Southern Punk Archive: Stories and Music

“Southern Punk Archive: Stories and Music”

Join us for a unique look at the impact punk and hardcore music has had on the American South through video presentations of first-person oral history interviews conducted by Southern Studies graduate students. The event will conclude with a live performance from New Orleans-based punk/ska band Joystick! who have spent the past 13 years making music as part of this community. This event is free and open to the public.

From the banks of the mighty Mississippi, Joystick! doesn’t merely play ska and punk – they inhabit it. Built on laser tight rhythms, infectious vocals, and a fierce brass section, Joystick! calls up the spirit of 90’s ska/punk while still retaining a strong sense of their New Orleans roots, creating a unique sound all their own.

The band began in 2008 and in 2014 Joystick! released their much anticipated second and third albums and were brought to new heights with exposure on college radio stations all over the east coast. The band’s momentum continued to grow, allowing them to play sold out shows at much larger venues and festivals around North America. In late 2016 Joystick finished recording their most ambitious album to date proving once and for all that they are unstoppable and show no signs of slowing down. They are set to release their fourth studio album “I Can’t Take it Anymore” on April 16 in collaboration with Bad Time Records and Stomp Records. Their first new album in four years has the band at the very top of their game, playing their most aggressive, fun, and introspective brand of ska punk to date. The grit and musical mixture on the record might be purely New Orleans, but the consistent themes of redemption, recovery, and getting your kicks while you can are universal. As with other bands in the New Tone ska movement, they proves that ska punk can simultaneously be a raucous party and a moment of self-reflection, while never needing to slow down enough to figure out which is which. “I Can’t Take it Anymore” ducks and dives between breakneck hardcore, anthemic punk rock ballads, and dancehall smashing ska, and will be right at home with fans of Mustard Plug, PEARS, Kill Lincoln, and Big D & The Kids Table.