Way back in the 1990's I used to work for a bank, specifically Abbey National and their huge head office at the top of St Vincent Street in Glasgow. Over 3,000 people worked there at its peak! Working for a bank is, in my opinion, not very cool (great pension though!), but for a number of years it was a great place to work. I was 21 and there were loads of people of a similar age. There were regular nights out, five-a-side matches and ... some truly gorgeous girls! Work was just something to do before football or the pub. What more could a young guy want? Oh, the office was directly across the road from King Tuts Wah Wah Hut!
I kept noticing a guy with a mod hair cut, Fred Perry bag and a fishtail parka, cutting about with headphones on. I kind of knew that I wanted to be friends with this guy and that we would very likely be into similar music. Before long, we were. James Barker was also into the Roses, The Beta Band, The Who, Primal Scream and northern soul. He was hanging out at the Art School (much cooler than me!) and in the early 00's he formed a band.
Juno! took on a raft of influences and melded them into their own sound. Beats, samples, guitars, analogue synths and all kinds of percussion ... you never really knew what they were going to come out with. Perhaps, at times, neither did they. That was part of the fun and most definitely part of their charm.
There was radio airplay, some singles, plenty of gigs and James was always working the band. Then it stopped. James has never stopped playing music though and quickly formed Ace City Racers who had their debut Stephen Street produced single released via Fred Perry. They are still going strong and all those years after seeing James cutting about the 301 St Vincent Street offices, we formed Starboard Hazes which was/is great fun.
Maybe it is the age we are getting to, but James decided he had unfinished business with Juno! He pulled together all the bands early recordings and demos to construct an album - Harder Than It Should Be. It's available NOW via Last Night From Glasgow and is a document of a moment in time - MySpace buzz, indie discos, basement venues, electro experimentation, cowbells and tambourines.
Manda Rin joined the band for their classic single These Boys Are Athletes, while Mark on keys and vocals rivalled James for the happiest person in the room. Atom Bomb City nearly took the roof off the place with its punky new wave groove. I sincerely hope they play live again.
I caught up with James to learn more about Juno! Read on.
James, Jamie and Manda at The Rum Shack
How, when, where and why did Juno! form? Who was involved?
We formed from the ashes of our previous band, which had the same members as the first incarnation of Juno! being Jamie, Jazi, Jason, myself and our good friend Paul. Paul decided to leave, and in the absence of any other options I overcome my natural aversion singing to give it a go.
Simultaneously Jamie bought a Juno 60 and a drum machine which gave us a new dimension. Probably for the best, as it meant I could stop trying to be Nigel Tufnell and really focus on singing the songs. We had a few leavers and joiners as we went on, with people like Matt, Yoshi, Amanda, Stuart, Dave and Mark all adding to the Juno! gang, meaning at times we had up to 8 people onstage. Rain or shine we always practiced in a Fife barn, which a friend very kindly let us use.
Were you the sole/main songwriter? What was it like to hear your ideas mushroom into the full band Juno! sound?
The songs were usually written around one of Jamies really well-formed electro backing tracks, which I would then write words and chords around, or one of my guitar/vocal demos which Jamie would then write a backing track for.
By the end we got a bit cleverer and started writing them in the same room together!
I also wouldn’t underestimate how much was added by the rest of the band and producer, who added real musical breadth with their imaginative guitars, trumpets, backing vocals and so on. Plus, Steven as producer left his playing and singing all over the record too.
The first track I consider to really be “Juno!” was Cut it Loose, which was actually a chord progression of Jasons, which we then fleshed out music/lyrics over. I was pretty delirious when we got the mix back because it was so colourful and fresh sounding.
I always remember your shows (and records from the time) as having what feels like a great deal of spontaneity to them. How difficult was it to recreate that spontaneity? Did you ever play songs the same way twice?
Jamie and I used to map out the basic songs (on very big bits of paper!) before we took them to the studio, so we knew where to put the multiple layers of vocals and instrumentation, however they would quite often take unexpected turns dependent on what Steven was hearing. He would hear something he liked and make it a feature. Quite often this would be one of Matts funkier riffs!
