After a highly successful all ages show earlier this week at The Metro, Joygirl joined me during the Bulls game number five against Utah for a casual interview. I've been following their movement for several months now, and this band is about ready to bust out huge on the Chicago music scene. "Melissa and I have played together for 8 years now in projects including 'Baby Oil' and presently 'Joygirl'," states guitarist Holli Haley. "We've experienced several member changes, recording disappointments and live technician inadequacies, but we have endured." And endured they have.
Sharing an all to familiar nightmare story, drummer Melissa Holt says, "Our plans to release a CD was previously aborted by the abrupt parting of our other guitar player and bass player. We had just completed tracking 11 songs at Warzone studios (Chicago). Because of the number of tracks they played and sang on we decoded to just scrap the recordings."
Bass player Melanie Isaksen teamed up with Joygirl about a year ago. Moving from a very limited music scene in Memphis Tennessee, Melanie made the decision to go to Chicago for better opportunities. "Memphis had very little support for live music," confides Melanie. "Chicago has so much more to offer with lots of club performance opportunities, audience support and extremely talented musicians to play with."(Bulls game reaction)
Listening to the 3 song demo cassette they have just recorded and mixed, I found the vocal arrangements reminded me of early Juliana Hatfield/Blake Babies material. Very classy, very refreshing. Melanies stellar vocals on "Baby Doll" showcases the demo along with extremely tasty guitar riffs from Holli and excellent percussion work by Melissa.
These musicians are passionate about their music. They have received much airplay support from Chicago radio stations including WXRT, WCBR and Q101.
They have performed at all of the main venues in Chicago. They have performed at several benefits for several organizations. They enjoy doing acoustic sets of their music adding yet another dimension to their sound. (Bulls game reaction)
Holli says that future goals include stepping up their merchandising and getting their CD pressed and available. "It's a pretty fresh tape," continues Holli. "It still feels real new."
Melissa adds, " We want to support ourselves by playing music, and to do whatever it takes to be able to do that."
I don't see that being too far off.
In closing, Melanie adds some constructive advice to any new aspiring songwriters. "Everyone has their own way of songwriting. Some people write and perform by ear, and some people read music. Find out what works for you in your own idiom and write".
Contact Joygirl at PO Box 577676, Chicago IL 60657 or visit
their web site at www.opplan.com\joygirl. They have a lot to be proud of.
You go girrrls!!
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