The Importance of Connection, Fire Hazards, and Brotherly Love with Joyer

Nick and Shane Sullivan, the duo behind Joyer, hail from the east coast, where they craft their atmospheric, noisy, melodies. The duo started releasing music back in 2017 and have been busy writing, recording, and touring since.  Joyer's latest album, On the Other End of the Line..., explores the contrast between the isolation and connection that the duo faces as touring musicians. The album reflects on the universal themes of the impact of loneliness and the importance of interaction. Joyer kindly joined me after their show at Mahall's with Teethe and villagerrr on December 10 to chat about their lives and their music. 

What inspired you to create On the Other End of the Line...?

[Nick] It comes from our experiences as musicians. We would go from spending so much time on tour together and with our closest friends to going and being away from each other in an instant. It is strange. I think we both kind of felt isolated in the places we were living in at the time. I lived in New York and Philly and Shane lived in Boston. Everyone Shane knew in Boston left, and I was new to Philly, so the album reflects having these great experiences as a band, and then having to separate and endure these weird periods of isolation.

[Shane] It’s like living two lives in a way. We come together for tour and are together nonstop for weeks, being around our favorite people and meeting all sorts of new ones, but then are sent back to our everyday lives once it is over. I guess it is about the dichotomy of these experiences. It is a weird contrast of isolation and being overwhelmed by all of the connections happening around you all of the time. We were thinking about those experiences for the new album. 

Naming the album

[Nick] It came from the song “Cure,” which teases those ideas of seeking connection in various places and all the interactions we have with strangers. We thought that lyric encapsulated all of these ideas on the album. 

Is there a track you are most proud of from On the Other End of the Line...?

[Nick] Hm. There’s a lot for different reasons, but I’d say “At the Movies” stands out to me. “At the Movies” came out how we wanted it to, start to finish from our heads to the recording. It was cool to have that control. It kind of reflects all of the things we want to do, but don’t necessarily achieve, but were able to accomplish with this track. 

[Shane] A lot of the songs were tricky because we had very specific ideas for them, but they’d be really hard to tease out in the studio. The ones that took more time to experiment with are the most satisfying for sure. The amount of work we had to put into them to have them come out the way we were thinking of while writing is really rewarding in the end. 

What does your songwriting process look like?

[Nick] A lot of the time it will start with the guitar parts that we come up with separately. Eventually we come together and flesh them out. Other times, we will just be jamming and we come up with an idea. Whoever comes up with the lyrics for the song is usually the one who does the vocals. I guess sometimes we will collaborate, but usually the vocals are singular to who is writing. 

On The Road Again

[Nick] We had a tour in October and into November, but this is our first show of the second leg. We had a little break in between, which was nice. It’s our first time playing a lot of these songs live, which is exciting for sure.

[Shane] We haven’t played a lot of live shows this year. Our first show was in October. Our main focus was getting the album out this year. It feels good to be out and playing the new songs. 

Do you have a favorite show you’ve played?

[Nick] Oh man, so many fun ones. This one feels really special because we go back pretty far with Teethe and we love villagerrr, so it’s been nice. 

[Shane] We played an album release show in New York, which was about a month ago. That one was really special because it had been months since we played there and in a way it felt like a homecoming show. We had some special friends play and open for us, and all of our friends and family were there. It was really nice.

Do you have a favorite song to perform live?

[Nick] Recently, I’ve really enjoyed playing “I Know Your Secret.” It has a fun rhythm and you can be loud with it. Everyone has a moment to shine on it, which is cool. Since it’s just the two of us in the actual band, when we play live, we try to make it feel harmonious as a live band of four.

[Shane] I would probably say the song “Test.” That was the first song we did tonight. It has so many parts that go all over the place, so it is easy to fall apart (Night Songs reference :o) and turn into a mess. But, when it goes right, it is very satisfying to play. 

[Nick] We are really close with the rest of the band, we’re all friends. Jake, our bass player, actually played on On the Other End of the Line..., which is the first time he’s played on one of our albums. He wasn’t necessarily part of the writing process, but it was coming down to the wire and we needed someone to record with us and he knew all the parts, so it was really cool. 

Henry is our drummer, he is just along for the ride, but he adds a lot to our lives and our shows.

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?

[Nick] Maybe Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band because there is so much variety. And every song is really good.

[Shane] I’m going to say Iowa Dream by Arthur Russell. It’s a really long album and there's so many songs that are truly so good. There’s also a lot of variety, he crosses into so many different genres and does a great job with all of them. 

If you had to describe your music as a Spotify daylist, what adjectives would you use?

[Nick] Fun guitar music.

[Shane] Scrappy brother indie rock. 

What is the most scared you’ve ever been?

[Nick] Okay, so I want to say this was two years ago, on Christmas Eve. We went to visit family and then I remembered that I put cookies in the oven earlier that morning and never took them out. We were convinced our house was actively burning down. But, it turns out I never actually turned the oven on. That’s why it never beeped or anything and I never thought to take it out. So two very stupid moves on my part, but there was a good hour where we were speeding home, waiting to see if our house was still going to be there. 

[Shane] Oh that was scary, especially because our childhood dog was in the house. But he was okay. In that same house, one time I got locked outside in my underwear. It’s a suburban area, and I didn’t have a way back in, so I went over and knocked on my neighbor’s door. They had all of their lights on and a ring doorbell and everything, but when they saw me they turned all of their lights off. Nick came out and saved me though.

“The backside of the billboard has a lot of information

About where to go when you can't lose all the things you kept inside for so long

And if you might call them you might make yourself a new friend

Or at least someone you can talk to for the remainder of the night

And I might just think

Of something that might

Just charm the stranger on the other end of the line”

“Cure” from On the Other End of the Line... (2025)