Disclaimer: This Interview included free tickets to Permanent (Joy) Concert.

Permanent (Joy) may only be a year into its reinvention but already feels like its functioning with a renewed sense of purpose. Born from the ashes of Blondes, the Liverpool four piece have carved out a sound leaning into imperfection, collaboration and the thrill of reinvention. I caught up with bassist, Noah Roche, whose background in production meets the bands love of “wonkiness” to continue to reshape their band’s identity.

I wanted to start by saying congrats on the bands newest single Role Models released in September! What experience did you hope to create with the song? But also, having been on tour, has it lived up to that experience of it?

Yeah, I think so. We all really loved that song. That has really felt like the defining song of the second EP because it was the first one out of all of them that where written and that was a very different style, it’s a bit more upbeat I guess than the first EP. That was written and everyone was like that’s really good, and that was made in the vein of Role Models. We knew we really liked it and we had a good reaction from people we sent it to when it was made.

On tour, I think went down well. Weirdly through on tour the one that people reacted to the best was Stressed Out. I don’t know if it was where it’s on in the set, because we did some of the older songs that are a bit more a bit more mid-tempo and then went into Stressed Out. So, that seemed to be the best received.

Stressed Out was released alongside Role Models, how did that come about? And what did that add to the project?

Stressed out was released first but Role Models was written before it. Some songs we write together but often it’s one of me, Dan, or Alex will in our own time make things and bring things to people. These two where both mostly Alex. I think he wrote Stressed Out of the back of Role Models. And we all put thoughts together about the sound and stuff like that.

I think when Stressed Out sits next to Role Model it fits when we play them together in sets, it works well.

You were once a producer, how has your background in that influenced the bands songwriting, but also how you play the bass within these songs?

Being in a band has taught me more and has made me a much better producer. I did sound engineering and production at uni, and that was quite a technical course. I think a lot of people doing production are in this mindset of making everything sound really good and clean. Being in a band has …. I got this from Alex and Dan who are really into things sounding a bit terrible. Like Josephine for example deliberately sounds like it’s recorded on a recording machine, and it sounds a bit wonky. Being in a band has helped my production more than my production has helped being in a band.

“I have learnt a lot about embracing imperfections”

Just how collaborative are these songwriting processes with the band? How do you accommodate and shape each other? What roles do each of you play?

We are all definitely very different people, not in a way we don’t get on. We are all good friends and have our own quirks. I think its really valuable having everyone else’s input. I think we are quite lucky and everyone has good opinions in the band. We are able to be very self-contained with songs, in that we can finish things or improve things together. I know there’s a lot of bands that know how to write a song but don’t really know how they want it to sound. They completely leave that up to a producer or something. When we do a demo, we are quite clued up as to how we want to sound.

“Dan is an amazing guitarist. Dave is an amazing drummer. Alex is a really good singer and he’s really good with lyrics. We all do collaborate well.”

As a former producer, do you sometimes think about songs in a more “finished production” way as you play, or is it more holistic, like a gut feeling?

I often record the demos with the band, and I do a lot of additional recording for the songs we have done. But we go to a different producer. Theres only one where I’ve really worked on it. it’s nice to have someone outside of the band that is doing it. So, I guess when it’s done its all of us but also the producer with it. Alot of the songs we’ve done have been mixed elsewhere. For Stressed out we did bass and maybe the guitars in my studio, where I am at the moment and then we re-recorded the vocals and mixed it. The sense of when it’s done…  It’s really easy to keep wanting to do things with it but its just something that you just sense.

The Evolution of Permanent (Joy)

The band was obviously formed out of Blondes, and its been mentioned it was very devastating at the time but needed to be different. Of the four members, you’re the only one that wasn’t in Blondes, But looking back what do you think made the band realise it was time for a different path? And what do you prefer about Permanent (Joy) now?

I can definitely speak, I know them really well. I did know Blondes; I worked with them a couple of times. It was the departure of a few members leaving. It was all amicable. But then Alex started singing. Alex did write a lot of the songs in Blondes. Blondes was a thing they were doing, and they really had a sound. When I started playing with them, the singer Will had left. I could sense it was up in the air. Even though it’s really scary it’s an opportunity to reinvent yourself. Do what you want and do something different than what you’ve done before.

