"You'll get a fist to the jaw if you don't play it cool / You're a teenage slut and I'm a Catholic school / I've seen what you can do, so don't believe the hype / I can B negative, because that's my blood type..."
The punk audacious "I Am Your Own Worst Critic" from Joan of Arkansas's latest crunchy EP ¡Distortionista! somehow made me think of Rocky Horror Picture Show. Yeah, I know that seems weird but the sort of glam cabaret punk songs of Rocky Horror written by Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley partially had a sort of high school musical aesthetic, a gloriously sci fi punk high school but the theatricality was there as well as nods to 60's pop musicals. Now, now maybe this is a stretch but the way Joan of Arkansas constructs "I Am Your Own Worst Critic" with a back and forth boy / girl pointed finger back and forth thing does feel sort of musical theater, sort of punk John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (R.I.P.).
Anyway, I dig the sonics here. The absolutely gorgeous distortion, the guitar slides (notes and chords) the tweaks, and bends. The vocal aesthetic, the bottom heavy bass and fervent drums. Everything. Time is a thief right now but I will definitely dive into ¡Distortionista! soon and hope you do as well.
-Robb Donker Curtius
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://joanofarkansasaz.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Kvc22apax9USLZMszC1eV
https://joanofarkansas.com/
https://www.instagram.com/joanofarkansasband/
https://www.facebook.com/JoanOfArkansasBand/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOK-nHysuZDI397uGWOGbPQ
¡Distortionista!
This is us worshiping at the altar of the Church of the Blown Speaker.
This EP is meant to leave you drenched in sweat by the middle of the first song, like we are at every show. This is what happens when a 50-dollar fuzz pedal gets dialed to basically melting.
This is record collector pop with blood on the pickups and a fort we built from broken drum sticks. There is a reason we have a streak going of five straight shows with at least one broken string. We aren't trying to do that. I mean, we are trying, but not to do that. We just want to be one of the bands that your cool cousin puts on a mixtape. We want to blow the dust off. We want to bleed out the stress and boredom of modern adult life with four chords tuned to exhaustion. These songs are about gentrification, nostalgia, urban ennui, self-effacing humor, and Elliott Smith's ghost, like everything is, really. We want to make an EP that's missing teeth, but hey, the smile is in the eyes anyway.
** At this particular time we find ourselves in a financial pinch due to many factors. We want to keep AP going. It has been a passion project for over 13 years. PLEASE consider donating, we could really use the support. Thanks so much
We get by with a little help from our friends
Joan of Arkansas, punk, garage rock, fuzz, distortion, somber, reflective lyrics, "I Am Your Own Worst Critic" (Official Video), latest EP, ¡Distortionista!, Phoenix Arizona,
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