Southern California punk trio Joyce Manor have unveiled I Know Where Mark Chen Lives, the opening track and latest single from their forthcoming album I Used To Go To This Bar, due out January 30 via Epitaph Records. The release offers the first proper glimpse into a record that finds the band both reconnecting with their roots and sharpening the lean, melodic attack that has defined their career for more than a decade.
The song arrives alongside a stark black and white performance video directed by Jason Link and Rowan Daly. Shot with an unvarnished, live-in-the-room energy, the clip mirrors the urgency of the track itself, Joyce Manor sounding tight, restless and unmistakably themselves.
Frontman Barry Johnson says the song title is a nod to a songwriter he has long admired. “Mark Chen was a singer and songwriter for the bands Summer Vacation and Winter Break, which didn’t get quite as popular as they deserved to. I just love Mark’s songwriting and voice,” Johnson explains. From there, the lyrics took a darker and more absurd turn, inspired by late nights spent with guitarist Chase Knobbe. “Lyrically, the song was inspired by Chase and I hanging out, drinking and smoking weed and laughing about stuff,” Johnson says, recalling conversations about the early days of legal cannabis clubs in California. “Dabs are insanely gnarly… That’s the imagery of the song, those early days when weed was still not super fully legal. It was like the Wild West, a little bit. And yeah, that just gave me a chuckle because it’s really dark and brutal.”
I Used To Go To This Bar was produced by Brett Gurewitz, the Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records founder whose fingerprints are all over the history of Southern California punk. Working with Gurewitz places Joyce Manor firmly within a lineage that stretches back to the genre’s modern foundations, while also highlighting how far the band has travelled since forming in Torrance in 2008.
Comprised of Johnson, Knobbe and bassist Matt Ebert, Joyce Manor have built a reputation on short, sharp songs that waste no time getting to the point. Across their catalogue, they have balanced confessional lyricism with explosive hooks, drawing on the melodic instincts of power pop and the emotional directness of classic alternative rock. On I Used To Go To This Bar, that approach sounds bigger and more direct than ever, without sacrificing the immediacy that first set them apart.
The new album follows 2022’s 40 Oz. To Fresno, a tightly packed release that reaffirmed Joyce Manor’s ability to do more in under 20 minutes than many bands manage across a double album. Since then, the trio have remained highly visible, touring extensively, sharing stages with Weezer, making their television debut performing Constant Headache, and marking the 10-year anniversary of their breakthrough Never Hungover Again. That 2014 album proved to be a turning point, pushing Joyce Manor beyond cult status and into the broader alternative conversation, while retaining their fiercely DIY ethos.
Sessions for I Used To Go To This Bar saw the band expand their collaborative circle. The album was mixed by Tony Hoffer, known for his work across alternative and indie rock, while Tom Lord-Alge brought his trademark clarity and punch to several tracks, including earlier single All My Friends Are So Depressed. The record also features a rotating cast of drummers, including touring member Jared Shavelson, David Hidalgo Jr. from Social Distortion, and Joey Waronker. For Ebert, the approach reflects the reality of the band’s chemistry. “Over the last 16 years, it’s very much felt like the three of us have this chemistry of playing music together,” he says. “It made sense to forge forward as the three of us and figure out the drummer situation as we go.”
With I Know Where Mark Chen Lives setting the tone, I Used To Go To This Bar shapes up as a confident statement from a band fully comfortable with its place in the modern punk landscape.
I Used To Go To This Bar Track List
I Know Where Mark Chen Lives
Falling Into It
All My Friends Are So Depressed
Well, Whatever It Was
I Used To Go To This Bar
After All You Put Me Through
The Opossum
Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?
Grey Guitar
Joyce Manor is Barry Johnson, Matt Ebert and Chase Knobbe.
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