When you’re talking about punk, most of the style’s seasoned veterans will tell you how it pretty much has no definition. Sure there’s the whole sense of rebellion and anti-establishment that goes with it, but sometimes the sound itself doesn’t always have to be bogged down with three chords. You can bring abrasive noise, a tad bit of pop, and driving riffs to the table and still have the energy to be a killer punk act. That’s the beauty of punk — you can be weird as hell but as long as you keep it loud and angsty you’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Coming from across the pond in the Welsh city of Cardiff is Joanna Gruesome, a band that has all of this and more taking the stage tonight at the Middle East in Cambridge.
Joanna Gruesome have a sound that mixes the abstract structure of Fugazi, the pop aesthetics of The Vaselines, and a little bit of Lightning Bolt-inspired noise to create something magical. They’ve been heralded as one of the best live acts from the United Kingdom, and they’ll be rocking the Mid East’s upstairs this evening with Brooklyn punks Aye Nako, King Of Cats, and local whiz kids Bent Shapes. In that small room it should get a tad crazy; to get us warmed up, Vanyaland caught up with Joanna Gruesome’s Owen Williams about playing America, whether the band actually started after an anger management class, original lead singer Alanna McArdle leaving the group, and what can we expect from them in 2016.
Rob Duguay: Joanna Gruesome just started their tour of the United States and Canada this past weekend. Hows it going so far? Do you sense any differences or similarities between playing in North America versus playing in the United Kingdom?
Owen Williams: The shows have been going well. I think the main thing I’ve noticed is that it takes literally millions of years to get from place to place. We’re used to leisurely traveling around our tiny island over in the United Kingdom. I’ve also noticed that the CIA have been taking a special interest in our movements.
Maybe the latter will make this tour more of an adventure. It’s been said that Joanna Gruesome started after you and the rest of the band members met in an anger management class. Is that true? If so how did a bunch of pissed off people get the idea to start a band?
That origin story is actually an unsubstantiated rumor, half of the band met on a wine tasting holiday and the other half met at an occult bookshop.
Ahh, so mostly it had to do with leisurely drinking and the devil.
Yeah.
This past June singer Alanna McArdle announced she was leaving the band and you announced that her replacement would be two female vocalists, Kate Stonestreet from the feminist punk group Pennycress and Roxy Brennan from the indie rock act Two White Cranes. Since there will be two singers instead of one, does that change Joanna Gruesome’s songwriting going forward?
It probably won’t change the songwriting a huge amount, it’s still a case of designating melodic and aggressive zones. We are just using two humans instead of one and I will still be consulting the zodiac.
Joanna Gruesome has been considered one of the most exciting bands from the UK to see live. What inspires the band’s energy on stage and they way you interact with the audience?
I genuinely think that the key is to barely ever practice and to refuse to play for more than 40 minutes max. Tight rock bands are a constant problem.
That barely practicing thing seems to work for a lot of bands these days. What does Joanna Gruesome have planned for 2016? Do you plan on releasing another full-length album or will you be doing a split release with another band?
We’re going to be doing a single! One song called “Pretty Fuckin’ Sick (Of It All)” about espionage and another song called “Occult Bookshop”.
JOANNA GRUESOME + AYE NAKO + KING OF CATS + BENT SHAPES :: Wednesday, October 28 at the Middle East, 472 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, MA :: 7 p.m., all-ages, $12 :: Advance tickets :: Facebook event page