Just based of what people were listening to, it was just new inspiration that had not been in the band before. Like a big one is In an Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. That was a big influence on the first EP, like songs like In an Airplane (Over the Sea). Before we have done a lot of Indie pop stuff and now it was like ‘let’s do something different’. Alex and Dan were listening to that album a lot and where like ‘let’s do something more like this’.

It’s cool to do what you want again, instead of keep doing what you’re doing.  I think we have done that also in EP 2, the songs are different from the first EP. Something I have been enjoying is that a lot of our singles are very different, but somehow still works together. Playing Josaphine and then Role Models together, which sometimes is difficult to put them in the set and work out where to put the mid-tempo ones. 

“Being able to reinvent yourself, because people change and art changes as well”

Obviously, there was quite a shift in name, what is the story behind the name Permanent (Joy)?

There was a while when we were trying to come up with a name. There was quite a few that could have been okay, but at least someone disagreed and there was like ten different contenders. Don’t ask me what they were cus’ I can’t remember. I think it was Dan. I think he saw it in something; he might have seen those two words together. Then they looked it up to see if that was already taken. If you look up Permanent Joy, what came up was Permanent with joy in brackets and it was a Joy Division Compilation album. So, we came up with Permanent and in brackets Joy Division Compilation album. So, it wasn’t a band but a Joy Division album, but the brackets where really cool so we kept them around Joy. It felt like a cool branding thing.

You have just had a big reinvention, but I guess evolution never really stops. Even if its early days for the band, what direction would you like to see Permanent (Joy) go into next? As a band, do you have any goals or ambitions?

We definitely have ambitions. The main one for us would just be to keep doing it really. It’s a sacrifice when you need to earn money. We all really enjoy doing it and just to be able to keep doing it. We would love it to grow. We would love to do bigger shows. Where it goes in the future is hard to say. I think it will be whatever we want it to, which is cool knowing that. The next Ep or album could be very different again. But I know if we want to do something different we will

On the Autumn Tour and Supporting

I also want to say congrats on a big achievement you hit recently that you announced on Instagram, you just finished your UK autumn tour, selling out in your hometown of Liverpool, which must have felt incredible as a band. Did that run of shows influence your confidence as a band or shape the direction you want to take into future gigs?

It was really rewarding to do that tour, I can’t say enough. That was our first ever headline tour. We where blessed with some really cool shows this year, like supporting Inhaler, Blossoms and Franz Ferdinand. Like supporting Inhaler at Brixton Academy is one of the highlights of my life ,which was really cool. But you also know the fans, they’re not there for you. Its great, it’s all about winning them over I guess, and they’re cool shows. But you don’t get much of feedback about seeing it grow. But then doing a headline tour… we played two shows in Glasgow before and we sold 130 tickets there, which was really rewarding to do that and at Liverpool. I think it was really encouraging and the perfect time for us to go on tour, going into the campaign for the next EP.

For the next tour we are planning for that to be bigger, it’s kind of encouraging that we have done this and lets keep working and make the next one even better.

Supporting The Royston Club in Cardiff

You’re playing at Cardiff’s Great Hall with The Royston Club in December which I am really excited to see.  Like you said, it can be difficult because you have to win people over. I wanted to know if you agreed with this and how do you think performing with the Royston club will sit on that level?

They’ve been really great shows so far. We’ve done three with them and they’ve been really cool venues and I think its really impressive that they’ve built this fan base up like the other bands. We have been really grateful to play them. It’s the same with every support. When we started the headline shows, it was a bit weird not having to say twice in the set ‘we’re Permanent (Joy)’ because people actually know who you are. But we are so used to supports. I think it’s the same on every show, just trying to put on the best show possible.

For a lot of the audience, people will be discovering of hearing you for the first time. How would you describe the live Permanent (Joy) experience to them?

I think we have been playing long enough now that it feels really cohesive live. We always get good feedback saying that was really good after a set. I mean they just say that no matter how good it was. It’s definitely a lot more upbeat than it was.

How about you give me three words?

Energetic… I don’t want to big us up too much. Good fun. Enjoyable. Good songs.

With the band newly energised by their first headline tour and news singles inspired by a different sound, a Permanent (Joy) concert is expected to be a refreshing thrill.

Catch Permanent (Joy) supporting The Royston Club at Cradiff’s Great Hall on the 12th of December. And if you miss it? Check out a gig review coming in the new year.

Words by Emma Howe