Joyce Manor’s in-store concert at Amoeba was as crowded as… I hadn’t expected! A super long line had already formed along the side of the store and even though I arrived one hour and half before the show started, I had to line up behind hundreds of young punk kids with multi color hair, wearing black tees (lots of Morrissey/Smiths ones, does this surprise you?) and holding skateboards. What a crowd, and what a young one,… I felt a bit old but how old are these Joyce Manor kids anyway? 20 something? And the band has existed for a minute or two and they are already attracting a superstars’ crowd? How is this possible?
I knew they were Mary’s favorites but to be honest, this was almost all I knew about Joyce Manor, although the art cover of their last album ‘Never Hungover Again’ (released on Epitaph Records) is currently plastered on every bus bench in Silver Lake. By the way, they said on their Facebook page that they have hidden a copy of the album on these benches, I should have been smarter when I saw one!
The four Joyce Manor guys took the Amoeba stage in the most casual way, and right away started playing their punk anthems in front of an ecstatic crowd; it’s simple, the bunch of dark-haired girls behind me instantaneously morphed themselves into a choir of chanting-screaming females as soon as the band played the first note, singing along from start to finish, even covering singer Barry Johnson’s vocals. No doubt about it, they had a real punk energy and all their songs were played like bright fast-paced anthems for the new generation, with multi-harmonies, and tons of sing-alongs. They started by a few songs from their debut self-titled album, ‘Derailed’, ‘Beach Community’, picking not much from their second one ‘Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired’ (‘See How Tame I Can Be’) and trying a few new ones ‘In the Army Now’, The Jerk’, ‘Schley’… and it was the only moments when the screaming female choir was not singing every syllable of each word. The dynamic quartet was not stopping for long between their very short songs, they were demonstrating a genuine and bouncy enthusiasm, which could only let me guess what really happens during their live shows in clubs… however, I was far in the back of the store and could not see what was happening in the front of the stage.
They apparently were not pushing the new album too much (4 out of 11 were new I think) as they seemed to go with the crowd-pleasing old classics,… the overall idea seemed to be fast, sharp, upbeat and brief – as the whole record doesn’t last more than 19 minutes! After the show fans lined up for a signing, and the four Joyce Manor guys interacted with their fans in the most causal and friendly way.
All I can say it that, behind these close-to-hardcore riffs, there was a big sweet poppy heart producing big hooks and exulting more youth than an entire high school end-of-the-year drama. And I know what I am talking about. But at the end I don’t know if they were a pop band trying very hard to sound hardcore or a hardcore band trying to sound poppy? But who cares, the only things that mattered were the packed store and all these girls singing at the top of their lungs.
More pictures of the show here.
