With its sweeping and dramatic landscapes, North Wales has the chewy scenery which flourishes in English countryside films – the ones of quiet repose and stillness. The region boasts poets (Dylan Thomas), writers (Roald Dahl), philosophers (Bertrand Russell) and military heroes (Lawrence of Arabia anyone?), but when it comes to raucous musicians, the well runs dry.
Wales is not exactly the place of (musical) wailing.
How then to explain The Joy Formidable, a rousing rock trio working in stentorian shoegaze which creates music to shake the craggy hills? Ritzy Bryan has a thought.
“I think Wales lends itself to be a place where you develop an individual voice because there’s nothing there that you’re referencing – you can forge your own identity,” said Bryan, Joy Formidable’s lead singer/guitarist. “We haven’t had a lot of music or big bands come out of North Wales since The Alarm, and that’s kind of a good and bad thing. We’re not in a vibrant scene like Manchester with a legacy of bands that come from a place like that. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of talent in North Wales, but the infrastructure for a band to actually come from there is just starting to get better.”
The Joy Formidable has plenty to do with that.
On the strength of it’s aptly-named debut album The Big Roar, the threesome of Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Thomas (drums, percussion) has made a defining noise finding receptive audiences around the world. Filling in slots at festivals everywhere and opening for Foo Fighters across America this fall, The Joy Formidable is poised to put its homeland on the musical map.
We haven’t had a lot of music or big bands come out of North Wales since The Alarm, and that’s kind of a good and bad thing.
“You can’t quite define it, where you come from is unconsciously what you are as an artist and a writer,” Bryan said while riding up the elevator of a Cleveland hotel. “It was quite isolated where we lived, and we were able to clear our heads and develop our writing. I’m sure the whole landscape and isolation seeped into what we were doing.”
The band formed in 2007 when Bryan and Dafydd, who have been friends since childhood, returned to Wales after their stint with Manchester bands Tricky Nixon and Sidecar Kisses ended in swift fashion. Justin Stahley was the band’s original drummer, but Thomas took over the kit just as Joy began to gain an audience in 2009 following the release of its EP A Balloon Called Moaning. The trio moved to London not long after and gathered a fervid following based on their manic live shows.
Soon enough, the band found itself touring with Editors and Passion Pit, all the while putting the final touches on The Big Roar, which made its premiere in January. The nonstop schedule proved tiring but satisfying, as Roar became a monster of an album.
“It’s a very personal record and it captured a lot of what we were going through in the year that it was written,” Bryan said. “There’s a lot of substance in that record that we credit to hard work. It absolutely captured what we experienced and what we wanted to say and how we wanted to say it.”
Checking in at a sturdy 50 minutes, the 12-song Roar features anthemic choruses and riotous jams of such depth and calamity, it’s hard to believe it’s the work of three people. Bryan is a force throughout who ebbs and flows with the tempo – channeling PJ Harvey one moment then Elizabeth Fraser the next.
“The one thing I can say about all of our tastes in the band is we all have really eclectic listening habits,” Bryan said. “We get excited by all different kids of bands and music, artists that try different things and experiment. We’re not very genre specific.”
The sound is finding friends in high places. One of Roar’s tracks opened up a huge door of opportunity, as a chance hearing of one song lead to a touring slot with the Foo Fighters.
“I just heard this story the other day how Dave Grohl heard the song “Whirling” on the radio when he was in Seattle but they never said who the band was,” Bryan said. “So he was singing the chorus over and over to himself until he got inside and was able to look up who the band was. It’s a very heartwarming story … We don’t waste our time with what people say about our music, a lot of times we put our head down about it, but the only accolade we enjoy is when it comes from a fellow musician who understands being a musician and writing albums and being on the road, and coming from him – we are huge admirers of what he’s done.”
A follow-up to The Big Roar is in the works, with the hopes of sending it out next year. But foremost in the band’s mirror now is touring, and with the booked through November, Bryan and her band mates are happy now with the ride.
“Touring is something we really get off on because it’s a very spontaneous lifestyle where we have the opportunity to meet new people with different audiences with each new show,” she said. “I think the fact you can get that from touring so many different cities is something we’re very passionate about — we really love the live music and coming to concerts. It’s quite genuine.”
