Coming Off Their Close Friends Tour, joan Joins Bloc Party at The Anthem

The indie pop duo joan is about to experience something completely new. Steven Rutherford and Alan Thomas, the Arkansas-based musicians who make up the band, are hitting some of the biggest venues they’ve ever played as they tour with British rock legends Bloc Party. Their stop at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. on June 2nd represents a massive leap from their usual 150-250 capacity shows.

“These are the biggest shows that we’ve ever done,” Steven explains. “Today we walked into this venue and we’re just like, oh, this is perfect. So yeah, we’re excited.”

The connection with Bloc Party goes back four years, when joan opened for them in Germany. The bands stayed in touch, eventually leading to this tour celebrating 20 years of Bloc Party’s landmark album “Silent Alarm,” with Blonde Redhead rounding out the lineup. “It feels like we’re kind of touring with old friends a little bit,” Steven notes.

With just a 30-minute opening slot, joan’s strategy changes completely from their recent “Close Friends” tour. “Our one job is to go in, play the best show we can, and make those people in the crowd want to go look us up afterwards,” Steven explains. Alan compares it to “street busking in front of thousands of people,” adding, “Our hope is, even if 10% of the crowd will go check us out after the shows, that could lead to a lot of new fans.”

During their Close Friends tour, joan created something special. “We call our fans our ‘close friends, ’” and these shows were very much like a VIP experience. Alan describes the evening as a four-hour event with two hours of music and Q&A, and then two hours of meeting every person. These intimate experiences revealed the real impact of their music through face-to-face connections with fans dealing with difficult times and found comfort in their music.

The band has built its following steadily over seven years without chasing viral moments. “We’ve kind of purposefully, since the beginning, wanted to make this a long play,” Steven explains. “For us, it’s always been let the music speak first, and hopefully what comes after that is people latching on to us for a long time.” This approach has even led to organic collaborations with K-pop groups like EPEX, who post covers of joan songs that perform well and open doors for natural partnerships.

For D.C. area fans, The Anthem show feels like a homecoming since joan has played the capital region multiple times, starting at intimate DC9. The Anthem, located at The Wharf, offers one of the best concert experiences in the region with its state-of-the-art sound system and impressive sight lines from every seat. The venue’s waterfront location gives touring musicians a chance to explore, though schedules don’t always allow much sightseeing. “We usually try to find coffee, at least outside of the venue,” Alan laughs. “That’s sometimes the extent of it.”

While on tour, joan is finishing their upcoming album “This Won’t Last Forever,” due out in the fall. They’ve been writing and releasing singles for the project since last August, including their recent track “Body Language.” The album’s title reflects themes following both band members as they’ve become fathers. “We both have kids, we both have families, and we were kind of finding ourselves having this fear of the things that we are holding precious and dear in the moment,” Steven explains. “The reality that it literally won’t last forever.”

Steven describes the concept as “this phrase that has been just following us around of just like, whether it’s good or bad, be in the moment, and try to realize it won’t last forever.”

The personal connections joan makes with fans keep them grounded. “Any age, any gender, any anything is welcome in our world,” Alan emphasizes. “The fact that anyone cares about our music enough to have it accompany them in their life is really special to us.” These interactions help combat the ego that can creep into the music industry. “It kind of helps some of the vanity, ego things that can creep up in this field,” Alan reflects. “Then you have a humbling experience where you meet someone who’s been genuinely affected by your art, and then a lot of this stuff seems to fade away.”

As joan prepares for their June 2nd show at The Anthem, they’re bringing seven years of careful growth and authentic connections to their biggest American stage yet.