Interview: Junius

We recently reached out for an email interview with art-rock band Junius, who were kind enough to answer them. Here’s our interview with Joseph Martinez and Mike Repasch of Junius.
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Q – “Days Of The Fallen Sun” has been released for about two and a half months now, how has the reception for it been so far?

Joseph Martinez: Surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting such a positive response for just an EP.

Q – “Days Of The Fallen Sun” has sort of an “intro” track preceding each track on the album, what was the idea behind this?

Joseph Martinez: I was trying to immerse the listener into the world that’s been running around in my head. I originally had this recording of this deep voice scholar reading some Akkadian text describing the end of the world, but when I played the album back with his voice in the interludes, all I wanted to hear was some super evil death metal afterwords, so I just went with that best set the mood for each song.

Q – The EP’s lyrics involve the life of Immanuel Velikovsky, not unlike The Martyrdom Of A Catastrophist. How do both of these releases conceptually connect in that aspect, and what inspires you to write lyrics concerning his life and ideals?

Joseph Martinez: The EP is not about Immanuel Velikovsky’s life, it’s about what I think was going on in his head when he thought about what ancient civilizations went through during these great upheavals. It’s more of an explication on “The Antediluvian Fire.”. It’s complete fantasy.

Q – The artwork for “Days Of The Fallen Sun” is very interesting to say the least. What does it represent, and how does it connect with the concept?

Mike: I had been in touch with the artist, Adrian Brouchy, for a while–he did a shirt design for us a little while back–and kept him in the loop as we worked on the EP. I would send him concepts, music, visual inspiration, and the lyrics as we went along, so while we were working on the music, he was working on the artwork. As you can see, there are literal representations of the catastrophes and the cosmos, as well as more abstract interpretations of the themes, with the diametric goddesses and other esoteric symbolism. Inside, there is a more literal presentation of the story, illustrated by longtime collaborator Matt Gauck, who also illustrated the book that came with The Martyrdom album. Since this is sort of a companion (or prequel) to Martyrdom, I wanted to echo the visual aesthetics as well.

Q – What has been the band’s greatest experience in the eleven year’s since your formation, and what do you still hope to achieve through the remainder of the band’s career?

Joseph Martinez: We’ve had many great memories, but the first time we went to Europe will always stand out. Without Europe we would have gave up long ago.

Q – What’s the best concert you’ve ever attended that you did not play?

Joseph Martinez: Impossible to answer. A pivotal concert though was Smashing Pumpkins when I was 15, but I wouldn’t call that the best concert.

Q – What are some of your favorite music releases from the past year(besides your own, of course)?

Joseph Martinez: I’ve been out of the music loop for quite a while now, but I still rock that Chelsea Wolfe album.

Q – You guys have a run of shows coming up with Solstafir this month, what does the future for Junius hold beyond that?

Joseph Martinez: Hopefully a full length album at some point, but we move at snail’s pace, so who knows…