Queen Of The Misfits | Exploring The Musical Kingdom Of Alanna Joy

0:00:03 - Nasiphi Zwane
How's it going, ladies and gentlemen? It's myself Nasiphi Zwane, and I'm back with a brand new episode for you. Today, I'm with the Queen of the Misfits, Alanna Joy. Did I pronounce it correctly? 

0:00:16 - Alanna Joy
It's Alanna, like Hannah. 

0:00:17 - Nasiphi Zwane
Alanna, it's a very beautiful name. Is that a stage name or is that actually on your ID? 

0:00:22 - Alanna Joy
That is on my ID. Joy is my middle name, though, so I'm actually Alanna Joy Wells. 

0:00:27 - Nasiphi Zwane
That's really beautiful, very unique, very different. But right off the bat, let's find out about who you are. For five marks, who is Alanna Joy? 

0:00:37 - Alanna Joy
Oh no, the pressure is on. What an existential crisis question. Oh yeah, so I'm Alanna. I'm in a band called Lost Youth and we've been making music for a few years. I was born in Ireland, but I've been here since I was three years old. My dad's South African, my mom's Irish and Swiss. What else? Music is like pretty much my whole life. But I currently do have a day job. I do marketing by day, music by night. 

0:01:10 - Nasiphi Zwane
I like to know what the dynamics are for a female vocalist amongst just guys. I'm also in a band myself with Thones of Ivory, and we literally just even band practices. We act the fool every single time. So what are the dynamics for you as a female assigned body in a band mostly full of guys? 

0:01:32 - Alanna Joy
Yeah, I think I'm super used to it at this point. I've always had a lot of guy friends, so any more recently actually, that I've come into having a lot more female friends and energy in my life, which has been really beautiful. But it has had its issues every now and again, just certain boundaries of like it actually isn't the core group of the band because right now we don't have the drummer. We're always drummarless. We have drama, drama. So the three of us like me and bassist and guitarist we're super tight and our dynamic is like I don't know. We know each other so well. We know where the boundaries are but, for instance, we once had a drummer that would be very insensitive to like. He would be often like pretty naked on tour and like I've seen things I don't want to see and shit like that. So that's like there's been moments of it, but in general I feel like I've got like my brother's slash. Sometimes I feel like their mother a little bit, but it's like it's a beautiful. 

0:02:50 - Nasiphi Zwane
How did you guys actually get together as a band, like, how did you meet your brothers? 

0:02:55 - Alanna Joy
Um, so I was actually in a band with Charlie the bassist beforehand. I was in a project called the guys alive and our bassist left to Portugal, and so Charlie was kind of brought in and at first I was like I had a different bassist in mind who should like be the bassist for the band. And then I came into rehearsal one day and Charlie was just there like noodling around on the bass guitar and they're like oh hey, this is Charlie, like he's auditioning to be our bassist, and just from like the first few notes that he played, I was immediately like I connect with this, with this guy, and the way that he writes music and the sounds that he like the way that he plays bass is, in my mind, is quite unique and like very melodic, and I was like, oh, that's, that's pretty dope. And then I kind of stole him away a little bit for my solo project, like just for like some session gigs kind of thing. And then we met our guitarist at a jam session that I used to host. 

I used to host a jam session in Observatory every Wednesday and like I'd met him before but I didn't really know that he was a guitarist. 

And then, like he had mentioned, he was in a band and I was like, oh, that's cool, you know, whatever, and we'd see each other every now and again. And then I invited him to come jam, just because like I needed more people to attend the jam session. And he showed up and like, just can play anything, like can jam on any song. Everyone was like, whoa, who's that guy? And like we actually like we kind of had to like try and convince him to get into the band because he was like super busy and like playing with lots of people and we're like, oh hey, like do you just like want to come and like jam some songs sometime? Like it, you know, no pressure, like it just might be cool. And then I think what actually got him into the band is like we played a random fucking cover show at Rocker Mamas and we gave him a milkshake and after that he was like in the band and he loves milkshakes. So like that was the first, like oh, I think he might actually be in this band. 

0:04:57 - Nasiphi Zwane
So if you want to get your guitarist to do anything, just get him a milkshake and it's sorted. 

0:05:02 - Alanna Joy
Literally, milkshakes, donuts. Oh, we like recently found these new biscuits. They're called like rainbow biscuits, and he is obsessed. He's made like little stickers on WhatsApp, like he took a photo of it and like turned it into a sticker and that's how he responds to things when he's like stoked about it. It's like rainbow cookies. Yes. 

0:05:17 - Nasiphi Zwane
No, I shout out to him Sounds really spend it. Who was the original? Who's the original basis that you had in mind? Who is he? Name and shame, or name and shame, I guess. 

