Joopi Applies the Art of Skateboarding to Their Music

Joopi is a band founded by skaters with a skating ethos, one divergent from the infamous f*ck boy fashion. It is one of communal creativity, diving into daunting tasks head first and making work out of thin air that feels like cruising down asphalt streets with the sunset ahead.

The band started with Thomas Albin and Liv Collins messing around. The couple, who met through CT skating, jammed together on the drums and bass after years of interest in their instruments. Thomas had toured around Connecticut while growing up in Branford. His bands, with very high school-sounding names like Defective Fiction and EJ & the Machine ("We did it before Florence!"), were the other activity he loved outside of skating. Liv had more interest in learning the bass, and once Thomas gave her her first one in 2022, she dove in.

Jules Lorenzo saw the couple jamming and joined in to sing, finding relief with friends and music after a harsh breakup. They became friends after Liv and Thomas moved to NYC and met while skating at spots like under the K bridge. The trio's sessions helped Jules get out of bed, explore creative energy, and be with friends.

One day, Liv posted a video jamming on Instagram, and one of Thomas's skating friends hit her up, asking to see if Thomas and her would like to play a show. Liv brushed it off, saying they just played for fun, but the friend urged them to try it. Thomas talked with Liv and remembered, "We just played with Jules the other day, maybe she'd be interested, and we've jammed with Kevin before," referring to Joopi's guitarist, fellow skateboarder, and only West Coast-er, Kevin MacLachlan. Liv hit up Jules to see if she’d want to join, and with Kevin on board, they spent the following year writing music, doing shows, and getting experience. But they did their streak of live performances without putting out any music. They realized a need to have music online to point people to after the show. Thus, their first EP, Bruise, was born.

The collection is sprinkled with influences from Mazzy Star and The Sundays, and it is much more acoustic than the current indie rock scene, with many artists leaning toward more electronic, somewhat sterile production. Still, Kevin's shoegaze-like pedals and Thomas's beat experimentation allow the band to explore the umbrella of alternative rock. Singer Jules has a voice mixed between Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast and Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan of The Cranberries: dreamy under the guitar's heavy blanket. The EP's single (and my favorite) Buggy Bye-Bye feels like moving along clouds, swimming along in a dreamlike state, which is what Jules bases much of her writing off of: dreams. Dreamy, dreamy, dreamy.

Jules grew up in Florida and Queens, so their recent show at Three Sheets for A Chance at Love's Catoberfest Fest was very different for her. She's used to playing in her hometown and spotting family and friends in the audience. This time, Milford-native Liv and Thomas had family members staffing the merch table, coming early to pack Three Sheets, and participating in the costume contest.

Even with family packing the bar on a Sunday afternoon, Liv was nervous to perform. Especially for the first show, "I was definitely so nervous. But I'm the type of person where I'm going to try something at least once and if it sucks, I don't have to do it again. And I did it. And I really liked it." Liv was known for this when she started skating in New Haven while attending Gateway Community College: heading to Edgewood at the crack of dawn or late at night with friends to try her hand at all of the difficult ramps. "The CT scene knows me as the girl who is eating shit all the time at the skate parks. I would try anything and just always fuck myself up. I'm not doing that anymore." That bravery to try anything once has seeped into the live performances that have packed Joopi's past year.

The crowd at Three Sheets straddled between moshing and swaying along to the music, similar to how The Cranberries make people scream and sing to Linger while lightly crying. It's exciting to see where the band goes next, and we can't wait to see them back in CT.