For all booking inquires, please email "newspaperjoe1980@gmail.com". Thanks!
"The new 9-song album by Newspaper Joe, "Sad Bastard Routine" is a collection of music made by old friends in the heart of rural NY but it takes numerous routes rather than just the rootsy dirt road as its predecessor, "Lazarus, Gin, Mercy and Sin" did. Pulling from the same hard-hitting lyricism found on "Lazarus", "Sad Bastard" brings us new characters and new places. The album opener "Jackie & The Drums" paints the picture of the Colorado Rockies, where two struggling drifters watch their relationship crumble over distance, differences and vices, while songs like "City Clinic" pound out almost mechanical rhythms, chanting about the strange and somewhat frightening facets of modern medicine. Whether its a country kid's take on Kraut-Rock, Joe's obvious nod and love to the old-school mentality of four-on-the-floor punk rock ethos, or a gaggle of old friends screaming, literally screaming, into the mic about giant waves and kissing your lover before that last big one hits, one thing's for certain with "Sad Bastard Routine," Newspaper Joe might still be a grim SOB when he takes stock in whats going on all around him, but he sure as hell isn't going to take it lying down."
Bio:Born in New Jersey, raised in Upstate NY ( REAL upstate, not 30-minutes-outside-of-NYC-upstate ) and set adrift for a few years building up boxes of 4-track tape and noisey demos recorded on cheap computers, Newspaper Joe (birth name Mike Clark) is currently a NJ-based artist who performs often in NYC. His "story" plays out better in his songs than it does as a stretched out narrative. Its culmlative years of living and breathing things like uncertainty, curiosity, romanticism, political idealism and even, at times, wreckless self-abandon. The lyrics could often embody any person who's on the hunt for that next catharsis that is either going to leave them catatonic, or sparked with the notion that it's time to get the fuck out of Dodge.
Note: Myspace is a fairly lousy website, owned by fairly shady people. If you are interested in keeping up with Newspaper Joe shows, recordings and other goings on, feel free to visit newspaperjoe.com anytime.
Press reviews/testimonials on Newspaper Joe:
From JezebelMusic.com:
"His gritty approach to singing and guitar playing recalls the working class realism of old Walker Evans photographs."
From TimeOut NY:
"Sounds like a dash of Johnny Cash.mixed in with a little Bob Dylan."
--Roxana Marroquin
From the Schenectady Daily Gazette:
"His sound is what all great folk/alt-country should be: earthy, pastoral, catchy, bittersweet and understated."
--Philip Schwartz
From the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:
"Newspaper Joe doesn't just perform - he shakes the house and brings it down. It's impossible to stand there and idly watch his live show. Take a look
around the room, and it's a pretty sure bet you'll see people singing along,
clapping their hands, stomping their feet, or even jumping on stage to grab
an instrument and join the irresistable rhythm."
--Pete Borrelli
"I've heard of how some actors and artists
method act' in order to bring their roles to life.
And this research is vital in order to create the illusion
believable for the audience. I dub Mike's efforts as 'method-living'. "
--Bryon Parker: Western Tape, Raleigh and Lava Remnants band member-performer.
