September 2, 2025 • 33 mins
Welsh band The Joy Formidable get the spotlight as the hosts dig into their overlooked catalog and massive sound. Between an AI guessing game gone wrong, some serious concert amnesia, and thoughts on music therapy, they explore why this sonic-rollercoaster band deserves way more recognition. From "The Big Roar" to Utah wilderness vibes - check out this dynamic trio. Earshifter playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/11coHhMoyAQSjcuPOHMMwZ?si=74dd00011d714eb5 UPDATE: Dave Grohl's had some stuff come out since we recorded this – proving that nobody's perfect.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
music music
SPEAKER_01 (00:16):
Welcome to Ear Shifter.
He's Rene Rouleau.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
And he's Sean Kapstick.
And Rene, why are we here?
We are here, Sean, because thispodcast is all about discovery.
It's actually about two things.
Discovery, meaning discoveringnew bands you've never heard of
that we feel are great and, youknow, maybe just didn't get
enough exposure.
And maybe you should give them atry as well.
(00:39):
But it's also for the fans.
Like, you know, for example, ifyou liked a band called Change
of Heart that worked by Fandive.
Which I do.
UNKNOWN (00:46):
Hmm?
SPEAKER_01 (00:46):
Which I
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
do.
Which you do.
Then, you know what?
You're going to actually listento the podcast about Change of
Heart, which was episode one.
And you're going to learn allabout Change of Heart.
And you won't have to go to theinternet and find all the
information you want to findabout Change of Heart.
But today, it's not about Changeof Heart.
Today, it's the joy for Madabla.
And are you sure about that?
(01:07):
I am not sure about thepronunciation of them.
For about 12 years, Sean and I,and I think it's my fault, Sean,
referred to the band as the JoyFormidable.
During my research, I discoveredit's actually the Joy
Formidable.
I'm not sure which one I likemore, to be honest, but maybe
it's just sentimental for us,the Formidable part.
(01:29):
But as I was researching, Iactually thought this would be
fun, Sean.
I thought, why don't I actuallyuse good old chat GPT?
Because you're so modern.
Because I'm so modern and hipand do 10 fun facts about the
Joy Formidable.
So this is what I did.
I did exactly that but we alsoknow that chat gpt when it
(01:50):
doesn't know information andactually does something that is
termed hallucinations meaning itactually just makes up shit so i
have three facts about the bandbased on chat gpt and sean i'm
gonna ask you true or false soi'm gonna state the the fact and
you're gonna tell me do youthink it's true or do you think
it's false and of course all ofthese according to chat gpt are
(02:13):
all true okay all right so thefirst one is The band's name
comes from a line in a Welshlanguage poem by William
Williams.
True or false?
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
I'm not familiar with Bill Bill, but I would say
it's false because forebedabbleis not a Welsh word.
SPEAKER_00 (02:33):
Correct.
Not true.
Ritzy, the lead singer, said,actually, they just kicked
around some names and it wasfloating around while they
developed their sound.
Simple as that.
Number two.
They toured with Foo Fighters atone time.
True or false?
I'm going to say that's true.
Well, you're kind of half right.
(02:54):
They actually toured with themtwice.
But Shaq GBT actually justtalked about the bigger one,
which was in 2018 on the westcoast of the US.
Apparently, Dave Grohl heardthem on the radio, got the album
and liked it and just asked themto go on tour with them.
Because that's what he does.
Because that's what he does.
They didn't say which album inthe actual article, but that's
(03:15):
pretty cool.
And And Ritzy actually saidthat, no surprise, Dave Grohl
was a gentleman and totally coolon tour.
So props to Dave Grohl for sure.
Number three.
They had music in the amazingSpider-Man 2 movie.
True or false?
SPEAKER_01 (03:33):
The new one that's a cartoon or the old one with the
old Spider-Man?
Tobey Maguire or whatever?
Tobey Maguire.
The old one.
UNKNOWN (03:42):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
I could be possible.
It's the same contemporary time,but I'm going to say it's false.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (03:51):
good.
Yeah, so it's not true.
But they did have the songcalled End Tapes, which was a
single from the Twilight Sagasoundtrack in 2011.
Ritzy said it was one of theirearliest songs where they really
were just finding their sound.
And for me, I don't know aboutyou, Sean, but End Tapes, it's
not one of my favorites.
It's not bad, but it's not asuper good song.
(04:13):
banger in my opinion but it'sstill good sounds a little
different from all the otherones i think so i think so okay
so let's let's talk a little bitmore about the band so i loved
all of the research i did it wasso much fun so the two
guitarists are ritzy and i wantto make sure i pronounce his
name partially right he actuallysorry she actually refers to him
as writ or writ as the welshwould say and so those two were
(04:37):
actually childhood friends theymet when they were about four or
five years old as they got olderthey actually became And so
Ritzy, Brian, and the bassistRitan Daffod, I'm sorry if I
mispronounced that, Rit, butthat's the best I could do.
They originally played togetheras part of a Manchester band
called Tricky Nixon.
(04:59):
So guess what I did?
I looked up Tricky Nixon.
On Spotify, Tricky Nixon has twosongs and eight monthly
listeners.
So it could be an airshifterband.
Very well could be an airshifterband.
Shifter band.
The music was, you know, it wasokay, but it was a little bit
forgettable as well.
It actually kind of reminded meof almost a pop-friendly,
(05:21):
Metallica, Enter Sandman feel toit, which I thought was
interesting.
But, you know, maybe they haveeight listeners for a reason.
So the two of them went back totheir northern Welsh hometown
of...
Moulds.
Correct.
And that's where they formed theJoy Formidable in 2008.
In 2009, they replaced theirdrummer with Matt...
(05:43):
James Thomas and Matt is withthem to this day.
That April, they teamed up witha new label started by a member
of Passion Pit to release theEP, A Balloon Called Moaning in
the US.
Sean, do you remember PassionPit?
I remember leaving Passion Pit.
Yes.
We are both not fans of PassionPit.
We actually went to, in Toronto,we went to a venue called Cool
(06:06):
House and we went for theopening band, which was Matt and
Kim, who we love and might showup on this podcast.
Who knows?
And how
SPEAKER_01 (06:13):
could after the drummer stands on her kit and
gestulates wildly in a way thatseems to be inappropriate,
except it's her husband onkeyboards, it's hard to, they
shouldn't have had them as anopening act.
SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
That's right.
They should have been theheadliners for sure.
But I mean, we are a opinion oftwo, two opinions, I suppose.
And we just left when PassionPit started because we were
actually bored and it was kindof wrecking the vibe.
Okay.
But they did one good thing.
Passion Pit?
