MT. JOY
UK SHOWS IN JULY
SOLD-OUT DEBUT LONDON SHOW AT PAPER DRESS VINTAGE ON 18TH JULY
FIRST EVER UK & EUROPEAN TOUR IN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
LISTEN TO ‘SILVER LINING’ ON SOUNDCLOUD AND SPOTIFY
BAND RACK UP OVER 37 MILLION SPOTIFY PLAYS
DEBUT, SELF-TITLED ALBUM OUT PHYSICALLY IN THE UK VIA DUALTONE ON 27TH JULY
Released in the U.S. to widespread critical acclaim earlier in the year, LA-via-Philadelphia five-piece Mt. Joy will release their self-titled, debut album physically in the UK through Dualtone/Entertainment One on 27th July. The band, who have racked up an incredible 37 million Spotify plays to date, have announced their first ever UK and European tour in October/November, in addition to the previously confirmed sold-out London show and a couple of festival appearances in July. Tickets for the Autumn tour on sale now at mtjoyband.com
July
Weds 18th – Paper Dress Vintage – London – SOLD OUT
Thurs 19th – Rivertown Festival at Thekla – Bristol
Fri 20th – Larmer Tree Festival – Salisbury
October
Mon 29th – The Louisiana, Bristol, UK
Tue 30th – SWG3 – The Poetry Club – Glasgow, UK
Wed 31st – Jimmy’s – Manchester, UK
November
Thu 1st – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen – London, UK
Sat 3rd – Heartbreakers – Southampton, UK
Sun 4th – Prince Albert – Brighton, UK
Tue 6th – Witloof Bar – Brussels, Belgium
Thu 8th – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fri 9th – Artheater – Cologne, Germany
Mon 12th – Badehaus – Berlin, Germany
Tue 13th – Orangehouse – Munich, Germany
Wed 14th – Bogen F – Zurich, Switzerland
Fri 16th – La Parenthese – Nyon, Switerland
Album track ‘Silver Lining’, an ode to friends lost to addiction, can be heard here:
“These dreams are more than paper things,” sings Matt Quinn on Mt. Joy’s infectious folk-rocker ‘Astrovan,’ a warm, yearning bit of road-trip philosophy that posits the existence of a Deadhead Jesus cruising the dusty highways of the countryside, nursing a roach on his way to only He knows where. It’s an auspicious line from a band predicated on the revival of teenage dreams.
Mt. Joy started off as a rekindling of shared musical ambitions between Philadelphia high school friends Matt Quinn (vocals, guitar) and Sam Cooper (guitar). Reunited in Los Angeles thanks to the ebbs and flows of adult life, the pair met multi-instrumentalist Michael Byrnes through a Craigslist ad. They named themselves Mt. Joy as an ode to a mountain in Valley Forge National Park near Sam’s childhood home, and together, with Byrnes’ roommate Caleb Nelson producing, they recorded three songs and sent them out into the world, hoping for the best. “I knew I still wanted to write songs, but the realities of life made that dream seem pretty impossible,” Quinn says.
Much to the band’s amazement, ‘Astrovan’ accomplished the impossible. Without initial promotion or fanfare, the song took off on Spotify, enjoying over 5 million streams . “The irony of ‘Astrovan’ was that song was really about being stuck in a life and wanting to have the opportunity to pursue a dream, and in an instant it gave us that opportunity. ” Quinn says. Mt. Joy quickly transitioned from a part-time calling into a full-fledged band rounded out by Byrnes on bass, Sotiris Eliopoulos on drums and Jackie Miclau on keyboard.
Come 2017, Mt. Joy hit the road. They played tour dates alongside the likes of The Shins, The Head and The Heart, The Lone Bellow, and Whitney, and popped up at some of the summer’s biggest festivals, including Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza and Made In America. “We were put on some big shows very quickly,” Quinn says. “The growth for us has been exponential – we’ve really just become a family that’s constantly pushing each other and the live show to be great.” They eventually caught the attention of Dualtone Records and began work on their debut album with producer Jon Gilbert (The Kills).
Mt. Joy’s debut is a startlingly open document, wracked with the anxieties and fears that come just as life seems to start working out. It’s a natural reaction from a wary band like Mt. Joy – the result of a sort of professional vertigo, as they’ve gone from virtual unknowns to hot young commodity in little over a year. But there’s a sense of hope underlying everything, girded by the fact that the Mt. Joy LP is an impressive, honest portrayal of a young band facing that moment where dreams become reality, and finding beauty in the exhilarating uncertainty of it all.
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