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Interview with
JNR.

(2nd May 2022)

Interview by Dave Bruce

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Photo by: Megan Donnelly

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How did the band come together? Is there someone who is a “driving force”, or do you all make decisions together?
We’ve known each other for almost 10 years now. In all that time we’ve never not been playing or making music. So we’ve always been incredibly collaborative when it comes to our music decisions and the vision for the band. Even though this project is relatively new, it’s taken our whole friendship to get here and there are no egos involved in the decision making process.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think people resonate with your music?
Our sound is very eclectic. We take influences from everywhere we find beauty in music or conversation. Even though our lyrics are very personal, we see people relating to them in their own way which is the most fulfilling thing to see.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
We’re all in love with Holly Humberstone. Every release just gets better and pushes us to write better music.

Your new single ‘Remember’ has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution. 
‘Remember’ came about really fast! The voice memo was sitting on Ben’s phone for a few months before he got the chance to flesh out the demo. It changed a lot from what it sounded like in the memo but there are so many elements from that original demo that are still in the song today. The longest part came after it was written – fleshing out all the little textures and getting the mix just right.

Is there an EP or Album on the drawing board?
Not yet… we have so many songs sitting in our Dropbox that might not see the light of day. We’re focussing on singles for the moment and dropping the ones that make sense for our musical journey and where we are at currently.

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We cannot wait to play live, but haven’t even thought that far ahead. There’s only three of us in the band and hundreds of tracks in each song, so planning a live performance is going to be interesting. But we’re itching to play and show everyone what we’ve got coming up… because there is so much on the horizon.

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How has COVID affected you to date? What have you introduced to balance the losses from missed events?
COVID was the reason we waited this long to release our first single. We decided to focus on this project in January 2020, and when COVID started to show its face, that forced us to lockdown and hone our sound. It was actually the best thing for us, because we were able to see what we wanted to do, how we wanted to be perceived as a band and how to make the music that best defines us as people.

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why? 
I think we all have different answers for this one. But it would be great to share the stage with Gang of Youths. They have such a great energy onstage and I feel like our sound is just different enough to give each other some edge we wouldn’t normally have as separate artists.

Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist? 
We just want to continue making music and doing what we love. If and when more people come along for the ride, we cannot wait to share our passion with you. Dreaming big is great and all, but at the heart of it we’re just three mates who love making music together,

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
I wish I could tell you that one. We’ve performed live together, just not as jnr. I feel like it’s going to be incredibly special when we do.

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Grace (Jeff Buckley), Go Farther In Lightness (Gang of Youths), The Colour And The Shape (Foo Fighters)
Artist – Gang of Youths, The 1975
Movie – Almost Famous, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar
Place to visit –  Sutton Forest (IYKYK)
Venue to play – Ask us when we perform live! We’d love to play the Enmore Theatre one day
Food – Nico’s pasta
Drink – Ben’s a red wine guy and Max is a Vodka Raspberry… opposites attract I guess
Person in History –  Max’s dad Warren
Tattoo – Ben’s is a trishula on his chest (that the boys got him for his birthday). Nico just has the one tattoo (a knife on his ankle). Max and Ben both have jungle cats on their arms which are definitely favourites.

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Single Art by: Nico Scali

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Follow JNR.
Official Website – Triple J Unearthed
Facebook – Instagram – Youtube

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AMNPLIFY – DB