Written by Melissa “Mischievous Mel” Anderson – Photo’s by Wes “Rockwell” Anderson
‘Place In Time’, the new EP from Joyous Wolf, just raised the bar for rock music. The lyrics are deep, pensive, raw, passionate, real, along with being intensely cerebral as well as emotional. My takeaway from this album was that it was aggressive. Not in a “let’s fight and burn shit down” way, but in a “this is what I see and how I feel about now” sort of way. Vocalist Nick Resee and I chat about this in the following on-camera interview, so watch and listen to his take on it by clicking the video below.
Like most Joyous Wolf fans, I heard the new EP before I got to see the guys perform the new songs on stage. I like to do a comparison of the live vs. album when I am doing a review. The live show not only lived up to the EP, it proved to be better, only because it’s impossible to capture the bands’ energy at a live show in the studio. I have seen Joyous Wolf grace the stage many times across the country and each and every time the guys play with an explosive fury that real rock fans will appreciate.
You can check out the first two singles from the album, “Quiet Heart” and the EP’s title track, “Place In Time” courtesy of Roadrunner Records. I was drawn to “Said Too Much” and also to “Had Enough”. The lyrics of both songs grabbed me at first listen. However, that is hard to say because all the songs are in my opinion number 1’s. Being in the business as long as we have, we can smell bullshit a mile away, meaning we can pretty quickly identify a band that is either over-produced or their songs are label-driven and not from the heart. They (the lyrics) address real things happening now, communicated with a little funk and blues-rock infused with hard rock licks that separates them from the rest of modern rock bands. The end result is nothing but pure magic.
The fans at Lava Cantina in The Colony (Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex), Texas were a mix of first-timers to a Joyous Wolf show and loyal fans that made the voyage to the venue to see them again. The guys won over the newbies by being who they are: authentic, aggressive, passionate and pro on every level.
Joyous Wolf, hailing from “The OC” (Orange County, California) is vocalist Nick Reese,
guitarist Blake Allard (whom you can currently see in the latest Verizon commercial with his father),
bassist Greg Braccio,
and drummer Robert Sodaro.
Robert Sodaro of Joyous Wolf. Photo by Rockwell Anderson
