PAL, a four-piece band with members from Cleveland and Akron, recorded and mixed its debut EP within one month last year.
The seven songs on “PALS” total around 12 minutes. The process of putting the release together and its sound capture the spirit of a punk-rock subgenre called egg punk.
Whereas traditional punk is considered aggressive, political and rebellious, egg punk is more satirical, danceable and rooted in the DIY ethos. Akron New Wave legends DEVO are regarded as godfathers of the genre.
PAL singer and keyboardist Maureen Joyce said she started listening to egg punk around 2019 and wrote her first song, “Burger Boy.”
“At the time, it was just kind of like a joke song,” she said. “I really didn't think it belonged anywhere. I started listening to more egg punk and more bands that aren't afraid to do stuff like that, and people were liking it. And I found that there was actually a place for that kind of stuff.”
PAL’s debut EP has gained attention in the punk community. The longtime San Francisco-based publication Maximum Rocknroll named the band one of its favorites of 2023.
“This was our first release ever, and that's just crazy. Going from feeling so low about these songs and thinking that there's absolutely no audience for them to seeing that we made these lists with our first release,” Joyce said. “That blows my mind every day.”
Bringing friends together to become PAL
Joyce is recognized throughout the Northeast Ohio music scene as a drummer for bands like Swell Tides and Language.
She met Jake Schott of Roid Rage, an Akron-based garage punk band, and said a friendship instantly blossomed. She sent Schott a song she wrote, "Garbage Man,” which kicked off a new era in their musical endeavors.
“A couple days later, he sent it back with this guitar part on top of it, and my jaw dropped,” Joyce said. “That was when PAL was born."
Joyce and Schott decided to team up to write more songs together.
“We did it all in Jake’s loft at his apartment in like a day,” Joyce said.
While Joyce is typically posted up behind a drum kit, she experimented with electronic drums for her PAL songs, which sped up the recording process.
“One of the good things about doing it ourselves is we can really just go at our own pace, and that actually helps get it done quicker,” Schott said.
Joyce and Schott picked a release date for the album, which helped keep them motivated to finish the EP. After recording, they worked with Akron studio Electric Company to mix and master the songs.
“We kind of saw this deadline really fast approaching, and it kind of gave us a kick in the butt to do it all,” Joyce said.
Joyce said many of the lyrics on “PALS” are intentionally “goofy” and “cheesy,” intended to put a smile on people’s faces.
“My aunt told me when I showed her, I think, ‘Burger Boy’ or ‘Professor Forehead,’ she told me that if they played those songs in prisons, there would be no more crime,” Joyce said.
Weaved among those “joke songs” are some serious moments that Joyce said were inspired by her bouts with depression and experiences with ADHD.
“I got diagnosed with ADHD when I was 23, so I was just kind of learning, you know, the ropes of that and realizing how much it affects my life and my day-to-day,” she said.
The track “Short Circuit” was written about her executive dysfunction and struggling to prioritize tasks.
“I would often say in those times that my brain feels like it's short circuiting,” she said.
Joyce is the band’s primary lyricist, with Schott defining the band’s sound with skillful, punk-inspired guitar with a twist.
“I wanted to go for a very unique, different tone and write something unique and different,” Schott said.
Adam Atkinson on bass and Mario Slagle on drums round out the quartet. Joyce played with Atkinson in Swell Tides, and Slagel’s fast and tight drumming style takes PAL’s recorded songs to a new level on stage.
Embracing visual aesthetics to create onstage personas
The band performs in matching outfits and sunglasses, which Joyce said not only aligns with the band's music style but also provides a sort of mask and allows the members to adopt onstage personas.
“Definitely a DEVO inspiration with the jumpsuits, but it's generally just like a uniform to kind of take out one less stressor before a show. I'm a whole different person in my PAL uniform than I am in my normal day-to-day,” she said.
Joyce started wearing sunglasses on stage, which she got from her father, who worked in HVAC and wore them on the job. She said wearing the glasses has made it easier for her to transition from a drummer who sang occasionally in previous bands to the frontwoman of PAL.
“I have really bad anxiety. I don’t like making eye contact with people. I don’t like trying to figure out where to look,” she said. “It’s cool, just like embodying this different personality on stage for those 30 minutes.”
PAL shows are energetic and highly visual, sometimes including multimedia components and choreographed dance routines.
Joyce designs posters, stickers and T-shirts for the band in addition to creating music, which she said allows her to express her comedic side and personality in different ways.
“I’m a very visual person. I think that goes along with my neurodivergence,” Joyce said. “I like the stimulation of it, and really, with listening to music, I like when there’s something also to look at.”
"My aunt told me when I showed her, I think 'Burger Boy' or 'Professor Forehead,' that if they played those songs in prisons, there would be no more crime."Maureen Joyce
PAL performed a Christmas EP release show last December, which included winter merch adorned with their signature smiley face band logo.
The band’s holiday-themed album includes a cover of “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, another irreverent Akron New Wave band that PAL cites as an inspiration.
“I love Christmas. That’s my favorite time of year. I love Christmas music,” Joyce said. “I love that it’s just like an excuse to write more and cover some of the best songs ever written that society tells us we can only listen to during a certain part of the year, but I do year-round.”
Schott said the band decided to put out a Christmas album and gave themselves another fast deadline to get it done.
“Kind of similar to our other releases,” Schott said. “Christmas was coming up and we wanted to make a Christmas album, and yeah, we recorded that pretty fast.”
Joyce said she was sick while recording the “Christmas Majic” EP, but the voice cracks added to the band’s distinct sound.
“We’re goofy. We like to have fun. We’re not super serious,” she said.
Touring and working on new music
Since the band’s formation and breakout in 2023, they’ve been invited to play shows outside of Northeast Ohio and record split releases with other bands.
Joyce and Schott said they were both blown away by the praise for their debut EP and want to keep the momentum going.
“I recorded some things in the past, but this was my first time doing a release that was going to go out in the world and felt like maybe a lot of people are going to listen to it,” Schott said.
In April, PAL will join Science Man on a U.S. and Canada tour. They plan to take a short break to focus on writing songs for a full-length album later this year.
“We have people that have reached out saying that they’re really excited to see us, that we’re finally coming to their city,” Joyce said. “These songs that I had written or just thought were like joke songs that no one really cared about, I'm realizing are special to people. And it just makes me so excited to write more, knowing that there are people out there that like my weird ideas.”
