Joy Wellboy & Guests ABGESAGT

Joy Adegoke and Wim Janssens are partners, in crime, in music and in life.

Since 2009 the pair has performed as Joy Wellboy, singing, strumming and sharing their love.

 

They write their first songs together in Brussels, their hometown.

As a result of this fresh collaboration, Joy Wellboy releases a first single in 2010 called "Flush Me", a dark anthem where Joy sings her heart out in order to get to the light . The video directed by Jozef Devillé, in which Joy rises out of a pool of clay, is a gloomy piece of work that shows the visual strength of Joy Wellboy for the first time. In that same period Joy Wellboy hooks up with booking agents in France and Belgium and starts performing live.

 

Some labels propose deals to the band, but none of them seem to fully fit the spirit of the band. They need fresh input and decide to head for California where they make a road trip. During their 3 month stay, they shoot 12 short movies and record the soundtrack on the road in tents and motels. The soundtrack "Surfing the airwaves, looking for gold" is released shortly afterwards. They also shoot some acoustic versions of Joy Wellboy songs in open air. "The Movement Song" "Buy Me Flowers" and "We Need A Plane" are performed with Death valley as a backdrop. These simple versions show that they can bring their music to life with a very basic set up: 1 guitar, 1 voice, reverb.

 

The label boss of Bpitch Control- Ellen Allien- gets to see some of these video's and contacts Joy Wellboy. A few days later they meet in Berlin. Their energies match and they start to work together. Joy Wellboy keeps their artistic freedom and gets positive input from the label. Back in Brussels they record and finish the songs for their first album. After the recordings they decide to move to Berlin, to work closely with the label. In sept 2013 they release their debut album " Yorokobi's Mantra" on Bpitch Control .

 

The album gets raving reviews:

 

"…The Belgian duo make an alluringly offbeat back-porch electro-pop with enough space inside for romantic aches and random mistakes. Not quite dance music, not quite euro pop, not quite indie electronica..sublime! "

(Uncut 8/10)

 

"…Quite simply, this is one of the most starburstingly brilliant albums i've heard for years…there is something really special going on here, which any berserk fan of pop music, from the Shangri-Las to synth pop, could well find captures their too." (Datatransmission UK 9/10)

 

"….It's a seriously cool chilled affair…a quality shagger's apology in the form of euro pop gold…this is a fantastic genre transcending album that merges electro, pop, lofi and everything in-between. Amazing!"

(Sportsweek (UK) Album of the week 5 stars)

 

"….It's an album of dark new-wave anthems, uplifting postkraut and shadowy synth song smithery that's pretty damn faultless". (Dj mag 9,5/10)

 

The first single "Lay Down Your Blade" is a duet. It draws a lot of attention.

Its basic video, shot in one room with one light, catches the spirit of the song perfectly. Lay down your blade gets airplay on different radio stations in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Turkey. The song is chosen number 1 in the listener's top 25 of 2013 on Radio Eins, Germany. The piano version of "Lay Down Your Blade", recorded in their living room, gets Airplay on KCRW radio in LA.

People start to notice Joy Wellboy and they begin to tour across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Belgium and France.

 

Playing supports for bands like Alt J, Morcheeba, Sohn, We Have Band and Eiffel.

In the meantime they start to work together with Melt Booking in Germany.

They perform their songs as a duo. The magic between them on stage works and leaves no audience unsatisfied.Their basic approach is loaded with energy.

 

In june 2014 Joy Wellboy releases a new EP. The 8 track-EP with four freshly recorded tracks includes the radio single "Birds" and 4 Remixes of "Before The Sunrise", the intro track of their debut album. Dixon's epic remix of "Before The Sunrise" becomes a favourite in many sets during the summer festivals and ends up high in the RA'S Top 100 of 2014.

 

In between the live shows they set up a small recording studio in their apartment, where they start writing and recording their second album. Working and living together for more than five years has created an understanding between them that makes the process of writing music more effective and productive than

before. Being this close creates a vacuum in which there's enough space for their souls to linger. Their view on the production of the album is from the beginning on very clear. They want to create more space in the songs without breaking down the richness of their sound. Instruments are not treated the way they are supposed to be treated. They are used and abused until that specific sound pops up that reflects the soul of the song. It helps the story getting across in a unique way.

 

On top of it all, there is Joy bringing it all home. Sometimes she sounds like a lost siren in a sea of nothingness, other times she charges you with energy with her unique delivery and clear melodic phrases.Wim takes you to other parts of their universe with his crackled baritone.

 

By the end of summer 2014 the recordings are finished and ready to be mixed.

They get to know Patty Majer from Freudenhaus studio in Berlin and immediately have the feeling that he might be the right guy to do the job. After one mixed song , they know they have made the right decision. On dec 1th, the album is finished and titled "Wedding", named after the district where they live in Berlin.

 

"Wedding" opens up with "Painkiller nights", a song where Joy's characteristic voice is only backed up by a cheap preset choir coming out of a Casio keyboard.

She sets the tone for a trip that will take you through a wildly miscellaneous universe. Pristine songs like" I just wanna fall" and "I've ordered some sun", stand right next to more epic tracks like "Time's A Runaway Train" or the 3 tone drone "I Will Never Let You Down". Their love for french music can be heard in the arrangements of "Don't Die In My Dreams "and "The Final Still" or in the up tempo song "Comme Sur Des Roulettes". The retro futuristic feel of "Latency" and "Stay here forevermore" will push you further and pull you back again, like a drowning experience. The radiating energy during their live shows is captured well in a track like "Within Another Dimension". "The Magic" with it's bouncy beat and brilliant pop melody delivers the message loud and clear :"Don't be scared!". The opening line "You are in heaven, I am in hell" from "I'm waiting you" grabs you immediately and doesn't let go for the next three minutes.

 

The album captures the mood of these two individuals perfectly.

Sometimes danceable, mostly intense and in the end also just simply cool.

 

"Wedding" will be released in Spring 2015 on Bpitch Control.

 

www.joywellboy.be / www.bpitchcontrol.de / www.facebook.com/joywellboy