Jopy

Asked by a friend to write a song as a Christmas present “about Cannibals that own and operate a pub, eat the customers and get superpowers from eating them”, Jopy - pronounced ‘Joe-Pea’)  returned with ‘Head Hunters Pub and Grub’ - out today (21st May) via Goo Records (Welly, Canned Pineapple, Owners Club, The Stanford Family Band)

  At once a playful B-Movie horror fantasy and a defiant celebration of queer identity, ‘Head Hunters…’ bursts out the starting gates with surging surf-guitars and warbling Marc Bolan-esque vocals; taking inspiration too from the grinning deviance of new wavers like The B-52s and The Cramps. Playing every instrument - as well as producing the track entirely herself - Jopy serves up a glam-speckled anthem for outsiders everywhere, as she explains:

“Head Hunters…’ is about a group of people whose life choices are so far out of the ordinary and yet they have built their own space with its own customs and culture. A big inspiration was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Some people watch it and think "wow what a fun, wacky film". However, I think if you’ve ever been rejected by mainstream society and found community in people who’ve been through the same, then The Rocky Horror Picture Show becomes so much more. I hope Head Hunters is able to tap into a similar feeling and give weirdos like me an escape and put a smile on our faces, even if only for a few minutes."

Growing up in the small town of Guildford - but now based in Brighton - Jopy aka Jo Parnell - has been thinking about music for as long as she can remember. As a trans woman growing up in a town without much in the way queer culture, Jo was acutely aware of the estranged, outsider status pinned upon her. Making the decision to use her music as a conduit to revel in this perceived ‘deviance’ and find subversive pleasure within it, the results are a glittering treasure-trove of unhinged characters, oddball stories and razor-sharp songwriting:“..there’s a certain empowerment you can find in boring people finding your existence offensive…”