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Joyer
photos by gracelyn barton
words : Gracelyn Barton and Ryan Wedman
words : Gracelyn Barton and Ryan Wedman
Gracelyn: It's your first time in California? .
Greg: I came I went to LA once, very briefly, only like ten years ago. But it's my first time really, really being around playing shows.
Gracelyn: Do you like California?
Greg: It's cool.
Gracelyn: You’re playing in Ojai tomorrow, or was that yesterday? I keep hearing about that Ojai womens club venue all of a sudden.
Greg: Yeah it seems cool. It looks very beautiful
Gracelyn: How do you feel about playing tonight?
Greg: I'm excited.
Gracelyn: You’ve played with snail mail before right?
Greg: Yes, Just like we have just the other day.
Gracelyn: I really like your self titled, it's a very beautiful album
Greg: Thank you
Gracelyn: How's it kind of been? How it's been, I guess in May would be almost a year. What are your relfections on it?
Greg Mendez: On the record? I don't know. I haven't really listened to it too much since it came out, it's just really fresh, so. But I don't know, it's kind of cool, though. It's been cool to, like, play the songs live and stuff like that and take a slightly different form. I'm happy that people seem to be into it.
“I'm proud of it. I think it's the best thing that I've put out there as of yet”
.Gracelyn: That's good. That's a good thing to feel that way. and also for this one, like I was reading that you kind of chose songs you’ve had for a long time rather than like creating like a bunch of brand new songs for a record. do you feel like that's like a cathartic process of, like dealing with the past before tranistioning into the present?
Greg: It's kind of a mix, like some of the songs are new. Also, like for you, I kind of didn't really think about it too much at all. I was just like, you know, were just there were some songs that I was still like, thinking about, and I kind of thought that they might go well on it.
So I just recorded like a whole batch of probably like 20 songs, like, just kind of picked the ones that I felt like continuing with or like sometimes it would be a matter of like, this one doesn't feel done with just like acoustic guitar and vocals or whatever, and I can't think of anything else to put on it. Yeah, just like it was very intuitive. Like I wasn't really I just kind of went the way that it seemed to want to go. It was like the older songs. Some of that ended up being like, “yeah, this feels great”
Gracelyn: I think it flows really nicely.
Greg: thank you
Gracelyn: I have to ask, what's the story about the album cover itself?
Greg: It's, my wife V who plays bass and keyboards and sings in the live, band. She was kind of doing these, like, drawings and paintings of, like, Virgin Mary, like figures. And I was just kind of just really like them. And I was like, Will you do one of those for the record cover? And she made this painting and then didn't like it, but then she said you could use the drawing.And then I colored it in.
Ryan: The Colored pencil adds some charm in it.
All: Yes
Greg: Yah it’s colored pencil
Gracelyn I also just realized the other day that it says Greg Mendez at the top. Speaking of V, I know you guys perform together on stage. and is there like a specific environment that you want to, like, convey to people when you come to your shows? what do you how do you want people to feel when they see you?
Greg: Oh, I don't know... I want them to like it. I guess. I want them to think its good! Yeah. but I don't know. Yeah, I, I want people to feel whatever they feel from the songs, I guess. I don't want to know. I want them to be nice!
Gracelyn: thats the hope!
I did find out that you were the whistler on the slaughter beach dog, alcolyte.
Ryan: I pulled out my record yesterday and was like “I need to find it I need to find it”
Gracelyn: we wanted concrete evidence. how did you, like, fall into that? Like how did how did that happen?
Greg: I mean, I know them all and were friends and Ian plays bass. I've been mixing the records with them from, like, Cherry Hill and the self-titled, And, I was just there, I think. I don't even think we were working on one of their songs, but we were doing something. I can't remember what it was. he was like, can you whistle? It's like, I think so. And, had me wistle. They needed someone to wistle and I could. the whistle. I was just there.
Gracelyn:: That was like my follow up comment as we saw them recently.
Ryan: and they make the crowd whistle. They don't they don't whistle. They're like, we can't do it.
Gracelyn: I'm assuming you're the only person who can do that.
you've talked a lot about how, like, unrewarding, like, streaming cycles are and, like, I'd love to, like, catch your ear on, like how you find music nowadays when it's, like, so easy just to kind of like, find people online and things like that.
Greg: how do I find music? I I'll see a band if it's like the new stuff, like I generally see it live first. I find myself doing that even when I'm playing shows. If I don't know a band, like, I'll. Just I'll just see live first or something. And then a lot of times I really like it. I also like just having people recommended [music] to me.
You know, I listen to a lot Of old music. So that was like that stuff usually kicking around.I only have a Spotify subscription as of recently so its new to me.
Gracelyn: Oh, really?
Greg: It's been a new.
Ryan: you guys are driving show to show right now right?
Greg: yes
Ryan: what are you listening to in the car?
Unknown
greg: Today we listened to, [laughs] like, 90’s bay area like epitaph, like rancid. No effects. [laughing] thats what we listened to today,
Ryan: thats like so of the area.
Gracelyn: are there any, like, band shout outs you have, especially like Philly in general?
Greg: Shannon Moser, swim camp. sun organ. Tagabow. There's a million.
Gracelyn: you're pretty booked in busy till spring. It seems like. is this the most that you've ever like really toured before?
Greg: yes
Gracelyn: What's like your experience with that
Greg: its been cool its been fun. It's been really fun. it's definitely different now that, like, like, more people are coming. and people are really into it so it makes it a difference experince
Driving eight hours to play for 4 people, to lose money. not to make it about that, But it does make it a very different experience. It's like sustainable. So yeah, it's been really cool. It's tiring. it's hard to treat your body well. I've been having this thing where I like can't sleep in. If go to bed at like 2 a.m. I still wake up like, really early and it's like. It's really hard down a bunch of shows and only have so much sleep. But overall it's been really great.
Gracelyn: do you like a favorite city you've been to so far? I know it's hard because you're not really like staying in the city.
Greg: We played three shows in L.A. and I had like some days off. So that's kind of like th only city where we've been able to Explore.
Gracelyn:Do you like L.A.
Greg: I like it, yeah, I like it more than the first time. There's a lot of good food. Yeah. Every time I ate, I was like, this is the best Thai food ive ever had the best lebonese food ive ever had
ryan: It's like that thing with New York where, like, you have to be good if you want to stay in business.
greg: Definitely.
Gracelyn:
what's next for you?
Greg: more Tours! I'm like, writing new songs and stuff, too. And, I got a, collab song coming out the next, like. Like, a week or so its with tagabow.
Gracelyn: No way is it like a what's like the vibe of it.
Greg: We just like wrote a song together doug sings half of it and I sing the other half.
Gracelyn: Is it like, a split or is it just like a one song?
Greg: We're doing some more too. I think it's gonna end up being an ep but thats not finished yet.
Gracelyn: I have one more. what's the story behind the Cherry Hill hot sauce? It was a crazy piece of merch.
Greg: It was crazy And people really loved it. My friend Evan, who, he's like a Philly icon. He runs the studio. He's also been in, like, a million different bands. Know he recorded that spirit of the beehive record. Plays in a million bands. But he also makes Hot sauce. And then it ended up being like a company like these other kids like, bought it from him. But yeah, still, he's still like the recipe master and does stuff with bands sometimes.
Gracelyn:
How hot was the hot sauce?
Greg
It wasn't that hot. It was just like pineapple, smoky and sweet and like a little bit hot.
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