| CONTENTS: HOME PREVIOUS INTERVIEWS CONTACT US MESSAGE BOARD ABOUT BRIAN LUSH LINKS RELATED ARTICLES:  SOUTHBAY MUSIC AWARDS  MEGAN BOBO  ROCKWIRED ON-LINE EXCLUSIVE: NEVERWONDER RELATED LINKS: NEVERWONDER.COM MYSPACE.COM/NEVERWONDER MYSPACE.COM/MEGANBOBOMUSIC MYSPACE.COM/JOYPEARSONMUSIC | RISKY BUSINESS EX-NEVERWONDER SIREN JOY PEARSON EXPLAINS HERSELF AND HER DECISION TO GO SOLO  WRITTEN BY BRIAN LUSH (LONG BEACH, CA) What can I say? I was stunned! In late 2007, a publicist friend of mine had broken the news that rock vixen JOY PEARSON was leaving the band NEVERWONDER, to pursue a solo career. Of course, I was asked to keep all of this a secret. One only has to visit ROCKWIRED.COM to see that I had a lot riding on what I thought was a reliable hard-rocking foursome. As a matter of fact, a month prior to the announcement of JOY's departure, I saw the band perform at the now-defunct MICK AND MACKS in Long Beach. With an extra day off and all my work caught up, this was the perfect opportunity to catch up with ROCKWIRED's unofficial favorite band. Shit! They won two ROCKWIRED AWARDS for pete's sake! Knowing what I know now, I certainly didn't see what looked like writing on the wall. NEVERWONDER looked like they were at the top of their game and only getting better. You had the never-failing rhythm section provided by founding members and brothers VINCENT and DRE RAMOS combined with the six-string assault of ax-man FLINT MAVIS. Topping everything was the feminine fury of it's then-lead vocalist JOY PEARSON. She was short in stature but immense in terms of attitude and voice - kind of like rock's other petite femme fatale PAT BENATAR. The band's self-titled album 'NEVERWONDER' is a gritty rock n roll gem now destined to become an unqualified classic due to the departure of the band's dynamic frontwoman. Ms. PEARSON had some explaining to do. You see, this wasn't just any old chick making music. As I had stated in my last ROCKWIRED ON-LINE EXCLUSIVE interview with NEVERWONDER, this was "WOMEN'S RAAAAWK!!!" Now, all that remains of NEVERWONDER have found a new voice in ex-AMERICAN IDOL contestant MEGAN BOBO. In all honesty, NEVERWONDER's three new tracks (IS THIS THE END?, MOVIN' ON, and LUCKY) sound very, very promising and I can't wait to hear a new CD. But what about JOY? "No one was expecting it!" says PEARSON during a phone conversation that I had with her a week after Thanksgiving. "I wasn't planning to leave NEVERWONDER. When the opportunity came, it just felt like the right thing to do. Now, they have MEGAN and I think she brings a whole different spin on the band and I think they are going to do well together." But everyone wants to know why. "NEVERWONDER is a great band filled with great musicians who are the best at what they do, but things were getting to the point where it was getting to be very hard on my voice." says PEARSON . "We were doing a lot of shows and a lot of the music that NEVERWONDER is prone to write is the heavier stuff and I felt that we were getting stuck." So it was all a simple matter of taking it easy on those precious pipes? It sounds reasonable. A couple of performances that I had viewed on FLASHROCK.COM had me taking a lozenge after hearing a rough vocal performance of EVERYWHERE. "I was concerned that my voice was getting tired singing that heavy music all of the time. There were a lot of factors that figured into me leaving NEVERWONDER. I guess you could say that it was something of a quarter life crisis, because you start asking yourself 'do I believe that this is going to be the best thing for me in the long run?'. An opportunity had come my way where a producer said that he was interested in putting an album together with me." Right about now, the 1970 film BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS is coming to mind. Why? Oh, just the thought of a "producer" materializing, and giving the lead singer a business card and a promise of "greater things" to come. It sounds like the unfortunate turning point in some ill-fated rock n roll biography. At least I hope that's not the case. " The style of music that this producer (JOHN CARTA) does is the complete opposite of what NEVERWONDER did. I felt that I needed to take this opportunity to branch out because my songwriting needed improvement." The goal for JOY at this point is to break into making music for television and she has the right producer at her side for the job. JOHN CARTA is a producer/composer whose work has been featured in television shows such as THE BACHELOR, HANNAH MONTANA, GREY'S ANATOMY, and BOSTON LEGAL. Despite trying to break into the world of music making for television, there is a CD in the making. If all goes as predicted, JOY hopes to drop this untitled release early this year. "I'm really excited!" Only time will tell if this pursuit for songwriting perfection was better served without the boys of NEVERWONDER backing PEARSON. In the meantime, all that we have are two song posted on JOY's MYSPACE page. The new material, that PEARSON is continuing to work on is more acoustic-based and devoid of FLINT MAVIS' power chords or that no non-sense four-to-the-floor groove of that RAMOS brothers rhythm section. Her new sound which combines acoustic guitar and electronic flourishes will bring to mind DAVID GRAY or BETH ORTON rather than the raspy voiced rocker that ROCKWIRED and the Southern California music scene has come to love. "I'm the one who put myself in the dangerous postion" says JOY "But, I'm willing to take that risk." |
