Joe Volk is a musician and composer from Bristol, UK. He is now based in Berne, Switzerland.
He was originally signed to Invada Records, a label founded by Geoff Barrow (Portishead, BEAK>) as the singer and lyricist in the extreme hard rock band Gonga. After Barrow heard demos of Volk’s own songs, he was then signed to Invada as a solo artist.
His first solo album was recorded and produced by Adrian Utley, guitarist in the Bristol band Portishead. Volk was also signed to Invada as the singer and lyricist in Crippled Black Phoenix, a band founded by Justin Greaves (Iron Monkey, Electric Wizard) along with Mogwai bassist Dominic Aitchison.
He left Gonga after releasing two albums, two singles and one EP with the band, and Crippled Black Phoenix after releasing five studio albums, one live album and one EP. After leaving Crippled Black Phoenix, Volk released a split 12″ EP on Invada Records with the Japanese experimental band Boris.
After relocating to Switzerland, he was signed to Glitterhouse Records who released his second solo album ‘Happenings and Killings’ in 2016. It was produced by Volk, along with Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. His third album ‘Primitive Energetics’ was released in 2020 with the band N A I A R E, with Volk producing the record alone.
Joe Volk also manages the English improvisational theatre practitioner Jonathan Kay, and the Swiss accordion virtuoso, Mario Batkovic.