A Look at Our Favourite JUNO Award Nominees
This morning at a press event within Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall, the 2015 JUNO Award nominees were unveiled. In all, 41-categories were highlighted, with a number of past Riffyou.com interviewees receiving a nod.
While we encourage you to visit the official JUNO Awards website to view the entire list of nominees, here are the 2014 interviews we did with some of those vying for an award this year:
Arkells
“We didn’t have any interest in remaking Jackson Square or Michigan Left,” concedes Arkells frontman Max Kerman while in conversation with Riffyou.com. “I think the fun part about getting to record is getting to try new things. There’s a common theme that thread the three records together, which is songs that are fun to sing along to, and hopefully have lyrics that mean something to others…they mean something to us. But sonically, I think we took some chances.” [full story]
USS
“People can feel a realism about us – that we live through the music and with the music…and it through us,” he continues. “That realism, now more than ever, is important. People want to believe in music because they want to believe in the people who write and perform it. They want to believe that the artists have the same conviction as they did when they wrote the music; as to when they’re on stage; as to when they spoke to you at the merch booth.” [full story]
July Talk
“I’m so thankful that we’ve been given the opportunity to explore something. When you’re a doctor, there are certain preconceptions about what you’re going to do on a day-to-day basis. Walking into a rock n’ roll show, if I’m a guy wearing a guitar and Leah is a woman and we’re standing on the stage, there are preconceived notions about what that night’s going to be. What’s important to us is that we really try hard and push each other to fuck with that. And, maybe say, ‘what if we don’tdo what is expected of us?’ [full story]
PUP
“A lot of those kids who listened to Blink-182 and Sum 41 10 years ago, they want something similar, but a lot less melodramatic. We listened to a lot of that stuff 10 years ago, but have grown out of it. We want to do something like that, but in a new and exciting musical way.” [full story]
The Glorious Sons
“I wanted to capture a certain amount of nostalgia that still sounded new to people,” explains Brett Emmons while in discussion with Riffyou.com. “I wanted people to sit back and think about what they might’ve missed in their lives. I wanted people to be interested in rock n’ roll. I wanted rock n’ roll to move people…rock n’ roll that people could move to, sing to and respect. I also wanted people to think.” [full story]
Single Mothers
“With any art or form of creativity, it’s better to polarize people than just be kind of liked and be somewhere in the middle ground. I’d rather people love us or hate us.” [full story]
Big Wreck
“It’s not that I don’t care about fans or anything…I’m honoured to even have people that will call themselves fans,” say Thornley. “Maybe the reason why they are fans is because I don’t give a shit about what’s happening in the marketplace. I’m just making music. I’m not anti this or anti that, but this is how I’ve been able to stay in the business and not leave it.” [full story]
Mother Mother
“We have a better sense of what we like, versus what other people might like, and know that the former is far more fulfilling than the latter. We make records that we like, and don’t worry about the projections of things. When you love something yourself, chances are people are going to love it as well. There’s a better chance of reciprocity there than if you’re creating something for the aim of reception.” [full story]
The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
“When you’re performing – when it comes to getting to a level where you’re happy, the crowd is happy, and it’s going to grow – that takes a lot of years to achieve. Whenever I see duos, the first thing I ask is ‘how long are they going to last?’ Duos tend to have a burnout. But, when you see them do well, you know they have seven or eight years behind them.” [full story]
-Adam Grant
Stay tuned for more coverage on the 2015 JUNO Awards, including video interviews with some of this year’s nominees.
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