Category Archives: Performance calendar

Shows this weekend in VA!

We are headed south this weekend for 2 shows in new spots for us — many thanks to our friend Joe Martin of 3rd Grade Friends and the Minus Drag for putting these together! On Friday, 10/18, we’ll be at Suzy’s House of Gifts in Richmond, VA, and Saturday, 10/19, at Crayola House in Harrisonburg, VA. Details below!

10/18 – Black Plastic, Joy on Fire, The Minus Drag, and Minimum Balance at Suzy’s House of Gifts in Richmond, VA — Show starts at 8:00. $5 donation for the touring bands strongly suggested! Message a band for the address

10/19 – BoscoMujo, Joy on Fire, the Minus Drag at Crayola House, Harrisonburg, VA

Then, later this month, on October 26th, we’ll be back in Baltimore playing at the Metro Gallery with Onespot, Bombenkinder and Defenders!

10/26 – Onespot, Bombenkinder, Joy On Fire, Defenders at Metro Gallery 10/26, Baltimore MD

We had a blast last weekend playing at the Brighton Bar, Unruly Sounds and Function; many thanks to Elbaum Tanner Rocknroll Scene, Mika Godbole, and Gene Ward for inviting us to play, and to the people who came to listen! The header photo was taken by RJ Carroll, and you can check out more from that night here. Emory Hensley took photos at Unruly Sounds (below), you can check out more here. And check out Dan Gutstein’s post about Alan Merrill, and his iconic hit “I Love Rock and Roll,” here!

 

 

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@unrulysounds / princeton, nj / i.

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Upcoming May shows!

Hey y’all! We were in the studio last weekend, starting to record the guitar tune “Another Adventure in Red” (with Anna engineering at the Princeton recording studios). We’ve also been planning our summer, including a New England tour the first week of June (stay tuned for details!). And we’re excited about Dan Gutstein, poet and vocalist, returning to the east coast so we can resume our recording of States of America with him.

We’re thrilled about these shows next month in DC and MD, hope to see you there!

Thursday, May 2 – Dew Drop Inn, Washington DC, with MASOL and The Minus Drag
Friday, May 3 – Procrastination Records Presents, at Cult Classic Brewing Company, Stevensville, MD, with 3rd Grade Friends, Ca8al, Church Grim
Saturday, May 11 – Cafe Nola, Frederick, MD
Saturday, May 25 – Function Coworking Community, Baltimore, MD, with Fanoplane

Upcoming February/March shows!

Hey everyone! We had a productive January, working on recording #4 with Bill Hafener at Silo Studios, and planning shows and releases for the spring and summer!

We’ve got one show this month, February 22nd, at The Stoltz Listening Room in Easton, Maryland, a really cool space on the Eastern Shore; you can buy tickets and get more info here!

In March, we’ll be be back at Fox and Crow in Jersey City on the 2nd, Moose Lab in DUMBO on the 15th, and Shrine and Silvana in Harlem on the 22nd and 23rd.

We’ll be releasing a new music video for “Punk Jazz,” by Cody Nenninger of Momentum Printing & Production soon, stay tuned!

And, in case you missed it, we had a track played on NPR’s All Songs Considered last month, check out the episode here!

🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷

Feb 22 – The Stoltz Listening Room, Easton, MD
Mar 2 – Fox & Crow, Jersey City, NJ
Mar 15 – Moose Lab, Brooklyn, NY
Mar 22 – Shrine, Harlem, NY
Mar 23 – Silvana, Harlem, NY

Joy on Fire Measures Twice, Cuts Once

My father had a way with words, and when one is known for having “a way with words,” it could be a very good thing, or it could be “something completely different.”

My father would say, “Measure twice, cut once.”  He would say, “Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.”  And, when I’d speak with him about Joy on Fire, he’d say, “Well, it sounds like you and your friends have been as busy as a one-armed paper-hanger.”

Indeed, we have.

