Band Of The Week #189 - Junk Drawer
This week’s Band of the Week is Belfast based alt-rock four piece Junk Drawer - who have just released their new EP ‘The Dust Has Come to Stay’ via Art For Blind.
Recorded with producer, Chris Ryan (Just Mustard, NewDad, Robocobra Quartet), the new EP arrives as the first new material from the band since their tipped debut album, Ready For The House. The new body of work marks another thrilling installment of the Junk Drawer project which is made up of four multi-instrumentalists: brothers, Stevie Lennox and Jake Lennox, Brian Coney and Rory Dee. Dancing around tightly-knit guitar lines while demonstrating the group's ability to pen simmering pop melodies and the siblings' knack for lyricism, the new material further mines the quartet's sound that touches on Krautrock, post-punk and psychedelia, turning to their crate-digging sensibilities for inspiration: Deerhoof, The Cleaners From Venus, Spacemen 3, Ween, Richard Dawson and Television. It's a sound that aims to create pocket symphonies that pull in different directions while never being afraid to make left turns or harness the band's idiosyncrasies.
They took a moment to discuss with us how the EP came together.
Hey there Junk Drawer - how are you? So your new EP is finally here, how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
We're extremely stressed and damn near burnt out from being a totally independent band with 4 full time jobs (and plenty of things on the side), trying to promote a release while we try to continue writing our next album, but we told each other we loved each other for the first time last week, so I guess it's pretty good overall. We're really, really happy with EP to the point we're a bit worried about following it up, but we felt the same way about our album and we think we've done it justice. We're just glad that after all this work, the Great Handover to the public has happened and we can let it find its own life now instead of being this abstract thing we have to make sense of and describe ourselves in an interesting way. We've got a few shows now lined up across Ireland, and just waiting on some confirmation from England soon, so we'll we be on your shores before too long, all being well!
It is called ‘The Dust Has Come To Stay’ - what is the meaning behind that?
Well, we'd love to say it was a profound statement that one of us came out with. We would love to be able to say that. But if you keep an eye out in the background during one of the finest films in history, 'Paris, Texas' when Harry Dean Stanton's character is wandering, you might find the phrase. We're not a bunch of people who are particularly interested in analysing everything that happens in literal terms (despite 2 of us being music journalists...) - I think, to some degree, there's an unspoken understanding between us all when it comes to certain ideas and the need to over-articulate everything. We tend to write intuitively and relate a lot to each other in terms of symbolism, writing, language and artistic inclination, and Paris, Texas falls under that bracket of common interests too. Much like our album 'Ready For The House' was decided - which referenced outsider musician Jandek - it's a phrase that just felt right from the moment we heard it. The full phrase continues 'you may stay or pass on through or whatever'. Perhaps it's the streak of melancholy, and perhaps a touch of neurodivergence that lies beneath the surface of it & us all.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process?
It was predominately recorded in Start Together Studios in Belfast - where most of our album was also recorded, as well as producer Chris Ryan's home studio, and another space for some bits on Middle Places. It was, as ever with us, recorded far too piecemeal, but through the editing and mixing process, drew itself together. It honestly was all very civilised. It was a very easy environment to make music in - extremely un rock'n'roll apart from people sleeping on sofas from time to time. We knew we had limited time, which breeds an economical creativity and forces you to work to a deadline - which is the only way I personally can work to my best. That said, on Tears In Costa, we nearly didn't record vocals on its recording day as Stevie had a bad cold - Chris convinced him and it ended up being the finest vocal take he's ever done.
It was recorded with producer Chris Ryan - who has worked with the likes of Just Mustard and NewDad, what did Chris bring to the EP?
Ah, Chris has been a brilliant collaborator since we worked with him on 'Ready For The House'. He has this thing where he hates guitars, but keeps getting work for great guitar bands because they don't end up sounding generic or recorded in any bog-standard way. We got a lot of flak from him in the early days for not having much of a dynamic range in terms of wall-of-sound guitar, and in that time - you'll hear for yourself - we've really learned to respect restraint and space. It really, really is what you don't play sometimes. He's very much happy with working around the idiosyncrasies we have that make Junk Drawer what we are - as a band of multi-instrumentalists who write each song differently to the last, he'll always bring at least 1 new creative idea to the table for a tune. I always get the impression he's trying out new ideas on us (and everyone) as test subjects, and we're generally here for it. 'Railroad King' was recorded first in his house, just with guitars and bass, and those formed the backbone of the song, allowing us to go into the studio.
