Joey Valence & Brae on HYPERYOUTH, Australian crowds, DIY and FL Studio
Joey Valence & Brae. Image supplied.
Interview by Dan Steinert and Aston Valladares of TOWNS
A meeting of the minds, JVB and TOWNS, two of our favourite duos in music, caught up for a chat ahead of Joey Valence And Brae’s almost entirely sold out AU/NZ tour kicking off at the start of next month. Joey, Brae, Aston and Dan chat about friendships, growing up, collaboration and FL Studio.
“I think it legitimately made us, actually, famous. We might as well be the president of Australia” says Brae, looking back on their 2025 Laneway Festival tour, which also featured two SOLD OUT sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney. We were lucky enough to catch them in the sweaty, Everything Ecstatic stage in Brisbane and it was one of our favourite shows of the year, not a single person in that tent wasn’t either dancing or jumping around for the duration of JVB’s set.
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Aston: Sick. Hello, how are you? Nice to meet you. My name’s Aston, that's Dan.
Dan: I'm Dan.
Aston: We're two best friends and it looks like you’re two best friends as well.
Joey: It's all fake actually. We're not friends in real life. It's just business. [laughs]
Dan: I feel like you're doing a good job of covering it up.
Brae:It’s all a ruse. Yeah, we hate each other.
Joey: We're professionals! Come on!
Dan: I mean, you gotta be. It checks out.
Aston: That's why you're not in the same room [laughs] Of course!
Dan: Clearly different backgrounds going on, you got to stick to the character and you're nailing it.
Aston: Congrats on selling out Two Nights at the Forum in Melbourne. That's amazing. Sydney as well. That’s so huge. How are you feeling compared to when you first came to Australia, is the feeling different?
Joey: It honestly doesn't feel that different. We're just as excited to come. We weren't expecting anything the first time. It’s super exciting now to know there's a lot of love for us out there in Australia. So we're just ready to go. Last time we were there, we were only teasing a couple of the HYPERYOUTH album tracks and now it's like fully out. So we're excited to play the full album for everybody.
Dan: Dude, fuck yeah. Was the first time you're here for Laneway?
Brae: Yeah.
Dan: I didn't get to see the set. Did you get to see it?
Aston: No, I was working. [laughs]
Brae: It was a good one. I think it legitimately made us, actually, famous. We might as well be the president of Australia.
Joey: We joke all the time about how the first time we've ever felt famous in our entire career was in Australia. Cause it was almost like every set that we did just got better than the last. It just kept going up and up and up. We made so many great friends at Laneway. It was just such a fun experience. It was crazy.
Aston: The videos of you guys like coming out on stage to The Baddest were just massive.
Brae: Oh man. Yeah, it's crazy. That's the first time videos of us performing blew up on social media. We were like, “wow, we kind of got some aura here out in Australia” [laughs]. Nowhere else really, but Australia seems to like it. So we're stoked. I mean, you guys are fucking awesome.
Dan: Is the reception different at home for you? Obviously the shows here look fucking crazy. Everyone's bumping.
Joey: It's just a different culture. That's what it is. The difference between European, Australian, Asian and American crowds are huge. Each has a culture around live music. I think in America, everyone's kind of so, group think. “If nobody else is dancing, I'm not going to”. And they're trying to fucking sit there and mog everyone. It's like, you know, who cares? We're here to dance and we're excited. I only really see that and in the States. Everywhere else, people are just so ready to enjoy themselves in a live setting through music. We really experienced that in Australia. I feel like everyone was just so in the moment and we loved that.
Dan: That's fucking sick. I feel like it really shows how much is connecting doing like two nights at The Forum is fucking insane. And a sold out Enmore Theatre as well. That's crazy.
Joey: Thank you.
Brae: Yes, thank you we’re pretty stoked.
Aston: I was going through your social media before and I remembered the Double Jump days, seeing you guys doing stuff in the studio. Do you think your approach to social media has changed since then?
Brae: Joey and I were just talking about this the other day. We both are just in agreement that we don't want to post TikToks anymore, unless it's kind of artistic. Not like, promotional. That was the shtick when we first came out, cause nobody knew who we were. So the best way to get attention was to have a really dumb corny caption with us rapping. Which was awesome but now, you know, I think our fan base is stable enough. We’ve reached enough ears and eyes to the point where we don't have to jump on the trends of whatever. It has changed so much too, it wasn't even that long ago that we were doing videos like that. Over the past almost three or four years, the way that people promote their music has become so different from how we used to do it. I don't want to say we're out of the loop, but like, you know, it's just different. It's different for every artist, all the algorithms, you know?
Joey: Yeah. To Brae’s sentiment there, which I think it's super accurate, I think we are a lot more purposeful with the kinds of things that we're creating. We want it to not be so shoved down your throat or so all over the place. We're making videos that are a bit more creative and have a point to them. The kind of content we used to post back then didn't have a purpose other than just making you jump up and down. I think because our message has become a little bit more thoughtful, I don't want to say it's completely changed because we still have a lot of the similar sort of ideas in the music, but the point is it's purposeful so we want the art, we want everything to really be artistically moving forward.