Yeah, they did this album orthis EP.
So Worrying is on that EP.
And it's probably, you know,considered the banger on this
(06:50):
EP.
Pitchfork, who we love,Pitchfork Media, shout out,
ranked the song as number 68 ontheir top 100 of 2011.
So let's give a listen to thatsong.
UNKNOWN (07:03):
Pitchfork
SPEAKER_01 (07:54):
It's a good song.
I like that song a lot.
I find it funny that you pickthe opening part as opposed to
the closing part because theclosing part reminds me way more
of some of your other bands thatdon't have singers because it's
all this crashing and smashingand building up and going quiet,
which I think is one of theirtraits.
(08:16):
But they also have a singer,which is good in my books.
SPEAKER_00 (08:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lyrics, right, Sean?
Of
SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
course.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
Yeah, that's a good point.
And I think that's interestingthat the album was called The
Big Roar, because that'sactually, that is their whole
sound, right?
Which I think is pretty cool.
But the whole LP was reallyquite solid and earned favorable
reviews from NME, which we knowand love, The Guardian, The
Times, Spin, and again,Pitchfork.
Later, many of those same songswould appear on their debut
album, which is called The BigRoar, which was recorded in
(08:44):
London.
Ritt said that it covers a lotof emotional range.
It's captured the battle betweenthe eternal optimist and the
manic depressive and i do feellike some of their music kind of
just is always kind of inbetween those two
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
yeah it's the it's the loud soft the dynamics yeah
quite uh pronounced
SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
yeah yeah so released in 2011 the big roar
included early singles likeaustere cradle worrying as well
as two further singles i don'twant to see you like this and a
heavy abacus and a heavy abacuscharted at number 25 on
billboard's alternative songsand and stayed on there for 15
(09:25):
weeks.
So let's give that one a listen.
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
So I think one of the things for me, like
listening to them, I didn't getthe same appreciation until we
saw them.
which I had to remind you yearslater that we actually did see
the band at, I believe it wasthe Horseshoe.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
So that was funny because, I mean, I freaking love
this band and I was arguing withyou that we didn't see them.
And I said, I remember if I sawthem, Sean, and then you kind of
triggered it for me.
You said Horseshoe, we werestanding stage left.
There was a gong in the back andthen it hit me.
So apologies, Joy Formidable.
I did freaking love the show.
(11:01):
I just see too many shows.
And I guess I'm getting older.
I don't know.
But it was awesome.
And thanks for reminding me,Sean.
And please come back to Toronto.
We promise we'll see you again.
And this time I promise I'llremember.
They made a lot of noise.
Beautiful noise.
Made a lot of noise.
Yeah.
It was awesome.
So this album, The Big Roar, gotcritical reception.
(11:21):
77 out of 100 on Metacritic.
BBC called it a fantastic debut.
And it really was.
It was even hard cherry pickingthe song, Sean.
But I did choose...
cradle as the third song to playfrom this album and we're gonna
play that one now
SPEAKER_02 (11:40):
okay
SPEAKER_00 (12:29):
All right, Sean.
So look, that was my pick.
I love most of this album,probably 90% of it.
It was hard picking a song, butI picked Cradle.
What do you think?
I think it's good.
SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
But if I had to pick one song, one other song, I
would say it's the ever-changingspectrum of a lie, the opening
cut.
SPEAKER_00 (12:45):
Interesting.
So I think Ritzy was asked whather favorite song to play live
is, and I believe it is thatsong.
So that kind of checks out.
Okay.
So...
In November 2011, their song EndTapes was featured on the
Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn filmsoundtrack.
(13:07):
We've mentioned that already.
The band's second studio albumwas called Wolf's Law.
It was officially released in2013 in the UK and the US.
So Ritzy said the songs wereapproached with vocals and
either a guitar or piano first,and then built upon that.
She said, it's all about theirlyrics, the voice, and the
(13:28):
melody first.
Sean lyrics Sean lyrics
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
well I like the the lyrics up front is for sure
that's the dynamics is it wastheir first album so the lyrics
yeah that but how did thecritics feel about it
SPEAKER_00 (13:45):
yeah so this album the critics actually liked
Wolf's Law but we'll get toanother album that the critics
didn't like and we'll talk aboutthat reaction so I was like for
me I was kind of like what isWolf's Law what does that mean
right And so I kind of dug in.
And Wolf's Law is a scientifictheory by Julius Wolf, which
states that the bones may becomestronger in response to stress
(14:10):
as a form of adaptation.
And I thought that was reallyinteresting because Ritzy
actually comes along and saysthat one of the major themes of
the album is relationships onthe mend and feeling
reinvigorated, which I thoughtwas really powerful and
inspirational.
So at the time, too, and almosta result of it, Ritzy's parents
were actually going through areally messy divorce.
(14:32):
And she said a lot of thefeelings of this album came from
that feeling of watching herparents go through a divorce.
Happy to say they're actually onspeaking terms again, and I
think that's part of why shetalked about kind of remending
or making it strongerafterwards, after all the
(14:52):
disarray and the messiness.
And for me, I really like whatshe said here at the end of the
2022 She says, and I quote,Isn't music special?
It's a switch for so manyfeelings.
In those darker moments, it canmake you see the world in color
again.
It's healing and challenging.
(15:14):
All the little patterns in musicmirroring the ups and downs in
our day-to-day lives.
So for me, I thought that was sopoignant because I know for both
of us, music can affect us sodeeply and it can be both a
negative and a positive thing soI'll never forget when Tom
(15:34):
York's The Eraser came out andthe first year or so I actually
listened to it twice and kind ofshelved it and then about a year
later I picked it up and it wasI'll never forget it was like
January February and I wasplaying it that's all I was
playing for about two months andI turned to my wife Danielle and
genuinely said I feel reallylike sad and kind of depressed
(15:55):
and I don't know what's going onand she literally looked at me
and said You've been playingthat album for two months.
And I said, do you think that'sit?
She said, yes.
So I actually had to pull myselfout of that.
And I don't know about you,Sean, but do you have moments
like that at all or no?
SPEAKER_01 (16:15):
No, I take the music from a lyrics perspective, from
an emotional perspective, maybeas a bit of catharsis as opposed
to a reinforcement.
So I can listen to some very,you know, darkened, unhappy, sad
music.
I listen to it and then I don'tlisten to it on repeat.
(16:36):
I can then move on.
So sometimes listening to earlycure makes me happy because I
think about where I was and howimportant it was so I can dip my
toe into that and then go.
And
SPEAKER_00 (16:50):
what do you tend to go to?
