Off the Record

EV Dallman 0:01
This is Evie with WKNC talking to No Joy about their new album Bugland and their discography overall.

Jasamine White-Gluz 0:19
It's true, nature has these things where you're like, the patterns or the designs or the roots, or these things are like, so feel so futuristic, but it's like, no, these were these have existed long before us, creatures and insects and nature, like, there's always so much more to learn about and to find out, and I don't know like anything like, I just, I'm at the beginning of learning about it. So it feels like, kind of like a whole world or land that you can sort of like dive into and learn about that name, the name was just sort of always what we refer to home as. And so using the Sort of like exploration of a new home to be kind of the title of the record, kind of inspired by nature, which is super cheesy to say, but it's true. And fire tools, who CO produced with me, she also left the city and moved somewhere a bit more rural, so we were both kind of like, going through this, like, Isn't grass so cool? Like, do you ever just look at trees? Like, we were all like, really in touch with our nature. So I guess that that informed the record like but it wasn't the plan to begin with. The plan was just to to write and make stuff with fire tools. And it just so happened that we were both sort of in our country, life mode at the time, natural, but yet completely electronic, but feels so organic. And, yeah, the new sound, I think it's because of fire tools. And I, I'd never worked with her before, and she is, I heard her music, and I was just so confused in the best way. Like I was like, What is going on here? Like, it is crazy, but she has, like, such a knack for hooks and melodies, and that's what usually draws me in to music. So I just like, bang girl. And was like, Hey, do you want to work on some stuff together and bug land? The song was the first one we did just I had an old demo. We passed it back and forth, and then it just happened so quick that I was like, Okay, if we can get one song like this done so quickly, I think we could do a record for Hollywood teeth, specifically, that was in the era, like more when we were it was off, more faithful. And so we were, um, Garland, who played drums and Michael, who was on bass, like we were practicing a lot, like, a lot, and it so it's funny, you say it sounds really like a jam, because that was really like the peak of us being a really tight band and then recording live, like, just all together in the room. And so that, like, we we really practice a lot. So by the time we were recording it, we were just like so in tune with each other that it probably that's why it sounds that way, because we all recorded it live, whereas, like on other tracks, especially later, like motherhood and things like that, we didn't record as a full band all the time. We would do like, tracks here, tracks there, and put them together, chop them up. But more faithful was really like everybody, literally jamming all the time. And so the cover is, the cover of more faithful is us, just like wrestling in our jam space, because we were just always practicing, which, again, like counters what I just said about me never making time to write, because I guess it's easier when you have other people to hold you accountable for practice. It's so complex. And it can be the literal, like you're a mom and you have a baby, and it can be so it has so many other meanings, like also, like Lady Gaga being Mother, you know, but it has so many meetings, and it also opened the conversation a lot people resonated with that record on so many different levels. So I had people reach out to me about like, losing their mothers recently, or becoming a mother, or not being able to be a mother, or like, being a mom to pets and like, or even like. I got to connect with people about so many different things that they heard in the record. And I'm happy for that, because it wasn't meant to be just like one thing, but it's, it's an interesting topic that I don't think is always, you don't always see all the different dimensions to it. So I'm happy that people heard some of that in that record, that that record is kind of like more thematically, one story, and it's like just different aspects of exploring motherhood as like a daughter, as a mother, as a sister, you know, as a friend and. Um, and so those, those two are kind of expansions on on those things existing and making music is inherently political, especially if you're doing it somewhat on a DIY level, because the world is in such a state. I also wanted to create something that might not be a distraction, but instead be maybe something that gives hope and that gives you like energy to keep fighting or to keep building or to keep learning, because it's important to have hope to be able to keep go, like working towards a better world, and there's a lot of negative out there, and I just thought, like the best way that I can contribute to that conversation is to add something that maybe inspires people to keep going. I think in everything I do, I always like a contrast or like, for me, if something is confusing, that means I'm curious about it, and I think there's potential, and I want to know. And that's some of my favorite art discoveries have been things that at first I'm like, what is that? I don't get it, and then you get it. So I always love a contrast where it's like, when we started making music as nerd, as a full band, it was like to make really heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy stuff with like vocals that were pretty light. So it's like this contrast. And so hell hole was just like, you know, with the art as well. It was like pretty dark, pretty lots of like evil symbolism, but like, super catchy and like kind of bubble, gummy beat and like this just contrast where you're like, but I'm this looks like it's supposed to be metal, but it doesn't sound like it. So what is going on? And that I'm sure that that having this confusing contrast hasn't like helped my case. For some new listeners would get confused. Yeah, that one, I am happy to say that garland, who played drums, he was like a main writer. He that's, that's his track, and it was one of those tracks where I was so confused. I was like, I don't know how to play this. I don't know what chords you're doing, I don't know what words you're saying. Like, it's so confusing. His brain just worked on a different level. So that one was, like, it took me a while to get the vocals right. That one we did with George Albrecht, who produced it. And like, he was able to figure out the chords, and he was able to help out with the guitar stuff. But that was a girl in jam that is still still so, like, I was just talking to him, like, this year, we were like, how did we How did we play that I had to go back and get the stems and, like, try and he figured out the chords. It's, it's a weird one. Yeah, I think, I think at this stage where the way that I'm producing music is way more. I come in with, like, the main idea, like, let's say the sketch of the song and the people who are contributing to it, I give them, like, free range, do whatever you do. And like, any idea is not stupid. Like, even if you think it's stupid, it's go for it. Like, we're gonna try, and we'll find a way to make it work. And that's especially when it comes to, like, with working with Angel, that's why, like, coming things, with drums and beats and stuff, like, she's so crazy with that, and she's so good at it. So like me just saying, like, do whatever you want, because I trust you, and I know that, like, you're going to come up with something amazing and and then balancing that with whatever sketch I put through. Like, I think it's a lot of collaboration. And, I mean, it depends. Everybody's different, but I don't like to have an idea of how I want the song to be before, like, I don't want to be like, this is going to be, like the rock song. I just go like, this is the thing. I don't know. Let's see where it goes. So I don't like having a plan. I like just kind of winging it. I feel like that theme revealed itself long after the record came out. That was the first time we were in the studio, like in a real studio with a producer. Before that, we were just recording ourselves in JAM spaces. And so I think that's, I think, where I learned through George, like, to just try stuff and just do it. And, like, who cares? Um, because we had so much fun making that record. It was so fun at all hours recording and, like, I think that's the theme of that one. Was just to, like, you can experiment and go crazy and it can still sound good. And that's what we were able to do on that one. But I do remember, like, recording the vocals for that when we were finished, like, usually the vocals were kind of like the last thing that we put on. The track, and I remember we there's just, like you just kind of feel it when something is happening, and like when we did that song, We just could kind of feel like Something Was I

