If you’re a fan of Cool Ghouls, one of the bands mainstays, Ryan Wong, has today released an album ‘Joy’ of his own, under the moniker Supreme Joy. Based partly on Japanese art magazines, Joy is filled with echoey, attractive indie/post-punk pop – packed with tunes, with nods towards psych, noise and shoegaze along the way.
Written, recorded and produced by Wong, he brought a handful of names from the Denver scene, including members of Honey Blazer, Last of the Easy Riders and Kinky Fingers amongst others. Whatever time you’ve got, make some of it available for thus album – you won’t regret it.
In addition, Ryan has given us an exclusive insight in the record track by track, to enjoy and peruse as you listen.
Peace Curls- I have a notebook full of one liners and phrases that I’ll jot down, and this is one that always stuck out. Really hoping it gets used in a surf movie at some point?
Body Contact- Wrote this early on in the pandemic. We recorded the drums on this set my friend found on the street. The kick was an old floor tom, the snare was put on a single Ikea record container. Use what you got!
Doldrums- My buddy Jairo did drums on this one and we recorded it before it was even finished haha. The bridge wasn’t done yet, so we just kind of winged it. Think it came out pretty good considering.
She Plants A Garden– Wrote this for my late grandma. She was a huge plant person, her garden was incredible! I always associate summertime with being a kid and climbing her hill. She had strawberries at the top, so it was like a reward for making it up to the top.
Palace of Oranges- When I first moved to Denver I played a show with Down Time, who are incredible. The singer Alyssa has this voice that is just amazing and so uniquely her. She was kind enough to lend her talents here and I ended up becoming good pals with them. Denver has a lot of great bands and they’re too often slept on!
EastWest- The past year I was reading a lot of books on Asian identity and history (Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong & Making Asian America by Erika Lee were huge for me). I just started scribbling these lines about my experience growing up, and this is what made it through the editing process. This is kind of the mission statement of the band.
Yūrei-I watched Barefoot Gen and was really shaken by the a-bomb scene. It’s probably the most horrifying scene ever. It stuck with me for days, and this song came out of it.
Rain-I’ve had this song for a while, but never found a place for it. I recorded it a few times in different places, but ended up using the demo I recorded years ago.
