#toomuchjoy

Very happy to get this in the mail. Hard to believe that (pause while I do math and then shudder) 32 years after I saw them explode through an opening act set at The Palladium in NYC, Too Much Joy is back making rock that reminds you that they—and more importantly YOU—are still alive. This one is a lot of fun—the hooks are bigger and the insights are deeper, and despite the fact that it was all recorded remotely during the pandemic, it’s all as rip roaring and headbob-inducing as anything they released in their 90s heyday. Also, is that not the album cover of the year?


. healing looks like cry, rinse and repeat healing looks like me

My traditional Thanksgiving vinyl post: Too Much Joy’s “Thanksgiving In Reno”—a Hunter S. Thompson-lite tale of emptiness and salvation—or drunkenness. Have a great holiday😀


Too Much Joy basically kicked off the Punk Pop resurgence of the Nineties but have been largely inactive in recent times. With that in mind, today’s mail was most welcome as it brought two copies of the band’s new single. The A Side is a cover of the Clash’s “We Are The Clash,” and the B-Side is the band’s own retort, “We Are Not The Clash.”

Fantastic record-collecting weekend, Part 1: Yesterday was Record Store Day 2017, and it was AWESOME. A lot of people complained online that the list was weak this year, but for me, it was the first one in ages that had lots to offer, like The Sundays’ second album on brown vinyl, never released on vinyl before; The Cure’s Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits Acoustic on picture discs; a repress of Def Leppard’s 1976 demo; The Cars live in their prime; the Beatles; Blondie; Star Wars; my pals Too Much Joy releasing their first song in 16 years on the Recutting The Crap Clash-covers compilation; Talking Heads; and the first Smiths 45 in 30 years, complete with a secret message written in the runout groove—"Trump Will Kill America.“ And I have yet to have any time to listen to them because of Fantastic record-collecting weekend, Part 2, soon to follow this post.

It’s that time of year again—time to play Too Much Joy’s seasonal classic, “Thanksgiving In Reno” (go to second slide for a tasty clip). Here’s both the blue and yellow re-releases I was gifted with after producing a special edition issue of the old TMJ fanzine, JoyBuzzer, for them; and an OG early-90s black vinyl edition from Europe (it didn’t get a vinyl release in the US). Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a rather musical weekend, as not only did I see Too Much Joy on Sunday, but also spent Friday night catching Texas Swing masters The Mavericks as well. But Sunday, however, gave me an opportunity to indulge in simple meandering in the East Village before the TMJ show, which meant I stumbled across a Dia de Muertos festival with some lovely Latin jazz being performed; visited Limited To One (which I love though I never find anything there) and A1 Records, where I found a test pressing of “No Time To Play” by Guru for $5 and bought Miraj’s “In The Pocket” right off the turntable; and just generally hung out. It could be argued (easily) that I subscribe to the work ethos of “No Time To Play” a little too much, so agenda-less wandering for an hour or two was good for the soul.

It was a rather musical weekend, as not only did I see Too Much Joy on Sunday, but also spent Friday night catching Texas Swing masters The Mavericks as well. But Sunday, however, gave me an opportunity to indulge in simple meandering in the East Village before the TMJ show, which meant I stumbled across a Dia de Muertos festival with some lovely Latin jazz being performed; visited Limited To One (which I love though I never find anything there) and A1 Records, where I found a test pressing of “No Time To Play” by Guru for $5 and bought Miraj’s “In The Pocket” right off the turntable; and just generally hung out. It could be argued (easily) that I subscribe to the work ethos of “No Time To Play” a little too much, so agenda-less wandering for an hour or two was good for the soul. #themavericks #toomuchjoy #limitedtoonenyc #a1records #diadelosmuertos #guru #jazzmatazz https://www.instagram.com/p/CkazUFfOLjm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=