By Sonia Schnee | Posted Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Back in June, indie slowcore duo Joyer released a new album entitled Peeled. Check out our interview with band members Nick and Shane, below, to learn about their musical style, upcoming shows (November-January), and words of advice.
What's your name, where are you from, where are you based now?
We're Nick and Shane Sullivan from Nutley, NJ. Nick still lives in Nutley but Shane goes to school in Boston, but we do most of our recording and practicing in Nutley still.
How would you describe your sound? Who are your musical influences?
We've been categorized as slowcore a lot, which is cool because a lot of our inspiration is drawn from bands like Codeine or Bedhead, but when we started we really just set out to make indie music that we like the sound of, and a lot of it just happened to be in that vain. Some other influences would be Pavement, Spookey Ruben, Slint and Stereolab, so a lot of 90's stuff haha.
Congratulations on the success of your album, Peeled. What can you tell us about the inspiration behind some of the tracks on it?
Thank you! There isn't really a defined inspiration behind any of the songs, some might have meanings for us but we try to keep it pretty suggestive. A lot of what we try to do is evoke interesting imagery, and just express what we're feeling at the general time of when were writing. The lyrics come out sort of collage-like sometimes, with a mixture of different inspirations/feelings.
Tell us a bit about your creative process. Which comes first for you, the melody or the lyrics? Is there anyone who you actively collaborate with, or would like to collaborate with in the future?
There's not really a set way we write songs, they all start a bit differently. Sometimes one of us will write almost everything and the other will give notes or play the bass or drums on the recording, other times it's more collaborative. There isn't really any song that is totally written by just one of us though, there's definitely input from both of us on everything.
You have some shows coming up. When/where are they, who are you playing with, etc.?
Right now we're preparing to put out two different releases so we're slowing down on shows a bit, but the ones we have coming up are:
Nov 16 in Hamden CT with Pulsr at The Church
Nov 23 in Boston with Bedbug, Snoozer and Plight at Tedhouse
Dec 14 in Brooklyn with Spookey Ruben, The Red Room, and Littlefoot at Sunnyvale
Jan 9 in Montclair NJ at The Meatlocker
There's a few more in the works but aren't quite confirmed yet, but we're definitely going to try to play a few more shows this winter.
What has you personal journey been like so far? How’d you get to this point?
It's been really fun, we've met some really great people and played with some awesome bands. I'm not really sure how we got to the point we are at or really even what point we're at. To us we feel like we're just doing what we've always been doing with our music. It’s hard to put in perspective how far we've come, so its always surprising and exciting to hear that people we don't even know listen to our music.
Do you have any words of advice for people who share a similar passion or have maybe faced similar obstacles/challenges?
For anyone making music to just keep at it and keep experimenting with different approaches. It'll eventually get easier to write and you'll get increasingly happier with the results. Also take breaks from writing when you need it because you won't enjoy it as much if it starts to become a chore.
Finally, what are some ways that fans can connect with you online? (Website? Facebook? Spotify? Etc.?)
Our bandcamp is: https://joyer.bandcamp.com
You can find us at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at: @joyernj
and you can just search us up to find us on Spotify!