0:05:26 - Alanna Joy
It was actually my cousin, kean van der merwe. He's like in a metal band now. I don't think he plays bass Actually, I think he's doing guitar because he's actually originally a guitarist. But at the time he was like I think he was like 17 years old and I was like, oh, he plays guitar mostly, but he is like a good bassist as well. It'd be cool to give him that like kind of exposure and kind of bring him into the music world, because I know he wanted to enter it. And then I had to tell him like I love you, I love you cause, but we went with somebody else and he was super chilled, though Like that was it was meant to be. He's got his like metal band now and they're killing it. 

0:06:02 - Nasiphi Zwane
Yeah, what's his metal band called Quick plug. 

0:06:05 - Alanna Joy
not a clue. He's going to kill me. 

0:06:12 - Nasiphi Zwane
Dude, you're the worst cousin ever. 

0:06:16 - Alanna Joy
I know it didn't get in the job. Can't even plug his new band. 

0:06:22 - Nasiphi Zwane
No, no, dude, I'd feel honored and privileged if you were my cousin, so shout out to you. I'm sure you're still proud to have you as Kazi. But obviously, looking at lost youth, your guys, as social media, you've got that unlock. You've got your streams on lock. Everything is over like one K. You know people are the last time which is over like 4k. I want you to tell us the secrets you know as musicians and as a band. What's sort of like your secret when it comes to getting these high social media numbers and these high streams? Is there even a secret? What are you guys doing? 

0:06:55 - Alanna Joy
I think, like just being really aware of the fact that music is not only like an art but also a business, and it's something that, like it took us a while to kind of accept, and we still, like you know, there'll be like a month or so where we like haven't posted anything. We're like we need to like get back on this, like you know, and it's something that I think we all find it very difficult to keep up with, because it's really not something that comes very naturally to us, but at the same time, like just trying to keep some sort of consistency with it and like we're very, we're also like very pedantic with what we put out, which like. 

And then, at the same time, you know, I look back at all of the mixes that are on Spotify and I'm like could have been so much better, but like in the moment, we're like we're super pedantic with it and like wanting everything to kind of be as good as we can get it, but also, at the same time, we're usually like, you know, like the first music video we put out, we edited it ourselves. We like to be like the DIY Kings and Queens, like, yeah, so I don't know, I think. I think it's a difficult thing to kind of say, oh, this is why it's doing well. And I mean, in our minds we're like, oh, it could be so much better. 

But I think it's just like trying to keep up with technology, and I mean, as I say that we're not even on TikTok Like we are, but we never post anything. So like don't, don't, don't take our social media as like the way to do it. 

0:08:33 - Nasiphi Zwane
But I mean, it's what you just mentioned there. You know you aren't on TikTok, but you are on TikTok, would you say the best sort of strategy for you would be to maybe is there just one social media sort of outlet that you focus on? Say, for example, you're just focusing on Instagram and then everything else will just come off that. Or is it best to just have it all? You know? Try every single thing. Threads is out now and all that they were sort of what has worked for you guys. 

0:09:00 - Alanna Joy
I think kind of making one platform feel like the hub is kind of cool. It is like if we make content for Instagram also, now that there's like reels and everything, it's also kind of relevant to TikTok we just have to remember to actually post it on TikTok as well, which we never do. But like having having one place where everybody knows that's where to find us, that's where to get the information from, that's where we connect with people, that's quite cool and like it also just makes it easier, because if you're trying to make content that's relevant to Facebook, make content that's relevant to Instagram, make content that's relevant to Twitter and threads and TikTok and Snapchat and whatever it like becomes a little bit overwhelming. And we're the kind of people that like when it, when it gets overwhelming, like that, we kind of just don't make content. So it's easier to just focus on one thing and try to do that while and kind of build, yeah, build that hub. 

0:10:00 - Nasiphi Zwane
But at the same time, you know, like if Instagram ever goes like, you know, completely out of style, we're screwed, yeah, but I mean, you guys have, like a website as well, so I guess that could sort of, you know, make up for it in a way, looking at the fact that in 2022, you guys dropped Chasen Shadows Obviously a very beautiful four track EP that you guys released. How did that actually come about? What was the whole process when it came to sort of making it and putting it together? Did you, you know, record these tracks at different times? Did you record them all at once? What was the whole process for you guys? 

