TV and film composer Joe Wong branches out with his new album ‘Mere Survival’
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Despite the title of his new album, “Mere Survival,” when it comes to his music career, Los Angeles resident Joe Wong isn’t merely surviving, he’s thriving.
He’s a successful film and TV composer, a podcaster and a multi-instrumentalist and singer who is releasing his sophomore album, a 10-song mix of synthesizer music, electric guitars and psychedelia, on Friday, Feb, 2.
But before that, he’s playing a show with his all-star band the Nite Creatures, and a full orchestra on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles.
“It’s going to be probably the most people ever fit on the stage at Hollywood Forever,” said Wong during a recent phone interview. “Maybe that’s emblematic of some larger part of my psyche where I try to fit as much as I can into one place.” .
And he has fit a lot into his career so far.
Born in Wisconsin, Wong began playing drums in 1991 at the age of 11, just as grunge was dominating the musical landscape. So with rock as his first love, Wong quickly got into several bands and even toured nationally at the age of 17.
“We booked our own shows ourselves as teenagers playing basements, halls, whatever we could find and living off Taco Bell burritos,” Wong recalled.
He eventually earned a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., where he studied jazz performance and music production. He later performed with other bands and artists, most notably as drummer for respected rockers Parts & Labor. He’s also worked with singer-songwriter Marnie Stern, as well as the New York-based New Music collective Wordless Music. He got into his daytime gig as a TV and film composer at the age of 23 when filmmaker friends asked him to write some music for an independent film titled “Yes Men.”
“We had no idea what we were doing really. We didn’t know any of the conventions of film composing, we just kind of figured it out as we went along,” he said.
Wong went on to write music for shows like “Russian Doll,” “Master of None” and the animated series “The Midnight Gospel.” He just scored the Netflix animated show “Carol and the End of the World,” and has a few other TV series in the works. He also hosts a podcast titled “The Trap Set,” which has produced nearly 300 episodes and is about the lives of musicians. Guest have included punk legend Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi, as well as pop stars like Sheila E. and Phil Collins.
But being on stage and creating his own music feeds his personal artistic needs.
“What I figured out is that I wanted to have something where I was the songwriter and I was singing and rather than telling other people’s stories, I wanted to tell my own story,” he said. “So that’s what the first album was and the second album is an extension of that.”
Wong plays guitar, bass, piano, drums and sings on the new album, which he describes as psychedelic orchestral music.
“I feel like I’ve started combining more influences that I’ve metabolized over the years. It’s a little weirder, a little bit spacier, but there’s still that foundation of psychedelic rock,” he said.
He’ll also have a good foundation when he performs later this month with his band Nite Creatures, since the group includes superstar players like former Soundgarden and current Pear Jam drummer Matt Cameron.
Joe Wong and the Nite Creatures
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25
Where: The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 5970 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles
Tickets: $27.50 at Ticketweb.com