For those who don’t already know, Junior Boys may have created a near-perfect dance album of 2009.  When I spoke with co-founding member, Jeremy Greenspan regarding some of their influences, he accredited their sound to “blue eyed soul” through the filter of such luminaries as Steely Dan and Carol King.  Taking their stylistic cues, they’ve blended proto-disco, early house and experimental electronica a la BBC Radiohonic and voila!  What comes together is a smooth, albeit long awaited, transition into their third release, Begone Dull Care.

As catchy and stimulating as this album is, both artists really viewed it as a moment of creative introspection.  Their hit song, “Bits and Pieces” for all its upbeat qualities was as Greenspan put it “actually about the asceticism and [hermitage] of creative work” as filtered through their visual inspiration, Norman Mclaren.


Junior Boys – “Bits & Pieces”

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EM: I suppose that collaborating on music from different parts of the globe is nothing new; however how has it affected the creation of Begone Dull Pain?  With one half of the band  married and residing in Berlin, Germany and the other still in Hamilton, Ontario.  Any creative hang-ups? Any moments of startling clarity that only geographical distance can afford?

I didn’t want to do the file sharing thing.  That’s one of the reasons the album took a long time to make. I think the next time will be easier because we devised a better system now.  But I feel we needed the long time to work on this album and perhaps the distance [as well] because all the songs were really hard to finish and everything was so labour intensive.

EM:  The niche culture and grassroots support is essential for indie artists and bedroom producers.  Would you feel that the art scene and surrounding music scenes (in Hamilton and Berlin) helped build momentum for this last album?  Or was it quite the opposite for you…a product borne of isolation?

Definitely for me a product of isolation.  I’m involved in the arts scene in Hamilton, but more as a fan than as a participant.  It is a great city for artists because it is cheap and urban and its not full of assholes.   But I think that the isolation is what keeps me there.  I have no interest in having the Junior Boys fit in to any scene, demographic or any particular categorization.  So by staying in Hamilton – in a city where nobody cares who I am or what I’m up to – makes this album possible.  There’s no pressure to impress anyone.

EM:  You were cited as having “a mild obsession” with Scottish-Canadian animator, McLaren.  Of course the album was named after his brilliant short, how was it for you that first moment that you’ve got to experience the true genius of this man? In what setting did you discover him?  And how did his visual language influence you as a musician and an artist?

There are a few different Mclaren’s (at least visually),  and I love each of them.  I can’t really remember exactly how I got into him, short of seeing one of his films and then recalling seeing some of them as a kid on TVontario.  I think what I like most about his visual style is how each movie is a sorta visual candy….like he’s tickling your eyes or something….if that is possible.  I like the the childlike creativity of them. Also I love that he incorporates the process of making them into the actual meaning of the film (particularly with films like “Synchronomie”, “Begone Dull Care” and “Horizontal Lines”).

For me the real influence of Mclaren was his way of trying to make films which were laborious and painstaking to seem raw, loose and unedited, in which the joy of creation comes through vividly.  That’s what we are always trying to do and deem our main challenge.  But the fact that he did it so successfully is what endears me to him and influences me the most.

EM:  I know that you guys also indulge in your shared passion for vintage synthesizer music.  However how much of the latest technology have you embraced in your new album?  Is it true for you that new technology can be as restrictive to the creative process as well as liberating?

The restrictions of technology are a musicians greatest tool I think.  Even non-electronic musicians.  The instruments you choose, the way you choose to play them (how you adapt to them, or react to their design) is what makes music interesting.  My love of synthesizers comes mainly from the love of novel sounds. I have a particular [affinity] for analog synthesizers because I love sounds that are noisier, or maybe the better term is unpredictable.  The sound of pure electricity being modulated by electricity has a purity to it.  I believe synthesizers are the most emotional instruments, the most human, because simply they react of their own accord.

EM:  It seems that you’ve guys managed to stay together amongst the hang-ups early on in your career and dissolution of the original band.  And now it seems that your resolve to stick things through has paid off.  What would you say to a young, independent artist to encourage them in their endeavors in what is presumably a worldwide recession?

Gee I don’t know.  I never really counted on being a musician; I just did it for fun.  I hate professionalism in music.  I hate bands who seem to have everything “all figured out”.   It isn’t a career choice like becoming a banker….being a musician is an escape for me.  And for those of us who have fallen ass backwards into music, [we are aware] that as a means to making a living is a privilege which can be taken away at any moment.

If you’re doing it for any other reason, than I have nothing to say.  Yet if you are doing it for the right reasons, than nothing I say matters anyway.

EM: Being Canadian-born musicians, what is your perception of the U.S. growing up?  What is your opinion of the current change in the political climate in the neighboring country?

Some Canadians have a huge amount of resentment towards the U.S.  I’m not one of them.  I have always loved being in America.  On occasion, I remember going to New York as a kid with my family and of course being around Buffalo and Upstate New York.  I have found Americans much friendlier than Canadians in general.  Don’t get me wrong, Canadians are certainly more polite, but Americans are waaay nicer.  That said, I would never live in the U.S. and not for any political bullshit.   It’s not that I’m apolitical, but I have very centrist values; I abhor political extremism of either the left or the right wing.

I simply wouldn’t live in America, because I am Canadian and it’s the only place where I feel at home, and the experience for a Canadian in America (because we are sooo similar and yet not) can be unsettling.  However it is a wonderful country to visit and drive through, it is a shame that more Americans don’t travel across their own country anymore.

EM:  You guys are already slated to tour in the U.S. and worldwide.  What places are you most looking forward to experiencing and playing in?

Actually I am most excited [by the prospect of] playing in Canada and the US.  Mainly because we have been in Europe a lot recently, and it has been a long time since we did a proper North American tour.  There are a few great legendary venues we just played on this last tour like Bimbos, Fifth Ave. and Metro.

EM: Are there any other projects/interesting shows that you have planned in the near future?

I would love to do a special show in conjunction with the National Film Board of Canada at some point. We are talking to them about that right now.  I have done some production work for a few people recently.  Odds and ends…that sorta thing.  I’m also working on some synthesizer music at the moment and have already written a large amount of new Junior Boys material that I’m really happy with, so I think the length between this album and the next will be far shorter…..

Photo Credit: Joe Dilworth

Junior Boys – “Dull to Pause”

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For more on the band, visit:  http://www.juniorboys.net/