Joywave Interview

There's your basic genre-hopping groups, and then there's Joywave. It's been hard to put on a finger on the Rochester indie outfit's twisty, inverted sounds ever since they first formed several years ago.

And while these guys have been cruising fairly under the radar since dropping their breakout track "Traveling at the Speed of Light" back in 2011, that's about to change... thanks to one extremely ear-wormy new single.

We're talking about "Tongues," the eclectic mishmash that comes layered with hip-hop influence, pop melodies, electronic beats, and tons of funky vibes. It's the quirky type of song that can warrant literally any type of dance move: the casual head bob, the side-to-side step, the full-body groove. Hey, if you wanted to even fist pump, it wouldn't be out of place here.

Although "Tongues" has been stuck in our heads for a while now, good news for anyone still in search of a dance party: there's plenty more where this awesome sound came from on the band's new EP How Do You Feel, out now. You can pick that up here, but first meet the guys below.

What's the story behind the "Tongues" video?

The Daniels sent us a video treatment and we thought it was great. We were familiar with some of their work so we were pumped to have a chance to work with them. It pokes fun at a lot of “indie summer smash” video cliches (i.e. free spirited natives running in the wild) and gave us a chance to destroy them. With clothing guns.

Fill in the blank.: The feeling you get when you listen to How Do You Feel? is….

I wish it was longer…maybe like 12 songs instead of four. It's pretty difficult to present a complete vision in four tracks, but a lot of people like that. We have a full record coming later in the year.

Before a show, we can find you…

Sitting quietly in the green room. We're all pretty low key before a set. iPads. Wifi. I drank a camomile tea once.

After a show, we can find you....

Talking loudly by the bar. We're all pretty aggressive after a set. Smashing things. Wifi. I enjoy scotch. Jokes. We're pretty even-keeled most of the time. Music is usually the activity we're focused on, so we don't think too hard about the before and after stuff. Recently you could have found us on the side of the stage for The Killers set though. We played a couple dates with them. They've been one of our favorite bands forever, so it was really exciting to have a concert to attend immediately after getting off stage.