So what I've learned the hardway is that I have to like dig
myself out of that and I have tolike go to, I don't know, New
War, or something like somethingupbeat and peppy to lift myself
out of it, even if it's hard.
Do you do that or no?
SPEAKER_01 (17:07):
No, I just feel like, OK, you know, I've
listened to pornography one moretime and I won't listen to it
for another couple of years atthis point.
Frequency.
All right.
Fair enough.
But it still feels good.
SPEAKER_00 (17:20):
Yeah.
Okay, so on Wolf's Law, from meanyway, Sean, a couple of
standout tracks.
One is called The Leopard andthe Lung.
And I like that song because itactually felt like it almost
belonged on The Big Roar.
We're not going to listen tothat song, but we are going to
listen to this one.
I love the energy of this one.
It's called This Ladder is Ours.
UNKNOWN (17:41):
This Ladder is Ours
SPEAKER_00 (18:52):
okay so for me positive song gives a nice
positive almost hopeful feelingand lyrically according to the
band anyway it's a song aboutencouragement and a song about
starting over and it truly feelslike that too so that'd be a
happy song sean for me to listento after listening to tom york's
eraser for too long okay so nextthey released in 2016 they
(19:16):
released their third studioalbum called hitch now ritzy
said that her favorite part ofrecording this album was to
start on an idea and feel alivewith it and occasionally just
explore where it will go and cango and then they get that
breakthrough but this albumdidn't break through this album
got a cold response from criticsand there was even some
(19:37):
litigation involved now I triedto dig into what the litigation
was couldn't find it but youknow obviously the band
themselves were well aware ofthis litigation and you know it
just made me kind of sad reallyoverall but for me I was also
intrigued by like how does thathappen to a band.
Like, you know, you have thisgreat debut album, you have a
pretty good second album, andyou go into the studio and that
(19:59):
third album, and like, surelyyou're leaving that studio
going, this album's even betterthan our last two albums, and
you're feeling really good aboutit.
Like, I just wonder how thatprocess of either, I don't know
what to call it,self-convincing, or is there
pressure, or is there yes-men inthe room that are saying, yeah,
that's great, or do they gettired, or is there a time limit,
(20:21):
or what happens in that process?
process i
SPEAKER_01 (20:23):
think you'd have to believe in yourself if you're
not going to believe that thisis the best thing you're doing
then it would be difficult tocontinue to do that with such
energy enthusiasm and if you'renot exploring new things or
pushing yourself then you're notreally going to be elastic bands
so not getting it right sometimeand not getting it right to some
(20:47):
critics or what they expect ithink is par for the course it's
one of the the things aboutbeing along and continuing to
push interesting things.
There's lots of examples wherethe critics didn't like an album
when it came out and then itbecomes very popular and very
inspirational when things comeout later in the larger part of
(21:09):
an artist's career and wherethose things that maybe weren't
acceptable right away becomemore fulsome.
So who knows what will happen tothis album in the fullness of
time.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
I like it.
what a great answer i love thati'm actually thinking recently
current joy's released a newalbum and wow you want to talk
about experimentation and justlike just doing what he wanted
to do which i respect i totallyrespect it too and i think i
only liked two songs on thealbum but i respected the whole
album because i just loved likehe went just to so many
(21:43):
unexpected places i was like wowand you
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
and you high uh highlight albums you take just a
little bit of albums in andtruly in terms of what you're
saying if you respect a wholealbum you usually just take a
little bit from the album andsay that's great album and not
go back to the other cuts soyeah
SPEAKER_00 (22:03):
yeah yeah it's it's hard for me to say that's a full
great album right it's hard forme to say that so what happened
then sean was they're pissed offabout hitch right they're like
what the hell we love this albumit just we had litigation and we
had you know no great praisefrom anyone it didn't do well in
the charts, nothing.
(22:24):
So in partial response to that,in 2018, they came out with
their fourth studio album calledArf.
I'm pronouncing it the best wayI can.
It's actually spelledA-A-A-R-G-H, but it's pronounced
Arf, and it kind of means bearin Welsh.
Spice just knows L or
SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Ys or Ws.
Is that right?
A lot of Welsh use
SPEAKER_00 (22:49):
those consonants.
Okay, okay.
So this album was like a primalscream out of frustration with a
lot of things that, you know,not exclusively to Hitch, but a
lot of things that were going onat the time.
And this album was partiallywritten in Wales, but also
partially written in their newhome, which is where, Sean?
I think they live in
SPEAKER_01 (23:09):
southern U.S.
now,
SPEAKER_00 (23:11):
don't they?
Whoa, okay.
Which state?
Do you want a hint?
SPEAKER_01 (23:17):
Nevada.
SPEAKER_00 (23:18):
Oh, I think close.
Rhymes with Utah.
Okay.
So they're Mormons.
Yeah, that's right.
They're totally Mormons.
Actually, it was kind ofinteresting because it turns out
that Ritzy found Utah to be arejuvenating place.
She said, the air tastes good.
The sky is pretty.
And it doesn't rain all the timelike Wales.
(23:39):
And it doesn't rain all the timelike Wales because you've been
there.
You know.
And Ritzy actually, it turnsout, loves the wilderness.
And if she was to do anotherjob, it would be like a national
geographic correspondent or atravel writer.
because she loves exploring andloves the expanse of nature.
Again, for me, and if you lookat our Joy Formidable or
(24:01):
Formidable Besties playlist onSpotify, follow us at
Earshifter.
There was no standout songs onthis album.
So I guess a little bit ironicbecause I didn't have any
standouts on Hitch and none onthis one either.
But still, to Sean's point, lovethat you just go explore, push
yourselves in whatever directionyou want to do and let the cards
(24:22):
fall with they may.
So this brings us to their fifthand most recent studio album,
which is called Into the Blue.
It was released 2021 when thepandemic was really having a
good time.
The single and maybe the besttrack for me is the title track
called Into the Blue.
It was written in Wales butrecorded in Utah.
Now we're going to switch fromfive fun facts that are true and
(24:43):
therefore not from ChatGPT.
Ritchie's TV show reco.
Her favorite shows are Anythingwith David Attenborough and And
she also loves gardening.
Favorite board game to play ontheir 2016 tour.
Do you play board game, Sean?
Not very much.
Yeah.
(25:03):
So Cards Against Humanity.
Okay.
Yeah.
You know that one or heard ofit?
Yeah, I know that one.
SPEAKER_01 (25:09):
I prefer Apples to Apples because it's more
wholesome.
SPEAKER_00 (25:12):
Yeah.
I think almost anything is morewholesome than Cards Against
Humanity.
Played it once with Chloe'sNana.
That was an interestingexperience at Christmas time.
