Joyce Collingwood

By: denis maile

Joyce Collingwood All trashiness aside, Joyce Collingwood is the shit and I interviewed their lead singer Juli to find out how this came to be.

The Skinny: All-girl punk bands are nothing new to the world (not that much is these days), but what sets you apart from the rest?

Juli: There are a lot of all girl punk bands around, but just like "regular" punk bands, few make the cut for being both successful and maintaining creative control. What sets us apart is that we work really hard at getting our set tight and we like to constantly challenge ourselves. We want you to be able to close your eyes and not tell what sex is playing.

The Skinny: What do you sing about? Riot grrl power?

Juli: Riot grrl was a movement that happened in the early 90s and pretty much reached a grinding halt towards the millennium with the help of the media and the music industry's commercializing of an underground cultural movement. You know, it happens to nearly every genre in one way or another. But, yeah, we do sing about power and street hustlers, dogs, seagulls, fame, yuppies and the drudge of the everyday.

The Skinny: What would you say to someone who claims punk rock is a man's game?

Juli: Anyone who claims punk rock is some exclusive game will find themselves alone and angry. And then beat up by millions of young angry punk girls. So many women have influenced the punk scene over the years from Siouxsie & The Banshees to Austin hardcore, like Lynn Truell from The Dicks.

The Skinny: Has the band ever had to deal with any sexism yet in its career? Like people yelling dirty comments while you're on stage, or even dirty comments off stage?

Juli: We usually tell each other dirty comments off stage and on stage. But if it happens it is all part of the game. The thing is, we are the ones with the mics, so throw something at us.

The Skinny: Best moments at a Joyce Collingwood show thus far?

Juli: We played Squamish in October with Lab Rat and other local talent. It was probably the best show we played so far in terms of the energy felt on stage. One of the chicks we met said that this was the first time they had so many girls show up, both in the band and in the pit, which is reason enough to really give'r, you know what I mean?

The Skinny: What are your ties to the Joyce-Collingwood Skytrain station?

Juli: Absolutely none. Twitch and I thought of the name when we were drunk, waiting at the wrong platform stranded at a different Skytrain. The Translink security was trying to have an overfriendly conversation with us like we were two cougars at a bar and we were like, haha! Translink can suck our balls! Actually we were like, ‘Joyce Collingwood, that's good,’ and then walked away.

The Skinny: I'm sensing some real ethnicity amongst the band. What are some of the ethnic backgrounds of your band members?

Juli: If I told you, you would feel like you were casting a porn flick. In our band ethnicity, like femininity, is rarely talked about as anything more than a joke. "Where are you from" pretty much translates to "what are you?” You can't shove everyone into one category.

The Skinny: And what are some of the musical backgrounds that you all came from?

Juli: We have all played in other bands here and in other countries, some metal, rock and punk. Swine used to DJ in London. We meld all our experiences into something fast and short and powerful.

The Skinny: What's the opposite of “Cock Rock”?

Juli: “Rock Cock”. The hard on we give you.

The Skinny: Other than your upcoming show, what are the band’s future plans?

Juli: We are looking for a bass player. Our friend Patty is moving on so we are trying to find a replacement so we can tour Mexico with The Winston Campaign. Any girls out there that are interested can email joycecollingwood@gmail.com.

Joyce Collingwood plays Pat’s Pub on Saturday January 23rd.




- The Skinny Magazine

Music Waste featuring Apollo Ghosts, MYTHS, Joyce Collingwood, Twin Crystals
Vancouver BC June 2-6
By Quinn Omori

Vancouver's Music Waste is a bit of an anomaly in the world of music festivals. While the line-up boasted a show headlined by Japandroids last year, it's almost exclusively played by bands that have yet make much noise outside their hometown. It also gives local music aficionados the chance to check out acts on the cheap in less-frequented parts of the city; a mere $15 gets you a pass for the entire weekend and the venues range from dive bars to bowling alleys to warehouse-come-art spaces.

The fest's first night of music was dominated by noise and psych, with a pair of shows curated by Vancouver's Fake Jazz Wednesday experimental weekly and one from the organizers of Psych Night. Black Wizard highlighted the latter, pounding out a set of stoner jams reminiscent of another "black" act and that would have made Ozzy and Tony proud.

From day two on, there was more stylistic variety to be heard, but it was the heavier acts that dominated. The cleverly monikered Joyce Collingwood (the all-girl act took their name from a Vancouver SkyTrain station) tore through a set of growling hardcore that won over the entire room at Lick. Boogie Monster pummelled the same audience into submission later in the evening with their instrumental mix of roaring guitars and crashing drums. MYTHS' dark beats and spastic vocals got a packed house at the Astoria fired up early on the third night. And Timecopz rocked a full room at Zoo Zhop with their no-frills punk. The festival's purveyors of harsh sounds didn't steal the whole show, though.

Needles//Pins injected a healthy dose of melody into their punk proceedings during their Goody show, while Fine Mist — usually stripped down to two voices, one keyboard and an iPod — took the stage at 917 Main with a full band in tow, delivering a half hour of lovelorn electro pop that got the audience singing along.

Gang Violence followed on the same stage the next evening with a set of pulsing jams that got the crowded dance floor moving. The band played their first show as an instrumental duo two years to the day at 2008's Music Waste. This year's performance was their last and they celebrated the same way they started, save for a pair of songs with vocalist (and longtime Waste organizer) Sarah Cordingley. When an overzealous audience member grabbed a mic mid-set and attempted a live audition as the band's new singer, he was politely rebuffed.

The festival closed at Grandview Lanes for an afternoon of free-for-all five-pin bowling and music. The "cosmic" décor of glowing paint and black lights was the perfect backdrop for Twin Crystals' searing guitars and evil-sounding synths. It was Apollo Ghosts, though, who were the highlight of the affectionately titled, Bowl Your Own Waste show.

Charging through a cover of the Vaseline's "Molly's Lips" to open their set, head Ghost Adrian Teacher, thrusting into the crowd, rallying the masses for a singalong and sending a ball down every one of the alley's eight lanes mid-song, captured the spirit of Music Waste — simultaneously wonderful, absurd and completely homegrown — like nothing else.
- Exclaim!