New Orleans’ Joystick have spent the last decade honing their craft and emerging as one of the best modern ska-punk bands around, and their fourth record “I Can’t Take It Anymore” is their most mature, refined record yet. “Everybody started getting married and having kids and kind of like settling down — we definitely became less of a party band,” lead vocalist Duck told us in a recent interview. Duck also got sober four years ago and he’s now working as a volunteer to help other alcoholics and addicts, and those experiences informed the personal, honest tone of his lyrics on this record.
The music sounds more “mature” too, but in Joystick’s case, growing up doesn’t mean slowing down. It’s still an urgent, fun, fast-paced record that toes the line between ska-punk and ska-core and sounds as hungry as Joystick did on their debut. It also has a subtle approach to musical diversity; it’s a straight-up, ’90s-style ska-punk record, but it also weaves in aspects of traditional ’60s ska, shouty ’80s hardcore, and plenty of the in-between.
Joystick
Ska Punk from New Orleans Louisiana
Members:
Paul “duck” Tucker- Vocals
Clay Aleman- Bass
Mickey Retzlaff- Guitar
Josh Bourgeois- Trombone
Justin Mcdowell- Tenor Sax
Garrett Corripio- Trumpet
Andrew Heaton- Trombone
Kyle Bouque- Drums
released April 16th, 2021
The Fat Angel Sings 