lifesuxzine:

I’m probably never going to get anything as good as this again, so it’s all downhill from here. But I managed to grab an interview with Brandon Lutmer in the late/early hours yesterday morning. Brandon is part of the band that are the God’s of the Midwest, Joie De Vivre.This is what went down:

LS: I heard that you’re working on a new Joie De Vivre record at the minute. How are things going with that?

Brandon: Yes, we are working on a new record tentatively called “We’re All Better Than This”. We’re ridiculously close to being done, I think I have to record vocals for five more songs and then our friends Lindsay Minton from Football,etc and Joe Reina from The Braves are pulling backing vocal duties for us since our other two members that can sing moved to Portland and Prague… I guess we’re a four piece now.

LS: Yeah, that sounds good. What’s been a big influence on this new record and has it been more of a task doing it as a four-piece for you?

Brandon: Well, if you didn’t know we broke up for awhile last spring and only recently decided to give it another go. The same reasons we broke up are in a large sense the same things that influence us on the new record: we’re all in our mid-20’s and trying to find a balance between being in a band, going back to school, working full-time, and figuring out where our lives are going in general. The record is a little more introspective than The North End, I found myself writing less about the things that have happened to me and more about how those things have effected me… If that makes any sense. Writing the record as a four piece is a little different, not necessarily more difficult but a little more concise I guess. Zach and Paully are two of my best friends in the world, I miss them dearly and still value their opinion and influence on the new record. and I miss Zach playing point guard on my basketball team.

LS: Yeah, I’m really happy that you guys are back making a new record - the break-up sucked a lot. Mostly because I couldn’t be at the last show because I live in the UK. How was the last show for you?

Brandon: The “last” Joie shows was one of the most meaningful nights in my entire life. It’s hard to describe how moved I was. It was so great to have all our friends, fans, and favorite bands in one room together. It was also great to introduce our hometown to all these bands and the diy scene in such a big way. My only regret is that our best friends, The Reptilian, couldn’t be there. I felt really bad about for a long time.

LS: I downloaded the last show release, and to put it simply - it’s hardly been off since I dowloaded it. Are the UK shows happening this year and what made you want to cross the pond?

Brandon: Thanks so much! We weren’t so sure the recordings were going to be audible but they turned out ok, although now there’s proof that we fucked up that Mineral cover pretty hard. Yes, UK shows are happening this year, we’re not sure exactly when or where yet but we’ve been told sometime in the early summer and that we’re doing between six and ten dates in the UK.

We’ve always wanted to come to Europe (especially the UK) but we always lacked the opportunity or the money. Things kind of fell into place pretty well and we couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity.

LS: Always loved the record though. The UK shows will be a blow out, so stoked for you guys to be coming over. UK rarely gets to see any bands like you and it will be nice to finally see it happening. Could we expect the record to be released before the tour?

Brandon: Absolutely, if everything goes well we’re hoping for a springtime release. We’re also going to be releasing a split 7” with The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die within the next year. I’m pretty excited for that as well.

LS: Looking forward to the new things so much it’s untrue. Thanks for doing this, it’s been an absolute honour you doing this. Hope things all go well and I’ll see you when you cross the pond.

Expect something else Brandon-related in Issue #1 along with this. + Make sure to be at at least one of their shows when they come over here. If you’re not there then, I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you.