So It was asked to the band, ifyou could have dinner with
anyone, who would it be?
And the bassist's answer, whichwas Patti Smith, which I thought
was pretty cool.
Again, not a huge fan of hermusic, but what she stands for
(25:34):
and being, I think, thegodmother of punk, essentially,
respect, immense respect.
So I thought that was kind ofcool.
I thought you'd think that wascool, too.
Every tour, Matt, the drummer,picks up a hobby.
And one of these, Sean, one ofthese hobbies is not true.
So I want you to try and guesswhich one is not true.
I'm going to read them allfirst.
So on one tour, he picked upguitar playing as a drummer.
(25:58):
So he learned how to playguitar.
On another tour, origami, wherehe was first introduced to
origami making in Tokyo on tour.
They had a cooking tour where hejust cooked a lot.
And then he had a workout to getfit tour where the other band
members wanted them to stay thinand junky looking was the quote.
So which of those, which ofthose do you think is not true?
(26:22):
Okay.
I
SPEAKER_01 (26:23):
believe drummers want to play guitar.
I believe they want to foldthings.
And maybe they want to cook.
I don't think they need helpwith that junky look if they're
energetic drummers.
So I think the last one's false.
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
Okay.
No, it was the origami making.
I think I fooled you with theTokyo little part I put in
there.
But it was the origami making.
But yeah, they complained thathe got too heavy and too strong
and wanted him back to the junkylook.
Okay.
And then finally, their favoritemethod of discovering music,
which I just thought was a greatway to kind of close this.
(26:58):
So for them, their favorite wayof discovering new music is
conversation with other musicfolks and music mates and just
keeping their ears open, which Ithink is exactly why we started
this whole goddamn thing.
I agree.
Yeah.
And doing what you want.
And doing what you want.
And I think all 13 of ourlisteners can maybe discover a
new band or artist as well.
(27:19):
Right.
Via our little podcast here.
because the radio overlooks somuch great talent and, you know,
in my opinion, often pushesgarbage till listeners are
brainwashed to like it.
And I just, that's why we'redoing this.
And then just a final note,Sean, you know, it was so weird
researching, because this isonly our second podcast, folks.
So it was odd because I watchedso many interviews with this
(27:42):
band.
I actually felt like I startedto get to know them, which I
know is not right or fair oranything, but I really liked
them as human beings.
Like I just, I just liked...
They just seemed so relaxed andgreat and they had a real vibe
and they joked around, but itdidn't feel like forced.
And I feel like I kind of gotclose to the band, which was
weird and a false feeling forsure.
(28:04):
But I think it's hard to tellfeelings that they're false.
SPEAKER_01 (28:09):
Well, especially on the internet.
Yeah.
But what I think is interestingthat for...
a relatively small band.
They've had some success.
You're going to give us thesocial media stats, I'm sure, in
a moment.
But what I thought wasinteresting during COVID, that
(28:29):
they really did try to keep thatconnection going with their
fans, that they were very muchputting out music on their
program, that they had a specialwebsite that you could get to
that if you were a fan.
And they really did try to buildthat connection or continue that
connection through COVID, whichis, again, something that bands
(28:53):
have to do to keep going and tobe relevant.
So yeah, good for them.
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And yeah, great segue, Sean.
So the question is, is this anear shifter band?
And I'm going to answer thatfirst, just based on what you
just said.
So I feel like 100% this is anear shifter band.
I still can't believe that theydon't have more.
So right now they only have168,000 monthly listeners.
(29:17):
So yeah, no change of heart.
Change of heart, I think had 304monthly listeners, but also no
beach out.
right so beach house has 12million monthly listeners or
elliot smith 2 million monthlylisteners so then and i kind of
know where this is going becausewe've had some some chats uh off
the podcast but for me i stillfeel like that still justifies
(29:39):
them to be an ear shift yourband because if it's going to be
about a cutoff number of monthlylisteners then you know what is
that number is it under amillion monthly listeners
because guess what buddymountain goats has a million
monthly listeners so that wouldmean you can do mountain goats
and I know you want to domountain goats yeah okay
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
you're
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
revealing the future but yes that's okay we can
reveal a bit and then is itunder 2 million because band of
horses has 2.7 million who youlove and you love we both love
how many times have you seenthem
SPEAKER_01 (30:14):
can't remember a couple yeah
SPEAKER_00 (30:16):
exactly yeah so we both want to do that one we'll
probably be fighting for thatone so I don't I'm not sold on
it being a number in terms ofmonthly listeners so then so
then is it really more of a gutthing i don't know for me again
when i'm talking to my musicfriends you excluded or people
that are just passionate aboutmusic and like exploring if they
(30:38):
don't know the band or artistthat i'm saying that's enough
for me like then it's like ohwell you should check out this
band like it might be prettycool you might like them what do
you think
SPEAKER_01 (30:49):
So when you first said, hey, these guys are great,
I was like, this is back in theday, I was like, okay, they are
a loud, soft band, dynamics, andit did take me a little bit to
warm to them.
It was the gong when we saw themlive, and I'd never seen as big
(31:13):
a gong, and he used it veryjudiciously.
It wasn't like gonging all thetime.
So So I did appreciate afterseeing them and after listening
to them more that, yeah, theyhave a, there is something
different about them and there'ssomething there that isn't there
in a lot of other bands.
(31:33):
So yes, I agree.
They're an air shifter band.
Excellent.
I'm glad we're in agreement,Sean.
Thank God.
What are we going to do when wedisagree?
I
SPEAKER_00 (31:41):
don't know.
We'll cross that bridge when wecome to it, I guess.
Stay tuned for season two.
That's right.
Season stuff will be thrown.
Okay.
So, uh, This is the part wherewe say, hey, people, what do you
think?
You can follow Earshifter onInstagram, Facebook, and
Twitter, or now called X orwhatever the hell it's called
now, or visit Earshifter.com.
(32:01):
We'll also post a Joy Formidableplaylist of our fave songs on
Spotify.
I'm Rene Rouleau, and my co-hostis Sean Kapsik, and this is our
second episode of Earshifter.
Special thanks go to our logodesigner, Stuart Thursby, and
our intro outro music by JoeNovak you can find him as bye
(32:24):
bye bad man all one word onSoundCloud and thanks go to our
excellent sound engineer slasheditor Colin Bain also found at
soundcloud.com backslash ColinBain that's C-O-L-I-N B-A-I-N
tune in next time where we'llcover another band that deserves
(32:46):
more who will it be?
hint Okay.
A
SPEAKER_01 (32:51):
New York poet who released three, I think, seminal
albums that are, had greatpopularity, but underappreciated
and hung out with some veryfamous people that we can talk
about next time.
