You’re going out on a co-headlining tour with O’Brother this winter. Have you had a chance to tour/play with those guys before? Joseph Martinez: No, I’ve never heard of them before this tour, but it seems like they’re making some waves out in the music world. Their new album is pretty intense.
On record, you guys sound absolutely massive. How much of that is your attempt at bottling your live show, and how much of that is making sure you get every part and every layer of your music just right in the studio? I think [our new album] Reports [From The Threshold of Death] has definitely come the closest to matching our live show, and that comes from a balancing of layers and trying to reach that wall of sound without compromising clarity.
Reports From The Threshold of Death came out a few months ago, two years after your full-length debut, 2009’s The Martyrdom of the Catastrophist, which you guys spent three years making. What was it about this album that helped it take a little less time than Martyrdom? Since all of us live in different states we couldn't meet up and write together like on the previous album, so I had to take the reins and write the basic album from home, and then I sent the tracks to the other guys to put their parts in, to "junify" the album, so to speak.
Reports deals with the subject of near death experiences. Have any of you had a near death experience, or known someone who has? I have come close to near death many times and had that slow motion effect, but I've never had a full blown NDE.
When did you become interested in near death experiences and why did you decide they’d make an interesting concept for your new album? Our previous album, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist, was about the life of Immanuel Velikovskly, from his birth to his death. So it only seemed natural to explore what happens after someone dies. I’ve always been fascinated with NDE's, especially in my later teen years, so it was a pretty easy concept to commit to.
How much more autobiographical, or at least personal, is Reports compared to Martyrdom? Do you think your next album will be more conceptual or more personal? They're both very personal. Martyrdom was more masked by the concept, since I had to parallel Immanuel Velikovsky's life with mine and the band. Reports is just less masked by the concept. I'm not sure what the next album will be like; I'm having a difficult time trying to find something that keeps us moving in an artistically appropriate direction.
Obviously the subject matter between your two full-lengths is completely different, but musically, how did you want to emphasize those differences? Martyrdom was way more intricate and complex, just like Velikovsky's life. Reports is very bold and massive like the stories people tell about their afterlife journey.
Before releasing Reports you released two split releases with Rosetta and Juarez. Creatively, how much does it help you as a band to work and collaborate with other bands with similar tastes as yours? It doesn't really do anything for me. It's just nice to be associated, musically, with great bands. Actually I take that back, with the Rosetta split I made our song eight minutes long because I heard Rosetta's song was 10 minutes. So that actually pushed me to make our four-minute Junius jam into an eight-minute song. So actually the split was a great motivator for more epic-ness.
You started Junius in Boston, but have since moved to other parts of the country. How much of a challenge has that been? It obviously limits our group writing abilities and makes travel more of a pain, but it's led us to create in different ways and I think something pretty great came out of it.
You also contributed the track, “Firehead,” to the Tribute to Hum album that came out last year. How big of an influence was Hum on all of you as musicians, and what did it mean to you to do a song for that disc? We all love that band. They were such a huge musical influence on me growing up and us as a band. I wish we could have done more songs.
All of you guys grew up on the rock music of the ‘90s. Do you feel like there is something of a renaissance for ‘90s rock right now? I had no idea that was happening right now. I hope you're right. We need more shoegaze in this world.
What influences do each of you have that your fans might find surprising, or that might not seem to mesh with the sound of Junius? I really dig anything Pharrell Williams produces.
You took the name Junius from the pseudonym of a political writer who lived in the 18th Century. How much do you guys read while on the road? Do you spend more time reading old books, rather than more recent publications? Or do you read a mix of both? I only read at home. It's hard for me to read in a moving vehicle without getting too nauseous. I'll read anything that sparks my interest, old and new.
On the complete flip side, what’s the strangest experience you’ve had on the road? Too many to name... "Malcolm in the Middle" (Frankie Muniz) did merch for us one night, after we got the club to let him in (he was underage). That was definitely strange.
What are some of your other plans for 2012? Lots of touring.