Fresno Famous

David Enos and Joanna Lioce of David + Joanna have been playing together for the last year. In that brief time, the two have managed to assemble a vast repertoire of self-penned folk songs that admirably reflect their influences: the Everly Brothers, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Velvet Underground. They'll be venturing into the studio in September to begin work on their debut album, but this Saturday they'll be venturing to Fresno to perform at Tokyo Garden.

Famous had the pleasure of chatting with David about his group.

How did you and Joanna meet?

I think we met at karaoke. I liked her voice and I asked to sing with me. And we've been performing together ever since.

Do you remember what Joanna was singing?

She was singing "Forever in Blue Jeans" by Neil Diamond.

Had you guys played in a lot of bands before you guys started David + Joanna?

I'm not sure about what experience Joanna had before we started, I'm not sure if she knew she had a voice. But I had played off and on for several different bands. I currently play keyboards for the Papercuts and before that I was in this group called the Motives. It was a kind of a Lutheran band - we just played in SF at Edinburgh and the El Rio and house parties and stuff like that.

How long were you with the Motives for?

I did that until I met joanna.

Is it different playing with a religious group versus performing secular music? Did you notice any difference?

I guess it might be a slightly different experience, but I think it is about the same.

Do you guys have a record out yet?

We're recording an album right now, our friend Jason Quever is recording it. He recorded the Cass Mccombs album "A" and he played drums on that record too. He has an old analog 24 track. We just saved up enough money for a reel of tape and we're gonna start recording in September.

How do you guys write the songs? Is it a collaborative thing? A solo thing?

I usually write them all myself Joanna comes up with good harmonies. She mostly sings and plays tambourine. We've had to come up with a better way for her to play tambourine. She used to play by just slapping the tambourine against her leg, but one night after a show she showed me the bruise that it left. It looked like she had been kicked by a horse. So from now on, I think she s gonna play the tambourine with drumsticks.

During the course of a performance have you ever suffered an injury?

No I never have.

Have you guys been to Fresno before?

Yeah. I've been. I have some friends that I went to college with and then my friend Lars lives there.

Lars from the Gris Gris? I love Lars.

Yeah. I hear they've just got on the bill for All Tomorrow's Parties ...

What exactly is All Tomorrow's Parties?

It is a music festival. A big fall/winter festival.

Where do you guys like to play at? What are some of you favorite venues?

We like the Edinburgh Castle a lot and they have good sound. Bottom of the Hill is nice, they have nice people who work there and I like that a lot of the staff have bands themselves and take their jobs seriously and take the time to do things right.

How do people describe your music? How would you describe your music?

I guess it is kinda folk. I guess the sounds, or the groups that I like are the Mamas and the Papas and the Velvet Underground, so ; in between there. Joanna really likes the Everly Brothers.

What sort of stuff usually inspires you to write a song?

Some of the songs are about people I know. I guess most of them are about people we know in one way or another. Friends or family or people we don't like sometimes. Mostly about various people we know.

The people you don't like, do they get offended by the songs you write about them?

In one song there is this girl we call Chinless, because she doesn't have much of a chin, and I guess she might if she knew the song was about her. Sometimes I feel bad about it, but it made for a good song.

Are you excited about your recording project? Do you have a lot of material together?

Yeah, we got 30 or so songs but we are aiming to record 8 of them.

Ok, final question: what is the weirdest show you've ever played together?

Let's see ummmm ... let me think. One time we played a show at this house and they only gave us one mic, but I'm pretty tall and Joanna is a lot shorter, so we put it up about halfway between us, and we were trying to sing and Joanna was on her tip-toes and I was crouching.

The duo David and Joanna will be performing at Tokyo Garden Saturday, August 20th.