SPEAKER_00 (33:07):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (33:08):
On EarShifter.
SPEAKER_00 (33:09):
Awesome.
Excellent.
I'm excited.
And you use that seminal wordagain, but now I know what it
means.
All right.
Thanks everyone.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.
See you next time.
Bye.
music music
SPEAKER_01 (00:16):
Welcome to Ear Shifter.
He's Rene Rouleau.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
And he's Sean Kapstick.
And Rene, why are we here?
We are here, Sean, because thispodcast is all about discovery.
It's actually about two things.
Discovery, meaning discoveringnew bands you've never heard of
that we feel are great and, youknow, maybe just didn't get
enough exposure.
And maybe you should give them atry as well.
(00:39):
But it's also for the fans.
Like, you know, for example, ifyou liked a band called Change
of Heart that worked by Fandive.
Which I do.
UNKNOWN (00:46):
Hmm?
SPEAKER_01 (00:46):
Which I
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
do.
Which you do.
Then, you know what?
You're going to actually listento the podcast about Change of
Heart, which was episode one.
And you're going to learn allabout Change of Heart.
And you won't have to go to theinternet and find all the
information you want to findabout Change of Heart.
But today, it's not about Changeof Heart.
Today, it's the joy for Madabla.
And are you sure about that?
(01:07):
I am not sure about thepronunciation of them.
For about 12 years, Sean and I,and I think it's my fault, Sean,
referred to the band as the JoyFormidable.
During my research, I discoveredit's actually the Joy
Formidable.
I'm not sure which one I likemore, to be honest, but maybe
it's just sentimental for us,the Formidable part.
(01:29):
But as I was researching, Iactually thought this would be
fun, Sean.
I thought, why don't I actuallyuse good old chat GPT?
Because you're so modern.
Because I'm so modern and hipand do 10 fun facts about the
Joy Formidable.
So this is what I did.
I did exactly that but we alsoknow that chat gpt when it
(01:50):
doesn't know information andactually does something that is
termed hallucinations meaning itactually just makes up shit so i
have three facts about the bandbased on chat gpt and sean i'm
gonna ask you true or false soi'm gonna state the the fact and
you're gonna tell me do youthink it's true or do you think
it's false and of course all ofthese according to chat gpt are
(02:13):
all true okay all right so thefirst one is The band's name
comes from a line in a Welshlanguage poem by William
Williams.
True or false?
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
I'm not familiar with Bill Bill, but I would say
it's false because forebedabbleis not a Welsh word.
SPEAKER_00 (02:33):
Correct.
Not true.
Ritzy, the lead singer, said,actually, they just kicked
around some names and it wasfloating around while they
developed their sound.
Simple as that.
Number two.
They toured with Foo Fighters atone time.
True or false?
I'm going to say that's true.
Well, you're kind of half right.
(02:54):
They actually toured with themtwice.
But Shaq GBT actually justtalked about the bigger one,
which was in 2018 on the westcoast of the US.
Apparently, Dave Grohl heardthem on the radio, got the album
and liked it and just asked themto go on tour with them.
Because that's what he does.
Because that's what he does.
They didn't say which album inthe actual article, but that's
(03:15):
pretty cool.
And And Ritzy actually saidthat, no surprise, Dave Grohl
was a gentleman and totally coolon tour.
So props to Dave Grohl for sure.
Number three.
They had music in the amazingSpider-Man 2 movie.
True or false?
SPEAKER_01 (03:33):
The new one that's a cartoon or the old one with the
old Spider-Man?
Tobey Maguire or whatever?
Tobey Maguire.
The old one.
UNKNOWN (03:42):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
I could be possible.
It's the same contemporary time,but I'm going to say it's false.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (03:51):
good.
Yeah, so it's not true.
But they did have the songcalled End Tapes, which was a
single from the Twilight Sagasoundtrack in 2011.
Ritzy said it was one of theirearliest songs where they really
were just finding their sound.
And for me, I don't know aboutyou, Sean, but End Tapes, it's
not one of my favorites.
It's not bad, but it's not asuper good song.
(04:13):
banger in my opinion but it'sstill good sounds a little
different from all the otherones i think so i think so okay
so let's let's talk a little bitmore about the band so i loved
all of the research i did it wasso much fun so the two
guitarists are ritzy and i wantto make sure i pronounce his
name partially right he actuallysorry she actually refers to him
as writ or writ as the welshwould say and so those two were
(04:37):
actually childhood friends theymet when they were about four or
five years old as they got olderthey actually became And so
Ritzy, Brian, and the bassistRitan Daffod, I'm sorry if I
mispronounced that, Rit, butthat's the best I could do.
They originally played togetheras part of a Manchester band
called Tricky Nixon.
(04:59):
So guess what I did?
I looked up Tricky Nixon.
On Spotify, Tricky Nixon has twosongs and eight monthly
listeners.
So it could be an airshifterband.
Very well could be an airshifterband.
Shifter band.
The music was, you know, it wasokay, but it was a little bit
forgettable as well.
It actually kind of reminded meof almost a pop-friendly,
(05:21):
Metallica, Enter Sandman feel toit, which I thought was
interesting.
But, you know, maybe they haveeight listeners for a reason.
So the two of them went back totheir northern Welsh hometown
of...
Moulds.
Correct.
And that's where they formed theJoy Formidable in 2008.
In 2009, they replaced theirdrummer with Matt...
(05:43):
James Thomas and Matt is withthem to this day.
That April, they teamed up witha new label started by a member
of Passion Pit to release theEP, A Balloon Called Moaning in
the US.
Sean, do you remember PassionPit?
I remember leaving Passion Pit.
Yes.
We are both not fans of PassionPit.
We actually went to, in Toronto,we went to a venue called Cool
(06:06):
House and we went for theopening band, which was Matt and
Kim, who we love and might showup on this podcast.
Who knows?
And how
SPEAKER_01 (06:13):
could after the drummer stands on her kit and
gestulates wildly in a way thatseems to be inappropriate,
except it's her husband onkeyboards, it's hard to, they
shouldn't have had them as anopening act.
SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
That's right.
They should have been theheadliners for sure.
But I mean, we are a opinion oftwo, two opinions, I suppose.
And we just left when PassionPit started because we were
actually bored and it was kindof wrecking the vibe.
Okay.
But they did one good thing.
Passion Pit?
Yeah, they did this album orthis EP.
So Worrying is on that EP.
And it's probably, you know,considered the banger on this
(06:50):
EP.
Pitchfork, who we love,Pitchfork Media, shout out,
ranked the song as number 68 ontheir top 100 of 2011.
So let's give a listen to thatsong.
