Q&A With June Body
June Body. L-R: Connor James, Alex Callaghan, Matt Schofield. Photo: Paul Atwood.
On June 7, Halifax-based alt-rock band June Body will release their third studio album, ‘Last Everythings,’ which marks their first release sold on vinyl. Leading up to its release, we caught up with Connor James (guitar and lead vocals) and Alex Callaghan (bass and backing vocals) to chat about the album and the upcoming release show at the Seahorse Tavern on June 22.
How does it feel to see this project come to fruition?
Connor: I think it's going to feel pretty weird because we recorded the album a year before it's coming out. Almost exactly. I think we wrapped recording June 1st of 2023, so it's kind of symbolic that it's coming out in June, a year later, and it's incredibly exciting. We've worked on these songs for a really long time, and to see them coming out into the world sounding better than we could have hoped is really cool.
Alex: Yeah, it's interesting for us because we've been sitting on this record for quite some time now, but to have it out on the vinyl and to play the release show, it's going to breathe whole new life into the thing, and I cannot wait for people to get their hands on it.
How has the band evolved and grown since starting back in 2017?
Connor: Connor: Well, I mean, for one, we're on our fourth drummer, so that's something. We've had a different drummer on every release, and Matt's not here, but we have nothing but great things to say about him. He has breathed so much new life into the band. It's actually kind of insane. The amount of positivity and creative energy that exploded when he joined the band is really a huge reason why the record is what it is and how it sounds. I think our approach to making albums has kind of been the same since we started. We've always been like a DIY-for-life kind of band. When we recorded our first record in 2017, we were shoving amps and drum kits into my bedroom and just doing it ourselves, and we wanted to keep it that way for this one but have the production bolstered. So we got a great mix engineer, Jace Lasek, but I think we've always made records in the same way.
What can fans expect from the album?
Alex: You can expect a lot of upbeat, sad songs. They are just very thematically coherent. The whole record is a lot of talk about lost love and things like that. It explores those concepts while being really fun and danceable. It is very interesting instrumentally. I think we all have our own niches that we fill really well. It's a well-rounded record in that way. The whole thing sounds really good, too. And it sounds real.
You recorded the album in a unique place. Can you tell us about that?
Alex: Our drummer, Matt, let us use his ancient family cottage. It's over 100 years old, I believe. People have died there—at least one person that we know of has died there. It's in Tidnish Cross Roads, and we just kind of drove up there to scope the place out for a while. It's a beautiful spot. It's all wood, not very well insulated, which we found out, but it has a nice fire pit and everything, and we just kind of looked around, gauged which rooms would be best for which sounds, set all of the things up, and then just tracked the album just one thing after another. It was pretty much nonstop. We got it done really quickly, and I think it came together so well because we were all just having such a great time. It really shows on the record.
Did the setting affect the sound of the album at all?
Connor: I would say 100% it did. We tracked different instruments in different rooms. The drums were in a cavernous main room that had an upper loft, and we draped this extremely expensive microphone from the loft to capture room sounds, and we didn't even know if that was going to be used on the record. Then, when we sent it to our mix engineer, he was like, “The drum room mic is like the best thing about the drum recordings.” There's also an acoustic song on the record called “Horrid Little Language” that we recorded in one of the bedrooms, and you can almost hear the room. There's just something so organic and creaky about the recording. It's probably easier for us to hear how the rooms affect the sounds, you know, just because we worked so hard to get the mic placements exactly where we wanted, and we were listening to how each room was affecting the vocals or the guitars. But every time I listen to the record, I’m transported back to the cottage.
Alex: I will say “Horrid Little Language” is a fun song in particular because it's a steel string guitar and a nylon string guitar. Two voices. That's it. And if I were to describe it in one word, I would say that the track sounds like wood. And that is largely because of the room we recorded it in and the instruments we recorded it on. It just sounds like wood. Keep that in mind. You'll know what I mean.
Can you tell us more about the theme that occurs throughout the album?
Connor: I think we realized once the record was done that the concept of the album is essentially that each song is the last of something. It's ‘Last Everythings.’ Each song is like a component of this snow globe that, by the end, forms this picture of a story of domestic heartbreak. The album is about moving on while you're still in love with someone and coming to terms with the realization that a chapter in your life is about to end.
Alex: And also, a heavy focus on sort of the minutia of all of that, the little things, because the little things make up the whole, and we experience the world through little things. So when you put a bunch of those little things together, it starts to paint a very clear, cohesive picture of the situation.
This album is your first to be released on vinyl. Can you tell us about how that came about and your relationship with Fresh Biscuits Records and Obsolete Records?
Connor: Our relationship with Fresh Biscuits Records is kind of serendipitous. I met Peter, who runs the label, just because he's a regular at the restaurant I work at. He really loved our music and came to one of our shows. He really wanted to put the album out, and we were thrilled. Having this record coming out on vinyl is a dream for the three of us. I've always dreamt of this and now it's like a reality. It was just bonkers. I still don't even think it's really clicked fully for me yet. Obsolete Records Records is the sister company of Fresh Biscuits Records, and they're doing such a good job of hosting the pre-order for us and handling all the shipping and inventory management. You can obviously come to pick up your pre-order at Obsolete Records here in Halifax or buy it there if you haven't pre-ordered it.
You have an upcoming album release show on June 22. Your shows are always high-energy and entertaining - I get winded just watching you guys jump around. What can we expect at the album release?
