Headline: Joyce Manor Release “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” From ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’
Tags: Joyce Manor, Barry Johnson, Chase Knobbe, Matt Ebert, Brett Gurewitz, Bad Religion, Epitaph Records, Mark Chen, Summer Vacation, Winter Break, Jason Link, Rowan Daly, Tony Hoffer, Tom Lord-Alge, Jared Shavelson, David Hidalgo Jr., Joey Waronker, Weezer, John Mulaney, Oasis, M83, Beck, Social Distortion,
Blog Post: Joyce Manor drop “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives”, the opening track from their new album ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’, arriving January 30 via Epitaph Records. The explosive track comes with a black and white performance video directed by Jason Link and Rowan Daly, kicking off a record produced by SoCal punk legend and Epitaph CEO Brett Gurewitz. Barry Johnson explains the song pays tribute to Mark Chen, singer and songwriter for bands Summer Vacation and Winter Break, while the lyrics capture early days of weed clubs when budtenders would share dabs with customers in those Wild West moments before full legalization. The imagery stemmed from Johnson and Chase Knobbe hanging out, drinking and laughing about the dark humor of cash businesses getting robbed, painting a gnarly picture of those chaotic times.
Gurewitz came aboard after Johnson brought him an early mix of first single “All My Friends Are So Depressed” in early 2023, leading the Bad Religion legend to suggest producing the entire album. The Torrance trio of Johnson, Knobbe, and bassist Matt Ebert continue finding rich new veins in their short-and-sweet songcraft without losing the bite that earned their reputation, channeling AFI’s rapid-fire burn, Weezer’s power-pop acumen, and The Smiths’ dusky emotionalism across nine tracks. Gurewitz’s immediacy-first production approach resulted in nonstop fireballs, with the producer working fast to keep things creative and fun while legitimizing the band’s early influences. Mixing pro Tony Hoffer and engineer Tom Lord-Alge, who brought his ‘Enema of the State’ magic to several cuts including “All My Friends Are So Depressed”, joined an all-star crew of collaborators that includes drummers Jared Shavelson, Social Distortion’s David Hidalgo Jr., and Joey Waronker, currently hitting the skins for Oasis’ reunion tour.
‘I Used To Go To This Bar’ follows 2023’s ’40 oz. to Fresno’, which the New York Times praised as a relentlessly tuneful 17-minute collection and Pitchfork called a loving, uncynical refinement of the band’s best. Joyce Manor has stayed busy touring and collaborating with Weezer, making their television debut on Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney performing “Constant Headache”, a song also featured in Season 3 of FX’s The Bear, while celebrating the 10th anniversary of ‘Never Hungover Again’. The new album cements their legacy as California pop-punk royalty, with Gurewitz declaring them a quintessential South Bay punk band writing timeless songs for the American Songbook, comparing Johnson’s writing to Ernest Hemingway while calling them among the most important bands of the last two decades.