With their debut LP Their Prime due out May 25th via Sub Pop Records (Royal Mountain Records in Canada), Vancouver-based indie-punk quartet Jo Passed are sharing a new single & video for “Glass“.
Director John Mutter offers this of the video: “Members of Jo Passed’s lives are turned upside down when they receive some unwanted news. Can they conquer their fears and face their conflict head on?”
Jo has been part of the DIY music scene since his late teens. Initially it was just him and his high school best friend Elliot Langford against the world. They were the “freaky music weirdos” and they began their own band projects. Jo was pretty sure that it would be two of them riding into the sunset – or maybe the gloom – together. Personal circumstances and the phenomenon of the late 20s return of Saturn (for those who believe in astrology) got in the way. Their band Sprïng called it a day. That’s where the life of Jo Passed began. The idea of a band dynamic is far more appealing to Jo than solo projects, and the current incarnation of Jo Passed feels like its most robust yet.
Jo, along with his friend and drummer Mac Lawrie, moved across the country from Vancouver to Montreal. The two would play shows in Montreal and eventually tour the far right corner of North America. Upon Jo’s return to the west coast, multi-instrumentalist Bella Bébé officially joined the band in January of 2016, expanding Jo Passed from trio to a full quartet. Multimedia artist Megan-Magdalena Bourne began working with Jo Passed on a video project for the song “Rage” (from the Out EP). This creative partnership would eventually lead to her taking on the role of bassist for the band.
Their Prime is a record about identity and the loss of time that happens as a direct consequence of being in the city with nowhere to rent, no time outside of employment and no realistic expectations to live up to. It encompasses that fear of being beyond the glory years, the most creatively fruitful period of one’s life. Those years were lost to contemporary struggles for working relationships, home, identity and space. “It’s me owning my worst nightmare,” he admits. “A lot of the Jo Passed project has been about confronting fears. I was afraid to move away from Vancouver to Montreal on my own. Afraid to leave musical relationships I had. Afraid to bare the full responsibility of a project. I’ve been putting out records and not ones anyone’s necessarily heard. Being open about those fears is a good way of dealing with them. You end up at this point where you hit 30 and you’re like, ‘Oh what happened? Am I done? Did I not activate my main creative energy?’ It’s a ridiculous idea but 30 feels a little like 1000 in rock n roll terms.” You can hear the frustrations and the jitters in the crashing loud-and-quiet motifs throughout the album’s twelve tracks, which offer up a patchwork quilt of sound, similar to Faust’s IV or Fugazi’s Red Medicine.
Preorders for Their Prime are now available through Sub Pop and Royal Mountain Records. LP purchases in North America through https://megamart.
See Jo Passed live:
May 12 – Toronto, ON – The Garrison / CMW (Royal Mtn. Records showcase)
May 25 – Vancouver, BC – Red Gate Arts Society
May 27 – Oakland, CA – Starline Social Club
May 28 – Los Angeles, CA – Moroccan Lounge
May 30 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
May 31 – El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace
Jun. 01 – Austin, TX – The Sidewinder
Jun. 02 – Fort Worth, TX – MASS
Jun. 04 – Nashville, TN – The End
Jun. 05 – Durham, NC – The Pinhook
Jun. 06 – Washington, DC – DC9*
Jun. 07 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle*
Jun. 09 – Allston, MA – Great Scott*
Jun. 10 – Providence, RI – Fete Music Hall*
Jun. 11 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz*
Jun. 12 – Ottawa, ON – Makerspace North*
Jun. 13 – Detroit, MI – Marble Bar*
Jun. 14 – Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups*
Jun. 15 – Cincinnati, OH – TBC*
Jun. 16 – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village*
Jun. 17 – Milwaukee, WI – The Cactus Club*
Jun. 18 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club*
Jun. 19 – Winnipeg, MB – The Good Will Social Club
Jun. 20 – Saskatoon, SK – Amigos
Jun. 21-23 – Calgary, AB – Sled Island Festival
Jun. 27 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Jun. 29 – Seattle, WA – Barboza
*w/ Dick Stusso
Jo Passed on Bandcamp
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Jo Passed on Sub Pop Records