Joy on Fire has been “Gittin’ it Done,” so to speak.  We’ve played a ton of shows in support of our Procrastination Records release Fire with Fire and, in doing so, we’ve returned to many of our favorite places: Metropolitan Kitchen in Annapolis, The Crown in Baltimore, The Pour House in Raleigh, Galaxy Hut in Arlington, Cloud Club in Boston, Radio Bean in Burlington, and Shrine in Harlem just to name a few.

We’ve also played some great new places that we love, like the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield MA, The Terrace in Princeton NJ, The Footlight in Bushwick Bklyn, and Gasa Gasa in New Orleans.

Add to this our blazing performance at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, which was just … Wow! And we were lucky to have the amazing band photographer Brian Jenkins shoot the show (see photos in post, more to come soon!).

Joy on Fire at the Radio Bean for the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival on Saturday night June 9, 2018. Photo by Brian Jenkins

In addition to promoting Fire with Fire, which is Joy on Fire record #2, we’ve been in various studios working hard on Joy on Fire #3 and Joy on Fire #4 (titles and more info to come).  Also, there are two amazing new Joy on Fire videos – and another fantastic video coming soon.

“Night of the Night Sticks”

“Punk Jazz”

So, yeah, you’ll see us slow things down for a minute in September, but before then, we’ll finish out summer 2018 with another string of “Heavy Duty” shows (Dad liked all things Heavy Duty.  Heavy Duty is good. In fact, we secretly nicknamed him Heavy Duty when I was young.).

Friday August 17 – Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, Greenfield MA

Saturday August 18 – Radio Bean, Burlington VT

Monday August 20 – The Middle East, Cambridge MA

Friday August 24 – Cafe Nola, Frederick MD

Sunday August 26 – Galaxy Hut, Arlington VA

Hope to see you out there!!

-Chris

Joy on Fire to Play Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

Yes, Yes, YES!!!  Sometimes the universe throws you a bone, and we have that bone, and we’re taking it with us to Vermont this Saturday to play in the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.  YES!!!  

We love Burlington.  A LOT. Over the past year, we’ve found a home away from home at a place called Radio Bean.  It’s a super funky, eclectic, let-it-all-hang-out “bohemian utopia” where cool, friendly people thrive on live music and always make us feel welcomed and appreciated.  The VT bands we’ve played with are way cool, too. We always look forward to playing The Bean and we always have a great time.

Now, we hear a lot of things when we play – people enjoy our music and get excited, often they want us to come play at some event or with their band or what have you.  Many times, by Monday, when the hangovers are gone and folks get back to their daily grind, these offers have faded into foggy half-memories.

Awesome poster by Cranston Dize, click to enlarge!

Radio Bean’s owner enjoys our music and has long been involved in the jazz fest, now in its 35th year.  Late one Saturday night, after our set and as folks were closing the place, he offered to get us into the festival, and we were hopeful but also understood that we may be chasing the fog come Monday.  Sure enough, as we were pondering how much and how soon to pester him about it, the phone rang and he had it all set up.

So, this Saturday, June 9, at 11:30 pm, we’ll play a sweet, long, riotous set at Radio Bean as part of the 35th Annual Burlington Discover Jazz Fest.  We are thrilled and honored. If you’re in the area, please come by and enjoy the music/food/drinks/energy of The Bean. If you know folks around Burlington, please send them our way.  Either way, send us some love this weekend and we’ll turn it into music.

BTW, here’s our latest video, in case you haven’t seen it.

See you soon!

-Chris

Bar5 (show announcement and story)

We were headed from Baltimore to New York without a drummer.  We had taken the gig, as it was in a cool spot in Brooklyn, a place called Bar4.  “Maybe we’ll hit Bars 1, 2 and 3 while we’re there,” I said to Anna, but she didn’t like this joke, so I only told it, like, twice.

