JOYCE MANOR SHARE NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO “I KNOW WHERE MARK CHEN LIVES”
Photo: Dan Monick
Joyce Manor are back doing what they do best: delivering sharp, emotionally charged songs that feel both painfully specific and universally relatable. Today, the band shared their new single and video “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives,” the latest release from their upcoming album I Used To Go To This Bar, out January 30 via Epitaph Records.
True to form, the track clocks in lean and direct, wasting no time getting to the point. Joyce Manor have always thrived in that sweet spot where urgency meets melody, and “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” fits comfortably into that lineage. It’s punchy, emotionally loaded, and driven by the kind of restless energy that’s made the band a staple of modern punk for over a decade.
Of the song, Barry Johnson says, “Mark Chen was a singer and songwriter for the bands Summer Vacation and Winter Break, which didn't get quite as popular as they deserved to. I just love Mark's songwriting and voice. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Chase and I hanging out, drinking and smoking weed and laughing about stuff, and we were talking about how when weed clubs first started, they’d give you a free dab and the budtender would do a dab with you. Dabs are insanely gnarly. I was cracking myself up imagining some 19-year-old girl that just did her third dab of the hour before getting robbed at gunpoint, because they’d always get robbed as cash businesses. That's the imagery of the song: Those early days when weed was still not super fully legal. It was like the Wild West, a little bit. And yeah, that just gave me a chuckle because it's really dark and brutal.”
The accompanying video matches the song’s raw, unfiltered spirit, leaning into simplicity rather than spectacle. Like much of Joyce Manor’s output, it feels personal and slightly unhinged in a way that’s intentional, not performative. There’s a sense that the band is letting the song speak for itself, trusting the weight of its delivery rather than dressing it up.
The new single follows previous releases from I Used To Go To This Bar, an album that continues Joyce Manor’s knack for pairing biting honesty with deceptively catchy songwriting. The title alone suggests reflection, nostalgia, and maybe a little emotional wreckage, themes the band has always handled with a mix of self-awareness and blunt force.
With the album set to arrive January 30, Joyce Manor isn’t reinventing itself so much as refining what they’ve always done well. “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” is another reminder that Joyce Manor’s power lies in their restraint, their honesty, and their ability to make short songs hit like gut punches.
Track List:
1. I Know Where Mark Chen Lives
2. Falling Into It
3. All My Friends Are So Depressed
4. Well, Whatever It Was
5. I Used To Go To This Bar
6. After All You Put Me Through
7. The Opossum
8. Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?
9. Grey Guitar