Joyce Manor on New Album 40 Oz. to Fresno, Fifth Wave Emo and “Trying to Get Murdered” by Sublime Fans
The post Joyce Manor on New Album 40 Oz. to Fresno, Fifth Wave Emo and “Trying to Get Murdered” by Sublime Fans appeared first on Consequence.
Joyce Manor have been on a victory lap for the past two years. They put out a reworked rarities compilation Songs From Northern Torrance in 2020, and a year later, Asian Man Records remastered the pop-punk act’s iconic self-titled debut for its tenth anniversary. Now, Joyce Manor are back with their first crop of new songs since 2018’s Million Dollars to Kill Me, the 19-minute, catchy as hell 40 Oz. to Fresno(out June 10th).
In a lot of ways, 40 Oz. to Fresno, their sixth full-length and fourth for Epitaph Records, is classic Joyce Manor. Only two songs break the two-minute mark, the hooks are reminiscent of their breakthrough Never Hungover Again, and the whole project even came about after frontman Barry Johnson rediscovered a forgotten B-side, “Secret Sisters.”
“We threw around the idea of releasing it as a single,” Johnson tells Consequence, “But I was like, ‘Let’s just make a record that sounds like that song.’ And we kind of did, but it ended up being its own thing.”
Following Songs From Northern Torrance and the Joyce Manor remaster, it’s easy to agree with Johnson that despite its conception, 40 Oz. to Fresno is far from a mere rehash of the band’s most celebrated material. The record reflects the group’s progression as much their roots, as many songs are more reminiscent of the Dear Nora-inspired Cody than Never Hungover Again — fitting for the return of producer Rob Schnapf. The departure of Pat Ware also led to Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack taking over on drums, lending 40 Oz. to Fresno a somewhat distinct rhythmic feel.
This is all to be expected, though. Over a decade and six LPs in, the band we named the 25th Best Pop Punk Band of all time has such a unique sonic fingerprint that no matter what new direction they may take their music, it remains unmistakably Joyce Manor. No one else sounds like Joyce Manor, and Joyce Manor couldn’t not sound like Joyce Manor if they tried.
Much of that comes from Johnson’s particular approach to songwriting. “I think what makes Joyce Manor interesting and special is Chase [Knobbe]’s fucked brain and my fucked brain,” he tells Consequence.
The fucked brain approach is working. From Joyce Manor’s “Constant Headache” to Never Hungover Again’s “Falling in Love Again” to recent 40 Oz. to Fresno single “Gotta Let It Go,” Johnson and Co. have been consistently churning out cathartic, mosh-ready anthems for larger and larger audiences.
Joyce Manor is also gearing up for a national tour with Citizen and Prince Daddy & The Hyena, before heading to Europe with The Menzingers. Grab tickets to both tours here, and check out the full Q&A below.
Let’s start with the title of the album. I’ve read that it’s an autocorrected version of Sublime’s 40 Oz. to Freedom. Depending on who you ask, Sublime are either one of the best things to come out of the ‘90s or something to be forgotten. What’s your relationship with the band and their music?
I loved them when I was a kid. They were one of my favorite bands. And then in my teens and early twenties, I assumed it wouldn’t hold up or maybe associated the band with the people who liked them more than actual content or the quality of the music. And then at some point, I rediscovered that they’re really, really good and have a ton of great songs. So, every now and then I’ll go back and remember how great they are.
But I hadn’t listened to 40 Oz. to Freedom. For whatever reason, my go-to is the self-titled record. So, when I went back and listened to 40 Oz. to Freedom, I was just blown away by how many great songs are on that. And so I texted my friend, “When was the last time you listened to 40 Oz. to Freedom?” My phone changed it to 40 Oz. to Fresno and it just struck me. I’m always waiting for that to happen with a record title. Just something to jump out at me. And we had a few for this one, but that one just felt right for whatever reason.
It marks the second album title in a row that’s a reference to a classic ‘90s act, since Million Dollars to Kill Me alluded to a Travis Barker quote. Coincidence or new meta trend for Joyce Manor?
I’m trying to get murdered. Either Travis Barker’s goons or some Sublime fools. They’ll roll around Long Beach to show up and just murder me. That’s what I’m trying to do.
