Joy on Fire and the jagged jazz punk eruptions of "Happy Holidays" (Official Video)

 

“A hood-up is not a phone booth / A phone rings inside a hood-up”

Listening to "Happy Holidays" and subsequently delving into the works of Baltimore, Maryland's jazz punk group Joy on Fire had me doing some free form dancing (without the benefits of alcohol I might add) and I couldn't help but think of iconic old school punk / alt rock artists like Gang of Four but especially the spastic jazz punk leanings of incendiary 70's vocalist and saxophone charmer James Chance from The Contortions (later James Chance and the Contortions). Within Joy on Fire's squirrely jazz punk sound featuring wonderfully, potently feral saxophone by Anna Meadors, jagged heavy bass and guitar by John Paul Carillo, Chris Olsen's versatile drumming and Dan Gutstein's darkly drawn existential words, “We’re all gonna spend a lot of time in graveyards” feels wonderfully manic. 

From Press Notes:

[The release of “Happy Holidays” is accompanied by a music video, in which the band performs the song on street corners and graveyards, with Gutstein speaking his lyrics into a cell phone and a broken old payphone. Their new album, "States of America", is the band’s 7th album, their sixth for Procrastination Records. The album will feature lead single “Anger and Decency” as well as previously released tracks from 2021 “Thunderdome'' and “Uh Huh”. 

“Thunderdome” originally premiered on an episode of Bob Boilen’s All Songs Considered show on NPR, who said about the band “[Joy on Fire] just blew me away—they are just so fantastic.” The video for “Uh Huh”—the opening track on the LP—is an official selection at fourteen film festivals worldwide, including the LA Rocks Film Festival and London Rocks Film Festival, and was a winner at the Obskuur Ghent Film Festival in Belgium. Joy on Fire are known for their energetic live performances, with Brian Erickson from youdontknowjersey.com declaring them “the best live band working in New Jersey.”, and they plan to tour this new record following its release in June.]

-Robb Donker Curtius 

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://www.facebook.com/joyonfire/

http://www.joyonfire.com/

https://soundcloud.com/joy-on-fire/anger-and-decency/s-1CQ9xuxu5I6

https://open.spotify.com/track/7Ba1PI45D6Pb5gTk0tI8PQ

What if the world's greatest punk band featured lead saxophone instead of vocals? What if America's most interesting jazz trio featured a heavy metal rhythm section? What if you danced so hard, you literally jumped out of your own skin? JOY ON FIRE answers these questions and more! Originally formed in Baltimore, MD in 2009, JOY ON FIRE has since played up and down the East Coast, including gigs at Brooklyn’s Shapeshifter Lounge; SoWeBo Fest and Windup Space in Baltimore; The Purple Fiddle in West Virginia; and the The Pour House and Asheville Music Hall in North Carolina. Last May, the group hosted a month-long residency in NYC at SoHo’s The Cupping Room Cafe. Now based in New Jersey, JOY ON FIRE recently completed its second album of Led Zeppelin meets John Coltrane inspired “punk-jazz fuzz-rock,” entitled Fire with Fire.

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