sort of lend yourself away in exchange for that of your bandmates. It’s trust as an absolute and ever since I’ve felt that I’ve even began noticing it in others when I go out to watch other musicians perform. I think that in and of itself is a specific sort of intimacy. I guess both as a performer and as a fan of music I see this sort of thing happening at all kinds of shows and we just hope to ensure that the same sort of comfort and understanding is happening both amongst ourselves and in the crowd. Everyone’s out there taking a risk, the listeners included, so we just have to rely on one another to understand what the takeaway is.
While approaching the new demos, was there anything new that you’ve learned about yourself and your approach to writing?
A big thing I’ve learned is to never give up on a song. There’s been a few separate times already where I’ve showed the band just a small idea that I’ve never gave much thought to and it turns out to be something way cooler than whatever I could have conjured. There’s even a few old songs I’ve dug up from a year or so ago that I thought would just never amount to anything and sure enough now they are some of our favorite songs to play. It’s funny when it happens that way, especially because I’m someone who just likes to write a lot and I’ll easily get over a song in like a day or two, but now I have to maintain this certain amount of patience that allows for things to really come into their own and it’s okay if that takes time. In fact, in some cases, it’s better if it takes time. That’s what I’ve really learned: that there’s very special things even in the smallest ideas and I couldn’t have ever learned that without the band helping me get there. It’s allowed for me to be a lot more open in my writing. It all comes back to that certain level of trust.
What’s one thing you hope people take away from the show?
It’s whatever they make it. We’re excited to play the new songs and even more excited to be doing it in a venue we all adore. I can only hope that what we do up there means just as much to them as it does to us.