Queer ghost love stories with Jopy - new single out 16th July via Goo Records // Record Collector, NME, DIY. Radio 6- backing
Jopy announces debut EP
‘Planet Zombie’
(Due 20th September via Goo Records)
Shares queer ghost love-story ‘Graveyard Romance’
“Short, sharp punk-pop songs of the wry and witty variety…the midpoint between Elastica and PJ Harvey’s twangier moments” Record Collector
“New Banger” NME
“Think Demon Barber of Fleet Street vibes… . Don’t do this at home kids” Amy Lamé, BBC Radio 6 Music
“Nothing short of an alternative queer masterpiece….dark, chaotic fun for your inner sociopath, yet the exhilarating joy of found family shines through with every beat” LOUD WOMEN
Accompanying the announcement of debut EP Planet Zombie - due 20th September via Goo Records (Welly, Canned Pineapple) - Brighton glam-punk artist Jopy today (16th July) shares ‘Graveyard Romance’.
Delivering a liberated 2-minute dash of whiplash punk riffs and frantic choruses, ‘Graveyard Romance’ turns the process of accepting one’s own trans-identity as a story “about ghosts finding true happiness” in the unlikeliest of places.
As with the macabre joy of first EP single ‘Head Hunters Pub and Grub’, this latest cut sees Jopy celebrating her queerness through fantastical camp-horror fictions, rolling Marc Bolan-esque vocals, The B-52s, and Rocky Horror Picture show into one blood-curdlingly gleeful package - written, recorded and produced entirely by Jopy herself. Tracing the track’s deeply personal origins in her own transition, as well its desire to communicate all of its joys, Jopy herself says:
“My experience with accepting my own queer identity has in some ways felt like I’ve lived two lives. My first life when I was in the closet and unable to accept myself, and my new life since transitioning. Graveyard Romance for me is a fun story that both draws from and celebrates my real experiences with transition. It’s about two people who disliked each other when they were living but after they died and started their new life as ghosts they were able to find love for themselves and each other.
“I want to write songs that people can relate to and feel seen by without having to relive the more difficult aspects of their journeys. This is why I chose to convey my experiences in the form of a fun, campy horror story”
Listen to ‘Graveyard Romance’
Jopy’s upcoming ‘Planet Zombie’ EP will be released on a limited run of 12 inch transparent purple vinyl, and will be available to pre-order from 16th July via Goo Records
More about Jopy:
Growing up in the small town of Guildford - but now based in Brighton - Jopy aka Jo Parnell (pronounced “Joe-Pee”) - has been thinking about music for as long as she can remember. As a trans woman growing up in a town without much resembling queer culture, Jopy was acutely aware of the estranged, outsider status pinned upon her, using her music as a conduit to revel in this perceived ‘deviance’ and find subversive pleasure within it. Joined in her three piece band by childhood friends ‘Clown Baby’ (Bass) and Louis Relf (Drums), 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…”
Releasing first EP track ‘Headhunters Pub and Grub’ on Goo Records last month to the backing of NME, Record Collector, DIY, Apple Music (“New in Alternative”) BBC Radio 6 Music (Amy Lamé), Loud Women and The Most Radicalist, Jopy can boast a brace of shows at May’s Unofficial Great Escape and a London debut at The Old Blue Last in June, with further shows to be announced for later in the year.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
18 SEPT // Bristol, Strange Brew (supporting Mermaid Chunky)
19 SEPT // Southampton, Heartbreakers (supporting The Silver Lines)
20 SEPT // Brighton, The Hope & Ruin (bar), Brighton (Official EP release show)
22 SEPT // Derby, The Old Vic
23 SEPT // Sheffield, Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield (supporting Sancho Panza)
26 SEPT // London, Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes
27 SEPT // Reading, Rising Sun Arts Centre, Reading
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Planet Zombie EP by Jopy
Released 20th September via Goo Records
