Biography
Inspired by insufficient intersectionality within Britain's grassroots punk community, Big Joanie came together to correct that imbalance. The London trio fused sixties girl-group tunefulness with riot grrrl defiance, introducing Black feminist punk into a scene long dominated by white male participants through their 2018 debut Sistahs and the 2022 follow-up Back Home.
The group's origins trace to a 2013 online notice placed by Stephanie Phillips, who sought fellow Black women interested in forming a feminist punk outfit that would confront the movement's homogeneity. Kiera Coward-Deyell took up bass, Chardine Taylor-Stone handled drums, and Phillips assumed lead guitar. Naming themselves after Phillips' mother Joan, the three made their first appearance at the cooperatively operated DIY Space for London's First Timers event. Later that year they issued the lo-fi instrumental single "Out in the Country," which gave scant preview of their eventual direction. Their 2014 release, the four-track Sistah Punk EP, expanded the sound, yet 2016's Crooked Room—issued on their own Sistah Punk Records—represented the clearest step forward. From the title track's gradual, minimal construction to an angular reinterpretation of TLC's "No Scrubs," the record established the band's singular identity. In 2017 Coward-Deyell relocated to Scotland; Estella Adeyeri stepped in on bass. That same year the group joined American punk band Downtown Boys for a United Kingdom tour. Building on that visibility, Big Joanie recorded their first full-length with producer Margo Broom of Fat White Family; Daydream Library, run by Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz, released Sistahs in 2018. The album paid tribute to X-Ray Spex while countering punk's historical erasure of Black contributions, and echoed the feminist lens of Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney through its rhythmically intricate, melodically dense material. After sharing stages with Parquet Courts, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill, plus their own headlining shows, the trio covered Solange's "Cranes in the Sky" in 2020 and signed with Kill Rock Stars for American distribution. Their initial project for the label, a split single alongside Charmpit, appeared shortly afterward. Reconvening with Broom, they completed their second album, Back Home, which arrived late in 2022.
The group's origins trace to a 2013 online notice placed by Stephanie Phillips, who sought fellow Black women interested in forming a feminist punk outfit that would confront the movement's homogeneity. Kiera Coward-Deyell took up bass, Chardine Taylor-Stone handled drums, and Phillips assumed lead guitar. Naming themselves after Phillips' mother Joan, the three made their first appearance at the cooperatively operated DIY Space for London's First Timers event. Later that year they issued the lo-fi instrumental single "Out in the Country," which gave scant preview of their eventual direction. Their 2014 release, the four-track Sistah Punk EP, expanded the sound, yet 2016's Crooked Room—issued on their own Sistah Punk Records—represented the clearest step forward. From the title track's gradual, minimal construction to an angular reinterpretation of TLC's "No Scrubs," the record established the band's singular identity. In 2017 Coward-Deyell relocated to Scotland; Estella Adeyeri stepped in on bass. That same year the group joined American punk band Downtown Boys for a United Kingdom tour. Building on that visibility, Big Joanie recorded their first full-length with producer Margo Broom of Fat White Family; Daydream Library, run by Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz, released Sistahs in 2018. The album paid tribute to X-Ray Spex while countering punk's historical erasure of Black contributions, and echoed the feminist lens of Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney through its rhythmically intricate, melodically dense material. After sharing stages with Parquet Courts, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill, plus their own headlining shows, the trio covered Solange's "Cranes in the Sky" in 2020 and signed with Kill Rock Stars for American distribution. Their initial project for the label, a split single alongside Charmpit, appeared shortly afterward. Reconvening with Broom, they completed their second album, Back Home, which arrived late in 2022.
Albums
Singles