We still kind of post on social media and stuff, but it's not like, “Hey, look at me, I'm here. I have to promote my new song”. We've built up a fan base of people who genuinely care and they’re invested. So we took off the pedal a bit in terms of that kind of content. But it definitely helped us. I mean, we're here.
Dan: Do you find it harder to post now, especially this new album? It's got a perfect balance between playfulness and not being afraid to touch on topics of a more serious nature. When you believe in the art so much, does it make it harder to make videos and stuff like that?
Joey: Yeah. I mean, the style of content has changed. We're almost fucking 27 years old. We can't just be in a bedroom being like, “Hey, I love Pokemon and you should too”. Well, you can see the fucking background of my room, but you know what I mean? We're just growing up. And so the kinds of things that we want to portray, things we care about have just changed. So it's not necessarily become harder. If anything, it's become easier because we kind of aren't trying to achieve a goal. It's just like, we're putting this out there and whoever reacts with it, reacts with it. There's no goal or intention to go viral or something like that. You know?
Dan: That's fucking cool.
Aston: We met at uni and believe that you two met college as well. I guess we met pretty late in life. I know a lot of people who met their friends earlier on. Do you feel like you met at the right time in your life? How has that shaped the journey for you both?,
Brae: I think it definitely did, because even before music was a part of our life, how it is now, we were friends first and knew a lot about each other. The type of humour, the music we like, the things that pissed each other off. So as soon as you get together to work... You know, Joey's my business partner, but first and foremost, he's like my brother, my best friend and that's the most important thing. You go through a lot of stuff in college, there's relationships, whether it's friendships or romantic relationships and people break up and whatever. You see a lot within the friend group, you kind of grow together. So, you know, it works out. [laughs]
Aston: Wow. That's sweet. Was there much of a gap between your first meeting and writing together, how long did it take for that creative relationship to build?
Joey: We were introduced through friend groups. I’d been making music for a long time but it was a lot different than it is now and pretty serious sometimes so I was like, “I don't want to fucking show anybody.” I'd just post it online and stuff, you know. But we started hanging out more and it was just fun. We never really went out so, you know, it was like come over to the apartment and like break shit and eat so much food. We were both so heavy in college [laughs], like, so different. But yeah, instead of going out, I would say “Brae I just made this stupid beat. Let's just fucking make a rap song together.” That's what it was. It was just like our idea of fun. I had already been producing back then but I was like, “Brae, I can't fucking rap either. Let's just make whatever.” That's kind of what our hanging out was. That was our idea of having fun. And it really honestly turned into a career. As we started getting more in touch with ourselves and learning about each other, it's like the music has evolved too. In a way you can see us growing up within the music and I think that's really cool.
Aston: Yeah, like Harry Potter.
Joey: Yeah [laughs] It's legitimate. It's like fucking watching a series where you're watching actors grow up.
Aston: That's so special. Cause I feel like in the early days, a lot of the stuff that you guys were sharing was built around nostalgia. And that was like a really good tool. But now it seems like you guys are enough, which is sick.
Brae: That's a good point. Wow. I've never heard anyone word it like that. We are enough. Thank you.
Aston: You are enough.
Brae: Yes. I needed that. I needed that.
Joey: Don't ever forget it. Brae, I’m going to paint you a sign that says that and you can hang it up in your room.
Brae: All right. Thank you. I'd love that.
Dan: Touching on the production side of things. I was listening to the album the other day. It's amazing. It's awesome. On Is This Love, did I hear you shouting out fruity loops?
Joey: Yeah. FL studio.
Dan: Do you work in FL studio?
Joey: Of course Yeah. Since I was 11 years old, I’m still with it. I think you can achieve the same things in every single DAW. Sure. The workflow is different and you might have different plugins stock, but it comes down to the person behind the computer. You can make anything you want. You see people making masterpieces and fucking garage band. Like you see that shit on TikTok and it's “damn. I didn't even know you could do that on your phone”. it really just comes down to the person. People shit talk on different DAWs, but you know, we're in 2026 at this point, who cares as long as the music’s good. I love it and I love posting my production videos and showing people how they can do the same thing that I do.
Dan: Fucking cool. I love that at the core of JVB is DIY. The whole new album, is entirely just you, the production, mixing, mastering...
Joey: Yeah, that's why it sounds bad. [laughs]
Dan: [laughs] It actually sonically sounds fucking killer. It sounds amazing. And you’ve got some heavy features on that too. JPEGMAFIA, Rebecca Black.
Aston: I love the song Clover. Who'd you do that with?
Brae: Oh, .idk.
Aston: Yeah, that was sick.