Connor: If you've been a long-time fan, I think you'll be surprised at how far we've come. Alex and I both have the same vocal coach, so we do a lot of action on stage and jumping around, but we're not winded anymore by doing it because our breath control is so much better. But yeah, expect high energy, expect some really silly banter. We're probably going to jab at each other on stage. Alex is going to be doing twirls and stuff and big harmonies. We've worked so hard on the dynamics of three, like being a trio, maximizing what that can be on record and in a live setting.
Alex: There may have been a time in the past when we put on a show with more of a focus on the actual spectacle of a thing than maybe the musicality of it all. But again, since we have had the same vocal coach for a while now, we're very locked in. We know exactly what we're doing with our voices, and we know exactly what we're doing as the three of us. Since we've been sitting on this record for so long, we have had so much time to tighten it up, and it is just really, really tight and really good. I think the show is going to be high energy, with lots of movement and engagement, but also very musically satisfying.
It was just recently announced that the band will be opening for PUP when they come here in August, which is so sick! You also previously opened for The Beaches a couple of years ago. How have these opportunities impacted the band?
Alex: Well, even just on a personal note, it's been hugely validating to have these experiences and, you know, to be working on your band and your personal skills as a musician for so long and then finally having larger bands see that and say, “hey, you're doing good work here... we are fine with you opening for us.” It's hugely validating. It feels like all our hard work is finally paying off.
The band is also known for creating really funny social media skits. How do you come up with ideas for these videos?
Connor: The first skit we did was with Pillow Fite, if I'm not mistaken. I don't really know how that idea really came up, but it was hugely successful. The response to it was crazy. People like our skits more than they like our music sometimes and recognize us like, “You're the guys from the skits!” But we're like, you know what? Whatever works. It's also just a great way to build a relationship or a bond with another performer on the bill. So usually, I just have them over, and generally, we have absolutely no idea what we're going to do. We have two hours, and it's like, alright, what are we going to do? I don't know, how about you chase me down the street and jump over a garbage can and stuff like that…and it's like, great. Let's do it. Somehow, it always comes together, but I always go into it being like, this is going to suck. I have no idea how this is going to come together. But they're so fun to make. It helps me build on my video editing skills, and they're just fun. People love them. I think it really suits our brand and our image as a band because we're not really mysterious, sultry guys. We're very silly. We're not going to try to be something we're not. So I really think the skits are just fun above all. But they play into who we are.
For someone who hasn’t listened to June Body before, how would you describe your sound?
Connor: We do somehow have a distinctly Canadian 90s indie sound, and I don't necessarily know if that's going to mean much to anyone, but for some reason, when I listen to my own music, that's just what it sounds like to me. But that’s probably because I listen to a lot of 90s music, and that's largely where my influence as a songwriter and guitar player is coming from as far as the sounds on the album, but even down to the chord shapes and the vocal inflections, those are largely coming from late 90s, early 2000s influences. So that's kind of what you can expect from us: a certain degree of nostalgia and a lot of 90s organic texture. Our records are not done up and glossy. We really try hard to make organic-sounding records.
Alex: In a broader sense, I would say that the music is mostly pretty fun and lighthearted, but with periods of tenderness as well as heavier moments, like more aggression, maybe, or just louder songs. We do a lot with dynamics. That's part of being a three piece, is playing with the dynamics. So yeah, we're always, you know, getting a little soft making a statement about something, then we ramp up to a loud part where we just kick over speakers and jump into the crowd and have a great time.
You’ve been a band for a while now - 2017 doesn’t seem like it was that long ago but it’s seven years ago. What has been the most rewarding part of being in the band?
Alex: Personally, the most rewarding part is getting to play shows and share our music with people, connecting with them on stage, hyping people up, seeing them dance along, seeing them even sing along. Anyone who gets into it just fills me with so much joy whenever I see that on stage. So the fact that we've been able to take that to multiple cities across the country and see what the response is and see how much people like us in other cities, it's been hugely validating, again. But also, that's just why I do this. I want to connect with people.
Connor: For me, the growth of us is really something that's special to me. Feeling how we've grown as people and as musicians that play together... it's actually kind of insane, how much we've improved and how much we've connected and how our bond as friends has grown. I find that's really special, and growing with our biggest fans who have been with us from the start. It's like, wow, you've been buying our t-shirts and our albums since 2017, and you buy them every single time, and you're still right here with us. Having that connection with people is really, really special. It's enough for someone to even just listen to one of my songs, but for them to be there every step of the way is really special.
What’s next for the band?
Connor: We're going to Toronto to play NXNE. We're performing on June 12th at the Baby G at 8 p.m. and then coming back here for our album release show on June 22nd. The shows that we are supporting PUP are on August 2nd, but that’s sold out. So, find a scalper, I guess. But there's an all-ages show on August 3rd, and I believe there are a few tickets left. But yeah, buy the record. It sounds so unbelievably good on vinyl. Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound did the vinyl master, and it just sounds so crisp. When I listened to it for the first time, it was almost like hearing the record again. It just sounded so, so good. Better than I could have hoped. 180-gram recycled vinyl, and there are two colours: Toy Truck Orange and I Don't Love You Anymore Red. Lots of cool trinkets, handwritten lyrics, and a poster of pictures of us recording at the cottage; if you want to see what that cottage looks like, it's in there. We're so happy with it, so buy the record.
June Body’s third full-length album ‘Last Everythings’ is out everywhere on June 7, 2024. Stay up-to-date with the band by visiting their website and following them on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
