By nature, we love a full-circle story. Something to tie up all lose ends and bring things back to the start. And for me, this is my full-circle story of the Rochester, New York-based band Joywave.
As I was doing my research before interviewing the indie rock group, I realized that my first true college experience took place at one of their shows. I was 17, touring The Ohio State University. As a surprise to me, my dad bought tickets for us to see them play a venue in Columbus the night before our campus tour.
Looking back on it, the electricity of that show was the first time I processed that I was ready to move out on my own. This was way before I knew that I wanted to work in music, but that concert was the catalyzing moment that set off a whole chain or reactions in my life.
So, sitting down years later with Joywave while attending a completely different college was my full-circle story. I was joined by front-man Daniel Armbruster and drummer Paul Brenner before their performance at SGP’s Rock the Vote with Young the Giant at the University of Florida’s Flavet Field.
I started things off by catching them up on my previous anecdote, and their initial response was, “We played at Ohio State?”
Daniel Armbruster of Joywave photographed by Scene Photographer Diana Diaz Venturo
One of the band’s claims to fame is the way they love to mess with people on Twitter. A few months back, they released their tour dates for Joywave and Sir Sly Present: An Evening With Sir Sly and Joywave.
Like most touring bands, they skipped out on the entire state of Florida. Immediately, Florida fans took to begging the band via Twitter for an in-state show, only to result in the band pretending they’d never step foot here. Yet, a month later, here they were playing at the University of Florida.
I called the band out for teasing us Florida fans the way they did and Armbruster got very close to my microphone and said, “I like Florida so much.”
I’ve always been curious as to why Florida is left out of most tours, so I took my chance to get answers and some justice for our state. Brenner said it isn’t really anything about the music scene here, it’s just too hot for someone like him who is from upstate New York. And Florida’s geographic location is hard to factor into planning a tour strategically.
Via Joywave’s Twitter account
“It seems like Florida has passionate music fans and there’s a lot of nice people who live here,” Armbruster said. “I just remember as a kid getting off the plane to visit my grandparents and it taking 20 minutes for me to be able to breathe. I was like, ‘I’m dying, I need an oxygen tank.’”
During the show, the band assured the crowd that they make it a priority to come down to Florida at least once every two years.
It seems like Florida has passionate music fans and there’s a lot of nice people who live here. I just remember as a kid getting off the plane to visit my grandparents and it taking 20 minutes for me to be able to breathe. I was like, ‘I’m dying, I need an oxygen tank.’
Switching gears, I had a lot of questions for the guys about their latest single “Blastoffff.” The recent release explores topics of detachment between self and physical location.
The line “yeah, I’m in town, but my head is not” specifically seemed reminiscent of life on tour. The release date of the song lined up pretty well with the band’s impending tour, peaking my curiosity about what being on the road for so long does to you psychologically.
To an onlooker, touring seems like this magically hazy whirlwind of traveling and meeting new people. The band wanted to voice the less than perfect nature of constantly being on the move within their newest song.
“The concept lyrically, is very much like what people see of you is oh, these people are doing this larger-than-life crazy thing,” Armbruster said. “And, the behind the scenes reality is that it’s really just mind-numbing and you can kind of lose yourself. Everyone else is on a different timeline than you.”
“I think it’s Friday today,” Brenner joked.
The band promised me that even when life gets blurry on tour, daily showers are still part of their individual routines. But, it was what Armbruster said next that really put things into perspective for me:
“There’s also this thing where we’re sitting here right now, and we’re talking and you’re in college. You said you saw us when you were 17, and a lot has happened in your life between then and now; and in my life, it’s exactly the same. It’s this bubble where time has gone by and you are now an adult at college here. And I’m like I believe you, you have the evidence to support your argument, and me and Paul have been sitting on a bus.”
Post-interview photo with Daniel Armbruster and Paul Brenner of Joywave by Scene Photographer Diana Diaz Venturo
Despite the chaos, you can tell the band is truly appreciative that this is their lifestyle. Getting to play music in front of a huge crowd that supports what you are doing makes the monotonous parts of the experience worth it.
The massive crowd of UF students and Joywave fed off each other’s energy at the show that night. You could tell the band was shocked by how large of a crowd they drew, and the crowd was equally surprised by how easily you can get caught up in their music. And I think it’s safe to say that we made some Gator fans out of the band by the end of the night.
Joywave’s tour with Sir Sly officially kicks off in October and will carry on into November. Armbruster shared that they have been working on a lot of new music and hope to start rolling out new songs at the top of next year. They hope to potentially release a new album mid-2019.
For a closer look at the personalities of Joywave and their tour habits, check out this video below.
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