Charleston based gritty, melodious 90s era pop punk rockers JAY PARADE say they are obviously ripping off bands like Green Day, Blink 182, and Alkaline Trio, but they areway more than that. Their new album “Sixty-One” is coming out July 3rd and today we’re stoked to give you their new single “Jay Charade”, following previously released, highly enjoyable ear-worms “Timeout” and “Destroyer”, also available below.
The themes on the album range from serious, such as divorce and the death of loved ones, to light and self deprecating. We caught up with the band to give some more details behind their work, and give us their take on the current Coronavirus situation.
“If their eclectic set doesn’t bring a smile to your face and get your tired bones shaking, you may want to consult a physician.” Steve Wandling, Charleston Music and Arts Collective
Jay Parade are a three piece punk band from Charleston, WV. The band began playing together as teenagers when they were members of their high school’s show choir back up band.
After high school, the three friends went their separate ways, but reconnected in late 2016. The group started writing, rehearsing, and made their public debut in October 2017. Jay Parade released their first EP, Crying Over Spilt Coffee, in March 2018.
We are a three piece punk band from Charleston, WV. We began playing together as teenagers when twe were members of their high school’s show choir back up band. After high school, we went our separate ways, but reconnected in late 2016. We started writing, rehearsing, and made our public debut in October 2017. We released our first EP, Crying Over Spilt Coffee, in March 2018.
Sonically, Jay Parade are reminiscent of other punk power trios. Green Day, Alkaline Trio, and Jawbreaker are cited as some of the band’s biggest influences. The band also incorporates some ska and progressive elements to round out their sound. Jay Parade recently finished recording their first full length LP which will be released July 3, 2020.
We’re all in our early 30s, so in terms of the average lifespan, we have about 61% of our lives left. When we were trying to come up with the name of the album, we noticed growing up was a theme that kept popping up in a few songs. The first two singles off the album, ‘Timeout’ and ‘Destroyer’ are prime examples. ‘Timeout’ is about moving through your 20s and thinking you know how life is going to go. Then before you realize it, you’re 30 and nothing went the way you planned. ‘Destroyer’ deals with infidelity, divorce, and all the fun that brings. The album also has lighter moments. ‘Jay Charade’ is a self deprecating song highlighting our first year as a band. ‘FPLGP’ is political satire reminiscent of 80s hardcore.
We were to play a couple festivals in May. We also had a tour planned in late June with an album release show July 3rd, but with shows being canceled for the time being, all of that is up in the air. We had our last show March 14th and our governor closed bars the following week. A few surrounding states had already closed bars. We’ve been promoting the album hard across social media since we can’t get out any to play. We’ve started doing acoustic versions of our songs and covers and posting those as well.
Charleston, West Virginia local scene
The Charleston is small and close knit. Everyone knows everyone. We all try to support each other. You usually run into the same circle of people at every show. West Virginia is a pretty rural state so it’s a pretty determined group of people that go out to bars to see a show. A local group of musicians and artists recently founded the Charleston Music and Arts Collective, with the purpose of forming an all ages performance venue. We were involved with the first incarnation of the venue, before it was closed due to issues with the building’s owner. They’re hosting a benefit festival to raise money to fight opiate abuse in May at their new venue. We will be playing if the show if the event is able to be held.
Other WV bands worth a check
Time and Distance is a band from our area that we suggest everyone check out. Greg McGowan, the front man for the band, engineered and produced our upcoming album and our first EP. They sound good and he makes us sound good so we can’t say enough good things about them.
Jerks are another area band that just put out their debut EP. They’re high energy punk rock and always put on a show.
Lastly, The Jasons are probably the most entertaining band from WV. They’re Ramones-core punk and each member of the band is a different incarnation of Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies.
