The Joys

THE JOYS!
Metamorphôsis
1. A profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly.
2. A complete change of form, structure, or substance-a form resulting from any such change.
Metamorphosis-a key word in the career of London Ontario musicians The Joys. The last year or so has been a real period of growth and change for the band; as well as a period of introspection-and finally happiness. And all these emotions and changes are reflected on the group's forthcoming album UNFOLD.
"The last couple of years have been tumultuous both for the band and in our personal lives" says singer Sarah Smith "it has been a roller coaster of emotion, both good and bad-and the new songs reflect that." Marriages, births in families, as well as deaths, have been key events marking a sea change in the band's growth. "We have always been so focused on being a 'working band' " says drummer Glen Gamble "that we rarely have the chance to slow down and take stock of our personal lives." All that came to sudden stop with the events of the last while; in particular, the passing of guitarist Mike McKyes mother.
The ensuing period of grief and reflection resulted in the band pulling even closer together and realizing they wanted to continue. "The music is all we have, really" McKyes states "so we buried ourselves in our writing." The end result is a collection of songs inspired by this emotional time, in particular, the title track.
Sarah's words tell of Mike's mother's wish to become a butterfly and transcend her psychical pain, thus inspiring one of Smith's most mature set of lyrics to date. Couple this with the musical muscle of Mike's powerful riffing and sensitive acoustic "open-tuned" playing, and result is a sound both touching and forceful.
The rest of the album follows suit-songs full of emotion and feeling, inspired by life's twists and turns. Scorching rocker STORM reveals the stormy periods that can happen to the best of relationships. "Make no mistake about it-a band is like a marriage, without the sex!" laughs Gamble. But don't get the wrong idea-all is good in The Joys camp. "The changes in line-up, bad times AND good times have made us pull closer together." he concludes. Songs like FLY and SEE THE LIGHT reflect the positive side of the change the band has gone through.
All in all, this group of songs shows the over-all spectrum of experience the band has gone through recently. And it is a rich, varied tapestry of sound. Produced by Tom Treumuth (Kazzer, Big Sugar) this combos fierce live attack is finally captured on CD. "We had fun making our previous album DEMOLITION SESSIONS" says Gamble "but it was basically a self-produced demo-live off the floor and not very polished." This may be the case, but the release did serve a purpose-it was a good primer for fans wanting to get to know The Joys experience-not to mention it sold over 12,000 copies off of the stage alone. With no radio play or record company push. As a matter of fact, The Joys are the very definition of "indie rock". They eat, sleep and breathe music, playing over 250 shows a year-and doing it full-time for a living.
If you havent experienced the sights and sounds of a live Joys shows, be sure and check them out ASAP. With the summer 07 release of their 3-song single (songs from the upcoming UNFOLD) the band will continue it's relentless schedule of touring-including, for the first time, the U.S. and beyond. For more information, be sure and check out:
www.thejoys.ca
www.myspace.com/thejoys