IDIOT JOY...hmmm...born in 1991 in a deserted pig farm near Coventry.The owner had died in a plane crash but he was a sadist so nevermind.The not-as-yet-named band would set up their gear,load in copious amounts of naughties and jam the same riff over and over again till they collapsed in a heap (no change there then!) Johnny and Justin were doing the art school thing in Nottingham, raving at night and listening to the Butthole Surfers, Leonard Cohen and Ivor Cutler in the mornings. Ian and Nick were being village boys near Cov, nicking solvents and sniffing cars, so j and j dragged their juvenile,hairless bodies to the Big City, which they didn't like so Nottingham would have to do...

First gigs were in Solihull,(under the name We Do Crave,featuring Phillip Towell on trumpet)where they went down a storm (and asked to never return) followed by a succession of supports in Notts, where they began to build their enormous fanbase (Tracey and some mates). The pungent mixture of concentrated noise, repetitive vocals and flailing drums was seen as a call-to-arms by the disaffected youth who promptly discarded them and bought House tunes instead. Aah, the fickle nature of fame...

Despite this, the newly named Idiot Joy (after a tune by The Fall) got on with it..highly prolific and oblivious to the music trends that prevailed, they recorded hundreds of 'songs', soundscapes and musical interludes. Realizing that they liked dance shit as well and that it would be quite pleasant to have girls shimmying at their gigs, the band expanded their sound which straight away gained them better and bigger gigs.

Along with a more groove-filled sound, they brought in some new members: Kay(KAOS)on second vocals and 303 Phil on.. 303!

The parties were getting bigger and the authorities had noticed. The Daily Mail and other hate-filled comics decided that ravers and 'New Age' travelers were the reason for societies problems and started putting pressure on the Govt. and the pigs to do something about it, namely shut em down! Idiot Joy found themselves at the vanguard of the 'anti-Criminal Justice Bill' movement playing to huge audiences of disgruntled anarcho's and ravers all round the country with 'Don't believe' becoming their anthem for the time. Boshing their way through roadblocks in Lawrie's bus, the band never missed a date and were always on hand if other bands flaked out..all this activity culminated in a festival-filled 1994, performing endlessly, getting fined at Forest Fayre and Glastonbury for disregarding curfew times repeatedly and Justin and Kay nearly being arrested for indecent exposure at Glasto!! A great year...!

Despite a massive interest in the band, it seemed that they would never get it together to put out a record or get signed up as 1995 would be their last year together (or so they thought). The music scene at the time wasn't conducive or receptive to the moody underground funk thing that Idiot Joy was making so they went their separate ways..for now...

In the 8 years

2003... Justin moved back to Notts after nearly 8 years in London where he, along with Johnny, involved himself in other musical projects (worth mentioning JUNKATEER their dirty funk outfit). Ian had played with endless bands and for a while ran RUBBERNECK RECORDS (with all other members of Idiot Joy at various periods). Nick had carried on producing the occasional tune and child, MARNIE. Three of the band were now in town and were shortly asked to play at Sola Festival, a local and much favoured event. They quickly got together for a couple of rehearsals (one on Nottinghams hottest ever day!), realized that they hadn't forgotten the tunes and in fact were playing them better than ever and went for it at the festie. And that is that. They stormed the event, had great feedback and gig offers...Idiot Joy were back!!!

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Other guest musicians who contributed over the years include; Mothball(saxophone), Phillip Towell(trumpet),Beth(violin), Roy(decks), Tim White(keyboards & percussion).

Whilst not realy a musician, INDY the dog followed us to many a festival gig.

In 2005 Dave Bamford(percussion)joined.

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view slide show of lots of IDIOT JOY pics from over the years

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