A Brief Biography of You Just Don't
In 2005, Joshua Manis watched the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape? When he heard Gilbert say, "You don't hurt Arnie; you just don't," Josh immediately decided what to call his solo project.
At that time, Josh was playing in the Knoxville, TN based band Capulet and writing songs on his acoustic guitar in his spare time. After Capulet dissolved, he started Gamenight with his brother, Brandon, and friends Robby and Caleb. His writing, in collaboration with is band mates, spawned Gamenight’s debut release on The New Beat Records entitled, Simple Starts in the Mind. Through all of this, Josh continued writing You Just Don’t songs. He recorded rough demos in 2005 and 2006, but he longed to write and record a full length You Just Don’t album, performing all the instrumentation.
"Some of the songs I write fit in better with a full band, and others I just see as having a rawer, more acoustic type of sound. I personally feel that being a part of both Gamenight and You Just Don’t really helps my songwriting. In Gamenight, we write collaboratively, which is really fun and challenging. Writing You Just Don’t songs by myself challenges me in a completely different way."
In 2007 and 2008, Josh made Gamenight his primary priority along with finishing school at Middle Tennessee State University. Gamenight went on a month and a half-long tour with best friends Mouth Movements in the summer of 2007. This experience provided Josh some new material about which to write new songs.
After Gamenight’s first national tour, Josh began recording what would be a full length You Just Don’t album with Robert Koons from The New Beat Records. Conflicting schedules caused them to scrap the tracks they had recorded. “I enjoyed working with Rob, but I lived three hours from him when we were trying to record. We just couldn’t find enough time to finish the project.”
That winter, Josh purchased his first ProTools rig, and his roommate, Stenson Cole, let him borrow his condenser microphone. Throughout 2008, Josh recorded five songs. Most of the recording was done in his apartment in Murfreesboro, TN, and at his house in Knoxville, TN. He also recorded some additional tracks with his friend Warren Witten in Studio B on MTSU’s campus. By the first of 2009, Josh had those five songs recorded, mixed, and mastered.
On May 26, 2009, Missing Words Records is releasing Josh’s self-recorded You Just Don’t songs on a split with Ventura, California’s The Ashtray Life. The split is titled, Monsters and Bird Monsters. The Ashtray Life is Derek Jennings’ (of The Return) solo project. His five songs that will appear on the split are also self-recorded.
Josh plans to perform around the southeast in the summer of 2009. In the fall of 2009, Josh is going to try to start touring for a week or two every couple months.
For more information, visit missingwords.com.