um, but I mean for example, like, some of these songs on this new record are from that era, or, like, bug land was a demo called White Zombie that I had, like I was had, like a weird guitar that was, I think it was in garage band, even. So it's probably like from 2016 that I, like, tried different things over the years, and it just never really worked. And then it was one where, like, I brought it to fire tools, and was just like, what about this? Try? Let's try this. Because I'm sort of feeling it so it's like it was percolating for a long time. I

I think that's happened with a few songs of mine too, where I just I don't want to let them go, but I don't want to put them out until they find like the right place to be. So maybe with this one, that's what happened. I. On motherhood. It was shot by my good friend Matt for 10 who also shot the bug land art. And he's from Montreal, but he was, he lives in Paris now, and he was home for like, a week or something. I saw him at like, a friend's barbecue, and it was like, Hey, I think I might have an album coming out soon. I don't know when, but, like, since you're here, like, we should shoot something. And we went back and forth with, like, how to conceptualize this, but he's such an amazing artist that we found a local guy who has some bugs that he brings to, like, science events. I was like, Can I borrow your spider, your crab, your snail? Like he came over. We all set up. There's a train, sorry. And Matt shot these, like, it's incredible, like, you know, some of the shots are just unreal, but it's because he's an amazing, amazing creative director, photographer, and the bugs were, like, cooperating that day. So they all did well. And I think, like, the and the video was, my husband directed it, and we just, kind of, like, I pulled I called a stylist friend and a makeup artist friend, and they helped me out. And we just had a an idea, you know what? The idea for the video, literally, was based on something real. We had a mouse in the wall, which I'm sure, if you're in the country, you get mice in the wall all the time. And we were trying to, like, find out where he was coming from. And then the idea kind of spiraled like, what if, like, there was something in my guitar amp, and I follow it, and then, like, when you follow through the hole, you end up, kind of Alice in Wonderland style. You end up in bug land. For this one, I feel like it's almost like the most abstract, but it's also the most cohesive in that there's no narrative that's like a story, Beginning, middle end, but they all exist in the same world, like bug land, so they all kind of fit together. And it's, you know, it's a short record. It's not super long. None of the records I've made have been like, super, super long. I have no attention span, so they have to be short. But I feel like this one is hopeful and optimistic.

Yeah, we, um, yeah, we haven't been on tour for a while. Last one, I think, was 2021, but I haven't been to we haven't played Europe in a long time, or the UK, so I'm super excited to go back. That was one of my my goals for this record was to kind of like, reach out a bit more, get to places we haven't been in a while. You

Hello. Oh yeah, that's our friend Devin. Designed that love him and he's, he's, like, super amazing designer, built by Butler. That was, like, a funny EP The where Thorn and garlic Psyched. It was right after fourth April. We were, like, touring a lot, and then you kind of like music industry, you're like, busy, busy, busy, and then nothing, and then Busy, busy. So this was in a little break where we had nothing going on, and we went to record most of it in Hamilton with the and again, it was like, Really, like we were playing live all together, like a really rock

set up. I think we played that song live a couple times,

but we don't, it doesn't usually make it into the set anymore, but it was, it was a fun little like weekend where we just kind of swapped out three Songs that being one of them, and is it?

You? Kind of like, the it should feel like that, like, amazing feeling you had when you're like, you just had a great day outside with your friends and you went to the beach and, like, you got sunburned, but you feel great and you're like, kind of dehydrated, but need to go to bed. It. That's what it should the record should feel like, I think to me anyway that

I can help whatever it is you're doing. I.

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