Live, the songs would always follow the same basic structure, as we use a drum machine backing track, overlaid with real drums, but the instrumentation on top depended on the playing styles of who actually turned up that! Spontaneity was never a problem, some nights we would have vocoders, extra synth & trumpets, others it would be more of a guitar assault. I can think of one Scottish tour where we pretty much changed lead guitarist for every show!
We always put a lot of energy into our performances, as I genuinely believe if people have paid to see you then the least you can do is put your back into it.
What were your highlights from the original days of Juno! Do a song, gig or experience stick out for you?
There are lots of memories that stick out, and happily quite a few of them were recorded at the time, so I can revisit as an old man! Recording Higher was brilliant, as the band went to the chip shop and came back to hear some quite spine-tingling I Feel Love style backing vocals being mixed in by Steven, who had also helped supply them. I got a similar feeling when I first heard Amanda’s vocals on These Boys are Athletes. I also couldn’t believe what a nice-looking video Mark made of Sunshine in my Pocket, just prior to my press ganging him into the band.
We played some great support shows at Tuts & Barfly which I remember being packed, and we felt like we could really feed off the audience energy. I was also very pleased that we played one of the very first televised internet gigs for Nexus live. Oh, and at Rockness my wife through a Glowstick in my eye. This literally stuck in my mind. And eye.
I remember you having a buzz, some radio play, your single with Manda Rin. How exciting was it at the time?
It was really satisfying because we had worked on it for so long, I think Juno! started in 2003, but from 2006 onwards things started gaining in excitement, and hearing your songs playlisted on the radio felt like validation. Thanks Jim! By 2007/8 we actually really struggled with all the Myspace gig offers, and were doing regular interviews, radio stuff and even a photoshoot in a fashion magazine! I miss Myspace, it was by far and away the most organic platform for musicians and fans.
You've always written and recorded. What happened with Juno!?
I failed to turn it into something before real life kicked in. Some of the band were awaiting children being born while we were playing Rockness, and it became unfair of me to keep asking so much of the guys when they had more important things to be thinking about.
Towards the end it also felt like a race against time, as with bands you really have to keep building momentum, before you are seen as being long in the tooth. It may be different now, but in those days, labels had a pretty small window in which they would sign you. We played quite a few high-profile gigs and had songs on MTV shows, but I was really naïve about the business side and didn’t have the ruthlessness or evil genius to take it to the next level.
What prompted the delve into the Juno! archives?
As Vic Reeves would say, “I wouldn’t let it lie”! It always frustrated me that we had professionally recorded so many songs destined for a release that was pulled. I have a real completer/finisher streak, and it niggled at me that the songs which we spent so much time writing and recording weren’t out there in the world.
What was it like to get back in a room together after so long? What song did you play first?
It been lovely, truly heartwarming. We never officially split, and we all remained good friends, but weddings and social events aside, hadn’t really been together as a proper band since 2009. The only thing that is a little sad is that neither Matt nor Yoshi can make the gig.
We have all played with each other in different projects, but for a few years there we were more likely to meet at a buffet than a rehearsal room!
If memory serves me, I think we started with Cut it Loose, as its both the first one we recorded and probably the easiest to play!
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How important is it to you and the band to have a physical (and digital) document of your time together?
It’s really important to me, and I think it must have been something the band appreciated too, as I didn’t have to do that much persuading to get people onboard with a release. Just some minor Elwood Blues style hunting down to get them to agree to perform live!
What else are you up to musically?
Well, I play with Mark in the band Ace City Racers, we have an album coming out early next year, a dystopian concept album called Welcome to Ace City which we recorded in Green Door.
I may also have accidentally written a new Juno! demo, which I believe Jamie is mulling over, so fingers crossed we can do something with it and Juno! gets a lifeline after the reunion show.
Dave and I from Juno! also have an offshoot Psych recording project called Stars and Sitars, which have most of an album recorded, but we need to finish. I have the basis of a solo record, a whimsical Syd Barret/Ray Davies ish thing demoed but needs finishing and some discipline brought to it , and I’m in another rather good Glasgow guitar fuzz /melodic band called Starboard Hazes which you may have heard of!
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