We were meeting a new drummer the night before the gig, at a rehearsal space in Manhattan, like 22 floors up a skyscraper.  Top Floor Studios, or some horseshit like that. Anyway, Chris–who we’d been introduced to over the phone by old friend, bass wiz, and general music aficionado Ted Schreiber (thanks Ted!)–was waiting for us at the studio.  We’d never met Chris…but he kind of looked familiar.  Maybe he just looked like a drummer.

Two hours later, and we had a pretty wicked set of music ready for Brooklyn!  We were all very excited.  Who was this guy?  An excellent drummer who picked it up quick, and had plenty of ideas and licks.  And there was something familiar about him.

The gig was with a group from New York called Dog Adrift.  After each group’s set, our friend Sherif, sitting at the bar with a pint glass of gin, an aficionado himself, said, “I really dig your new drummer. And the other band was great, too! Who are they?”

“Yeah, Dog Adrift. They’re great. We’ll play with them again.”

Well, that was almost  5 years ago, and we’ve been playing with Chris ever since, have recorded two albums with him, and we’re starting a third this month.

And though we haven’t played with Dog Adrift since, we are going to play with them again: this Wednesday, at The Footlight (or Bar5 for our purposes here) in Ridgewood, NY. (Details here.)

And, as it turns out, we had met once, 20 years ago; Chris and I both grew up in the same town on Long Island.

And we both escaped.

-JP Carillo

Fire with Fire!

JOY ON FIRE is excited to announce that its second album, Fire with Fire, will be released both digitally and on CD on November 1 by PROCRASTINATION RECORDS, home of 3rd Grade Friends, Penny Pistolero, and many other great bands.

Album cover by artist Bruno Gabrielli

JOY ON FIRE will be playing throughout the fall in support of Fire with Fire, with gigs in New York City, Jersey City, Allentown, Annapolis, Baltimore, Florence MA, and Burlington VT. Two of these shows—The Fox and Crow in Jersey City and The Metropolitan Lounge in Annapolis, where 3rd Grade Friends will be joining us on the bill—will be official CD release parties, where we will be performing Fire with Fire in its entirety.

 

 

 

Upcoming Shows:

Thursday Oct 12 – Paulie Gees, Baltimore, MD

Saturday Oct 14 – Café Nola, Frederick, MD

Friday Oct 20 – Gussy’s, NYC

Friday Nov 3 – Fox & Crow, Jersey City, NJ

Saturday Nov 4 – Alt Gallery, Allentown, PA

Friday Nov 17 – Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge, Annapolis, MD

Saturday Nov 18 – MT6 Fest, Baltimore, MD

Thursday Dec 7 – 13th Floor Lounge, Florence, MA

Friday Dec 8 – Radio Bean, Burlington, VT

Announcement: January shows!

We’ve got a lot of shows coming up next month! We are joining our friends, Bag of Humans, from Baltimore, MD, for shows in NYC and DC and then for a tour in NC, and one in New Orleans! Details below.

January 5* – The Pinch, DC
January 6* – Fat Baby, NYC
January 11* – Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh, NC
January 12* – Test Pattern, Winston-Salem, NC
January 13* – New York Pizza, Greensboro, NC
January 14 – Town Pump Tavern, Black Mountain, NC
January 15* – Gasa Gasa, New Orleans, LA
January 20 – Shrine, NYC
January 21 – Silvana, NYC
February 4* – The Metro Gallery, Baltimore, MD
* with Bag of Humans

Then, after all of these shows, we are going to head to Mobtown Studios in Baltimore, MD again to start the third album, while we shop the second album, which is being mastered on January 9 at Salt Mastering, in Brooklyn, NY.

Joy On Fire to Host May Residency at SoHo’s Cupping Room Café

JOY ON FIRE will host an artist residency at SoHo’s Cupping Room Café, playing two sets every Friday in May. This residency occurs in conjunction with the completion of their second album You Will Awaken Now. They will be performing songs from You Will Awaken Now as well as from their self-titled debut and their soon-to-be-begun third album (recording to start on July 31 at Baltimore’s Mobtown Studios).

