Meet Kristopher Wilson, Niqo Robertson, and Peyton Caldwell of Blu Joy in East Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristopher Wilson, Niqo Robertson, and Peyton Caldwell.

Kristopher, Niqo, and Peyton, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Well, I (Kris, lead singer) had been writing and recording music on my own in my garage for a couple of years, just putting the songs up onto my SoundCloud page. My junior year of high school, I was in my school’s drumline where I met this freshman with a giant afro whom I soon became friends with. That kid’s name was Niqo and he soon became fascinated with what I was doing and the music I was making. He kept asking if he could help out in any way but back then in high school, I was all “I’m a lone wolf, I work alone.” But he persisted and by the beginning of my senior year and his sophomore year, I had given him my drums and started teaching him some beats to play while I jammed on my guitar. We started writing some songs together and eventually, we got to this one called “teenage misconception.” With that song, we knew we had a direction we were going and decided we together would be a band. I had a name I had jotted down a while earlier and we stuck with that but dropped an e because we thought it would look cool. So now, we are officially Blu Joy. And we thought to ourselves “what do bands do?” And we thought “they play shows!” We, then, decided to throw our own show at red mountain park here in Mesa. We made flyers and posted them around town and on social media. Around that time we received a message on our Instagram for someone asking if we were looking for anyone to jam with. We weren’t really interested but he kept asking so eventually we met up and jammed. Six days before the first show. Peyton was his name and he was a perfect fit. He learned all of our songs in those six days before that first show and we knew we had something special now. About a month later, we were recording our debut EP 86 at AudioConfusion a music studio out here in Mesa. We put that out in September, the first of last year and started steadily playing shows around the valley. We have put out another single in February of this year and we plan on having a summer EP come out very soon.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been very hard trying to pay for recording costs. We need to make some merchandise to make money but in order to get merchandise, you need to spend money on making it. It’s also hard to advertise yourself as something different than the rest. Our music is 100% one of a kind but it is sometimes difficult to get people to listen to it

Blu Joy – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We in Blu Joy are trying to make a sound no one has heard of before. We all listen to many different types of music and we all in the band are vastly different people and that comes out in the music. We mainly like to think our music sounds like if 60s pop met 90s rock. But there are so many different elements, sometimes we sound a lot more 70s or 80s. We just want to make something new and interesting.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were just starting out?
If we had to start over I would want us to try even harder and to not let anything get in the way of playing and making music. And to also not overthink things. Sometimes, it’s hard to just step back and stop thinking of the band as some sort of business we are running and instead as just friends playing music together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4YIXrdclNzlk9MuHoKEBmr?si=JcQ0XuR1Q-qUhfDKPmIg3Q
• Phone: 6232130645
• Email: blujoyband@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/blujoys
• Other: blujoys.bandcamp.com

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