When I interviewed Bad Operation last year, they offered up a list of bands from New Orleans everyone should check out. One of the bands mentioned was Joystick! After listening to them a few times in preparation for this interview, Bad Operation was absolutely correct. Joystick! blends ska, punk, and hardcore in a very unique and fresh package. Don’t just trust Bad Operation though. Less Than Jake even shouted out Joystick! on twitter as a band folks should be listening to. Recommendations from one of the bands that got me into ska punk, and the band who put out my favorite ska album of 2020 are good enough for me.
While the band is on a bit of a pause for pandemic-related reasons, Joystick! lead singer, Duck, sat down to give us some more information about them. After reading this, make sure you go check them out on bandcamp. It’s well worth it.
For some reason, some of the ska fans out there stick to the same bands and never expand their horizons. Recently, Less Than Jake was mentioning some of the newer bands people should pay attention to and you were listed. How did that feel to see that?
In my experience, ska fans are usually pretty open minded to checking out new bands. I think the problem might be that it is more of a challenge to stumble upon some of the smaller/newer bands for people who aren’t actively searching them out. Excluding social media, there isn’t much mention of the genre really anywhere. So the average person just doesn’t know.
Do you think that mindset is one of the reasons people say ska punk is dead?
I do. It doesn’t come from a place of mean-spiritedness though. I think a lot of people just don’t know how active the scene really is at the moment.
New Orleans is a city vibrant with culture and music. How much has the city influenced your music and desire to play music?
Before COVID you couldn’t go anywhere in this city without hearing someone playing music and it always brought a smile to my face. You can really hear that influence in our brass section. We even use sousaphone on our albums to give it more of a brass band sound.
For folks not aware of who Joystick! is, how would you describe your music?
I think punknews nailed it when they said “Equal parts ska, equal parts punk, a hint of hardcore, a dash of dixieland, and a whole lot of catchiness.”
What challenges have the pandemic brought about independent music?
We had to cancel two tours. That was a bummer. It delayed some other stuff we had in the works as well, but most importantly, we are all healthy and safe. It’s a lot more than a lot of other people have at the moment. We are thankful for that.
How can folks lend a hand?
Share music with people. Buy merch from bands if you can. Stay in your Quaranteam pod, wear masks, and wash your hands. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can all start going to shows again.
Have you had a chance to spend some of this downtime to work on new music at all?
Maybe…….
What’s the New Orleans ska and ska punk scene like?
It’s incredible! The NOLA ska scene has changed a lot in the last 13 years we’ve been a band, but it’s been good. The punk scene here is huge and there are lots of amazing brass musicians, so ska fits nicely in there somewhere.
If you could book the best ska tour known to man, who are you picking as support and headliners?
Wow. I mean I wouldn’t even know where to start with that. There are so many great bands that don’t play anymore that I never got to see live. It would have to be a pretty big show.
Speaking of tour, what’s a typical Joystick! show like?
It’s a blast. We are so lucky to have such enthusiastic people come out to our shows. We’ve also always ended up touring with amazing bands, so it’s fun for us as fans of music too.
Any last words?
We can’t wait to see everyone out at shows once this is all over. It will be so nice to be able to all dance, laugh, and sing together again. Keep your chin up and much love.