JoyOnFire HiRes GroupPieces range in style and texture from epic (“The Complete Book of Bonsai, Part Two”) to punk (“Kung-Fu Tea Party”) to jazz (“World Systems”) to punk-jazz (“Punk-Jazz 3000”) to dub (“Double Dub”) to combat-rock (“Night of the Night Sticks”). All feature the innovative soloing of Anna Meadors on saxophone (alto, baritone, and often both in the same song), the fluid rock-to-jazz-back-to-rock styling of drummer and percussionist Chris Olsen, and the riff- and effects-driven chordal bass playing of John Paul Carillo.

As well as the four Cupping Room Café shows, JOY ON FIRE will be playing additional May shows in Raleigh NC, Peekskill NY, Annapolis MD, Frederick MD, Boston MA, Long Island NY, Baltimore MD, and more TBA.

These May shows are a doorway to JOY ON FIRE becoming a New York-area band (JoF was formed in Baltimore in 2009 and was a North Carolina-based band from 2013 to 2016), as Anna has been accepted to Princeton University’s Ph.D. in Music Composition Program (congratulations Anna!), and Anna and John will take up residency near Chris in central New Jersey for at least the next five years.

JOY ON FIRE will add more regular shows in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island, Jersey City, Hoboken, and the Hudson Valley to the rest of their East Coast circuit and will be venturing forth to new spots in Pennsylvania, New England, and beyond.

The Cupping Room Café is located in the heart of SoHo and is one of the oldest and most classic restaurants in the area. Established in 1977, The Cupping Room Café has a proud history of offering delicious food along with a full bar and gourmet coffee bar. Artwork from local artists hangs on their gallery walls, and their long-running Music Without Borders series spotlights local and touring bands every week. You can find The Cupping Room Café at 359 West Broadway at Broome Street, New York, NY 10013. The JOY ON FIRE artist residency is open to all ages and there is no cover charge. Music begins promptly at 8:00 p.m. every Friday in May.

Special thanks to Donna Moncur of Donna Shoots Photography for the collage above, created from her photos of last year’s residency at The Winery at St. George in Mohegan Lake, NY.

CPC-logo-BW
The Cupping Room Café
359 West Broadway at Broome Street, NYC
www.cuppingroomcafe.com
Every Friday in May (5/6, 5/13, 5/20, 5/27)
8-11 pm / free admission / all ages

Joy on Fire @ Division Street Guitars Tomorrow!

Joy on Fire will return to Division Street Guitars in Peekskill, NY, on Friday, January 8, 2016. This will be the band’s third visit to the unassuming axe shop that’s creating a red-hot scene for new music and raging all-ages shows. And Peekskill is ready – JoF’s shows are becoming the stuff of legend in town.

It all started one wintry night in early 2015. The snow was insane, an all-out blizzard, the driving was treacherous, the band navigated Rte. 202 up past the Bear Mtn. Bridge and narrowly avoided the thousand-foot-death-plunge into the Hudson. Most everyone in town figured the show would be rescheduled, but JoF showed up, and a crowd of intrepid partiers brought in some hooch & mixers and danced the night away as Joy on Fire blazed. It was Division Street’s inaugural show of their now-established concert series, and Joy on Fire set the tone mightily.

June brought much better weather. The restaurants & cafes were packed and the bar crowds spilled out onto the sidewalks. It seemed like everyone in town was out for a good time. And when Joy on Fire launched into their set, those crowds streamed into the guitar shop, packing the house with an energy that people heard and felt and followed from blocks away. Folks who were introduced to JoF that night have followed the band to every show they’ve done in the area since.

Tomorrow, Friday, January 8, Joy on Fire will help Peekskill set the tone for a whole new year of raucous good times. The holidays are over and now the serious fun begins. Doors open at 7:30 – $5 admission – all ages. Joy on Fire will be joined by The Tall Whites and NCM.

Division Street Guitars, 36 N. Division Street, Peekskill, NY 10566