They got us love somebody like them after surrounding our malls with EDM during the Holiday season.
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While a medley of Christmas songs typically plays in the background as you hop through each store completing your gift list and getting your last-minute holiday picks, Ayala Malls charges through with musical choices to make your activities more merry. Recently, Arkansas-based indie and electro pop duo, Joan and Honne went all out for their seven-day Ayala Malls tour, which was perfect seeing as how Filipino culture would suggest, we do almost everything in our malls, where we can also enjoy some serious serenading from artists this season.
Candidly kidding how they thought there will be just 50 or less people watching them perform here, Joan never knew about their following in the Philippines until they first performed in Wanderland and checked their Spotify streaming statistics. “We looked through our Spotify data and Quezon City is our top streaming city in the entire world,” shares Alan Thomas.
It’s all about the right collaboration for Alan Thomas and Steven Rutherford, as well as getting inspiration from exploration and behind-the-scenes production. “Recently, I’ve been personally inspired by Mike Crossey, Lewis Bell, and Selena Gomez,” divulged Alan. “We are traveling more than we ever have to experience different cultures,” adds Steve.
It was personal influence that took them to strum the guitar and beat the drums, which finally landed them in 80s-themed music. “There was this era of film in America that really inspired me growing up, and I can’t really pinpoint why I love both the acting and the piece of 80s American culture. Some of the sounds and melodies gravitated from that,” says Alan. “You are your influences. You’re always going to have some of that in your creative process.”
While some people would associate their music with those of Lany and The 1975, they take it as a compliment and work twice as hard for people to see them as ‘Joan’ and not any similar artists. “I would hope that we’re all carving out our own little spaces and music. You’re going to pull from things you love.” When asked who they want to collaborate with soon, without any hesitation, they dreamed and wanted it to be Coldplay.
After their seven-day tour, fans are already looking forward on what to expect from the duo. While the two would stick to dropping singles for the mean time, they do have great news for their fans. “We definitely have new music coming and we just announced our first headline tour, which is next February,” adds Alan. Exciting things are definitely on the corner for the duo, and we are just as hyped as they are.
