Chicago – Ready to update your summer playlist? Start with one of the hottest tracks from Joywave: “Tongues.” This New York indie electronic-pop band melds punk, funk, house, and hip-hop on the irresistible How Do You Feel? EP. Back in 2011, the band sprung onto the scene with “Traveling at the Speed of Light,” before the mix tape “88888” allowed Joywave to establish Cultco Music, their Hollywood Records imprint, in 2013. Aside from teaming up with KOPPS for the killer single “Tongues,” the five-some also collaborated with Big Data for “Dangerous.” Both songs have been dominating airwaves, putting Joywave on my musical radar, so I made it a point to have a little Q&A session with Joywave front men Sean Donnelly and Daniel Armbruster about their music and collaborating with Armbruster’s other project, Big Data. The guys talked “Tongues,” new music, and Lollapalooza; dishing out some playful advice for all you Lolla attendees.
Sarah Hess: You guys are based in Rochester, New York. Are you all from New York?
Sean Donnelly: Yes, all born and bred Rochesterians. We love it here. We all met in high school, except for Ben Keyboards, who went to a rival high school of ours; Athena sucks! We played in various local bands with various friends throughout high school and college and started working on Joywave in 2010.
Sarah Hess: Let’s talk about your single “Tongues.” How did you end up working with KOPPS? What inspired this song?
Daniel Armbruster: Kyle and Patricia are longtime friends, collaborators and classmates. Kyle does most of the Joywave artwork and Patricia sang backup in an old band of ours. Shout out to Bone Clancy and the Phantom Dancers!
The song came from an experiment with Patricia’s vocals. I was messing with a new sampler plug-in and loaded a clip of Patricia singing onto the individual notes of the keyboard and the rest is Internet history. Lyrically, the song is a culmination of a year spent doing very little with the band and DJing bars to pay my phone bill. The conversations that come with DJing are usually pretty insubstantial so it was frustrating to have those as my only interactions in a given week.
SH: Your EP How Do You Feel? is filled with party-inducing tracks. Did you set out to make a dance album? What inspired your sound?
DA: No, not really. Ultimately, How Do You Feel? is four songs from a greater whole; a full-length is coming soon! We wanted to release songs that represented the multi-faceted nature of our band. If they all come across as party-inducing or dancey, that’s cool, but we think the record will tie these songs together nicely.
SH: You’re set to release your full-length at the end of the year. Can you hook us up with some insider deets: maybe a title or the name of a song or two?
DA: There’s a song called “Destruction” that we’re all really excited about. The record’s called How Do You Feel Now?.
SH: Dan, you’re also in Big Data – by the way, “Dangerous” has been blasting on plenty of Chicago radios thanks to 101 WKQX. How do you divide your time between the two bands? Should we expect more collaboration between Joywave and Big Data in the future?
DA: Cool! Big Data happened on weekends during 2012 and 2013, while I was spending time in New York City, so there wasn’t a huge effort in dividing my time. It took awhile to finish and get out to the world [because] Alan got married and was working full-time during recording. Yes, we’re going to be performing ‘Dangerous’ on Seth Meyers together next week!
SH: Speaking of Chicago, you’ll soon be playing Lollapalooza! Have you been to Lolla before? I saw on twitter that you’re excited to see Chi-town’s very own Vic Mensa; what other Lolla artists are you planning to see?
SD: Yes, we’re pumped! No, we have not. We’re not festival-going types… [we’re] hoping to see many, planning on seeing none. We have to drive to Montreal for Osheaga immediately after our set. We’ll have some time on Friday, so hopefully we’ll catch Arctic Monkeys and Zedd.
SH: What do you enjoy most about festivals? And do you have any words of wisdom for Lolla’s festivalgoers?
DA & SD: Playing them, that’s all we’ve really done. Advice – Watch the video below:
If you’re heading to Lollapalooza, be sure to pencil in a dance party with Sean, Daniel, and the rest of Joywave at the BMI stage, on Saturday, from 5:40-6:20 p.m.
Can’t make it to Lolla? No worries, you can catch Joywave on their Fall tour! Click HERE for upcoming dates. How Do You Feel? Is available for purchase on iTunes.
Photo: Catie Laffoon
Sarah Hess
After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.
You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
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