PHOTO BY JIMMY FONTAINE
The latest Asbury Park artist signed to a major label is former Deal Casino mastermind Joe P. on Atlantic Records. Throughout their reign, Deal Casino, which Joe had fronted since eighth grade, was one of New Jersey's best bands. Therefore, it's no surprise that "Garden State Vampire," Joe's full-length debut LP and third solo release for the historic recording home of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin, is fantastic! Many of the 11 songs were co-written with former Deal Casino band mates and a few of the tracks include their drummer, Christopher Donofrio. A few other musicians, mainly drummers, also appear on the LP, but Joe plays most of the instruments, including drums on some tracks.
Following the 2021 debut EP, “Emily Can’t Sing” and 2022’s “French Blonde” EP, both of which were small samplings of Joe’s massive talent, the brand new collection give listeners more to bite into. Largely recorded late at night in his own Asbury Park basement studio, the LP captures Joe’s trademark brand of frenetic alt-rock song craft, as well as a deep affection for his beloved home state expressed in its title and evocative cover art shot on a notorious stretch of the Garden State Parkway.
One of the reasons Joe named the album “Garden State Vampire” is because he said he thrives in being in a place that no one pays much attention to, instead of Nashville, L.A. or New York, like a lot of people in the music business.
“It’s kind of nice to feel like I’m alone on a different planet, where the only thing that matters is staying true to whatever these songs want to be,” he said.
That truth kicks off with “Everybody’s Different,” a danceable Dirty Jersey industrial grind about the frustration that comes when the reality of a transitioning relationship kicks the crap out of the fantasy that initially had enveloped it.
“She Got Me,” one of the album’s many singles, is an electrifying slab of funk about an attraction to an unusual but intoxicating Jersey Girl who dyes her hair even though she’s a coveted blonde.
Then a new version of the “Emily” track “Off My Mind” features a duet with Grammy nominee K.Flay whose female perspective changes the emotional direction of the original AAA radio chart topper. In addition to garnering 20 million streams for the crafty colab, Joe has enjoyed the success of a music video culled from his Garden State Film Festival Best Homegrown Short-winning horror film, “If We Run,” starring Michael Gandolfini (“The Many Saints of Newark”), Kevin Interdonato (“The Sopranos”), and Joe as himself.
The film also spawned the video for the title track of Joe’s “French Blonde” that can be enjoyed here.
The new album’s latest video is for the coinciding single “Violet,” which like nearly all of the clips Joe has made as both a solo artist and with Deal Casino, was produced by acclaimed videographer Anthony Yebra. The sexy vid matches the sensuality of the jangly, rhythmic track.
“She’s So Good” follows with its surging Beatlesque rap-tinged take on a complicated lass who dances on the fine line between good and evil, religion and self-reliance. I love the line, “She’s not good enough for God, but she’s good enough for me.”
Possibly the best-known song on “Garden State Vampire” is “Birthday Baby (The Girl with No Smile),” a glimpse of which garnered a sizable TikTok buzz three years ago. A recent single was met with instantaneous critical acclaim for its excitingly original and passionately anthemic broad examination of humanity and finely detailed look at intimate connection. With “Birthday Baby,” Joe has written one of his most personal songs to date blending family heritage with views on love, life and death.
Co-written and co-produced by James Flannigan, who’s worked with Weezer, Matt Maeson, and Carly Rae Jepsen, the spare “Lily” tenderly consoles a broken heart with a lesson in self confidence.
The meaty alt-pop chug of “Shadow in the Sun” about the fiery elements of new love in the wake of a broken heart leads to the bouncy lilt ‘n’ stomp of “Wonder Bread,” a look at the numbness complacency can cause.
“Fighting in the Car” was one of the songs that helped Joe swiftly amass 300,000 followers on TikTok. Among the new fans was Apple Music 1 Creative Director and world-renowned New Zealand DJ-producer Zane Lowe, who kicked Joe’s career into hyperdrive by duetting alongside his self-made “Fighting In The Car” video. A deal with Neon Gold/Atlantic quickly followed. The reflective song originally appeared on “Emily Can’t Sing,” but reappears here as a more sinister-sounding track to better counter balance the sweetness of Joe’s falsetto and Mackenzie Brown’s harmony vocal.
The impressive “Vampire of the Garden State” closes with “Nothing at All,” an alt-pop nugget that contemplates finding solace within apathy when life, especially love, becomes too frightening.
The album will be followed on Sept. 13 by a deluxe single release of a song entitled “guilt.hole.” The next day, Joe will play Sea.Hear.Now in his longtime stomping grounds of Asbury Park with Noah Kahan, The Black Crowes, 311, Grace Potter, Ziggy Alberts, Robert Randolph Band, Sonic Blume and more.
A four-month international tour then will include headlining dates Oct. 7, The Roxy, Los Angeles; Oct. 15, Exit/in, Nashville; Oct. 21, Bowery Ballroom, New York City; Dec. 6, Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, and a homecoming tour finale Dec. 13 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park; an Oct. 12 appearance at Austin City Limits Music Festival, and European jaunt opening for Good Neighbors.
For more about Joe P., visit https://www.joepthehyena.com.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at makinwaves64@yahoo.com.
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