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Falling into a local rabbit hole on a Thursday night is exactly what some people need to experience great new bands that are surfacing in the Inland Empire.
The Rabbit Hole Vol.10 on May 17 at Mission Tobacco Lounge included local bands such as Zephyr, Cold Cut, Bad Abstract, BasRev and Bad Joy, along with a liquid light show by Stranger Liquids.
Bad Joy is a local band that started in 2012 and originates from the Inland Empire. They are a psychedelic indie rock band with a jazzy swing.
The three piece core of the band is made up of Jonathon Olaiz (drum and bass), Jordan Segura (guitar and vocals) and Roy Chamorro (guitar, synth and vocals) all of which are Riverside City College students.
Occasionally Bad Joy has other local musicians and friends that play along with the band too. They had two guest musicians accompany them this evening including Christopher Warson (keyboard) and Spencer Cohen (bass).
With a line up that is more likely to fill backyard shows, this Thursday night brought in a small but mighty crowd that managed to keep the night fresh and exciting. A bar fight even broke out just before Bad Joy set up stage to close out the night.
After that was out of the way, Bad Joy drew the biggest crowd of the night and served their classic genre bending sound that their fans know and love.
“You know why I really love Bad Joy? They don’t really have a single genre,” said Grecia Garcia, a Riverside local. The band members are super down to earth and equally as funny.
All in all, Bad Joy has high hopes for the future. Playing at The Hollywood Bowl and the Los Angeles Philharmonic is at the top of Olaiz’s dream performance venues.
Similarly Segura hopes to play at a type of British wedding but does not list royalty as a requirement. “I want to fill Wembley, I’ll pretend to be Queen,” said Chamorro, the band’s lead.
Some of their inspirations are bands and artists like Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, Modern Baseball, George Martin from The Beatles, Elliott Smith and Leonard Cohen. They like several genres but Portuguese and Brazilian jazz and surprisingly house music are big influences as well.
According to Chamorro, fans should expect a new eight track album that they are currently recording in Chino in an undisclosed location.
The band is very excited to share their music and show people a sound that comes from a variety of places.
Something special about the band’s creative position is that their current album “Matriphagy” is made up of fourteen untitled songs.
This was done on purpose because each song is actually accompanied by art that has been made by various artists. The experience is both musically and visually serving, it comes full circle.
“I love doing visuals for them. It’s good music, so it makes it easy,” said Andrew Platt, the light show performer from Stranger Liquids. If you’re looking for something new to listen to stream Bad Joy or attend one of their upcoming performances.
“People should listen to us on Spotify and follow us on Instagram @bad.joy, we are playing Jun. 2 at Howie’s Pub,” said Chamorro.
