Joyce Collingwood are a local five-piece ready to melt your faces off with their blistering brand of hardcore. Via angry vocals and ass-kicking guitar licks, Joyce Collingwood are more than ready to take Vancouver by storm this fall with the release of their long-gestating catalogue, of which the band recently discussed with Discorder over drinks near their Gastown practice space.
Formed in 2009, Joyce Collingwood is comprised of five members: Twitch (guitar), Private Minnou (vocals), Gillian Callander (bass), Claudia Fernandez (guitar) and Joy Mullen (drums). On their website, they claim they met “while playing water polo, you know, the sport where you ride sea-horses and play hockey at the same time.” But when asked about their actual origins, the band was coy. “We met on Craigslist,” Fernandez admitted. “It’s a pretty boring story, but I can’t lie. I’m totally blowing our cover.” The entire band reacts to the revelation with a round of laughs; it’s a common occurrence throughout the interview.
In case transit-savvy folks were wondering, the band’s name does indeed come from the Joyce-Collingwood SkyTrain station. In the band’s early days, when they were still trying to come up with a name, an all-night binge found a couple of drunken members stranded at the Joyce-Collingwood station. That’s when inspiration struck. “We wanted [a name] that represented Vancouver because we’re passionate about the city,” says Twitch of the tributary moniker. “[Joyce Collingwood] is something that doesn’t say too much about what kind of music we’re going to make.”
Sporting a clever, euphonious name, the group delivers a straight ahead blend of punk, hardcore and thrash. Twitch pauses when asked to describe their sound in the most colorful language possible. “You ever vomited and been like ‘yeah, know I’m all good?’ That’s what it makes me feel like,” she laughs. “It’s the euphoria after violently vomiting. That’s what Joyce Collingwood is going to send you home with, minus the hang-over.”
The band has just released their first vinyl EP, Joyce Collingwood, which features eight new songs. It was recorded live off the floor with no overdubs at Joshua Stevenson’s Otic Studios in one blazing afternoon. “Because all of the songs are so short, we can fit everything onto one seven-inch,” says Fernandez. The shortest song, at 22 seconds long, is “Angst,” a snarky little number that’ll tear your synapses in half with its raw power. Another stand-out track is “Hard Cash,” a driving, whip-crack ‘80s crossover number that capitalizes on Minnou’s ferocious vocals. On it, she emotes pure energy as wailing guitars and manic drum beats crash and wail behind her. A demo version of the song is featured on Joyce Collingwood’s MySpace page, but the newer version outshines it.
Lyrically, Joyce Collingwood bounces from songs about loyal pets (“Good Dog”), to desiring respect and recognition (“Plan B”) to tragic environmental issues (“Oil Spill”). No matter the content, each song is a rager featuring the twin guitar attack of Twitch and Fernandez alternating between chugging metal riffs and sharp, urgent licks.
On top of the newly unleashed seven-inch, the band will also be issuing a CD and tape this September. Interestingly, even though each release runs with different tracklistings, all will be titled Joyce Collingwood. “It’s going to be a mixed bag,” Twitch says of the situation.
The group further explained that the tape and CD will contain older songs written before the tracks on the seven-inch, and added there will be even more content available online.
“We’re going to release everything at once,” Fernandez confirms. While releasing so much at once could be daunting for new fans, the band is just excited to finally have their music available. “Imagine being blue-balled for two years,” says a now extremely relieved and relaxed Twitch before concluding with a laugh. “Basically, this is a two-year…release.”