There are some bands that you just “get”. For whatever reason, you connect with them instantly and know that no matter what, you will support their musical endeavors. This was how it was for me and The Joy Formidable. Recently, I wrote a brief recap of my history of the band (which you can read here); however, this write up will be about them – how they feel about making music together for 10 years and what they see in their future. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with the band at Rock and Roll Hotel in D.C. at the start of their U.S. tour, 10 Years Floating. What started out as an interview opportunity, turned out to be a great night of spending time with, what felt like, good friends.
The night began with a special intimate V.I.P. acoustic set with a small number of fans. Ritzy Bryan, Rhydian Davies, and Matt Thomas – the trio that make up The Joy Formidable from Wales, took up their instruments, welcomed everyone, and performed “The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade” in Welsh. The anniversary re-issue of their debut album, A Balloon Called Moaning, included the album recorded in their homeland language. Ritzy admitted that the translation for this song was the most difficult and since Welsh is her second language, she relied on Rhydian for support since Welsh is his native language.
Ritzy was recovering from a cold and joked with us about the “strength of Mucinex” and how we American’s should “stay away from that stuff!” She joked about the medicine going to her head and admitted, “I’m not doing too well with songs I should know…definitely a bit of a spacy day, but fuck it… we’re all friends, right?” After the first song, Rhydian broke a string on his guitar and Ritzy ran off to grab a couple replacement guitars from the back. After the two worked out who was going to play which guitar for the next song, Ritzy laughed, “Welcome to rehearsal!” and everyone in the room laughed.
After they sorted out the guitars, they performed “Last Drop”, which was a request from the audience, and then performed what Ritzy referred to as a “holiday song of sorts” based on the writings of Charles Bukowski, “My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder Than a Hundred Dead Christmas Trees”. You can watch this song performed that night in the video below. This little intimate 30-minute session ended with a fast version of “Ostrich” since the time was almost up! Towards the end of the song, Rhydian improvised on the guitar and Ritzy joked, “Ohhhh…we’re going rogue, are we?”
After everyone was ushered out of the club briefly so that the opening band could soundcheck, Ritzy invited me back with her to chat. Their friend Joe (also my friend and fellow photographer – check out his Instagram here), accompanied us. Joe was so helpful to the band by housing and delivering their merchandise for the U.S. tour. Sometimes, fans don’t realize what goes into their favorite bands touring. I walked into a room full of luggage, bags, instruments, boxes… as Ritzy admitted that the opening night of a tour can be somewhat chaotic.
The band had created a 3-song CD specially for those who purchased tickets to the V.I.P. early show. Those CDs and their envelopes had just arrived to them at the club that evening and needed to be opened, stuffed, and stamped. Ritzy sat on the floor and got right to work, and I willingly jumped in to help. I wondered if the fans who would be receiving these CDs realized that the band worked to put these together? Not an assistant or a publicist or tour manager. The band did… in the short time they had before going on stage.
After a while, Ritzy finally grabbed some food and sat down next to me for our “interview”, which was more like a friendly chat. Now that the band is celebrating their first decade together making music, I was curious as to where they saw themselves heading in this next decade.
Shantel: What do you guys have planned for the next ten years? Any anticipated projects?
Rhydian: We have some side projects… Ritzy’s writing a book (Ritzy laughs and interjects, “if I get a few seconds to myself”) and I’d like to do more with my art, my visual art. It’s just a matter of carving out the time.
Ritzy: You know, I think when I was asked this question 10 years ago – what do we want? It’s pretty much the same: To be creatively excited. I want us to have a relationship that would enable us to be creatively excited together. I wouldn’t want this band to eat up the friendship that was there right from the beginning. In a decade, if we still feel passionate… still get all the feels we get on stage… then that will not be another decade misspent. We just don’t want to go through the motions. Not all bands can say that they truly enjoy what they do. As long as we’re still enjoying things, we’ll keep going.
Shantel: I’m sure that having a positive relationship is very important to having a successful musical career, especially with only being a three piece. As a band – what have you done to keep the cohesiveness with each other. It really comes across on stage. As an audience member, we see that cohesiveness… you look like you’re all having fun when you perform.
Ritzy: (laughing) Oh really? Get me an Oscar!
Rhydian: Forgiveness is important and really, it’s about not having too big of an ego – we’ve told each other at various times, “we disagree or you’re being an ass”… You have to have a sense of humor… you have to be able to laugh and laugh at yourself.
Ritzy: I have a word for each of us… Matt is patient, I’m impatient and he (pointing to Rhydian) can’t remember anything! (they all laugh)
Matt: For him, it’s forgive and forget – but mostly forget! See… we’re all equally assholes: three assholes together! (laughing) There, that’s the next merch idea!
Clearly, The Joy Formidable are a down-to-earth band who just enjoy making music together. And we are so thankful for them!
A little over an hour later and the team of three took the stage and greeted the full venue of fans. Their performance that evening was amazing and just like always, the band delivered an energetic set. They performed their entire debut EP, A Balloon Called Moaning, and followed that with five additional songs including a beautiful version of “The Leopard and the Lung” which you can watch in the video below. They closed out the night with a two-song encore: “Anemone” and “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”. The Joy Formidable will be wrapping up their U.S. tour on December 21st in Los Angeles, California.
Thank you to The Joy Formidable for giving us 10 years of fun shows and excellent music! We are looking forward to what the next 10 years will bring!
Enjoy these photos from their performance at the Rock and Roll Hotel in D.C. on November 29th. All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen.