This album sees you get Rob Schnapf back behind the boards. You’ve got the drummer from Motion City Soundtrack playing as well. How was it working with each of them?
Our drummer Pat went back to law school. It was really… acrimonious? Is that the right word? There was no drama, and we still love each other. He just wanted to get back to law school. So we needed to get a session drummer for this instead of finding a permanent member. We’ve had so many goddamn drummers over the years. It’s just like, we’re just a three piece now. And we’ll just get somebody. There’s a lot of drummers, you know, how hard could it really be?
We got Tony Thaxton from Brett Gurewitz at Epitaph’s suggestion. I was throwing out session drummer names, like big ones that I know, like Josh Freese. [Gurewitz] was like, “Those guys are good, but I know a guy who I think would be a perfect fit.” And he’s right, Tony Thaxton is unreal at drums and wrote such cool parts.
And then in terms of Schnapf, why the return? You had one album on (Cody) and then one album off (Million Dollars to Kill Me) and now you’re back.
I think the album off was the reason for the return. I was like, I wonder what it would have sounded like if Rob had produced [Million Dollars to Kill Me]. I really like our record Cody. I think that’s becoming my favorite one. It’s always been Never Hungover Again for me. I’ve just been like, that one’s magical. But the more time goes by, and revisiting Cody, I think it’s my favorite one. We’re just excited to work with Rob again. It was also the middle of the pandemic, and Rob’s really fun to hang out with and just a buddy of ours at this point. It was kind of a no-brainer. I love working with Rob. I’ll work with Rob for as long as he’ll let me come back, which might never be again actually.
You were working on this record during the pandemic. As far as I know, that didn’t come easy for you. How did you pull yourself out of the pandemic feelings to come up with the new songs?
I don’t know how anybody could feel inspired during the fucking pandemic. It’s like trying to be inspired with a fire alarm going off. Like, yeah, it’s gotten super easy to focus with the whole world melting down. It’s so distracting. I don’t know, maybe it’s the way I write songs. I need to be kind of Zen’d out. It’s like trying to make a game winning putt with a fire engine going by. Like, can you knock it off? I’m trying to try to putt here or, you know, throw a touchdown pass. I gotta be in the zone. And it’s just hard to get in the zone. Once I could hang out and we just all got used to it and Trump didn’t win the election again, I did a lot of the writing then.
The Joyce Manor live show has always been an important aspect of the band. Have you guys road tested the new songs at all yet? How do you expect them to go over live? How are shows different in general since the early days?
Yeah, we played the singles. We just did a run with The Story So Far. We had a 45-minute set. I didn’t want to bore people with new shit. Everything we played I wanted people to know. We played the singles and they went over really well. And they felt really, they didn’t feel… In the past, like on Million Dollars to Kill Me and even on Cody, there were a couple of songs that kind of killed the vibe. They’re too soft or they’re too — you just can feel a drop in energy in the room. But these ones don’t feel like that. The two singles that we played feel like there’s nothing out of place amongst the rest of the setlist.
And we’re better and not better at the same time. We had something in the early days that was just crazy. We played in this really unhinged way. Some videos, I go back and watch and I’m like, “Damn, that was kind of sick.” But then I feel like for a long time we were kind of sloppy not in a cool, unhinged way. I think it’s as the songs got harder. So, we’re sounding the best we’ve ever sounded. Except when we used to sound unhinged and kind of psychotic in the beginning. Just apples and oranges. I couldn’t recreate that now. It was a time and a place.
The past couple years have seen you guys put out more retrospective, reflective releases like remasters and rarities compilations. How do the new songs relate to the recently re-released ones?
It’s interesting because this record started while I was looking for stuff to include on that collection, Songs From Northern Torrence. We had this b-side from Never Hungover Again and when we were entertaining the idea of also having a bunch of B-sides at the end [of the compilation], it just felt unfocused and weird. So, what are we gonna do with the “Secret Sister” song? When I rediscovered it and re-listened to it, I was like, “Oh, this is kind of sick and we’ve got to do something with it.” And so we threw around the idea of releasing it as a single. But I was like, let’s just make a record that sounds like that song. And we kind of did, but it ended up being its own thing.
