“Having Fun with My Friends Online” becomes “having fun by myself on stage”

By Emily Johnson, photo by Matt Merlino 

“Having Fun with My Friends Online,” the first album of Amherst musician Joey Distasio’s solo project, Homo Genius has expanded its roots of online fun into a live art performance. The album, which he released in August through Alright Records, became a collaboration through online efforts with other local musicians. Now Distasio is doing solo performances of new synthpop dance songs, without any collaborators that were on his album.

That original album was a collaborative effort, which featured vocals from other underground bands like Snowhaus, Calico Blue, Spirit Ghost, , Tardigrade Cafe, The Bonds, Castle Danger, and Daeves.

Alex Whitelaw, who contributed his vocals to the track “Disheartened,” fronts Spirit Ghost, a dead tropical surf band based in Amherst that started as his solo project. Although he plays with a full band in Spirit Ghost, Whitelaw writes and records all the parts himself.

“Joey’s project was easy though; he had a clear vision and needed one very specific thing from me, so it was easy to collaborate with him,” Whitelaw said.

Busy with Spirit Ghost, Whitelaw rarely collaborates with other local musicians, but decided to reach out to Distasio when he began Homo Genius, because Petting Zoo (Distasio’s original pysch-pop band) was one of Whitelaw’s favorite local bands.

“I really enjoyed the challenge of having to lend my voice to a song that I had no part in writing otherwise. It was fun to sing over stuff I wouldn’t usually think to play,” Whitelaw added.

Distasio grew the Amherst-based band Petting Zoo out of his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but the band’s recent hiatus has allowed for him to focus on his solo music project.

This fall Distasio had trouble gathering all of the guests musicians together for a show, but still wanted to perform live. He decided to expand the Homo Genius project into a “weird performance art sort-of act,” he says.

Distasio dresses up with dolls around his neck, singing “weird songs over aggressive electronic beats that can be described as groovy, frantic ‘80s music.”

Distasio, who had never sung live before, played five of his songs at the Flip in Hadley, Mass., as Homo Genius. He received a more than positive response from the crowd. “The next day, I was in Worcester [Dining Common] and these two kids – I had no idea who they were – said they loved my set,” he said.

Distasio had envisioned Homo Genius as an artistic statement existing as part music, part performance.  “The artsiness would come from the vapid imagery of me as like a witch, what’s the meaning behind that? There isn’t any. It’s just something for the sake of being weird and fun.”

In his performance last month, Distasio made an effort to be political and antagonize the audience. He said, “I’d say something abstract, semi-political satirically to see what people thought, to confuse people, and then go into a song almost immediately. It was this confusing, uncomfortable, but fun journey.”