A Chat with The Simple Joy (15.10.23)
The US-based foursome The Simple Joy has various influences, but at the end of the day, they sound like nothing in the past, present or possibly the future. Combining the skills of Tuck Satterfield (vocals, rhythm guitar and harmonica), Stephen Munoz (lead guitar, lap steel and keys), Michael Lowry (bass, vocals, electric guitar and acoustic guitar), and Pam McCarthy (drums, ukelele and harmony vocals), The Simple Joy is utterly unique in their style. We speak with Satterfield about the band’s debut album Unravel, what music means to him, future plans and much more.
OSR: How did The Simple Joy come together and what made you decide to create the band?
Satterfield: All four of us — Pam McCarthy, Stephen Munoz, Michael Lowry, and I (Tuck Satterfield) — are active in local bands and music groups around our hometown of Durham in North Carolina, but it’s mostly playing covers. We formed The Simple Joy as a way to collaborate in making new and original music.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Satterfield: Music is very much about community and communication and collaboration, and it’s an incredible healing force. This became even more clear during COVID, which hit only 5 or 6 months after we’d formed the band, when we were just starting to play shows together regularly. Throughout that first year in particular, we were lucky, unlike so many bands, to be able to keep playing as Michael had a front porch and yard that we could all spread out in. We played for nearly a year that way, distanced 10 or 15 feet apart, never sharing instruments or mics, never hugging or high-fiving – but we got to make music together. Outside of our families, we were the main people that we shared time with during that stretch and it made us much closer. Also, with no other live music at the time, even though we were mostly just rehearsing and learning our songs, neighbours would stop by and listen. It was great for our mental health to have this time together as bandmates, and the sharing of music like that was great for our community.
OSR: What can you tell us about your album Unravel? Is there a particular theme or backstory to it?
Satterfield: There are a lot of sad songs on this album. Angry breakup songs, dark songs about growing up, lots of loves unrequited or misunderstood. Even some of the happy-sounding songs are sad and/or angry. But the PLAYING of the songs — along with friends and for friends — is just pure and simple joy. That’s where the name of our band comes from: the simple joy of making and playing music. No matter what the style, genre or subject matter, the joy is still there.
OSR: What were the most exciting and most challenging aspects of creating Unravel?
Satterfield: The biggest challenge was COVID. We started recording in January of 2020, right before everything shut down. Thankfully we were able to remotely mix those few songs we had recorded so we could get a few singles out during quarantine, but it was a long time before we could get back in the studio and record the bulk of the album.
The most exciting part was the creating of the album itself, not just the recording (which was incredibly fun) but the writing and arranging and practising leading up to it – and the collaborative processes afterwards of mixing and tweaking and adding layers.
OSR: What do you hope people take from Unravel?
Satterfield: First of all, I hope some people find it and give it a listen. Second, I hope they find a song or two that they really dig. Whether it’s a blues or honky-tonk tune or one of the slower sad songs, there are a lot of different-sounding songs (and arguably even different genres) on here, but hopefully, all the songs still sound like US.
OSR: If you could change anything about the album, what would it be and why?
Satterfield: There are always little things that you wish you could fix – I don’t like my voice here, or that one snare hit is too soft there, or that one note is slightly flat – but in general you put out the best version of the best songs that you can write and create and that’s what we tried to do with Unravel. I could nit-pick it to death, but we’re very proud of what we put out there.
OSR: If you could head back ten years and speak to your younger selves, what advice would you give them?
Satterfield: I would have started writing songs and being in bands a lot sooner. I didn’t join my first band (a cover band playing only music from North Carolina artists) until I was like 43 and didn’t start writing songs until 45 or 46. Now at 52, I realize how much fun it can be and how much camaraderie and joy it can bring, and I wish I’d started earlier!
OSR: If you had to introduce yourself to a new listener, what song from Unravel would you recommend?
Satterfield: I would probably say either ‘Avalon’ or ‘Nobody’s Fault’. ‘Avalon’ because it shows off the dynamics of the band, with multiple instruments and complex vocal harmonies – and it’s a story song about a messed up relationship going wrong (like a lot of our songs). ‘Nobody’s Fault’ because it’s a bit of a rocker and can be enjoyed just for Stephen’s fantastic guitar solos, but it also has some surprising/cool lyrics and harmonies and rhythm parts that repay more intent listening.
OSR: What do you think makes you unique as a band?
Satterfield: We don’t really sound like anyone else, not because we’re particularly unique but because we draw from so many genres and each individually have such different influences and interests. It also helps that we trade/switch instruments a lot, have two lead singers and all of us sing. Pam has a drum kit unlike anyone’s, and she plays with an unparalleled feel for each song. Michael’s bass lines are quite melodic (from his background as a bluegrass mandolin player and lead guitarist in rock bands) and his harmony singing shows his bluegrass and church traditions. Stephen’s wide range of lead playing and soloing styles gives us a ton of flexibility in how we sound from song to song. They each play their instruments in very much their own way individually, and when you combine that in a genre jumble, you get something that is – hopefully — pretty weird and new but also quite grounded in the familiar.
OSR: Do you have any future plans for The Simple Joy?
Satterfield: We’re hoping to continue to be able to play regularly in the Durham/Chapel Hill area, and with any luck, we’ll make another album soon – and hopefully this time there won’t be a pandemic that causes the album to take over 3 years to make!
Many thanks to Tuck Satterfield for speaking with us. For more from The Simple Joy, check out their Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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