INTERVIEW: JOYYA — Music Musings & Such

INTERVIEW:

JOYYA

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THE awesome duo of JOYYA…

moved from Newcastle to London four years ago and, since then, have been making a name for themselves! In a revealing and open interview; Ben Dancer and David Pullen talk about their musical progression and how their new track, Horizon, came to be.

The guys reveal whether more material is coming up and when they started making music together; what life is like in London right now; if there are upcoming artists we need to seek out; what tour dates are around the corner; what sort of music they are influenced by – the boys each select a song to end the interview with.

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Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?

Hello! We are great, thanks. Although, we are both still recovering from running the Hackney Half Marathon on Sunday, 20th May, which we did to help raise awareness and support for the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably).

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We are called JOYYA, a duo consisting of Ben Dancer and David Pullen, and we love writing Electronic-Pop music that genuinely gives us a buzz to play and, hopefully, a buzz to anyone who listens to it.

Horizon is your new track. It seems to be a double-edged love letter. What sparked the moment the song was written?

In 2014, we both moved down to London from Newcastle and our latest song, Horizon, encapsulates the rollercoaster of emotions we both felt during the move. It was a huge jump for us both and the song definitely draws upon our anxiety, excitement and determination.

What is it like being in the city right now? As musicians; are there more advantages than disadvantages?

On balance, London is amazing - there really isn’t a city quite like it. It’s only when you get here that you really start to appreciate the sheer size of it and how much amazing music is being made here.

How did JOYYA get together? When did you start making music with each other?

We’ve actually been making music together for over ten years now, although this has been through a couple of different projects. When we both moved to London, we started meeting up just to keep playing more than anything and very quickly found ourselves writing new songs that felt incredibly exciting to play.

Therefore, we quickly decided to get our new material recorded and out there…

Is there more material coming from you guys in the coming months?

There certainly is! We’ve written so many new songs now, about half of which we’ve recorded and started mixing. We’re just keen to get them finished and out there for people to hear!

Who would you each count as influences? Did you grow up around a lot of different sounds?

As it happens, both of our dads play in Classic-Rock and Punk cover bands so, from a very early age, we’ve both been immersed in the classic sounds of The Clash through to The Who. I wouldn’t say these influences come through in our music too much, but it does mean we both seem to like very similar musical styles and sounds - which work really well when we write new music together.

Where are you heading on tour? Where can we catch you?

Our very next live show will be in Newcastle on 9th June at Evolution Emerging and we are very excited to be opening up the BBC Introducing stage. After that, we have a couple of London shows pencilled in but we are waiting to get these all confirmed up before we announce them, so keep an eye out as we have much more to follow.

If we come and see you play; what can we expect in terms of the material played and set-up?

Between the two of us, we try and play every instrument and every part between us. It makes for a more challenging performance but keeps it as live and as energetic as possible. We also always try and squeeze in as many songs as possible whenever we play, as we love playing our songs and trying to cut songs out of a set always feels like trying to pick your favourite child...if we had children that is...

What do you hope to achieve in 2018?

We have lots of exciting things planned for the rest of 2018 but, overall, the main aim is to keep building our momentum through releasing more songs and playing as many more shows as possible.

Have you each got a favourite memory from your time in music – the one that sticks in the mind?

This is a tough one...

Ben’s is when we had the opportunity to perform on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury in 2011 and our first real taste of what it could be like if we kept working hard towards our dream.

David’s is when we recently supported Fickle Friends at the Riverside in Newcastle, as we are big fans of their music and have supported and watched them over the last couple of years - so it was amazing to get to play with them.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

I think this would have to be HONNE - one of our favourite bands at the moment. The rider wouldn’t be too exotic...just some beers and maybe some scran, too, would be a bonus.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

The main thing would be to believe in yourself and believe in the music you’re making. If you love what you’re doing, the chances are somebody else out there will love it too.

IN THIS PHOTO: Cape Cub

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

We could give you a list longer than our arm...

But, if we had to pick one, we’d definitely say Cape Cub. Such beautiful music - and also incredibly nice lads, too.

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

For both of us, music is our main way of unwinding from our everyday lives as we both also have pretty intense London jobs during the week. However, when we take a break from music as well, this typically involves going away with our girlfriends to somewhere quiet, away from the city.

Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

Ben: HONNE – Sometimes