The Joy Formidable have had a busy few months having supported Muse on their recent arena tour as well as giving us a little taster of their upcoming album Wolf’s Law.
I caught up with lead singer Ritzy Bryan to chat about the tour, the upcoming album and what else they have in the pipeline.
- You have just finished supporting Muse so how did those shows go? And how are the fans reacting to the new material?
We have really enjoyed it and the timing has just been great for us. We have loved playing to new audiences and we have had a really really good reception from the audiences that have come to see Muse.
I think the exciting thing for us has been that this has been a tour of absolute contrasts because we have been enjoying playing the arenas - we always like arena tours - but at the same time we have been playing some small shows of out own.
So I feel like we have had best of both worlds; we have been able to see some of our fan base at these great intimate shows and at the same time enjoying the experience of playing to huge crowds.
- You have slightly touched on my next question really you are playing the likes of O2 and the Manchester Arena as well as these smaller venues so how do they compare?
They are not too different from our perspective as the approach is the same; we don’t change the way that we perform of the intensity of our performances.
I think as a band we actually enjoy the challenge of winning over a new audience as there is something exciting about that. People are either going to enjoy it and they are going to be on board or they are not going to be but our approach doesn’t change.
At the same time you can’t be playing to just your really loyal fan base that has followed you and are excited about the new material that we have got coming next year. It is only the physical space that is different.
- You have mentioned the new material that is one the horizon and you released Cholla earlier this month, which is one of the tracks of your new album so how did you find people responded to the track?
It has been great. We released Wolf’s Law which was always an art piece - it is a visual track if you like. But at the same time we have release Cholla.
The intention was to show a little hint to the breath that is on the album - it is a bold album. We are not scared of doing something that is very fragile and just piano and vocals but at the same time on the album there are very bombastic and orchestrated tracks as well.
That is the exciting thing for us about making an album as well can take people to different places track by track. It kind of feels that what we have released so far shows off two sides of the album that is to follow.
- Wolf's Law is not out until the new year but it is your second record so how your sound developed between your debut and this album?
When we were recording The Big Roar that was all… we always felt like whatever body of work we write it seems to chronicle, to some extent, where we are personally, our journey and the year that we have had up until that moment.
Obviously it expands beyond that as well and it has more of a social observation as well - it is not just inward looking and personal either. But it definitely feels like they capture a moment in the band’s career and our own lives individually.
When we were writing the first album it was all recorded in quite claustrophobic and intense circumstances - it was a very turbulent time for us individually and in that sense you can hear that frustration and aggression in the first album.
I think that that is still true of the new album as there is a lot of intent, emotion and passion but I think somehow there seems to be a clearer focus; it feels like a state of calm has descended onto the presentation of those messages.
We have always liked being ambitious with the way that we write and the production - we have produced this new album as well - and we always feel like we can turn out hand to more than just being a guitar band.
We have really enjoyed and been excited by some different instrumentation and bringing some different colour and a different sonic palette into this album and that has all come very naturally.
It is something that we were looking forward to doing and we are very proud that we have been able to bring those twists and turns to this new album.
- They always say that the second album is the most difficult to make so have you found that to be the case?
Not at all, far from it. We write a lot on the road we are always writing. We don’t put things in boxes it’s not like we are playing live and then go to the studio to write - the two constantly merge.
So we had written an awful lot in the twelve months that we were touring The Big Roar and we were actually hungry just to realise the recording and the tracking properly as it is quite chaotic when you are writing on the road.
We had such a lot of material but we just hadn’t been able to track it properly or fully contemplate what it was that we had written. It wasn’t until we locked ourselves away in Portland, Maine and took that month to consolidate and track properly that we realised what we had been sitting on.
In that sense it was hard just trying to record it all. It was a really good creative period and there are still a lot of tracks from those sessions that we are still trying to realise now - it was a very fruitful month. So no it wasn’t hard at all, in fact it was the complete opposite.
- You also embarked on your first big U.S. tour earlier this year so how have your music been received over in the States?
Fortunately we do like being on the road as we like the variety that it throws up and the fan base and the audience connection as it is a big part of what drives this band.
We have a really great time and in that sense there is not too much of a distinction between our audiences in the UK and in the States - we are very fortunate and aware that we have a fan base there because it wants to be.
They feel like audiences that have invested in the album and all of the material and they feel like audiences that are music curious. That makes the live experience much better for them and us in the sense that we can change things up with our set list.
It is good having them there for the right reasons and they are passionate about all of the material that we have written - and we get that across the board.
- There is a huge rock element to your music so where did you love of rock and roll start?
There was a lot of music that was played in our house when I was growing up. My parents were big record collectors and big bootleggers - music was a huge part of hour household; there was never a silent moment (laughs).
So in that sense I think I have always been turned on to music that says something and I think, for me, that is the true sense of rock and roll.
And that saying something can come with the quietest musical moment as well but I think it all stems from intent and having a true voice and character and being brave creatively.
Actually being a leader in your field and in the music that you put out there that, to me, is the spirit of rock and roll.
That is not genre specific either that can be from metal to jazz as we all have very eclectic taste but as long as the soul and the passion is there.
- I suppose that rock music is still a very male dominated arena but how much do you see it that way? And how have you found breaking into this genre of music as a female rock singer?
I think it depends on how curious you are for bands out there as there are a lot of female talent - whether or not it always gets the recognition that it deserves - but there are great female guitarists from The Screaming Females and Alabama Shakes so there is a lot of great talent out there.
Ultimately what we want is that it isn’t an angle anymore because when I talk about the band and the music we don’t dwell too much on the fact that it is female fronted and I think that that is where we need to get to.
I think that it is wonderful being able to talk about what drives you as a female voice and what your inspirations are because they are absolutely going to differ to some extent to male songwriters.
I think if we can just get away from making it too much of an angle and just enjoy and celebrate strong female leaders in music of any genre where they are not puppets to something bigger.
Or that them being a female is not motivated because that is an angle or interesting but that it is motivated because they are actually at the top of what they do musically, song-writing, production - it would be great to celebrate more women that are doing lots of things in the music industry.
- You have an ever growing fan base so for any of those fans reading this interview do you have a message for them?
Well we just don’t take them for granted. We are very fortunate as they have been very loyal and the roots of this band have depended hugely on the fan base and their support.
It feels like we have built that from gigging and having them on board and buying our material - with every new release that we have put out we always feel that we have them behind us and we never take that for granted.
We are looking forward to seeing them next year as we have got a lot touring in the UK next year and we can’t wait to come back and do our own tour of the UK.
- Finally what is next for you - you have just slightly touched on it really?
Yeah, all of that I suppose. We are always busy and we are always thinking about the next project - we have got some collaborations in the pipeline.
We are also about to start work on an Welsh EP because Welsh is Rhydian’s first language and my second so that feels like something that we have naturally been wanting to do for a while. We are also doing a lot of touring.
We are exciting to share the album on January 21st and get out there and start playing these tracks live as well.
The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law is released 21st January
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