Couple Rhiannon Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd join drummer Michael Thomas to form The Joy Formidable, a close-knit Welsh rock band that has left the U.K. alternative music scene speechless. The lead singer, who goes by “Ritzy,” seems clean-cut and proper at first glance. Once she opens her mouth to sing and loosens her fingers on her guitar, she becomes a classic rock queen, giving the group its edge. The Bite went backstage at Coastline Music Festival and chatted with goofy and lovable drummer Matthew Thomas.
Being from the UK, is it different when you tour in America?
Yeah, I suppose it’s a little bit different. You drive on a different side of the road, but other than that, the crowds are pretty similar. You know, on a good day the crowds are great; on a bad day, the crowds are bad. It all depends on the mood the crowd’s in really. You could be at the same venue the week after and you had a great show the week before, but people are just tired this week.
What about the difference between festivals and club gigs?
Festivals are strange because you get booked to play them and you come along and you’re never sure what it’s gonna be like, unless you’ve played it before. And you’re usually playing to a lot of people that have never heard you before. So it’s kind of a useful thing to get out there and play to a lot of people and just win them over, get some more fans.
Which do you prefer: festivals or venues?
It just depends on the crowd. You could be playing for just 20 people and they could be going crazy, and that’s better than playing for thousands of people who are just standing there.
What is your favorite thing about being on stage?
I don’t know. It varies. You know, sometimes there will be a part of a song where we go off on or go crazy, and that’s working out really well. And that’s really fun, but equally it could just be another song. Anything that I get to hit the gong in.
Your name is really unique. Where did it come from?
The Joy Formidable. I think they were kind of like word jamming. They were just talking crazy words and someone must have said “joy formidable” and they were like, “That’s amazing, we’ll use that as a band name.” I don’t think they overthought it, it just kind of happened.
Do you have any artists specifically that inspired you to get into music?
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of artists. When I was growing up, my dad would listen to a lot of acid jazz like Jamiroquai, things like that. So I grew up listening to that and kind of moved on to even more crazy stuff like Frank Zappa. I don’t know if you’ve heard of his stuff, but he’s crazy. Yeah, like all those drummers were crazy. So, just hearing them play and watching obviously Dave Grohl and seeing Keith Moon and people like that and their showmanship. That’s why I aspire to be a great showman aside from a drummer.
What do you want people to take out of your shows when you’re on tour?
As much [merchandise] as possible! No, I’m joking. I just want them to have fun and interact with us, because otherwise what’s the point? You’re coming to a show, when you could just watch us on TV.
What would you describe your sound as?
I think musically we’re a mish-mash of lots of different things. There’s definitely some elements of metal in there, there’s some grunge kind of things in there, rock, a bit of indie—basically just melodic songwriting kind of stuff. Ritzy grew up listening to a lot of Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and a lot of songwriters. She’s more of a songwriter-type, while I grew up listening to a lot of crazy drummers and Rhydian grew up listening to Hendrix. So we’re kind of a mish-mash. Anything we like, we kind of add it in.
If you had to choose one moment that was the turning point of your career, what would it be?
When I quit teaching music and started playing it. That would definitely be a turning point for me.
What’s your favorite city to play in?
Same thing, it depends on the people…Chicago’s great, Seattle, Florida’s great on a good day as well.
If you could play any venue what would it be?
That’s difficult, that one. We supported Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden, that was pretty special. I don’t know. There’s bigger venues than Madison Square Garden. Being from the UK, I would love to play Wembley Stadium. My nan lives down the road, so I could be like, “Hey Nan, I’m playing Wembley Stadium!” and she’d be like “Yeah, whatever,” and I’d be like, “No, Seriously!” That’d be very good.
