Change, Balance, and A New Life

Joudy is a Venezuelan band of cousins who came to New York City to flee the totalitarian regime that took over their homeland. The band talks about how migrating to the United States changed their music, adjusting to a new culture, and share a few live sessions they made since quarantine.

New York City, New York

Who is Joudy and what is your music about?

We are all family (cousins) and started Joudy back in Venezuela in 2005 as a grunge band. At first it was just for fun and now has become a life project. Our music talks about the things we experience in the moment . With time, it will only tell one story, our journey of life

Joudy originally began in Venezuela; why did the band migrate to the United States? What was (is) going on in Venezuela that caused the move?

We all migrated to the states for the same reason but at different times. Venezuela is a beautiful country but making a life had been getting harder and harder throughout the years. It got worse when Nicolas Maduro turned Venezuela into a totalitarian state; the economy collapsed more than ever and the insecurity of being on the streets went to another level. For independent young artists, it is almost impossible to make your projects/dreams turn into a lifestyle. We came to the United States to expand our opportunities and try our best exploring each one of them. Life itself in Venezuela is very difficult. The day to day is a nightmare. I can't even explain that in words you have to experience it.

How did this affect the band and the members as individuals? What kind of emotional impact did this have?

It was really hard for us to focus as a band and come up with new ideas that we would all feel comfortable with. In the deep search, we went through many changes and mutations; was hard to find a middle point between the old sound and the new sound. Joudy used to be 5 members back in Venezuela but everybody started moving out of the country. We were dead almost for 3 years until we got reunited in the states we and then had to adjust to that new alignment.

As individuals, the migration process affected each of us in our own way. Adapting to a new life was tough, especially after leaving everything behind, but after all of that it feels like we have been reborn. The language barrier took us about a year to break through and learn how to express ourselves in the way that would connect with people and express our feelings in another culture. Literally, we think that we built a new personality of life/work/relationships/friends/love/hate/culture and the city shaped us in a different way.

How has the experience influenced your music?

The sound is more aggressive than it was before. Music is how we channel our anger and anxiety for sure! It feels like therapy. We are from a small city in the Andes range and NYC is pretty gray with a lot of concrete, bricks, and asphalt and sometimes it makes us feel that we are in “Gotham City” (especially in winter). This drove us into darker chords in our composition but the lyrics would contrast that with positive messages and good energy. You know It’s like life in New York – can give a lot of love and joy but at the same time can bring you to the ground really hard. It is a good balance. In our previous albums, lyrics were loaded with anger and music more digestible. If Joudy must be labeled in a music genre we could say heavy psycho.

How is life in New York City?

Life is good in the city, we love it here. We love how New York vibrates. It’s stunning, in a good way, how people have welcomed our music even know that Joudy’s lyrics are in Spanish. We made good friends going to shows and playing in bars. Some of those friendships are part of our daily life now.

The music scene is incredible! There are so many good projects out there right now and you can find any kind of genre of music. Everybody is cooking something. This is a very proactive scene and motivating and inspiring. When shows used to happen, sometimes you would never know what the next band was going to play.

What's next for Joudy?

A new album is coming! We started working on it at the beginning of the quarantine. Our goal is to start recording by the end of this year, so it might be done by late spring in 2021. It will be our third LP. Honestly, this new chapter makes us feel super excited and anxious at the same time! It's been almost 4 years since we released our last LP. We are kinda challenging ourselves at this time.

Edited By Gabriel Gavidia and Hana Porter Videographer: Carlos Rey, Johann Sanchez, Gabriel Gavidia

Produced by WAAH Recorded by Johann Sanchez, Diego Ramirez Mixed by Diego Ramirez Mastered by Brok Mende Cameras: Lluvia PM, Daniel Ramirez, Miguel Gonzalez,...