And Keep An Ear Out For

Joyous Wolf

A buzz has been building around Orange County boys Joyous Wolf for a while now. Having burst on to muso radars with 2017’s superb track

Sleep Weep Stomp, before piquing interest further with an unctuous, pounding cover of Mountain’s belter Mississippi Queen, they’ve toured with Slash and Deep Purple and signed to Roadrunner Records. Boasting big tunes, face-lifted classic rock, beefcake blues and, in singer Nick Reese, one of the most animated frontmen of recent times (seriously, watch them playing live on YouTube), there’s a great deal to like.

We thought 2020 would be a big year for them, and then… well, 2020 happened. Nevertheless, they’ve been quietly busy behind the scenes, and back in June their new single Odyssey gave us a sign of a band capable of transcending rock niches, while still keeping us rock geeks very happy indeed. Teamed with an animated, sort-of-modernised Homer story in the accompanying music video, it had us wondering when the Disney blockbuster soundtrack offers would start rolling in.

This month Odyssey is due to be released with 2019’s Quiet Heart as a two-track acoustic single, and the prospect of their debut album looms on the horizon for 2021.