He's also wired to listen to music in a completely different way to ourselves, which is a massive benefit in having someone to push back against ideas that might send ourselves into self-parody, and just come at us from a different angle. We'll use reference points from specific bands or eras, being the anoraks we are, and he'll not know them so we'll have to learn to communicate things in a different way, which can bring out a whole other level of creativity. Likewise, with vocals, Stevie in particular, won't have totally decided which lyrics make the cut, so we get into the zone, particularly at Chris' house, and put the pressure on to try different takes, chiselling away until we have ourselves a song's worth of vocals. It can't be fun for him, but he works around it wonderfully, and it's led to some of our favourite vocal takes.
He also let us put 2 drum kits (Jake & Rory) on everything.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
I suppose for Jake's part, the realisation he's had in the last year or so that's got ASD - it's really reframed a lot of these lyrics, and those that have come before. I had often joked that Jake writes about being a 'little lost alien boy' - but those feelings are now verifiable. It's also just often observations - 'Suspended Anvil' concerns his recurring dream of re-starting smoking cigarettes, and takes that dreamlike imagery and runs with it.
For me, I think lyrically, it's the usual chestnuts of low-lying malaise & melancholy, yearning, and finding things to laugh at in miserable situations. As well, I think everything that's happened in the last 2 years have made the pen, somewhat ironically, turn outward, as he spent a lot of time thinking about place and its relation to memory. These things are always fragmented, and if you'd ask, you'd probably get a different answer next week - a friend said it was like someone floating out into space, looking back upon their life and dreams, and I do like that idea. I think the best perspective comes in times of loss, and that's a perspective I try my best to maintain. Sometimes I'm having a wistful laugh about my weight. Sometimes I'm re-creating a hullinatory state in my mind's eye to enable snapshots of stories that have taken place in my surroundings. A lot of it I think was that in the absence of people to react to, I've had to react to place. As far as lyrics though, we see things often very differently, but in the grander scheme, probably more similarly than we'd ever admit.
Musically, influences are definitely more concise than before. We reverted a lot back to our childhood loves, like great pop tunes, created by people with an eye for psychedelia and/or experimentation. There was a lot of The Beatles, Crumb, Cleaners From Venus, Deerhunter, Velvet Underground. Brian bought some synths, and the nature of writing in a less band-centric setting meant we started to focus on textures we normally wouldn't think to approach. I'd expect some more of that.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
This is probably the release with my & Jake's best work so far, lyrically, I think my favourite of my own is 'As least Heaven's Gate had an action plan'. It sums my outlook fairly well, I think - or 'You love your father as he drafts his new CV at 53' - I found this series of edited drafts after my dad quit his job due to horrendous management, and it broke my heart getting an insight into someone starting something completely new after 20 years of company loyalty. I could honestly talk about these lyrics all day though. The chorus to Suspended Anvil gives me a bit of joy as it's derived from our family home, and my earliest visual memories.
My favourite Jake line is that one in Railroad King about finding 'an airport book named How To Help Yourself Instead - the words start disappearing after a couple of pages as the publisher realises that he can triple his wages'. I'm envious of that line. Attacks a few shysters at once.
If your EP could be a soundtrack to any film - which would it be and why?
Probably some dreamlike, slightly absurd Richard Linklater film that would go in and out of animation & realism, time and memory - so perhaps Waking Life meets Boyhood?
Now the EP is out there - what next for you?
No rest for the wicked. A few dates across our island, a few beyond, and continuing work on album number 2! It's another little jump diagonally as usual so far, and we're really enjoying creating again - which was my biggest worry coming out of this EP's creation. We would love to play further afield, and hope our new music can hit even more of a note than the last two releases.