0:10:35 - Alanna Joy
So Chasen Shadows is like the first part of a two-part project. We're currently working on the second part of it. But we basically like those songs were songs that I had kind of written over the years and then the boys came in and like did arrangements for them, but we didn't necessarily write them together. So they also feel like a little bit outdated to me just because they weren't like built together in like this cohesive kind of like writing experience. But at the same time, like they hold a lot of like weight in my heart because like they're very personal to me and everything and it's like what started us. But we recorded them with Juan Vos I always call him Judy, so I have to like catch myself. His official name is Juan Vos from Sonic Nursery and it was a really beautiful experience. 

We actually recorded it in my house in this very lounge here. Nobody can see this on the podcast, but imagine it. It's very messy. You can't see that in the video, thank God. But we basically just like started the project Um, but we basically just like set up the drums in the middle of the lounge, recorded there and we spent the whole week Um, we just all slept over and and and recorded. That was before I got a day job, so that was really beautiful. 

Now this time round is like a little bit different because I'm busy every weekday. But, um, yeah, it was, it was really beautiful. It took us a long time to mix them, um, but everything was recorded kind of Within that week and then I did vocals Separately, so that was like the one element that was kind of a little bit later and then we kind of like started putting out singles, and that was something that I think we want to like. Change in the in the future is like we kind of mix each song and then release it and then mix the next song, and it would have been nice to mix them all together and have like just a little bit Like the sound was cohesive still because it was done by the same person and you know blah, blah, blah, but like just to have them already at once and then only start thinking about a release strategy, you know. 

But, um, yeah, I love those songs. They're still like very close to my heart, even if I'm like they could have been better now, with the knowledge that I have now, you know. 

0:12:55 - Nasiphi Zwane
Yeah, and you obviously you guys started in 2021, right? I think I saw somewhere online, so you guys would have been like a post COVID or during COVID and all of that. They're going on. So are there any sort of differences, would you say, in terms of approach, when it comes to you know how maybe you were making music as a solo artist pre COVID and then how the band formed after COVID, or to win during, when COVID was still a thing. If any differences at all. 

0:13:26 - Alanna Joy
Like you know what were they so I think like, on the one hand, we we were playing together before COVID so, but we were playing under my name, um, and our focus at the time was Like we were trying to like rebrand the project Alana Joy as, like Alana Joy is not just like a singer-songwriter, solo folk artist. Now we're playing as a band and it's like starting to get a little bit more rock and we're kind of finding our feet in that kind of like more alternative sound, um, but we still had like also like the folky songs that were kind of more from the Alana Joy phase, um, and we were focusing like really heavily on gigs, because that's I mean, that's also like what we love to do the most Is like just play live. So we're like getting into like aces and we're getting into mercury and we're like working real hard and like proving to kind of the people in the industry like we can pull a crowd and like Don't worry, we're not just like poppy and and soft and quiet, like we can, we can like hold our own on this stage kind of thing. And then when COVID hit, we were kind of like oh Uh, none of that mattered, like I did matter, it did matter and it was beautiful and, like you know, I wouldn't take anything away from it, but, like those venues closed, those connections were no longer like as relevant because we were stuck in our house and we like had no way of making money and blah, blah, blah. 

So I think after that it was kind of like a shift in our mindset of like we still love the gigs, we still sign up for way too many gigs, we're constantly going like we should gig less so that we can focus on like recording and writing and like releasing content and everything. But we still just like somebody asks us to do a gig and we're like yes, let's do it, are you guys free? But yeah, now it's a lot more like we're kind of trying to build our, our name and like connections with people online more, versus like trying to fill out a show every week or two and like prove to industry people that that we can fill out a show, rather Like kind of focusing on the people that like the music Rather than like being like hey, don't worry, you can book us for a gig, we'll be, we'll be good kind of thing. 

0:15:37 - Nasiphi Zwane
I mean, I feel like that's a very important point there, right? You know having how do you sort of go about having this sort of perfect balance, you know, between being booked for shows and actually recording music? Is there a way to to get that perfect balance? Because I can tell you now, as those of our the band that I'm playing and we really just Super focused on gigging, and gigging, and gigging and the end result is that the recorded stuff takes a hit because we always having to practice for the next gig so we never get time to make music. So how do you get that perfect balance? 

0:16:10 - Alanna Joy
Well, I don't know. I mean I don't think we've found it necessarily, but I mean obviously, like in kind of a more Structured or like formalized music industry, artists will kind of do cycles where they're like okay, we're touring for a year or two and then we're taking a year to like write and record, and that's like very much kind of what we see with that westernized kind of artists and even just kind of anybody that's like kind of bigger in the scene. And then there's kind of like us artists that are, you know, it feels like in a completely different world and gigging is like a part of our survival, um, and it's like how we make money and how we fund the eventual recording. So it's like it's difficult to balance it. But I think what we In an ideal world world, what we try to do and we don't always do it it's like gig Once or like once a month in an area, so like if we were being real smart about it, we'd be like, okay, once a month or once every two months, whatever it is, we're gonna play a show in Stenovosh, and then we're gonna. We're gonna play a show in Cape Town, we're gonna play a show in like, you know, like Coke Bayside or you know, like kind of spitting it into kind of regions within the Western Cape or even like if you're doing it on a larger scale, like of South Africa, so that people want to come to the show. 

