Jojo & The Grease, Fa Ce-Las

Jojo & The Grease (fka Joey Sweeney)
“[Sweeney] mixes autobiography and fiction against the group’s 70s-inflected indie pop, resourceful— and unabashed— enough to digress into an E Street interlude or an AM-rock guitar coda.” - Pitchfork
"The riotous new LP from Joey Sweeney is full of jagged-edged, bristling Americana." - Bandcamp Daily
“Just the right mix of grit and gloss, like new construction butting up against old rowhouses and corner stores.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
“Somewhere between the raspy hope and dire heartbreak of Springsteen with unexpected flashes of Robert Pollard’s melodic and harmonic sensibilities” — Popmatters
"Quite simply, he knows how to tell the story of his Philadelphia through songs. Sweeney and his cohorts excel at playing fun music, and very visibly having fun while doing it, but you can say the same about any number of artists. What makes Sweeney stand out is his skill, not just as a scene setter, but a narrator. As much as his music reveres the past, his words intensely study the now, consider the future, and accept the inevitability of change — something that all of us could stand to be a little better with." - John Vettese, WXPN's The Key

Fa Ce-Las
Philadelphia six-piece, Fa Ce-Las, came out strong in 2026 with a head-turning two song demo recorded live in a single afternoon at Jeff Zeigler’s Uniform Recording (War on Drugs, Purling Hiss, etc.) and a string of remarkably assured live performances that defied expectations for a new group. Taking their name from the first single released in 1979 by legendary New Jersey band, the Feelies, Fa Ce-Las is composed of veterans of Philadelphia’s fertile DIY rock scene. Turning their attention to the lyrically driven, proudly straightforward sounds of late 70s/early 80s FM radio, Fa Ce-Las sound has been described as ‘punk rock Dire Straits’.
With their confident, sun-drenched jams, Fa Ce-Las does recall the heyday of hit TomPetty/Stevie Nicks collaborations and pop radio moves from ‘70s rockers like the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, and Don Henley in the 1980s. While sing-along choruses and windows-down guitar excursions certainly abound, Fa Ce-Las also stand apart with a distinct narrative world set firmly in the mid-Atlantic east coast and character driven songs of grace and redemption, trust broken, and promises kept. Call it music for people with too many cousins, where tales of addiction, doubt, and mental health struggles find respite, if not resolution, on the beaches, in the barrooms, and on the highways, in rowhouse bedrooms, and late night assurances. It’s an open world of abiding and acceptance, but more importantly, it’s a world that moves to a stone groove and basslines that don’t quit.
Fa Ce-Las is currently at work on a full length album in Philadelphia and will be performing regionally in the coming months.

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