about.
Joy Caroline Mills is a guitarist, songwriter, lighting designer, sound engineer, and venue manager.
karate, guns, & tanning.
She plays lead guitar for the shoegaze/indie rock trio Karate, Guns & Tanning. KGT has been featured on CVLTNation, Bandcamp, Sirius XMU, AnalogueTrash, The Nation Rock Radio, LOUD WOMEN, WhiteLight/WhiteHeat, Niche Music, WQRT, WFYI and more. After their full album Concrete Beach was put in rotation on KEXP in Seattle, the band went on tour in the Pacific Northwest.
songwriting and solo music.
Some of her highlights as a solo artist (pop genre) include a TV appearance on FOX59, a WFYI Small Studio Session, and radio placements on KUBE Radio, WZPL, WTTS & WQRT, to name a few. She also toured regionally as a solo artist. Mills has released 3 solo EPs, and a smattering of singles throughout the years. Her first solo EP was Pieces when she was 17, followed by Dedicated to Manhattan her freshman year of college. Her most recent EP came out in 2015, entitled Fever Dreams.
podCAST.
Mills co-anchors an arts/music/culture podcast with Valerie Green dubbed Indy Propaganda. The duo hosted a year-long radio show on WQRT-FM in Indianapolis for Musical Family Tree.
THEATRE.
When she’s not playing guitar, you can find Mills in the wings of the Marian University Theatre. She is the theatre’s venue manager, and also doubles as the technical coordinator. She draws inspiration from acclaimed set designer Es Devlin, and acclaimed audio engineers Leslie Gaston-Bird & Sylvia Massey. She occasionally plays guitar for musicals within the community (Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Always…Patsy Cline). She also enjoys spending time filling in on lights & sound at The Cabaret, and designing lights & sound for theatrical productions. She most recently designed lights for TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever at The Fonseca Theatre (2023) and High School Musical (2023) for The Point Theater. She was the sound designer for Marian University’s spring production of Bright Star (2023).
Her passion lies in encouraging and teaching upcoming performers and technicians how to pursue careers in the arts.
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