Like we spent a lot of time like playing way too many shows in the same areas right after each other and like the first show would get a whole lot of people coming and then the next show, the next week or a few days later, would be kind of more empty and then it would kind of like people kind of got too used to the idea that, oh, they're gonna play again like next week. Like we don't need to go to this one, we'll go to the next, one kind of thing. And like Charlie, our bassist, made a really good point once where it's like when you're like waiting for a bigger band to like come and tour, it's like if they come to your city, you're like, oh my god, they're coming to the city. We don't know the next time that they're gonna play here we have to go and watch them. Like this is important, like we love them. We wanna experience it. 

We don't know if we're ever gonna do that again, whereas with us it's like, oh, lost Youth will probably play again, like next month, even if they say they're taking a break from gigs, which we did like two months ago. We were like we're taking a break from gigs we're no longer playing. Guys, this is our last gig, come support and then like two months later we're playing another gig. 

We're like whoops, oh shit like we didn't mean to, but it just happened and it kind of gives people like the sense that, you know, like we're always gonna be there and like, even if they love our music and they wanna come and support us, like there's so many other things to do. 

Money is a thing, time is a thing, time is precious and oh, we'll see them at the next show, you know. So I think, kind of trying to create the idea or like kind of trying to create that, like that sense that they're not, they don't play that often it's actually a really special thing to go and see them play, because it only happens every now and again and like building an experience around the show, like making every show feel like a beautiful experience. It's not just like three bands on a lineup playing at a venue, it's like there's decor around the venue, like there's a photo booth that like adds vibes, you know, like just something that like makes it feel different and like it's not just you're watching bands, you're like immersed in this experience. So, yeah, I could go on about this for months. 

0:19:49 - Nasiphi Zwane
So so it's basically about that quality over quantity right Makes a lot of sense here. You mentioned there Aces and Mercury. Obviously, venues are closed down. We're almost at the end, but you know what sort of venues South African venues and you mentioned playing around, you know different sort of. You know places in South Africa which venues, would you say, hold a very special place in your hearts. 

0:20:14 - Alanna Joy
That's a difficult question because, like, I love so many of them. But, yeah, okay, aces and Mercury were like, especially Aces that was. That was like a really beautiful time and every show that I watched and every show that I performed there was like it just had this magic about it. Weirdly enough, like haven't played there in a long time, I don't even know if they have live music, but Mystics was a vibe in Stélem. Basch Boho's is always a beautiful vibe. So, yeah, places like that, places that have character and that kind of wanna wanna curate like a beautiful, a beautiful space for both the audience and the and the musician. 

0:21:00 - Nasiphi Zwane
No, I'm kind of bummed. They all know Durban venues that I mentioned there. But it's okay for giving. It's all good. I know some will definitely come. 

0:21:08 - Alanna Joy
I don't know many Durban venues, because whenever we've played there it's been like really informal, like we've played at, like like there was a place in like Toti that was like the Moth venue or something. It was like it wasn't a music venue and we just like made it into a music venue and then, like this other place that we played was like this, like photography studio, that we also, like we all turned it into a venue and I know this like what is it? Like the, the, the warehouse, and like Robson's beer and stuff, but like we've never played there but I hear good, I hear good vibes about it. 

0:21:42 - Nasiphi Zwane
It's always these makeshift spaces that you have to sort of make into actual venues that you need to play at. 

0:21:48 - Alanna Joy
Exactly, which is beautiful, though, and I think that's like also it's kind of a trend after COVID where bands are creating the lineups and the spaces. Now, like beforehand, like there seemed to be somewhat like a scene of like promoters Now I can't think of a single promoter that exists in South Africa, and maybe I'm just like ignorant, but it feels like it's a lot more like the bands themselves making the gigs, which is like both sad, because you know, like our music industry is so like unstructured and informal, which like kind of always just ends up screwing over the musicians but at the same time, it's really beautiful that like we're still doing shit, you know we're still making stuff happen. 

0:22:34 - Nasiphi Zwane
Very, very true. Now obviously you've come to almost the end. Tell me about the upcoming stuff. You obviously mentioned that you know basically the project that you guys released last year was like a part one and that is obviously going to be a follow-up, being a part two, so what else can you sort of expect from you guys in terms of releases and collabs? 