Joey: That was a leftover beat from No Hands. I’d been working on that and he texted me, like, “hey man, do you have any like beats lying around?” I was like, “this one's really dope. We never ended up using it”. We had full verses written on it. It was almost a completely done song. I handed it off to him, he made that with it and kept us on it. So that was really cool, the song did really well. I'm glad that he was able to give it his shine.
Aston: You've done so much collaborating, what are some of the things you've learned from that process? Anything that you learned through working with so many different artists that you've been like, “oh, that's part of me now. I'm taking that”. Or have you just been so good all along that it just works. [laughs]
Brae: I mean, if anything, it makes me feel like a shit rapper. Cause when we collabed with Danny Brown, dude... He did his whole verse in like one take. He goes,” all right, that's good. Now let me just adlib on top of that. All right, done”.
Joey: It was done in 10 minutes.
Brae: I was like, “how did you just do that?” One take. But I think there's bits and pieces of, artists' workflows and how they create music that you take inspiration from. I mean, .idk. He's very good with the visuals. We went to shoot the music video with him. It was so cool to work with him. He had a whole picture for how he wanted it to look. We fit right into the world. So that was great. And all of the women that we worked with, that we've had on our tracks are just like incredible. Like Rebecca Black, TiaCorine, Ayesha Erotica. It's fucking cool to have bad-ass girls just absolutely spitting on like all the tracks. So, yeah, there's lots of bits and pieces from everybody to take inspiration from.
Aston: You guys ever going to do another song like Street Pizza?
Joey: [laughs] The answer is, I mean, yes, there's a lot of them. They're just unreleased.
Brae: Yeah. There's a lot of those actually.
Joey: From that time. We haven't since we made that. That song was one of many songs that we made. There’s plans for them. I can't tell you when.
Brae: I love punk style music. I listened to like hardcore probably every day. So I love it, man.
Aston: We're in a band too. We don't play hardcore but when we met, we very much bonded over the Tony Hawk soundtrack and those early punk records. So when I heard Street Pizza, I was like, that's Tony Hawk, that's my shit, we are on.
Joey: [Laughs] Yeah, it's cool. You can tell in the music, we take so much inspiration from so many things. We have that punk-y nature. That is the core of the music that we make. We can split things into different genres, but at its core, it's like this really Do-It-Yourself, punk attitude that we apply to like everything. Whether we're doing hip hop or more dance stuff, it's all centered in that attitude.
Dan: You've got so many older demos, was there any thought behind what this album was going to look like even before writing for it? What was that process like?
Joey: I think so, we made a mood board very early on, me and Brae pretty quickly put some of the albums that we were inspired by sort in a row. And went through like, “hey, this is the kind of the sounds that we want to gravitate towards”. And I was really like, “I want to fucking sample everything I can”. So yeah, I think we had a mind going into the album and, correct me if I'm wrong Brae, but we kind of made exactly what we were hoping to make, like to a T.
Brae: Yeah. The imagery of the disco ball was a day one conversation. We were like, “it'd be cool if the demon had looked like a disco ball”. Then that just became almost like the mascot for this album. It's on the cover. It's all over the place. And the fans really ran with that. Even the colour palettes and everything, we wanted reds and purples, like sunset-y. Cause we have an obsession with the sky for some reason, like No Hands, was very blue. It was like, “how do we morph that into a more mature thing. So the purple, sand dunes sunset photo shoots that we did in the desert, all tied in. It was really fun. That's one of the most exciting things for me personally. I really like the planning of the visuals and stuff. Me and Joey get to build an entire world for people to get lost in, which is really fun. So I'm excited to do it for the next thing that we work on.
Aston: Hell yeah, well you did a very good job and you beat Harry Styles to the disco reference, which is amazing.
Brae: Who knows how long he was sitting on that idea, but ... [laughs]. It really is like the year of the disco ball. So much dance music and a lot of disco imagery and stuff, which is a great thing. We need more dancing.
Joey: I don't want to say people are inspired, but you know. [laughs]
Aston: It seems that way! That’s all of our questions. Thank you so much for hanging out with us this morning. It was lovely to meet you both. And I'm keen to see when you get to Australia!
Joey: We'll see you at a show!
Dan: Thank you both. Appreciate it. Again.
Don’t miss Joey Valence & Brae on tour in Australia + NZ in April at these shows:
Thu 9 Apr - Powerstation - Auckland NZ
Sat 11 Apr - Forum - Naarm/Melbourne (SOLD OUT)
Sun 12 Apr - Forum - Naarm/Melbourne
Tue 14 Apr - Tivoli - Meanjin/Brisbane
Wed 15 Apr - Tivoli - Meanjin/Brisbane (SOLD OUT)
Fri 17 Apr - Waves - Dharawal/Wollongong
Sat 18 Apr - Enmore Theatre - Gadigal/Sydney (SOLD OUT)
Wed 22 Apr - Metro City - Boorloo/Perth
