28 June 22nd–June 28th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | No Time Like the Present Joan of Arkansas started late and can’t stop now. BY CHRIS COPLAN L ike a lot of new-ish bands, Joan of Arkansas were “forged in the fire of COVID,” says vocalist Kayla Long. But you’ve also got to give credit to social media. “E.P. [Bradley] and I met through Tinder in 2019,” she says. “He put out a Craigslist ad in February 2021 in which he found Joshua [Lynch, bassist] and Zach [Bird, guitarist]. “E.P. then switched to guitar, so we needed to find a drummer. Zach’s lifelong friends with Sean [Harris] and brought him on in May 2022.” The rest, they say, is history. “Our sound and where we came from [happened] when we added a second guitar and our drummer,” Long explains. “That’s when we were really able to encapsulate the sound that we’ve been reaching for.” The lineup’s clearly been a success. In the span of a year — from roughly August 2021 through November 2022 — Joan of Arkansas were maddeningly prolific. “We put out 18 songs in our first year as a band,” Long says, each one recorded with producer Jalipaz Nelson at Audioconfusion studio. “But we recorded 25 to 30 total.” So, why the robust release schedule? Long attributes it to the band’s personal lives. “We’re all old, uncool folks in our late 30s to late 40s,” Long says. “We have a nurse, a middle school history teacher, a business owner, and then myself, I’m a full- time student at ASU in the sociology program and a project manager for a construction company.” Long also attributes their age and life- styles to helping each other develop musi- cally. For instance, Bradley takes more influences from Pixies, Archers of Loaf and noise pop, while Bird leans into indie pop. “And then they put their own spin on each other’s stuff and it just becomes a little bit more Joan of Arkansas-sounding somehow,” Long says. JoA has become the perfect vehicle to not only create things but to do so in a way that’s more real and organic. It’s a lesson in what it really means to get older as a creative type. “When I was 21, it was about having perfect hair and perfect makeup and doing full vocal warm-ups and trying to sound as pretty as possible,” Long says. “Now by the end of it, I have eyelashes on my face, I’m sweating and I’m five minutes to vomiting.” Long, and seemingly the rest of the band, think of their craft as a means of visceral, in-your-face engagement. “It’s a performance — we want people to remember not only what we sounded like but how we performed, and what our phys- icality was. We had one review that called us a punk version of “Grease” the musical. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I think it’s a little bit of both.” Their live show, then, is a vital part of JoA’s efforts perhaps even more than their singles and EPs. “I think there’s a really big thing to be said for seeing and experiencing live music,” Long says. “This is a very small piece of the pie that you’re hearing and seeing [with recordings] versus seeing us in shows.” That focus on the live sensibilities is more complicated given JoA’s timing as a band. Being older might equal a more sage approach, but it also means facing an ever- changing scene. “Like, that was a really difficult thing we found when we were first starting our band: 75% of the venues that we used to play at are now apartments or strip malls or whatever else,” Long says. Another (good) challenge is their eclectic sound. “I think the other thing that has been a blessing and a curse is that we’re not punk enough to be on punk lineups,” Long says. “We’re not poppy enough to be on pop lineups. We’re not pretty or young enough to be on shoegaze-y lineups. We’ve had to formulate our own little weird thing.” As such, the band have made friends with other local artists, including Black Caesar Soul Club and Goodbye Ranger. It’s those relationships that have not only resulted in an “upcoming baby tour,” but a recommitment to their sonic stew approach of making music. All of these experiences and ▼ Music Joan of Arkansas have a new LP dropping, “Imperfectionists,” due out July 1. All of Joan of Arkansas’ album cover art is created by fellow band member E.P. Bradley. Jeff Niemoeller E.P. Bradley E.P. Bradley >> p 30
