The Sound Of Joy Formidable

The Joy Formidable is a London-based band.

They are playing the Kanrocksas Music Festival this weekend. Vocalist and guitarist Ritzy Bryan recently wrote in to discuss Dexy’s Midnight Runners, favorite venues to play and their creative process.

For more info on The Joy Formidable, check out http://www.thejoyformidable.com/.

What’s your earliest musical memory?
My parents throwing me up in the air as a baby to the song “Come on Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners.

Do you remember the first concert you went to?

Oh yes. Elvis Costello at Liverpool Royal Court, one of the reasons I started writing music.

What was the first album you bought?

“The Queen is Dead” by The Smiths.

What inspired the naming of your album “The Big Roar”?

It’s a bold title for a bombastic album. It was conceived after I read a book on the Amazon basin and came across the phenomena that is the pororoca. Without dissecting the metaphor too much, it just felt right.

What was the first track written for “The Big Roar”?

Austere. One of the first tracks we ever wrote back home in North Wales.

Your songs have a really sprawling sound. How does your creative process work as a band?

It varies a lot from track to track. Some songs stem from a set of lyrics, a drumbeat, a riff , others are dictated by the recording process on the computer,  others are played out in our rehearsal space. It’s a process that never stagnates.

What are some of your favorite venues to play and why?

It’s the audience that makes a venue memorable. We had a great time at Koko in London just recently, SXSW was a lot of fun for us and the crowd at The Basement in Ohio in April made us smile.

Do you change up the set list every time you play?

No rules either way, depends how we’re feeling and where we’re playing.

You are playing Kanrocksas this summer. What are you most looking forward to about the festival?

We had a great show in Kansas City in May, so we’re hoping for another warm welcome.  It’s also another excuse to see the magical Flaming Lips again live.

What are the biggest challenges when playing festivals?

The 15-minute changeover. I can never time getting a drink, having a pee and finding the stage in 15 minutes!

What advice would you have for artists just starting out?
Blinkers down, write and play A LOT , surround yourself with good people, take an interest in everything and be prepared to never sleep again.