UNKNOWN (07:03):
Pitchfork
SPEAKER_01 (07:54):
It's a good song.
I like that song a lot.
I find it funny that you pickthe opening part as opposed to
the closing part because theclosing part reminds me way more
of some of your other bands thatdon't have singers because it's
all this crashing and smashingand building up and going quiet,
which I think is one of theirtraits.
(08:16):
But they also have a singer,which is good in my books.
SPEAKER_00 (08:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lyrics, right, Sean?
Of
SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
course.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
Yeah, that's a good point.
And I think that's interestingthat the album was called The
Big Roar, because that'sactually, that is their whole
sound, right?
Which I think is pretty cool.
But the whole LP was reallyquite solid and earned favorable
reviews from NME, which we knowand love, The Guardian, The
Times, Spin, and again,Pitchfork.
Later, many of those same songswould appear on their debut
album, which is called The BigRoar, which was recorded in
(08:44):
London.
Ritt said that it covers a lotof emotional range.
It's captured the battle betweenthe eternal optimist and the
manic depressive and i do feellike some of their music kind of
just is always kind of inbetween those two
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
yeah it's the it's the loud soft the dynamics yeah
quite uh pronounced
SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
yeah yeah so released in 2011 the big roar
included early singles likeaustere cradle worrying as well
as two further singles i don'twant to see you like this and a
heavy abacus and a heavy abacuscharted at number 25 on
billboard's alternative songsand and stayed on there for 15
(09:25):
weeks.
So let's give that one a listen.
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
So I think one of the things for me, like
listening to them, I didn't getthe same appreciation until we
saw them.
which I had to remind you yearslater that we actually did see
the band at, I believe it wasthe Horseshoe.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
So that was funny because, I mean, I freaking love
this band and I was arguing withyou that we didn't see them.
And I said, I remember if I sawthem, Sean, and then you kind of
triggered it for me.
You said Horseshoe, we werestanding stage left.
There was a gong in the back andthen it hit me.
So apologies, Joy Formidable.
I did freaking love the show.
(11:01):
I just see too many shows.
And I guess I'm getting older.
I don't know.
But it was awesome.
And thanks for reminding me,Sean.
And please come back to Toronto.
We promise we'll see you again.
And this time I promise I'llremember.
They made a lot of noise.
Beautiful noise.
Made a lot of noise.
Yeah.
It was awesome.
So this album, The Big Roar, gotcritical reception.
(11:21):
77 out of 100 on Metacritic.
BBC called it a fantastic debut.
And it really was.
It was even hard cherry pickingthe song, Sean.
But I did choose...
cradle as the third song to playfrom this album and we're gonna
play that one now
SPEAKER_02 (11:40):
okay
SPEAKER_00 (12:29):
All right, Sean.
So look, that was my pick.
I love most of this album,probably 90% of it.
It was hard picking a song, butI picked Cradle.
What do you think?
I think it's good.
SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
But if I had to pick one song, one other song, I
would say it's the ever-changingspectrum of a lie, the opening
cut.
SPEAKER_00 (12:45):
Interesting.
So I think Ritzy was asked whather favorite song to play live
is, and I believe it is thatsong.
So that kind of checks out.
Okay.
So...
In November 2011, their song EndTapes was featured on the
Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn filmsoundtrack.
(13:07):
We've mentioned that already.
The band's second studio albumwas called Wolf's Law.
It was officially released in2013 in the UK and the US.
So Ritzy said the songs wereapproached with vocals and
either a guitar or piano first,and then built upon that.
She said, it's all about theirlyrics, the voice, and the
(13:28):
melody first.
Sean lyrics Sean lyrics
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
well I like the the lyrics up front is for sure
that's the dynamics is it wastheir first album so the lyrics
yeah that but how did thecritics feel about it
SPEAKER_00 (13:45):
yeah so this album the critics actually liked
Wolf's Law but we'll get toanother album that the critics
didn't like and we'll talk aboutthat reaction so I was like for
me I was kind of like what isWolf's Law what does that mean
right And so I kind of dug in.
And Wolf's Law is a scientifictheory by Julius Wolf, which
states that the bones may becomestronger in response to stress
(14:10):
as a form of adaptation.
And I thought that was reallyinteresting because Ritzy
actually comes along and saysthat one of the major themes of
the album is relationships onthe mend and feeling
reinvigorated, which I thoughtwas really powerful and
inspirational.
So at the time, too, and almosta result of it, Ritzy's parents
were actually going through areally messy divorce.
(14:32):
And she said a lot of thefeelings of this album came from
that feeling of watching herparents go through a divorce.
Happy to say they're actually onspeaking terms again, and I
think that's part of why shetalked about kind of remending
or making it strongerafterwards, after all the
(14:52):
disarray and the messiness.
And for me, I really like whatshe said here at the end of the
2022 She says, and I quote,Isn't music special?
It's a switch for so manyfeelings.
In those darker moments, it canmake you see the world in color
again.
It's healing and challenging.
(15:14):
All the little patterns in musicmirroring the ups and downs in
our day-to-day lives.
So for me, I thought that was sopoignant because I know for both
of us, music can affect us sodeeply and it can be both a
negative and a positive thing soI'll never forget when Tom
(15:34):
York's The Eraser came out andthe first year or so I actually
listened to it twice and kind ofshelved it and then about a year
later I picked it up and it wasI'll never forget it was like
January February and I wasplaying it that's all I was
playing for about two months andI turned to my wife Danielle and
genuinely said I feel reallylike sad and kind of depressed
(15:55):
and I don't know what's going onand she literally looked at me
and said You've been playingthat album for two months.
And I said, do you think that'sit?
She said, yes.
So I actually had to pull myselfout of that.
And I don't know about you,Sean, but do you have moments
like that at all or no?
SPEAKER_01 (16:15):
No, I take the music from a lyrics perspective, from
an emotional perspective, maybeas a bit of catharsis as opposed
to a reinforcement.
So I can listen to some very,you know, darkened, unhappy, sad
music.
I listen to it and then I don'tlisten to it on repeat.
(16:36):
I can then move on.
So sometimes listening to earlycure makes me happy because I
think about where I was and howimportant it was so I can dip my
toe into that and then go.
And
SPEAKER_00 (16:50):
what do you tend to go to?
So what I've learned the hardway is that I have to like dig
myself out of that and I have tolike go to, I don't know, New
War, or something like somethingupbeat and peppy to lift myself
out of it, even if it's hard.
Do you do that or no?
SPEAKER_01 (17:07):
No, I just feel like, OK, you know, I've
listened to pornography one moretime and I won't listen to it
for another couple of years atthis point.
Frequency.
