JOYSTICK! I Can’t Take it Anymore LP
JOYSTICK! I Can’t Take it Anymore is available on Bandcamp, Stomp Records, Bad Time Records.
by Walter Price
There’s nothing like the vibes, smells, fears, tears, and cheers of a dingy cramped punk rock club or a hot summer afternoon at a skatepark, or perhaps touring across the country in a sweaty Econoline. None the matter, one thing all these situations have in common is the indelible history of ska injected punk rock.
Those pogo-inducing party sounds that have soundtracked endless amounts of memories and some bruises along the way. And the 2020 LP, ‘I Can’t Take it Anymore’, from New Orleans punk collective JOYSTICK! is as a timeless effort as it is beyond expectations. And I can see it leaving marks on whoever gets a chance to check it out.
Easily weaving in and out of from ska, crackin’ hardcore, dagger-like anthems, and post-punk alt-rock. But maybe the most surprising is that in between the angst, tributes, horns, and crunchy riffs is the brilliant melody. Eeegads! Yes, there is a pop sensibility interwoven throughout that certainly invites you to sing and bop along. And, you will. Over and over and over…
Top tracks, “No Sleep After Brooklyn” “Parallelograms“, “Worm Food”, “Retcon”, and “I Can’t Take it Anymore”. Don’t take my word for it, have a listen for yourself, here at the GTC.
JOYSTICK! I Can’t Take it Anymore LP
Band photo via Facebook
I Can’t Take It Anymore (Bandcamp)
Paul “duck” Tucker – Vocals
Clay Aleman – Bass
Mickey Retzlaff – Guitar
Josh Bourgeois – Trombone
Justin Mcdowell – Tenor Sax
Garrett Corripio – Trumpet
Andrew Heaton – Trombone
Kyle Bouque – Drums
Discogs
Baritone Saxophone – Nevin Applewhite
Drums, Percussion – Dante Graziani
Engineer – James Whitten
Keyboards – Michael Sanders
Layout – Mike Sosinski
Photography – Brandon Bordelon
Piano – Alex Pianovich
Sousaphone – Andrew Heaton
Vocals – Zach Quinn
Voice – Alex Woods
2021, This year more than ever was full of so many highs and lows.
We released our fourth album (which got stuck in the Suez canal) on Stomp Records and Bad Time Records, released a few music videos, got over a million plays on spotify, made it onto a billboard in Times Square, played Fest, and even managed to squeeze in a tour. Some of us got married, and even created a brand new human!
Unfortunately, our city was also destroyed by Hurricane Ida and we are still dealing with the damage. Worst of all we lost our friends Hollise and Alex (who you might know from our song 7675)
Still despite everything we made it though, all of us, together, and we couldn’t be more grateful. We made so many new friends this year and got to reconnect with old friends from long ago, and really that’s what it’s all about.
We can’t wait to see what 2022 holds. We have a few things in the works for sure and hope to see you all real soon. – JOYSTICK! (Facebook, Dec. 31, 2021)