Queer Cannibals with superpowers...running a countryside pub? - Meet Jopy - new single out now via Goo Records
Asked by a friend to write a song as a Christmas present “about Cannibals that own and operate a pub, eat the customers and get superpowers from eating them”, Jopy - pronounced ‘Joe-Pea’) return with ‘Head Hunters Pub and Grub’ - out 21st May via Goo Records (Welly, Canned Pineapple, Owners Club, The Stanford Family Band)
At once a playful B-Movie horror fantasy and a defiant celebration of queer identity, ‘Head Hunters…’ bursts out the starting gates with surging surf-guitars and warbling
Marc Bolan-esque vocals; taking inspiration too from the grinning deviance of new wavers like The B-52s and The Cramps. Playing every instrument - as well as producing and mixing the track entirely herself - Jopy serves up a glam-speckled anthem for outsiders everywhere, as she explains:
“Head Hunters…’ is about a group of people whose life choices are so far out of the ordinary and yet they have built their own space with its own customs and culture. A big inspiration was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Some people watch it and think "wow what a fun, wacky film". However, I think if you’ve ever been rejected by mainstream society and found community in people who’ve been through the same, then The Rocky Horror Picture Show becomes so much more. I hope Head Hunters is able to tap into a similar feeling and give weirdos like me an escape and put a smile on our faces, even if only for a few minutes."
Listen to ‘Head Hunters Pub and Grub’
Growing up in the small town of Guildford - but now based in Brighton - Jopy aka Jo Parnell - has been thinking about music for as long as she can remember. As a trans woman growing up in a town without much of a queer culture, Jopy was acutely aware of the estranged, outsider status pinned upon her. Making the decision to use her music as a conduit to revel in this perceived ‘deviance’ and find subversive pleasure within it, the results are a glittering treasure-trove of unhinged characters, oddball stories and razor-sharp songwriting:“..there’s a certain empowerment you can find in boring people finding your existence offensive…”
Upcoming Tour Dates:
17 MAY // Brighton, The Gladstone (3pm)
6 JUNE // London, Goo Records Showcase, The Old Blue Last
12 JUNE // Brighton, The Hope and Ruin
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