Romanus Fest artist Joshua Powell returns to his metalcore roots

Vocalist-guitarist Joshua Powell, center, will be joined by bass player Josh Townsend, left, and drummer Jacob Powell for an Aug. 31 performance during Romanus Fest at Black Circle Music Bar. (Fred Miller photo)

Joshua Powell’s new sound is actually his old sound, roaring to the forefront for the Indianapolis musician who put metalcore on the shelf after his high school days in Florida.

Metalcore—a style that bridges the gap between punk and heavy metal genres—is heard on two singles Powell released this summer: “Coffin Club” and “Tune the Harp.” As a teenager, he played guitar in a loud, aggressive band known as Bravery in Colour. After moving from Florida to Indiana to attend Anderson University, Powell said he experienced culture shock.

“Everyone said, ‘We listen to Wilco here,’” Powell said. “I thought, ‘OK, cool, I guess I have to grow up or whatever.’”

Powell embarked on a folk-rock path that allowed him to be a working musician but delivered diminishing returns in a live setting.

“Playing hundreds of shows a year, a lot of songs we had were finger-picking, acoustic storytelling ballads,” he said. “The songwriting chops are solid, but I’d watch people check out. You’re not a known quantity. Trying to get people to zoom in on a precious little folk song is tough in a dive bar crowd.”

On Saturday, Powell and his band mates Josh Townsend, who plays bass guitar, and Jacob Powell, who plays drums and is Joshua Powell’s brother, will showcase their noisy, attention-commanding tunes as part of Romanus Fest presented by Romanus Records.

The event at Black Circle Music Bar, 2201 E. 46th St., begins at 5 p.m. and features an all-Indiana lineup led by Left Lane Cruiser, Service and Brother O’ Brother. A donation of $10 is the suggested entry fee.

To borrow a phrase from “Dr. Strangelove” filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, this era of Powell’s career could be summarized as “How I learned to stop worrying and love metalcore.”

At the same time, Powell’s rocking isn’t carefree. He said an album expected to arrive in 2025 is based on a theme of “agency and spirituality, the line between what is considered sacrosanct and what is considered a cult.”

Powell graduated from Anderson University in 2013 as a fourth-generation alum of the Christian school founded in 1917 by the Church of God. He’s presently a faculty member in the school’s music business department.

Learning details about Mars Hill Church, a megachurch in Seattle, through a 2021 podcast titled “Rise & Fall of Mars Hill” inspired the song “Tune the Harp,” Powell said.

“[Mars Hill] was influential on me when I was a devout young Christian,” Powell said. “With ‘Tune the Harp,’ we’re yelling because we’re angry. And we’re angry because people who are meant to be spiritual leaders are the very ones who are manipulating the system and damaging their own flocks.”

Powell said Indianapolis audiences have stuck with him during the evolution of his sound.

“The bigger challenge will be, ‘What kind of venues will accept us when we go out on tour?’” Powell said. “What kinds of bands will want to work with us? A lot of the bands that we’ve worked with in the past won’t make sense on a bill when I’m screaming my head off and we’re throwing guitars around.”

One of Powell’s day gigs is working with Romanus in the company’s production of customized vinyl records. Brother O’ Brother vocalist-guitarist Chris Banta founded Romanus, which has issued multiple recordings by Powell (including “Coffin Club” and “Tune the Harp”).

Recent special projects for Romanus include a sand-filled soundtrack for “Dune 2” and a Nerds candy-filled soundtrack for “Wonka.”

Powell said it wasn’t pleasant to work on this year’s 30th-anniversary vinyl edition of Alice in Chains EP “Jar of Flies,” which Romanus filled with dead flies. (On the online resale market, the asking price for this record is $1,500 and up.)

“You can’t comprehend how bad a bucket of flies smells,” Powell said.