With a new album in the world, life changes under way, and a massive fall tour about to begin, it’s finally time for hometown hero Joe P to be on our cover, to define and outline the details of this era and the songs that come with it.
It has been a dream of ours to do a track-by-track feature with Joe P for many, many years now. The New Jersey local is insightful, charismatic, inquisitive, cinematic and witty – both in his art and as a human being. He has let us get to know him intimately, as fans, friends, and listeners. His beautifully unpolished and understated approach to making alternative rock dreamscapes is what rounds out the music, the person, and the tales told from this blistering one-man machine. His debut album is out now, aptly titled, and original in how it explores the layering of not just sounds, but his real and raw personality. There are some euphoric realizations, painful truths, and mature grooves on Garden State Vampire, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to know that he’s coming home – in more ways than one – this weekend to perform it for us.
Yes, Joe P – as he continues his ascent into the stratosphere of notable Jersey ambassadors and closes in on one million monthly listeners on streaming – is part of the coveted Sea.Hear.Now lineup and is setting the iconic down-the-shore stage for none other than the folksy star that is Noah Kahan this Saturday. However, if festivals are not your thing and you, too, appreciate the integrity of a full-length concert with the space, timing, setlist, and experience as many of these songs were intended for, you can catch Joe P at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom on October 21, in Philadelphia on December 6 at their Brooklyn Bowl, and back in Asbury Park on December 13 at The Stone Pony (of course).
Below, Joe P breaks down a bit of meaning, backstory, and inspiration behind each of the 12 tracks that make up Garden State Vampire – in order, for all of us. Everyone say, “Thanks, Joe P,” and dive in.
Everybody’s Different
“I actually had that song knocking around for a year or two. I had that beginning intro for so long; it was this loop that I made on a little drum machine and I put it through a distortion pedal. I really loved it, but I couldn’t figure out where to go with it. Then I figured it out, because my only job in this world is to figure that kind of stuff out, so I got one thing right… or maybe not.”
She Got Me
“‘She got me where she want her,’ is what I’m saying, if you’re wondering – and I know you are, because you’re probably thinking, ‘This doesn’t make sense… why wouldn’t you just say she got me where she want me?’ That’s what all the A&R people and the label people said. Actually, the first thing they said was, ‘We love this! Why didn’t you tell us about this song?’ Then, like 10-20 minutes later, I got all these texts: ‘Wait, why are you saying it like that? Shouldn’t it just be more marketable and say what makes sense grammatically?’ I said, ‘No, that’s what it is. I have to have it like that, or else I’m gonna hate this song.’ So we made that song – me and my friend Gabe Simon. We tracked it live, just ripped it in his place in Nashville in about 10 minutes. I played drums, and he played bass and guitars, because that’s mainly what all the guitars you’re hearing are. It was a lot of fun and we did it in a couple of minutes.”
Off My Mind
“I just realized that if I’m singing, ‘Now you’re off my mind,’ doesn’t that prove right there that the person is not actually off my mind? Maybe that’s why people like it. Isn’t that the trick of songwriting? You’ve got to be a little clever, even if you don’t know you’re doing it until three years after you wrote it. That song has been out for a bit as a single, and people liked it. It was the first thing that ever got me attention on TikTok and Reels and everything like that, so I have to always love that song, no matter how much I might get sick of it one day, but I’m still not sick of it. I like it. I’m cool with it. That’s the one, and you know what it’s about. You don’t need me to tell you. We’ve all been there.”
Violet
“This song is called ‘Violet’ because my basement – where I record – flooded. All my stuff got destroyed. The rugs definitely got destroyed, and I needed new ones. Rugs are expensive, and I’m not about to get a $300 rug, so I went on Facebook Marketplace like any poor boy would do, and you look around until you find something worth risking your life for – to go into a stranger’s house to take a look at something for 50 bucks, maybe, right? So, I found one. I made the drive – it’s like half an hour – then I go in, and there’s a nice older gentleman. Nothing to be afraid of yet, right? I’m all good. Then he tells me his wife had passed away on this rug one week before I came to get it. You know, at this point, I’m way too deep into the belly of the beast to back out of this deal. He’s got a TV dinner that’s halfway heated up and I’ve got a panic attack that’s halfway heated up. Anyone who’s done a Facebook Marketplace exchange understands what I’m going through in this scenario, and sometimes you just look around and think, ‘I guess I’m really willing to die for a $25 set of China,’ which, in my case, was a $50 rug. He told me this story about his wife, and I said, ‘You know, sir, here’s what I’m using it for: It’s going into my basement and I’m recording an album.’ I told him I would name a song on the album after his late wife, and that is why we have ‘Violet.'”
She’s So Good
“To me, the song is about really, really loving someone for everything that they are – not just all the good things and the positive things, but also the stuff that might be seen as negative by other people… or even by you. You might see it as a negative, but you still love it. You can’t imagine the world without that negative aspect of their personality or whatever it is, because we all have those flaws. It was like a love song written to the flaws of someone else.”