All right.
Fair enough.
But it still feels good.
SPEAKER_00 (17:20):
Yeah.
Okay, so on Wolf's Law, from meanyway, Sean, a couple of
standout tracks.
One is called The Leopard andthe Lung.
And I like that song because itactually felt like it almost
belonged on The Big Roar.
We're not going to listen tothat song, but we are going to
listen to this one.
I love the energy of this one.
It's called This Ladder is Ours.
UNKNOWN (17:41):
This Ladder is Ours
SPEAKER_00 (18:52):
okay so for me positive song gives a nice
positive almost hopeful feelingand lyrically according to the
band anyway it's a song aboutencouragement and a song about
starting over and it truly feelslike that too so that'd be a
happy song sean for me to listento after listening to tom york's
eraser for too long okay so nextthey released in 2016 they
(19:16):
released their third studioalbum called hitch now ritzy
said that her favorite part ofrecording this album was to
start on an idea and feel alivewith it and occasionally just
explore where it will go and cango and then they get that
breakthrough but this albumdidn't break through this album
got a cold response from criticsand there was even some
(19:37):
litigation involved now I triedto dig into what the litigation
was couldn't find it but youknow obviously the band
themselves were well aware ofthis litigation and you know it
just made me kind of sad reallyoverall but for me I was also
intrigued by like how does thathappen to a band.
Like, you know, you have thisgreat debut album, you have a
pretty good second album, andyou go into the studio and that
(19:59):
third album, and like, surelyyou're leaving that studio
going, this album's even betterthan our last two albums, and
you're feeling really good aboutit.
Like, I just wonder how thatprocess of either, I don't know
what to call it,self-convincing, or is there
pressure, or is there yes-men inthe room that are saying, yeah,
that's great, or do they gettired, or is there a time limit,
(20:21):
or what happens in that process?
process i
SPEAKER_01 (20:23):
think you'd have to believe in yourself if you're
not going to believe that thisis the best thing you're doing
then it would be difficult tocontinue to do that with such
energy enthusiasm and if you'renot exploring new things or
pushing yourself then you're notreally going to be elastic bands
so not getting it right sometimeand not getting it right to some
(20:47):
critics or what they expect ithink is par for the course it's
one of the the things aboutbeing along and continuing to
push interesting things.
There's lots of examples wherethe critics didn't like an album
when it came out and then itbecomes very popular and very
inspirational when things comeout later in the larger part of
(21:09):
an artist's career and wherethose things that maybe weren't
acceptable right away becomemore fulsome.
So who knows what will happen tothis album in the fullness of
time.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
I like it.
what a great answer i love thati'm actually thinking recently
current joy's released a newalbum and wow you want to talk
about experimentation and justlike just doing what he wanted
to do which i respect i totallyrespect it too and i think i
only liked two songs on thealbum but i respected the whole
album because i just loved likehe went just to so many
(21:43):
unexpected places i was like wowand you
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
and you high uh highlight albums you take just a
little bit of albums in andtruly in terms of what you're
saying if you respect a wholealbum you usually just take a
little bit from the album andsay that's great album and not
go back to the other cuts soyeah
SPEAKER_00 (22:03):
yeah yeah it's it's hard for me to say that's a full
great album right it's hard forme to say that so what happened
then sean was they're pissed offabout hitch right they're like
what the hell we love this albumit just we had litigation and we
had you know no great praisefrom anyone it didn't do well in
the charts, nothing.
(22:24):
So in partial response to that,in 2018, they came out with
their fourth studio album calledArf.
I'm pronouncing it the best wayI can.
It's actually spelledA-A-A-R-G-H, but it's pronounced
Arf, and it kind of means bearin Welsh.
Spice just knows L or
SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Ys or Ws.
Is that right?
A lot of Welsh use
SPEAKER_00 (22:49):
those consonants.
Okay, okay.
So this album was like a primalscream out of frustration with a
lot of things that, you know,not exclusively to Hitch, but a
lot of things that were going onat the time.
And this album was partiallywritten in Wales, but also
partially written in their newhome, which is where, Sean?
I think they live in
SPEAKER_01 (23:09):
southern U.S.
now,
SPEAKER_00 (23:11):
don't they?
Whoa, okay.
Which state?
Do you want a hint?
SPEAKER_01 (23:17):
Nevada.
SPEAKER_00 (23:18):
Oh, I think close.
Rhymes with Utah.
Okay.
So they're Mormons.
Yeah, that's right.
They're totally Mormons.
Actually, it was kind ofinteresting because it turns out
that Ritzy found Utah to be arejuvenating place.
She said, the air tastes good.
The sky is pretty.
And it doesn't rain all the timelike Wales.
(23:39):
And it doesn't rain all the timelike Wales because you've been
there.
You know.
And Ritzy actually, it turnsout, loves the wilderness.
And if she was to do anotherjob, it would be like a national
geographic correspondent or atravel writer.
because she loves exploring andloves the expanse of nature.
Again, for me, and if you lookat our Joy Formidable or
(24:01):
Formidable Besties playlist onSpotify, follow us at
Earshifter.
There was no standout songs onthis album.
So I guess a little bit ironicbecause I didn't have any
standouts on Hitch and none onthis one either.
But still, to Sean's point, lovethat you just go explore, push
yourselves in whatever directionyou want to do and let the cards
(24:22):
fall with they may.
So this brings us to their fifthand most recent studio album,
which is called Into the Blue.
It was released 2021 when thepandemic was really having a
good time.
The single and maybe the besttrack for me is the title track
called Into the Blue.
It was written in Wales butrecorded in Utah.
Now we're going to switch fromfive fun facts that are true and
(24:43):
therefore not from ChatGPT.
Ritchie's TV show reco.
Her favorite shows are Anythingwith David Attenborough and And
she also loves gardening.
Favorite board game to play ontheir 2016 tour.
Do you play board game, Sean?
Not very much.
Yeah.
(25:03):
So Cards Against Humanity.
Okay.
Yeah.
You know that one or heard ofit?
Yeah, I know that one.
SPEAKER_01 (25:09):
I prefer Apples to Apples because it's more
wholesome.
SPEAKER_00 (25:12):
Yeah.
I think almost anything is morewholesome than Cards Against
Humanity.
Played it once with Chloe'sNana.
That was an interestingexperience at Christmas time.
So It was asked to the band, ifyou could have dinner with
anyone, who would it be?
And the bassist's answer, whichwas Patti Smith, which I thought
was pretty cool.
Again, not a huge fan of hermusic, but what she stands for
(25:34):
and being, I think, thegodmother of punk, essentially,
respect, immense respect.
So I thought that was kind ofcool.
