Joyce Manor’s songs are distinctly crafted from the all too familiar unremarkable experience of American youth.

On Catalina Fight Song, lead vocalist and guitarist Barry Johnson reflects on teenage emotion, by singing “Fell in love the way you’re supposed to, At the Target inside of the mall.” 

The American rock band, originally formed in Torrance, California, has been widely praised since its inception in 2008 for its unique brand of Pop-Punk revival that incorporates the fast-paced bass lines of bands akin to Blink-182 with lyrics relatable to a generation straddled with ennui and despair.

I didn’t start listening to Joyce Manor until a few years ago, which means I unfortunately was unable to participate directly in the onset of the “Emo-Revival” movement that the band pioneered with contemporaries such as Modern Baseball and Mom Jeans. So when I saw that band was playing Cat’s Cradle with support from Teens In Trouble, I knew I had to experience the musical movement I relished so sincerely. 

TEENS IN TROUBLE: 

Teens In Trouble is the current musical project from Raleigh’s own Lizzie Killian, previously known from The Glowing Stars and Sputterdoll. Killian describes the band’s sound as a refraction of “punk, garage, and dream-pop through a prism of memory”.

The band played a handful of cuts, old and unreleased, and brought incredible energy to their performance. While I had never heard of Teens In Trouble previously, their performance was fun and adequately prepared the audience for Joyce Manor. 

JOYCE MANOR: 

The band, consisting of Barry Johnson on lead vocals and guitar, Chase Knobbe on guitar, and bassist Matt Ebert, took the stage about thirty minutes after the opener. 

When I first purchased the tickets to this show, I imagined that the crowd would be populated with mostly millennials as Joyce Manor arguably hit their peak of popularity after the release of S/T in 2014. To my surprise, the crowd was filled with young faces, a testament to the fact that high schoolers will inevitably continue to experience heartbreak, regardless of the decade.

Johnson, identifiable as a member of an emo band from his full arm sleeve of tattoos, and the rest of the band walked out to their instruments with an entrance song. The endeavor was akin to the charade that would accompany a seasoned boxer as they approached the ring.

Once all the members had tuned and were ready to play, a wall of sound began to materialize directly at the audience. Heart Tattoo was the first song played, instantly identifiable from its driving drum and bass intro. 

The crowd, myself included, immediately began to lose themselves in the music, thinking about that one bad tattoo we all have that is “never going away”.

Derailed was the next song on the setlist. Most of Joyce Manor’s songs clock in at two minutes, meaning the concert kept along at a constant pace with almost no time in-between songs for reset.

This is likely due to the fact that Joyce Manor have undoubtedly become live performance professionals since they first began playing house shows in California. Johnson explained that while they were the headliners at this particular show, they had spent the last few months traveling the country opening for Weezer.

Beach Community was up next, my favorite Joyce Manor song. Johnson took a break in between songs to explain that Cat’s Cradle is one of the band’s favorite venues to play across the country. While I still am not sure whether or not this is a line that he uses at every venue to make the members feel special, the band’s performance made it clear that they were having a blast. 

And I was too. 

I originally planned to only stay for half of the show because I had work the next day and was rather tired but after only a few songs, I knew that I had to stay.

Up next was Violent Inside, Ashtray Petting Zoo, and Don’t Try. I was surprised to hear them play a cut from their 2012 release, Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired.

The room began to heat up and sweat started to appear on all of our foreheads. Johnson said “I think AC is too expensive,” as he altered tunings between songs.  

One of the highest-energy songs was NBTSA off of their most recent release in 2022, 40 oz. to Fresno. This was then followed by Midnight Service at the Mutter Museum, an interpolation of a song by The Murder City Devils.

House Warning Party, a song known for its acoustic guitar and drum intro, altered the main rhythm so that it was played on the electric, which made the song feel even more charged than the studio version. 

Johnson then took a moment to address the crowd earnestly.

“Do you guys mind if we take some time to play an unreleased song?”

The crowd cheered and the band proceeded to gradually play an amalgamation of notes that leisurely formed the main melody of Joyce Manor’s most popular song, Constant Headache.  

The crowd was buzzing at an all-time high and Johnson stepped down into the crowd and let the audience sing the chorus into the microphone. The audience came to a standstill when the song reached its pivotal peak moment;

“It made me think maybe human’s not such a bad thing to be

But I just laid there in protest, entirely fucked

It’s such a stubborn reminder one perfect night’s not enough”

By this point in time everyone in the crowd was soaked with sweat, but it didn’t matter because we had all come together to relish the unfairness of life and the beauty found in youthful mistakes. Regardless of whether said youth was a bygone memory or a current discomfort, everyone in the crowd the descanted the lyrics to the song and felt concurrent. 

The band played Leather Jacket and then concluded their set with Catalina Fight Song.

After a faux-walk-off, the band rightly finished the show with Constant Nothing, Stairs, and finally Five Beer Plan. It was clear that the band was excited to be headlining and was excited to be surrounded by fans who knew the every word to their deep cuts.

As I left the show I acknowledged that Joyce Manor’s music will continue to resonate with fans who heard it when it was released, somebody who stumbled upon it like me, and even the youth who are currently in the thick of adolescence. 

I had an amazing time and can’t wait to hear what Joyce Manor has in store next, and will definitely be seeing them when they come back to Chapel Hill.

Set List:

• Heart Tattoo
• Derailed
• Beach Community 
• Violent Inside 
• Ashtray Petting Zoo
• Don’t Try
• Eighteen
• Schley 
• Chumped 
• Big Lie
• NBTSA
• Midnight Service at the Mutter Museum
• Last You Heard of Me
• Victoria 
• Falling in Love Again 
• House Warming Party 
• Christmas Card 
• Constant Headache 
• Leather Jacket 
• Catalina Fight Song 

Encore:

• Constant Nothing
• Stairs 
• Five Beer Plan