Birthday Baby (The Girl with No Smile)
“[This] song came to me when I went through a bunch of old photos that I’ve seen a million times. They’ve been circulating around my family for years and years and I saw them a lot growing up; they’re those physical nineties and 2000s digital photos that would get printed out at a CVS, and every once in a while, the family would break them out, and you look at them and laugh and whatever. This was the first time I saw them as a true adult, it felt like, and I saw the people who were adults in those photos back when I was a kid. I saw them as adults and not just these larger-than-life figures like your aunt and uncle, your mom and dad – all these people that always seemed so much older and so far away from reality to me in the sense that they’re not just people with their own problems. They’re my Aunt Peggy. They’re my Aunt Jan. They’re my dad, my mom. So I wrote this song about that bittersweet feeling of realizing their humanity. You kind of have to lose your own innocence and naiveté.”
Lily
“That’s the only song I’ve ever written where I sat down in my basement with a clear idea of a message that I wanted to send to someone. That was all I wanted to do. It has a serious message for someone I care about a great deal. She was stuck in a very bad situation that I wanted her to get out of, but she was the only one who could get out of it, and I wanted to let her know.”
Guilt. Hole.
“That is my favorite song on the album right now. It’s going to change, but it’s my favorite song right now. The song was recorded essentially in the middle of a party, and all those voices you hear in the background are mine, so I was the ultimate guy at the party with the acoustic guitar, but in my case, it was a full drum kit and full studio recording gear. I mean, the party was in a recording studio, so that’s why, but, yeah, I was that guy. I might be even worse than the acoustic guitar guy at the party. I recorded that one with no metronome, so that’s why it goes faster and slower as you listen to it. I apologize, but I also don’t, because I kind of love that.”
Shadow in the Sun
“I love playing this song live because it gets even louder, faster, and crazier. I really love [this song]. I had the riff for so long – like years and years. The reason I didn’t finish it was because I was afraid of it. I was afraid because the people I showed it to – I told them, ‘Oh, imagine a stadium of people singing this riff,’ as a joke. And they said, ‘Ooh yeah… I can.’ They started calling it ‘The Stadium Song.’ So now I have everyone saying, ‘Hey, did you finish ‘The Stadium Song?’ Did you finish the stadium song, Joe?’ No, I didn’t, and you want to know why? Because you’ve called it something that is terrifying to me. I’m sitting in a basement trying to write a stadium song. The headspace isn’t right for me to be in a basement trying to write a stadium song. It’s a lot, and it took a little while, but I finished it… eventually, and you have it now.”
Wonder Bread
“Yes, I’m referencing the delicious treat that you can go buy right now, but no one does, and I don’t even buy it because one day, we all decided, ‘Hey, this isn’t good for me. This is unhealthy.’ Then all these new breads came out with their seeds, their protein, their lower carbs. Guess what? I bet if I handed you a piece of Wonder Bread and said, ‘Sit down, have a bite,’ and you bit into that bad boy, you’d look up at me and go, ‘Yep, Joe. That’s why I’ve been so sad. That’s why I’ve been having anger issues. That’s why I’ve been crying myself to sleep every night,’ and I’d say, ‘What do you mean?’ You’d go, ‘Well, I’ve actually been putting cement on either side of my peanut butter and jelly. I’ve been putting cardboard – used cardboard – on either side of my peanut butter and jelly.’ And I’d say, ‘Yep, I already knew that. That’s why I did this experiment. Thanks for coming. Now leave; you can take the bread with you. You’re welcome.’ But yeah, I love that song, it’s really great. If you want to know more about it, hit me up on Instagram, [at] JoePtheHyena. Send me a DM and I’ll tell you the full back tory of that song. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but this… I had to use this as a platform for Wonder Bread itself.”
Fighting in the Car
“The song was called ‘Fighting in the Car’ because, man, there’s nothing like fighting in a car with someone. Even if you’re not moving – you could be parked, you could be in your driveway, or you could be in a parking lot, but because you’re in a car, the things you can say in there… you can’t say them anywhere else. You do this thing where you face forward and don’t look the person in the eye, and everyone can just let out what they want to because of that safety net you have by not looking at them. You just hear them, and they hear you, and the whole world feels like it’s exploding. And then you’re just anywhere, but you were in a car that whole time, and that’s what got you there. You can’t do that in the kitchen; no one’s leaning on an island making a good point, you know? Or growing – that’s not what the kitchen is for. The song is about how many times I’ve had to do that and be in that experience. It seems like the end of the world, but when it’s over, you’re always better off.”
Nothing At All
“This took three versions, and it took multiple versions because I couldn’t decide. I kept hearing different things in the song every time I listened to it, and I thought, ‘That should be the version,’ and then I’d hear something else and go, ‘That should be the version.’ I didn’t want to let go of all of these different versions, so I decided to drop all of them together, muting and turning things on and off to see what would work. It might be my second favorite song now. You can hear all three versions as you listen to it. If you focus in on certain things, you’ll notice the flute, and then you hear a drum kit that I thought would just be the demo drum kit, but that’s the main drum kit. There are all kinds of wacky stuff going on with weird noises and whispers.”
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