I thought you'd think that wascool, too.
Every tour, Matt, the drummer,picks up a hobby.
And one of these, Sean, one ofthese hobbies is not true.
So I want you to try and guesswhich one is not true.
I'm going to read them allfirst.
So on one tour, he picked upguitar playing as a drummer.
(25:58):
So he learned how to playguitar.
On another tour, origami, wherehe was first introduced to
origami making in Tokyo on tour.
They had a cooking tour where hejust cooked a lot.
And then he had a workout to getfit tour where the other band
members wanted them to stay thinand junky looking was the quote.
So which of those, which ofthose do you think is not true?
(26:22):
Okay.
I
SPEAKER_01 (26:23):
believe drummers want to play guitar.
I believe they want to foldthings.
And maybe they want to cook.
I don't think they need helpwith that junky look if they're
energetic drummers.
So I think the last one's false.
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
Okay.
No, it was the origami making.
I think I fooled you with theTokyo little part I put in
there.
But it was the origami making.
But yeah, they complained thathe got too heavy and too strong
and wanted him back to the junkylook.
Okay.
And then finally, their favoritemethod of discovering music,
which I just thought was a greatway to kind of close this.
(26:58):
So for them, their favorite wayof discovering new music is
conversation with other musicfolks and music mates and just
keeping their ears open, which Ithink is exactly why we started
this whole goddamn thing.
I agree.
Yeah.
And doing what you want.
And doing what you want.
And I think all 13 of ourlisteners can maybe discover a
new band or artist as well.
(27:19):
Right.
Via our little podcast here.
because the radio overlooks somuch great talent and, you know,
in my opinion, often pushesgarbage till listeners are
brainwashed to like it.
And I just, that's why we'redoing this.
And then just a final note,Sean, you know, it was so weird
researching, because this isonly our second podcast, folks.
So it was odd because I watchedso many interviews with this
(27:42):
band.
I actually felt like I startedto get to know them, which I
know is not right or fair oranything, but I really liked
them as human beings.
Like I just, I just liked...
They just seemed so relaxed andgreat and they had a real vibe
and they joked around, but itdidn't feel like forced.
And I feel like I kind of gotclose to the band, which was
weird and a false feeling forsure.
(28:04):
But I think it's hard to tellfeelings that they're false.
SPEAKER_01 (28:09):
Well, especially on the internet.
Yeah.
But what I think is interestingthat for...
a relatively small band.
They've had some success.
You're going to give us thesocial media stats, I'm sure, in
a moment.
But what I thought wasinteresting during COVID, that
(28:29):
they really did try to keep thatconnection going with their
fans, that they were very muchputting out music on their
program, that they had a specialwebsite that you could get to
that if you were a fan.
And they really did try to buildthat connection or continue that
connection through COVID, whichis, again, something that bands
(28:53):
have to do to keep going and tobe relevant.
So yeah, good for them.
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And yeah, great segue, Sean.
So the question is, is this anear shifter band?
And I'm going to answer thatfirst, just based on what you
just said.
So I feel like 100% this is anear shifter band.
I still can't believe that theydon't have more.
So right now they only have168,000 monthly listeners.
(29:17):
So yeah, no change of heart.
Change of heart, I think had 304monthly listeners, but also no
beach out.
right so beach house has 12million monthly listeners or
elliot smith 2 million monthlylisteners so then and i kind of
know where this is going becausewe've had some some chats uh off
the podcast but for me i stillfeel like that still justifies
(29:39):
them to be an ear shift yourband because if it's going to be
about a cutoff number of monthlylisteners then you know what is
that number is it under amillion monthly listeners
because guess what buddymountain goats has a million
monthly listeners so that wouldmean you can do mountain goats
and I know you want to domountain goats yeah okay
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
you're
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
revealing the future but yes that's okay we can
reveal a bit and then is itunder 2 million because band of
horses has 2.7 million who youlove and you love we both love
how many times have you seenthem
SPEAKER_01 (30:14):
can't remember a couple yeah
SPEAKER_00 (30:16):
exactly yeah so we both want to do that one we'll
probably be fighting for thatone so I don't I'm not sold on
it being a number in terms ofmonthly listeners so then so
then is it really more of a gutthing i don't know for me again
when i'm talking to my musicfriends you excluded or people
that are just passionate aboutmusic and like exploring if they
(30:38):
don't know the band or artistthat i'm saying that's enough
for me like then it's like ohwell you should check out this
band like it might be prettycool you might like them what do
you think
SPEAKER_01 (30:49):
So when you first said, hey, these guys are great,
I was like, this is back in theday, I was like, okay, they are
a loud, soft band, dynamics, andit did take me a little bit to
warm to them.
It was the gong when we saw themlive, and I'd never seen as big
(31:13):
a gong, and he used it veryjudiciously.
It wasn't like gonging all thetime.
So So I did appreciate afterseeing them and after listening
to them more that, yeah, theyhave a, there is something
different about them and there'ssomething there that isn't there
in a lot of other bands.
(31:33):
So yes, I agree.
They're an air shifter band.
Excellent.
I'm glad we're in agreement,Sean.
Thank God.
What are we going to do when wedisagree?
I
SPEAKER_00 (31:41):
don't know.
We'll cross that bridge when wecome to it, I guess.
Stay tuned for season two.
That's right.
Season stuff will be thrown.
Okay.
So, uh, This is the part wherewe say, hey, people, what do you
think?
You can follow Earshifter onInstagram, Facebook, and
Twitter, or now called X orwhatever the hell it's called
now, or visit Earshifter.com.
(32:01):
We'll also post a Joy Formidableplaylist of our fave songs on
Spotify.
I'm Rene Rouleau, and my co-hostis Sean Kapsik, and this is our
second episode of Earshifter.
Special thanks go to our logodesigner, Stuart Thursby, and
our intro outro music by JoeNovak you can find him as bye
(32:24):
bye bad man all one word onSoundCloud and thanks go to our
excellent sound engineer slasheditor Colin Bain also found at
soundcloud.com backslash ColinBain that's C-O-L-I-N B-A-I-N
tune in next time where we'llcover another band that deserves
(32:46):
more who will it be?
hint Okay.
A
SPEAKER_01 (32:51):
New York poet who released three, I think, seminal
albums that are, had greatpopularity, but underappreciated
and hung out with some veryfamous people that we can talk
about next time.
SPEAKER_00 (33:07):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (33:08):
On EarShifter.
SPEAKER_00 (33:09):
Awesome.
Excellent.
I'm excited.
And you use that seminal wordagain, but now I know what it
means.
All right.
Thanks everyone.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.
See you next time.
Bye.
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