Better Joy: Artist Of The Week

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Armed with one of our favourite singles of the year so far, Dead Plants, Better Joy are Live4ever’s latest Artist Of The Week.

WHO?

I’m Bria – I sing and play guitar in Better Joy, and then we’ve got Jamie on drums.

WHERE?

I’m from Cheshire, just outside of Manchester, England.

WHEN?

I come from a very musical family where music has always been really encouraged – being signed up for piano and singing lessons from an early age. I’ve been learning since I can remember, but making my own music is a whole different ballgame and something that came a lot later on for me!

I got into writing music a little over uni as well as teaching myself guitar, and I saw little nuggets of gold in the majority of shocking songs, but that’s how it all starts! After uni I dedicated some time to improving my writing skills and fast forward a little with the help of collaboration along the way, Better Joy was born!

WHY?

Honestly, why the hell not!? I had a moment after uni where I had just started writing, albeit not the best at the point, but I knew if I gave it a bit more time I could grasp it. I didn’t want to look back on my life and think ‘what if?’ just because I was too afraid to try. So that’s what I did: I stuck at it, worked hard and here we are!

I’m still learning and I don’t think that will ever change, but that’s what it’s all about. Now I’ve had the taste of gigging and releasing music I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. We just want to create an environment where people can come, dance, have fun and release!

HOW?

Rather unconventionally, I did everything backwards. I came from a singer-songwriter background really and it was only when I was exploring what kind of music I wanted to put out into the world, I fell in love with guitar music. It just felt much more me and the kind of energy I wanted on stage.

During all of this, I started working with a producer and I wrote a bunch of stuff with some writers I met through him. I then built a band around me and I met Jamie through a mutual friend. Now our process of writing and forming the sound is much more band led so we are finally doing it the right way round!

PAST?

I honestly never thought I would be doing music as a career. I went to uni, did something completely unrelated. I’ve been living at home since uni so I’ve been able to prioritise music which is a massive privilege I know. I’ve worked in hospitality and for a family run wedding catering company which I absolutely adored.

PRESENT?

Our sound is jangly, crunchy, bright, energetic, dark at times and fun! We’ve been influenced sonically by The Cure, The Smiths, The Strokes and Phoebe Bridgers; the first three of these influences having particular distinct guitar sounds that we love and are hugely influenced by. I also particularly like the paradox of having very bright and upbeat instrumentals with lyrics that are a bit darker.

FUTURE?

I mean we want Better Joy to be gigging all over the world and soon! A big bucket list for any British band is playing Glastonbury. I personally would absolutely love to have a headline home show at the Albert Hall in Manchester, that one would mean a lot to me. Of course, reaching America would be insane, so hard to do but dream big!

DID YOU KNOW?

All the Better Joy artwork is by my best friend Imo Sinclair. Her art screams her personality, it’s bright and quirky and brilliant – go check it out!

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ve got a new single coming out in June which is a special one. Then just lots more music to come. We’re supporting Swim Deep in June for three dates, one of them being Newcastle where I went to uni so I’m very excited to go back for the first time since then doing this!

CONNECT:

Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube