Above My Room – Jo Day

No Warning – Jo Day

Somewhere between 1991 and 2003 Jo Day went from looking a little bit like Lisa Stansfield and sounding like Heart in their more relaxed moments to a leather-clad-spiky-black-haired-heavy-rock rock bitch, yowling like a banshee and generally making a lot more noise.

Some may say that’s a bad thing, but have a listen to ‘Above My Room’. It is a thunderous affair that is the perfect vehicle for Day’s ominous to a scream vocals. Starting off with some slightly laid-back guitar, one quickly feels the storm clouds gathering as a fiercesome electric guitar builds to flashes of lightning and a roll of thunder. The music quietens for moment as Jo starts off in sultry voice but one that has an undertone warning in it to be careful. It seems to prowl restlessly around the song before she leaps up and makes you realise just how perfect the word ‘scream’ is suited to being sung as a scream.

This is thick and heavy heavy rock. It is not the dense sound that earlier guys like Freedom’s Children brought us. This is a crisp and clear wall of sound not too dissimilar to Metallica and the like. Jo Day was one of the few local acts who took this style of music and managed to make it work and especially so on ‘Above My Room’. It is hard rock at its best. Lisa Stansfield had to go ‘All Around The World’ for her hits, but Jo managed to do it in the room upstairs.

Where to find it:
No Warning – Jo Day (2003), Legend Music, LEGMCD1

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