Joey Only

Joey Only is a Canadian singer/songwriter of the anti-folk genre, though he disapproves of being labelled as such for he prefers to be called Outlaw music. His songs tend to be often either very political in nature (especially in reference to B.C. and Ontario provincial politics) or about drinking, robbing banks, small town history, marijuana, cross country travel and country living. He is known as a radio personality on Vancouver's Co-op Radio 102.7FM after hosting Sound Resistance since 2003. He's acted as a booking agent and promoter while having been hired as a studio musician capable of playing bass, double bass, guitars, harmonica's, pedal steel and drums.
Joey traditionally performed his own act solo using a guitar, harmonica, whistling, and foot-stomping (which he often prefers to mic). His solo act was furious and edgy enough to catch a loud bars attention. But more often he is found playing in a full band known as Joey Only Outlaw Band. The Outlaws have played about 400 shows in Western Canada while Joey Only has played an additional 500 shows solo and many more in other bands.
In 2010 he released his fifth recording called Transgression Trail with the Joey Only Outlaw Band backing him. Other albums included: Radical Folk of the Great North (2004), Quesnel County Country Punk Conspiracy (2005), Joey Only Outlaw Band EP (2006) and Fire on Anarchist Mountain (2008). In 2007 film producer Ryan McCann helped him create a rockumentary on his cross-Canada tours called No Glamrock Country Star. Transgression Trail was produced by Corwin Fox and Steve Loree who is best known for producing/engineering Corb Lund's first album Unforgiving Mistress. Transgression Trail was in the Top 10 of Earshot Folk/Roots/Blues charts in Canada for 6 weeks making it as high as No. 2 for two weeks and finding themselves in weekly entertainment magazines in many major cities. To support the release of Transgression Trail the Outlaw Band played over 50 shows in 65 days in Western Canada and then made plans to tour the east extensively in the Fall.
Having come from a small-town background of punk rock, his music is in line with anarchism and his fan base tends to be either anarcho-punks, hippies, protesters and peace advocates (although he has a growing number of listeners in the country music crowd as well), taking influence from Waylon Jennings, Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and Johnny Cash among others. Joey has performed with many of the artists from Riot Folk including Evan Greer, David Rovics and Anne Feeney as well as Buffy St.Marie, Fred Eaglesmith, Geoff Berner, Rae Spoon, Wax Mannequin, Linda McRae (formerly of Spirit in the West), Denis Delorme (of Prairie Oyster), Washboard Hank, Kent McCalister, Aurora Jane, the Creepshow and Kevin Kane. Joey Only has been on extensive tours with Anne Feeney, Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies, Rae Spoon, The Re-mains and Gertrude while filling in for Arizona's Traveler on electric bass.
Joey Only grew up near the infamous Spiderland Acres in Marmora Ontario where an old man named Spider put on large parties called Punkfest until his death in 2009 at the age of 73. Joey Only is therefore also known for playing at punk rock and heavy metal shows, and has played with numerous famous underground bands including Mass Grave, Rebel Spell, Mechanical Separation, Leper, The Business Associates, Poseur Disposer, The Switchblade Valentines, The McGillicudy's, Meat of Mankind, Mitochondrion, BUNCHOFUCKINGOOFS, Knifehammer, The Tups, HippieCritz, Subhumans, the Ripcordz and many others. His first band was a popular but controversial Ontario punk band called the Persecuted (1995-1998) though he played with numerous punk bands such as Bloodthirst, Four Quarters, The Arrested and Fart Bomb Apartment. Joey Only has also done a split CD with a punk band from Quesnel called the Effigy. More recently his new rockabilly country band JOEY ONLY OUTLAW BAND has done a series of shows with Vancouver's THE REBEL SPELL while being seen at Vancouver's Punk bar (The Cobalt), Montreal's Punk Bar (Cafe Chaos), Spiderland Punkfest (Killaloe Ontario), the Punk Night in Whistler BC and more. For several years the Outlaw Band has worked out of the Palomino in Calgary during the Stampede putting on some wild shows to wild crowds. Joey Only often appeals to punk and hippies more than the average country music fan, though that is changing.
Joey has had numerous run-ins with the law and for this reason has often called himself "Outlaw Folk" instead of Anti-Folk. Most of these run-ins are due to his days as a protester. Due to charges of mischief and unlawful assembly from a protest in Montreal put on by the C.L.A.C., at which Joey Only was accused of smashing the windows of luxury cars, Joey Only has been banned by court order from attending protests until his court and probation was finished in May 2007. As well in the past Joey was not allowed to go to Vancouver Island, B.C. due to charges received there when several welfare advocates barricaded themselves in a Human Resources building to fight a series of cruel and unusual cuts to BC Disability Benefits by the Gordon Campbell government. The action was ended by a bath of pepper spray from Victoria Police. Both of these events are logged on his website and mentioned in songs.
Since the spring of 2006, Joey Only has been touring with THE JOEY ONLY OUTLAW BAND now consisting of fiddle (Jeff Andrew), accordion (Rowan Lipkovits), drums (Kenan Sungur), double bass (Justine Fischer), Tambourine/back-up vocals (Leah Martin) and steel guitar (Mike Zinger). The Outlaws played 150 shows in less than two years while Joey Only maintained a series of solo shows around the country. The Outlaws headlined the Artswells Festival in Barkerville, BC in August 2008 raising their growing profile considerably. They have toured through all parts of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan and have become one of the fastest and most psychedelic country bands Canada has ever seen reaching No. 8 on the Canadian College folk and roots charts in January 2007, the first time Joey saw any real radio success.
Discography
*Radical Folk of the Great North (CD) - 2004
*Quesnel County Country Punk Conspiracy (split CD with Effigy) - 2005 - out of print
*Joey Only Outlaw Band EP (CD) 2006
*Joey Only Outlaw Bad LIVE AT THE LAMP (DVD) - 2007
*No Glamrock Country Star (DVD/Documentary) - 2007
*Transgression Trail (CD)- 2010

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