I think the place that we took “Gotta Let It Go” to was a good fit with “Secret Sisters.” We left it off, Never Hungover Again because I felt like it was the same 6/8 Weezer thing that we had done on “Beach Community” and “Leather Jacket.” I didn’t want it to be like a trope of Joyce Manor. It’s already a Weezer trope. Whereas a lot of the other stuff on Never Hungover Again felt really fresh. Like once we wrote “The Jerk” and “Falling in Love Again,” it felt more rich and like something different that we hadn’t done yet. And “Secret Sisters,” although it’s a fucking sick song, we’ve kind of already done that.
But we haven’t done a 6/8 one in that style since. So I was like, let’s just put it on the record and I’ll build the record around that. So, I guess digging into the trash kind of leads to putting out a big ol’ can of trash.
You tend to keep your records short and sweet. 40 Oz. is back to being sub-20 minutes. What is the importance of brevity?
I edit a lot. So I’ll end up getting rid of stuff that I actually like just because it doesn’t serve the song to its fullest. It’s like cutting your hair. You can always take more off, but you can’t put more on. I just go to town on the songs and whittle them down until it’s time to shave my head. I don’t like for there to be anything like that’s not good or exciting.
To that extent, we could have put “Secret Sisters” on Never Hungover Again, but it doesn’t belong on there. I think I was right, even looking back now. It’d be super weird if that was on Never Hungover Again. But not at the time because Never Hungover Again wasn’t Never Hungover Again yet. It was just some Joyce Manor album no one’s heard. I just have it in my head how things need to be.
Is there ever the temptation to repeat the chorus again or let the song hit the four or five minute mark?
One time I was hanging with Conor Oberst, and he was like, “Dude, come to Omaha. My boy, Mike Mogis. I’m just gonna take your song, we’re gonna keep them good. We’re just gonna make them longer. We’re gonna get three minutes out of these great songs you write.” And I was like, “Man, fuck that. Come to Long Beach. You come to Torrance, and I’m going to take your fucking song that’s like five minutes long. I’m gonna show you how to make it a minute twenty, just the sick part.”
The track “You’re Not Famous Anymore” kept sticking out to me when I was listening to the record because the lyrics are so pointed. What’s the story behind that? A child star that pissed you off?
Dude, it’s really tempting to say who it’s about. I was just playing G to C minor over and over again. And then the lyrics came to me and I was like, “Whoa, this is really spiteful.” It’s just bands that came up around the same time as us. It seemed like they had the whole world ahead of them and now they couldn’t draw 50 people. It’s tragic, but it’s also like, that’s most fucking people in the world. Boo-fucking-hoo. You know who else can’t draw 50 people? My fucking grandma. Like, she’s happy, she has a nice life.
I’ve just seen some people be not totally graceful about their fall from grace. I thought it was inevitable for all of us. I was like, “Yeah, we’re having our 15 minutes, crack an IPA and we’ll be a manager at Trader Joe’s in no time.” But we’ve been really lucky. And if next year, it’s all over, that’s fine. It’s been great.
What’s your perspective on the new crop of bands that are coming out of the so-called fifth wave emo scene? A lot of them cite you as an influence and you’ve been on the road with a couple of them, like awakebutstillinbed or Prince Daddy & The Hyena. Who’s catching your attention?
I think Oso Oso are probably my favorite of that crop. I think Jade is maybe a little older. He had another band that was a little more Warped Toury. Oso Oso, I would say is half that, half indie rock. The guy sounds like if Built to Spill was on Warped Tour — in a really good way.
And I like a lot of the other ones. A lot of them are kind of hyper for me. I’m kind of old and a lot of it’s a little crazy. It makes Joyce Manor sound like Crosby, Stills, and Nash or something. Maybe it’s more influenced by Jeff Rosenstock or PUP. Like, PUP is really manic and hyperactive, you know? Where, I don’t know, I think maybe Joyce Manor has a little more of a groove. And I’m not saying one is better or not, but someone will be like, “Oh yeah, we’re really influenced by Joyce Manor.” And we check out their stuff and it sounds like Jeff Rosenstock. It sounds crazy. It’s not it’s not bad. It’s just I don’t hear that much of what we do per se.
Joyce Manor on New Album 40 Oz. to Fresno, Fifth Wave Emo and “Trying to Get Murdered” by Sublime Fans
Jonah Krueger
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