Introducing Joe Terror, who just dropped a ripper new album, An Urgent Release

Even though An Urgent Release is the second album from Kew East-based artist Joe Terror, it definitely feels like the arrival proper of an exciting new Australian storyteller. Recorded by Joe on an 8-track digital recorder and mixed by him also, it's a rough and raw collection of tales from a bloke who also splits him time between two other acts, The Stained Daisies and TUG.

Here though he gets to lay everything bare, with a soothing voice, with an earnestness that definitely comes from the album being born from a very specific - and personal - time and place. We'll let him explain it better below while you listen to An Urgent Release, and then catch him on a pretty large run of dates kicking off this weekend.

Tell us about yourself?

I’m a 22-year-old human being from the Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia. I spent the first 19 years of my life living in a small, beautiful town called Grafton with my family. At the age of 14 I was swept off my feet by music and immediately decided to stop playing sport, lock myself in my parents shed in 40 degree heat and try my hardest to record sounds that fit together. I recorded my first Joe Terror album when I was 17, I think, and printed it on vinyl and pretty much sold it to friends and family.

I discovered a really precious circle of artistic friends in Grafton, which to this day we push to exceed each others expectations and thrive off each others love. Part of this circle of friends ended up being a band we formed called The Stained Daisies, and in late 2016 we packed up and convoyed our cars down to Victoria to pursue all of our creative endeavours with a little more vigour and energy, as many do.

Now after two years in the big smoke, after being quite busy between work and other projects, I finally feel comfortable about releasing a second Joe album.

What kinda tunes we talkin’?

This is a dramatic question for almost any independent artist, but I’ve always enjoyed cheesy ballads, folk music, power pop and rock’n’roll, that kind of suff. Throw a few of those together in a few different assortments and we’re on I reckon.

Production/writing process:

I have a digital track recorder that I bought after saving up my Macca’s pay when I was pretty young. I have always used that as my writing tool, layering instruments, vocals and harmonies in my spare time and seeing what comes out.

Can you tell us about your new album, An Urgent Release?

My new album is my first attempt at releasing exactly what has come out of my track recorder during the writing process. I have recorded, produced and mixed the whole thing myself in my bedroom and one of my housemates and best friends, Aidan, mastered it for me. Although it doesn’t sound perfect in a lot of ways I still feel comfortable releasing it. It’s really close to home for me and outlines quite a profound time of mine and my friends lives in a bit of an accidental way. I feel like I’m always writing and recording or just making some
kind of dribbly noise but this particular group of songs shoved their way onto an album that I actually put a lot of time and love into, and I’m happy with it.

Any shows coming up?

Tour is coming up in November! All shows (besides the Tote) will be performed as an intimate two piece with guitar and keyboard, which is a first for us. I usually have a bunch of mates doing the rock band thing with me. My dear friend Jack Davison and I will be visiting Lennox Head, Bellingen, our home town of Grafton, Newcastle, Melbourne, Castlemaine and Warrnambool. All the deets and events are on the worldwide web.

What’s the rest of the year have in store?

As of the end of November I will have completed three month long tours with three different acts, so I reckon I’ll maybe take some time to spend Christmas with family and friends and hook right back in next year.

Where can we hear more of your music?

Most of it is on your usual digital platform. Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music and all of that jazz. The one exception is my EP from earlier this year named Dream Seed, you can only find it on BandCamp at the moment. I hope to print more physical things in the very near future but it’s hard to afford for me at this point in time.

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