Barry Johnson (Joyce Manor) with Greg Mendez

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got a couple of friends who swim in the same punk-inspired scenes but whose musics are pretty different: Barry Johnson and Greg Mendez.

Johnson is the singer and guitarist for Joyce Manor, the pop-punk/emo/indie-rock/something-something band that’s been blasting out short, to-the-point songs for nearly two decades. There’s something perfectly economical about everything the band does: Their records often clock in at under 20 minutes, so there’s no fat or filler to be found. The latest is being hailed as their best, which is saying something for a band whose chosen genre rarely seems to age well—something Johnson laughs about in this chat. The album is called I Used to Go to This Bar, and it was produced by Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz. Check out the song “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” right here.

The other half of today’s conversation, Greg Mendez, takes a Spartan approach to songwriting as well, but his songs are much more quiet and reflective—you’ll definitely hear Elliott Smith vibes on his new album, Beauty Land. Mendez has actually been making music nearly as long as Joyce Manor, but their shyness didn’t really push through into wider view until a self-titled album in 2023. Now he’s ready to take the next leap—this new record is on the Dead Oceans label, which has released records by like-minded souls Phoebe Bridgers, Japanese Breakfast, and Bright Eyes. Check out the song “Gentle Love” from Beauty Land right here.

In this conversation, Mendez and Johnson talk about how they first met, about the ups and downs of sequencing an album, and about doing the stream-of-consciousness creative practice called “morning pages,” where you just write whatever pops into your head. Johnson doesn’t want you to see his pages, and you’ll find out why. Enjoy.

0:00 — Intro2:47 — Start of Conversation5:16 — On sequencing records7:58 — On releasing new music and planning modern album rollouts9:20 — On the benefits of slower rollouts and appreciating singles10:58 — On how they became friends13:52 — On living in New York, and midlife crises15:42 — On surfing, skating, and Long Beach19:50 — On discovering punk through skating culture20:28 — On touring’s impact on creativity, and finding inspiration from other musicians23:08 — On overcoming writer’s block, exercising your creativity with age, “morning pages,” and Kurt Cobain’s diary32:21 — On upcoming tour plans and keeping audiences’ attention while playing solo34:14 — On seeing musicians transfix an audience, getting emotional at concerts, and live versions of songs

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Barry Johnson and Greg Mendez for a great chat. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

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