Junior Senior

by Joanna Orland & Isla MC

We couldn’t have Senior because he was indisposed, so we were asked if Junior would do. We had a lovely chat with Junior backstage at the greatest festival of 2005, also known as Roskilde. What more could we ask for? (perhaps a light shave off of the blonde tache?)

Many of you may remember Junior Senior from that awesome slice of pop they released a couple of years ago, “Move Your Feet”, and be wondering, “Whatever happed to those guys?”. Well, they are MASSIVE in Scandiland, and are releasing their latest album very soon. It promises to be as funky and dynamic as you’d expect. Junior describes it as “different” to the last, more acoustic with less emphasis on the electronic sound. Apparently, he and Senior had loads of fun making it, experimenting down new musical avenues.

Junior AND Senior started way back before becoming the duo you know and love today. They actually used to be in a full on band together, alongside other excess baggage that has long been shed. Just to make things clear, Junior needs to reaffirm the fact that this was NOT a boy band. So, with that firmly cleared up, we asked why they broke off from the band to become the duo Junior Senior. Junior says he found it difficult being in a band because “It was hard to get everyone on the same page. Someone is always nagging.”. Although he misses being able to share ideas with a collective of people, Junior and Senior function much better as a duo. Junior is the main songwriter, but notes that the music-making process is very much a collaboration between the two lads.

Since this meeting of minds was taking place at Roskilde Festival, we decided to ask Junior to create his dream festival line-up. Worrying that all of his choices were dead people, we assured him that this was “ok” as it was only a fantasy festival and we had no plans to actually go ahead with putting it on. So… who would Junior choose? Hendrix, The Doors, all of the classics, but only when they were at their peak. This concert involved not only crossing over to the netherworld, but also travelling back through time. What an ambitious guy! Of the currently living bands who could’ve joined the Junior Festival? He says the Rolling Stones might’ve made the bill, had they not been a bit past their heyday. He saw them awhile back doing the ageing rocker thing they do so well, and while he definitely enjoyed the show on a whole, he found it a bit uncomfortable to bear witness to. “Mick is still picking up his girls, Keith’s still doing his drugs. It was a bit sad.”

So, on that sombre not, we forced Junior to sum up the sound of Junior Senior in merely one word. And that word my friends, is “Exciting!”. How could we possibly disagree when we simply could not stop moving our feet during their storming live set?