Joey Ryan and the Inks

In the basement of a 1950s home in White Bear Lake, the five members of Joey Ryan and the Inks are creating songs they hope reverberate across the county. With wood panels, a Coors beer mirror and old football team photos on the walls, a typewriter in the corner and an Xbox plugged-in for breaks, Dennis Lane Studios is where the band has created the locally lauded albums: Well, Here We Are Then, (2009) and Dennis Lane (2011). Joey Ryan’s place (you guessed it; on Dennis Lane) is the sanctuary/second home to the Inks—brothers Matt and Chris Mitchell, and Tim Dickson and Ryan Mach. “I really love recording there because it’s a place where we all feel comfortable, and it’s laid-back,” says Chris Mitchell, guitar player. “I think we’ve all paid for studio time, and we know what it’s like to be on the clock. I think not having that pressure helps us and fuels the creative process.” The creativity conjured in Dennis Lane Studios has been noticed—and the band’s forthcoming EP is anticipated. The St. Paul Pioneer Press acclaimed the band’s sophomore album as the top Minnesota album release of 2011, describing the band as “sunny, power-pop masters.” “It was really nice,” says Ryan, the lead singer and guitar player. “A lot of us had been slugging it out locally with the music thing, and that was the first big taste of local press that a few of us had experienced.” BEGININGS Ryan grew up in Forest Lake playing high school basketball against archrival White Bear Lake. He was a shooting guard first, a musician second. As a freshman, he took his grandpa’s old hollow-body red guitar and began strumming. “It didn’t sound great, but certainly good enough for me to learn on and put some chords together on,” Ryan recalls. “I was pretty brutal for a while.” As a sophomore, he played in an “emo, guitar-driven” group, followed by a “keyboard punk” band. His basketball-first priorities continued in college as he played four years of Division II hoops at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. When he wasn’t shooting hoops, he was shuttling back and forth between the Twin Cities and South Dakota for shows. His band, The Exchange, dissolved, and he began writing songs and performing solo. He wrote about eight songs and turned them into demos with all the instruments how he wanted. Ryan did more listening to music and took mental notes, a process that helped him put his ideas into practice. “I allow times for my ideas to come in, and they pour in,” Ryan says. “Those are the most rewarding and the most succinct. Eventually, I got a nice repertoire of songs up to where I felt comfortable approaching some of the guys I was playing with in the past.”   THE RISE Thus, the idea of Joey Ryan and the Inks was born. Matt Mitchell plays bass; Chris Mitchell is on guitar; Ryan Mach drums; Tim Dickson joined the band on keyboard in 2010. “The band started around the idea of keeping it [1960s] pop-oriented,” Ryan says. “That’s what I had been listening to at the time.” During the first album, the songs were ready and waiting to be recorded. On the second album, it was a collaborative process. “From that point, everyone in this band has a huge collection of music and influences,” Ryan says. “I think it has taken on a different sound as we’ve progressed.” It drew from Chris Mitchell’s alternative-country twang, and Matt Mitchell and Ryan Mach’s alternative 1990s rock, with a foundation in Ryan’s poppy British style. Dennis Lane Studios aids the experimentation. They can have a sip of whiskey, play music, a game of hockey on the Xbox, watch a few innings of a Twins game and play some more music. “Sometimes it turns into an all-night extravaganza,” Ryan says. “You might get to the point at three or four in the morning when you are creating some really wacky, crazy stuff that you think will never be kept, but you wake up and realize that was actually pretty cool. Some of the most interesting things we’ve done have been on those all-night sessions.”   THE NEXT STEP Kermit Carter booked Joey Ryan and the Inks to Minneapolis’ Triple Rock Social Club for their debut album release show in 2009. It was Ryan’s voice that drew Carter. “I love to hear him sing,” Carter said. “Then I very much realized that the songwriting is absolutely outstanding.” Carter continues, “He goes up into falsetto. His voice also sounds real. The things he’s trying to convey have a certain truthfulness there. When you see him live, you get it.” The band has been back to the Triple Rock a few times, as well as to many other spots around the Twin Cities. They’ve also performed at Sound Town Festival in Somerset, Wis., were featured on TPT’s Minnesota Originals and were invited to share their distinctive sound in The Current radio studio. All band members have weekday jobs and are “weekend warriors” on stage. Only Ryan is married. None have kids. So what’s next? “I ask myself that question a lot,” Chris Mitchell says. “I don’t think that there is an answer. Sometimes—I don’t know if frustrating is the right word, but you wish there was a clearer path. But at the same time, it’s been fun to let things happen and let some of the opportunities come out of the blue.” The band’s upcoming EP has them not actively booking shows so they can focus on recording. They don’t want to rush. “I like the idea of not setting deadlines,” Ryan says. “I would like to use this as the next stepping stone into a more national scope. I think it’s high-quality enough. It’s a tough industry to make it work as far as finding the time to do what you need to do, but I do think we are on the same page and trying to make that next step to see what happens.”   & To sample some Joey Ryan and the Inks tunes, visit joeyryanandtheinks.com/music.