We spoke to self-proclaimed ‘Indie Media Darlings’ Apollo Junction about their fantastic new EP, getting the support of some of the country’s biggest DJs, and being hailed as ‘magnificent’ by The Sun:
How would you describe your music for people who don’t know you?
We hate this question because we don’t really know ourselves! We have loud drums, guitars, keyboards and synths, and lots of vocal layers. We write addictive choruses that you’ll wake up singing at two o’clock in the morning. Sorry in advance.
You’ve just released your new EP – was it easy to write and record?
It was easy to write because we’re so good at writing songs – we’re a band of five songwriters, so if anything we have too many ideas! Recording it was a pain, to be honest. We’re five perfectionists, which meant that our producer was very upset by the end! We don’t regret that, though. We didn’t rush it, which meant that we got it right. We’re very proud of it!
What’s your favourite song from the EP?
Blood On Hands. It was repeatedly played by BBC Radio 6, and was deemed to be ‘magnificent’ by The Sun.
What’s the best thing about playing live?
We’ll be playing our set and suddenly we’ll all feel this electricity. It’s like everyone in the room connects and we’re all just living in the moment. It’s an amazing experience.
What’s your favourite song to play live?
We like playing the first track we ever wrote. It’s called Begin, and it’s where it all started for us. We normally play it last, so I guess that you could say that we’re ending where it all began.
Any plans for more headline shows?
We’ll be playing a show in our home town of Leeds in the middle of December, but other than that… We just love gigging, so we just can’t wait to support friends’ bands and play gigs all over the place!
You’re a self-managed band – do you feel that this allows you more creative freedom?
I don’t think that we would sign to a major (or even to an independent) record label if it would mean changing our sound dramatically, so I wouldn’t say we look at it like that. I think the best thing about being a self-managed band is that you’re completely in control – we get to do what we want, when we want to do it. If we fail it’s our fault, but when we succeed it’s 100% our fault.
How important do you think it is for a band to have a strong presence on social media?
It’s important to be in touch with your fans, but it only works if you have great songs. You can have a nice shiny website and great Twitter and Facebook pages, but if the songs are dross you’ve got nowhere to go from there.
Out of every song ever recorded, which do you wish you’d written?
Well, this is a tricky one! We were talking about this recently. One of us said Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, and someone said Suspicious Minds By Elvis. Then we agreed on a list of ten. These are the top ten grossing songs of all time:
- The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)’ – Nat King Cole.
- ‘Pretty Woman’- Roy Orbison.
- ‘Every Breath You Take’ – The Police.
- ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ – John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie.
- ‘Stand By Me’- Ben E. King
- ‘Unchained Melody’ – The Righteous Brothers.
- ‘Yesterday’ – The Beatles.
- ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, The Righteous Brothers.
- ‘White Christmas’- Irving Berlin.
- ‘Happy Birthday To You’- Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill/Warner Chappell.
If you could be in any other band, which would it be?
Why would we want to be in another band? We are brothers and each other’s muses. There’s no other option other than Apollo Junction
What does the future hold for you?
We’ve got our next single, Born For Now, coming out on December 11th. It’s being played every five minutes on BBC Radio 2 by Janice Long – she loves it!
In the long-term, who knows? I think we’d like to see how far we can really take Apollo Junction. We won’t rest ‘til we play Glastonbury – I think that’s a big one for us! I think eventually we’ll want a label and a manager to come in and help us, but they must comply with our two major requirements.
- They must have our best interests at heart
- They must take us to number 1 in the charts
And they must be in that order.
What’s the strangest thing that’s ever happened to you?
In Apollo Junction? We are five strange people, so lots of strange things happen to us… If we told you the details then our Mams might disown us! Well, Matt and Sam’s certainly would! We think a really strange thing is having massive Radio DJs like Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, Graham Norton, Janice Long and Chris Hawkins playing our music, or having The Mirror, The Times and The Sun talking about your track like they would talk about the next U2 single.
Describe yourself in three words?
Indie Media Darlings.
Apollo Junction’s new single Born For Now is out on December 11th via all good online music stores.