0:22:54 - Alanna Joy
So, yeah, part two of the project is hopefully coming out soon. We're like working on the mixes and the masters at the moment. It's gonna be called First Light, so it's kind of like the opposite of Chasing Shadows and it's a lot more acoustic. It's a lot more like kind of hopeful in its messages and its like themes and its lyrics. And, yeah, it's got some of my favorite songs on it, like because these were kind of written with the band more and like also kind of coming out of COVID and like one of the songs was written about the experience of kind of having so much to say and like not really having a way to say it because you're locked up inside. But like it's not on the nose like that, don't worry, it's not like I'm in lockdown laughs. 

But yeah, our first single is gonna be released on the 18th of August. It's called Stray. We just got the master like last weekend and we like finally uploaded it and we're like so excited for it to finally kind of be coming out, because we've waited a long time to like finish this kind of project. We've had the songs for a little bit. We've changed them and added new things, so I think it was actually like the perfect timing. But yeah, we're like we're really stoked to kind of finally be getting these songs out into the world. 

0:24:25 - Nasiphi Zwane
I'm so stoked for Stray. If I could, I would ask if you could give us like a little snippet for us, to give us sort of like a teaser in which you can, but yeah, listen, in terms of social media handles where people can get in touch with you and the band and all that there, where do we go? 

0:24:43 - Alanna Joy
Lost Youth official on Instagram, facebook, tiktok, I don't know what else exists, those things? And then Spotify is Lost Youth. And if you can't find us with Lost Youth, put the two slashes lost, slash, slash youth. Because there are other artists that are called Lost Youth. They've also just like come out recently, new artists. I'm like, no, that's our name, go away, stop it. But like you know they sound great, though, so like good for them. 

0:25:13 - Nasiphi Zwane
You are the best Lost Youth, though. Oh, thank you. 

0:25:18 - Alanna Joy
You're going to get in trouble with all the other Lost Youths. They're going to come to you. 

0:25:23 - Nasiphi Zwane
It needed to be said. We want to give a special shout out. I want to thank you for joining me on this episode. It's been really amazing. I've learned so much about you and the band and everything that goes on behind the scenes, and I also want to thank Llewellyn, who organized this. How do you guys know each other just quickly as well? How do you know Llewellyn? 

0:25:41 - Alanna Joy
This is like such a cool story, in my mind at least. Okay, so it was like a while ago. I was still I don't think I'd even met the band before this and he just reached out to me on Facebook. He like popped me a Facebook message. I'd never met him before or anything. 

He was just like hey, my name's Llewellyn and I would like to be your booking agent. I'm just starting out, I'm about to quit my job, can I please be your booking agent? And I was like, yeah, cool, let's meet up, let's have a meeting. And I met him outside of Nedbank, which I hope I'm getting this right. I think that's where he worked. That was my impression at the time. And he was like, yeah, I really want to get into booking and I really like your music, so can we do something? And now he's been our booking agent for years and he's organized four tours for us and he's living in England living his best life. We're like trying to organize some shows in the UK and, yeah, I love him. He's like he's just the best. Shout out, llewellyn. 

0:26:44 - Nasiphi Zwane
Shout out, Llewellyn, shout out. I saw you took an image with Ash as well. 

0:26:48 - Alanna Joy
Oh yeah, you know Ash, so we gave him the impression he was amazing. 

0:26:51 - Nasiphi Zwane
Yeah, we had her on the show like a while back, so it was cool seeing both of you just like, ah, they know each other and they both so dope it was awesome. We're like best friends. 

0:27:00 - Alanna Joy
She's a. She actually got me my job, my marketing job, and now she's like she's quit and she's gone and she's traveling America. I'm stuck with the day job. No. I'm joking Stuck without her. Yeah, I miss her, actually a fuckload. But yeah, no, she's typical. 

0:27:19 - Nasiphi Zwane
Ash, if you listen to this, we miss you. Come back. 

0:27:22 - Alanna Joy
Yeah, don't come back, stay there, it's good. No, no, come back and visit us, but like, but stay there full full time, live your, live your best life. 

0:27:35 - Nasiphi Zwane
Thank you so much once again for doing this episode with me. We're going to be closing out with Stray by Lost Youth. Check out all things Slash Underground on our website wwwslashundergroundcom. We've got Beanie. They're currently out. Best way to support the show 125 round of pop Until next time. It's bye for now. 

0:27:51 - Alanna Joy
Cheers Sometimes strange, so she rolls with the punches Stings always in her cuffs. 

Transcribed by https://podium.page