As a duo during an ever-evolving musical landscape, and while closing in on half a million monthly listeners (on Spotify alone), joan are making sure to stick together.
Arkansas’ pop rock duo, Joan, have been at it since just before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, but unlike other bands who began in the few years before the 2020 era, they did not let their journey come to end due to circumstances out of their control. Steven Rutherford and Alan Thomas, the pair behind joan, were certain that they would not give up.
The duo started in 2017 when both musicians were in other bands, and after admiring each other’s skills from afar, they finally came together following their college days. Thus, the formation of joan. They had a plan with Joan, too: they wanted full creative control, with a label’s help, over their music, videos, and merchandise. When they joined the record label Photo Finish, they got that, and then the pair crossed paths with the band Misterwives. They became labelmates. Now, not too long after, they find themselves tourmates, as joan are currently on tour with their peers in Misterwives.
With their new single “heartmindbodysoul,” the band is writing about relationships on a whole new level. “Lyrically, it’s an extreme version of professing your love to somebody and giving everything to the one you love,” says Rutherford. “We got unhinged in the bridge,” jokes Thomas.
When we sat down with the pair to talk, we went deep into how they acquired their name, where they stand in this ever-evolving music industry, and their new album, superglue.
It may sound like a grandmother’s name, but the band name ‘joan’ stuck for other reasons. “For years we told people we both had a grandmother named Joan because we thought the story wasn’t interesting enough,” Rutherford explains with a laugh. “Joan was an option for a band name that I used to be in. Those guys did not like the name, so I put it in my back pocket. When me and Alan started writing, we decided to quit our other bands immediately and make joan our full-time priority. It wasn’t our favorite band name, but it felt like the personality of the music we were writing. It designs well and looks very well. It is the only name we agreed upon, really.”
The two met each other while at college, as Thomas was a few years shy from graduating. “We were both in separate bands. We went to same college but at different times. We had a friend crush from afar. We had a bunch of mutual friends in common. We ended up playing some shows together in each of our bands. Steven’s band had some major success in booking shows regionally around Arkansas. We were not represented by an agent at that point and Steven helped my band book some shows. We became fast friends and started writing song mainly for television and film, and then we wrote our first single in 2017. We didn’t stop since,” says Thomas.
The duo has grown as musicians and people since 2019’s EP Portra. “Musically, we are in a very different spot, but a lot of the new stuff is rooted from the same world since we began. The journey so far has been very song by song based. When we first started, it was eighties influences, then sometimes it’s full band – all organic sounding. When we created our debut album, it kind of became to sound like joan, which was one, big, sonic journey over the years. The music we are working on has a defined line,” says Rutherford.
Over the years that they’ve known each other, much has changed for them in their personal lives as well as did with each EP that they released together. “We each had two kids. We have our own studio now. It feels like we are more mature as artists than when we first started,” Rutherford shares. “We know what joan is now. We were just releasing stuff and taking our time when we came out. Our vision is easier to execute now.”
“We’ve always treated this as a job,” Thomas adds. “When children come into play, every decision has more weight to it. From deals to tours, it affects every portion of your life because you have more mouths to feed. The family dynamic has changed when it came it into the picture. I think we, as a band, are a well-oiled machine now. All four of our kids are three and younger they can’t grasp the concept and duration of time when we go on tour, but playing these shows these are some of the bigger venues we have played. It gives us more exposure to new fans, but the personal element is not the best.”
By the time joan signed with Photo Finish, even more things came into focus. “Our label is awesome and the people are amazing,” Rutherford gushes. “They give us complete creative control and believe in us 100%. We are tough act to be on a label for because we do so much of it ourselves. We write and produce all of the music ourselves. We make all the visuals and make all of our own merchandise. We are an insulated band – in a good way – and are particular about what we want in the creative aspect of things, and we are very grateful to our label for that. They want to be partners with us. Most artists do not have that luxury. It’s a weird landscape in the music business right now.”
The band is right – the music industry is a revolving door, and the duo is trying to keep up with the times as they are rapidly changing from day-to-day and from week-to-week. “We have an album’s worth of material made now. With the landscape changing, we are figuring out how to do it. It seems like singles you have a better shot rather than dropping 10 songs,” says Thomas.
“We had done three EPs and some songs building up to when last year’s album superglue was released. For Portra, we wrote the songs first, then had no idea it would turn into an EP. It was the first time writing and recording a full album for superglue. We want to see what people gravitate to at this point. We put songs out that we think are going to be on an album, but with or without a plan,” admits Rutherford.
The duo is gearing up for even more grueling and even longer tours, especially as they are making a name for themselves by opening for bigger acts at bigger venues. “We are supporting Misterwives on their national headline tour. We just played our fourth show with them. We have twenty dates in total. We played one off shows with them and are on the same label as well,” says Thomas. “And we’re friends!”
Millions of global streams are definitely something to appreciate, but as Thomas puts it, they are always looking for more as the music industry keeps changing. “It’s hard to take that number in and have appreciation it for it because the goal posts keep changing. It’s cool but with the entrepreneur side of things I want to double that as I want this to be attainable art form for us. I hate that, but back in the day it’s if you chart and how many records you sold, now it’s streams. I’m proud of us, but we want to keep the train going like Coldplay and U2’s careers,” concludes Thomas.
JOAN PLAYS LIVE IN OUR AREA THIS WEEK – THURSDAY, 10/31, IN BROOKLYN, & FRIDAY, 11/1, IN PHILADELPHIA. FOR TICKETS, MORE TOUR DATES, MERCH, & MORE, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE!
