| The Band of Holy Joy | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New Cross, London |
| Genres | Indie, folk |
| Years active | 1984–1993, 2002–2003, 2007–present |
| Labels | Pleasantly Surprised Flim Flam Rough Trade Equador Radio Joy Exotic Pylon records. |
| Associated acts | Superdrug, Society of Imaginary Friends, Morton Valence,The Outfit. |
| Members | |
| Johny Brown Chris Brierley Andy Astle Inga Tillere Bill Lewington James Stephen Finn |
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| Past members | |
| Franny Armstrong John Atrocity Adrian Bailey Emrys Baird Karel van Bergen Big John John Brown Marek Budzynski John Mark Cavener David Coulter Wendy Dunleavy James Dunne Gus Ferguson Caroline Gaskin Rob Hacker Steve Hands Jub Jenkins Hilary Jeffery Caroline Jewkes Alex Keen Oscar Khan Louise Kleboe Robert Lee George Lovell Andy Mcdonald John Moore Howard Rickard Peter Rollinson Paul Sampson Janie Shorter Tom Smith Anne Solomon Neil Starr Mike Thomas Alfie Thomas Brett Turnbull Adele Chess Emmet Fitz Paul O'Donnell Dominic de Grande Howard Leo Fernadez Mairie Malou Martine Max Maxine<br/Terry |
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The Band of Holy Joy are an English band formed in New Cross, London, and initially active between 1984 and 1993, releasing several albums. In 1992, they abbreviated their name to Holy Joy. They reformed in 2002, back under the name of Band of Holy Joy, releasing a new album called Love Never Fails. They concentrated on other musical projects during 2003 to 2006. They began performing live again in 2007 and released a best of on Cherry Red records.
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The band was formed in 1984 by Johny Brown, along with friends including Brett Turnbull. After two self-issued cassettes, they signed to South London indie label Flim Flam for a string of singles and two 1987 albums, More Tales From The City and the live LP When Stars Come Out To Play.[1] After a 1988 album on the Cause For Concern label, they signed to Rough Trade Records, increasing their exposure including an appearance on BBC 2's Snub TV and their own episode of the South Bank Show. The move to Rough Trade prompted Flim Flam to threaten to sue for breach of contract, but after six months of legal wrangling, this was settled out of court, Brown commenting "We'd given those people three years of our lives and all they did was bugger us about".[2] Their first album for Rough Trade, Manic, Magic, Majestic was released in 1989, with Positively Spooked following in 1990, supported by a tour of the U.S.S.R..[3] The band re-emerged in 1992 as Holy Joy, with the album Tracksuit Vendetta. They split up in 1993, with Brown working as a freelance journalist, and subsequently forming the band Superdrug in 1995.[3] The Band of Holy Joy reformed in 2002 with Johny Brown, Alfie Thomas and Chris Brierley, releasing an album, Love Never Fails. After a number of live dates the band became inactive between 2003 and 2006, pursuing other musical projects. In May 2007 the band began playing live again. October 2007 saw the release of Leaves That Fall in Spring, a best of released on the Cherry Red label.[4]
In 2008, after playing nine warm-up dates in and around London during April, May and June, The Band of Holy Joy set off to the United States for the first time in their 25-year history and embarked on a successful tour of New York. Punklore, a six-track CD was released and initially only available at the New York gigs.
Since 2007, the band have run a Sunday night internet radio show called Radio Joy. "A Lucky Thief in a Careless World" was performed at the The University of London Institute in Paris at the event celebrating the 50th anniversary of William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch, 'Lunch@50'. They recorded the songs from the ‘Lucky Thief’ show and have released them as a mini album CD and booklet on their own Radio Joy label. They are mixing a new set of songs for imminent release on the Radio Joy label. In 2009, they were invited to play the Wire magazine's "Into the Vortex" festival in October, and played a series of shows in Athens at the end of October.
Paramour, the band's eleventh album was released on 8 June 2010. Eight songs that evolved from the song play 'Troubled Sleep' which ran at the Shunt Lounge in London and the Star and Shadow cinema in Newcastle in 2009.
In 2011, the band embarked on another tour of Greece, playing in cities of Athens, Thessaloniki, and Larissa. They also made their first appearance at Glastonbury Festival. A new CD release titled How To Kill A Butterfly was released 28 October 2011 on Exotic Pylon Records.
The band had influences from folk music and European cabaret, with Jacques Brel and Bertolt Brecht identified as influences.[1] They have been compared to The Pogues, Dexys Midnight Runners, and The Waterboys. They were described by Trouser Press as "emotional and articulate, using tasteful understatement and rustic simplicity to sell songs with unpredictably offbeat lyrical concerns".[5]
Chart placings are from the UK Independent Chart.[6]