The Joy Formidable are Ritzy Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd and Justin Stahley.

The beginnings of TJF began several years ago, when school friends Ritzy and Rhydian chatted on a night out in their hometown of Mold, North Wales. Both opinionated and madly into music, an instant respect was formed and they began meeting regularly at the legendary Buckley Tivoli; then a North Walian mecca for local and touring bands. It was a source of much inspiration to the musically aspiring pair; alongside Ritzy's parents enormous, exhaustive record collection. Nevertheless, in an otherwise provincial, sleepy setting, itchy feet and a fleeing were inevitable; Ritzy to Washington DC and Rhydian to Manchester, where they enjoyed separate but strangely parallel journeys as singer songwriters. It was a single phone call that reunited them, this time they would write together, but it was little known that a more intense partnership would develop between them.

Hundreds of miles away in similarly rural Devon, Justin had found solace in drumming and was preparing to move to London. He was distracted at first by actors and comedians, until he stumbled across the infancy of Ritzy and Rhydians writings. Justin joined them at a rehearsal studio in London in the summer of 2007 and it was instantly clear that they needed to be closer. Ritzy and Rhydians bags were packed.

Whilst their material still has it's roots in the vast, lonely countryside of the Clwydian borders, London has roused offshoots from the TJF bough. Having set up their own clubnight "Joie de Vivre" and a remix label, with the intention of previewing the music of others and their own distinctive style of production, TJF have become a uniquely homegrown affair with the band driving every creative aspect, visually and musically. The bands bedroom a chrysalis, that mutates daily from sleeping quarter, to studio to workshop. It was here they recorded first singles Austere and Cradle and their forthcoming Japanese album " A Balloon called Moaning" - a defiant release of optimism against their own heavy hearts. , monstrous pop songs, that leave you unsettled but smiling.