On Oct. 16, Hell at the Masquerade turned heavenly thanks to alternative pop rock artist Joe P. Hailing from Asbury Park, New Jersey where major artists like Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen got their start, Joe P heeds his indie origins and ventures to make experimental pop appealing to the masses.
After becoming the frontman of New Jersey indie band Deal Casino when he was only in eighth grade, Joe P branched off with an EP entitled “Emily Can’t Sing” in 2021. In the release, he experiments instrumentally with a synth-driven sound in “Leaves” and a dreamy, ethereal pop aesthetic in “Going to California” and “Yellow Lights.” It is not until the EP’s crown jewel “Off My Mind,” that he successfully finds his sonic niche with the song’s empowering vocals.
He followed up that release with a second EP “French Blonde” in 2022 and his first full-length album “Garden State Vampire” in August 2024. If an album is a work of art, then “Garden State Vampire” is a Kadinsky painting — an entirely abstract collection of shapes and colors that bestows deep-rooted familiarity and comfort on its observer. Joe P is able to twist together his classic pop-appealing songs with some grittier, harder rock tracks in an effort to experiment and evolve his work.
Embarking on tour to celebrate his debut album, Joe P stopped in Atlanta in Hell at the Masquerade, the venue’s 550-person capacity stage nestled in the back of Underground Atlanta. The show was opened by emerging indie pop artist Anna Shoemaker. While her set was performed acoustically and solo, it was certainly not understated; she was able to utilize her enormous vocals to control the space and the silence that preceded the show.
She took the time to interact with the crowd and discuss her upcoming music which included a song called “Game of Thrones” that was set to release that Friday. Many of the songs that she played were from her upcoming record “Someone Should Stop Her” which will drop in February of next year. She unquestionably has the beginnings of an indie sweetheart, soon to be revealed with the release of her album.
When Joe P took to the stage and began “Everybody’s Different,” the crowd was immediately wide awake, courtesy of his wild, slightly-too-loud music. The venue was bathed in rapid, colorful lighting, the perfect atmosphere to match with his flashy, riotous songs.
Joe P is an artist whose live and recorded music are two entirely separate entities. While his recorded songs are usually chill tunes to bop along to while driving, his live music gives way to a darker, wilder form of rockstar. Much of that persona can be attributed to his enormous stage presence that he inhabits with ease, moving and dancing with his music in a way that makes his own enjoyment blatantly apparent.
His second song of the night was the popular “Fighting in the Car.” The track is a testament to Joe P’s careful and intricate songwriting. Many songs in his genre of music lose their lyrical value as a sacrifice for their overall catchiness, usually an attempt to surface level attention-grab on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Joe P’s music is anything but surface level. In “Fighting in the Car,” he sings, “The inmate loves the prison guard / The one who feeds him through the bars” as an allusion to the Stockholm Syndrome associated with a failing relationship. Later during “Birthday Baby (The Girl with No Smile),” he sings for a friend, “You hide your heartbeat / In a box under the bed / But it makes too much noise down there / So you swallow it up instead,” as encouragement to stop burying emotions.
Midway through the set, Joe P explained that many of his songs are unintentionally flower-themed such as “Violet” and “Lily.” This theming has become an inside joke with fans as a group in the front row brought a bouquet for the singer.
One of Joe P’s more out-there tracks is “guilt. hole,” which is ridden with a scratchy guitar that translated well live. The dirtier rock influence on the song is jarring compared to his more upbeat tunes, but it suits him in an unexplainable way. While the song acts like huge crashing waves in a tumultuous sea, his vocals provide a lifeboat, never wavering or falling in line with the dark instrumentation.
After a brief skip off stage to give the illusion of the show ending, Joe P came right back out to sing a cover of “You Are My Sunshine.” While it was an unexpected twist in the concert’s vibe, he ended up transitioning it into his biggest and most anticipated song “Off My Mind.” The track’s rising chorus builds and brought the crowd’s excitement up with it as they sang just as loud, if not louder, than Joe P.
The show as a whole was electric, and it speaks to the importance of live music. Seeing an artist live reveals an entirely new side of them that may not have been present in the studio versions of their songs. Concerts are a powerful facet of the music industry, reigniting the love fans have for the artist and fostering the passion that music elicits. Joe P did just that, bringing a fun, invigorating night to those gathered at the Masquerade.