Juno
by Shelley Pullman
photos by Cynthia Connolly
How
does one describe the Juno? First off, there are three guitars.
It’s amazing to me that a band would know what to do with
three guitars, but these guys do. They create a powerful dynamic
by all working on different levels of sound. Guitarists Jason
Guyer and Gabe Carter not only play guitar, but Gabe plays strange
instruments known as the farfisa and the glockenspiel, while
Jason twiddles knobs. The bassist, Travis Saunders, plays with
the smoothest most beautiful deep tones, and the drummer, Greg
Ferguson, just takes shit over. The guy knows how to play the
drums. Between screaming, singing, and whispering his poetic
lyrics, you might think there was more than one singer in this
band, but Arlie Carstens, who also plays guitar, just sounds
different in every song - and that’s a good thing. Juno
is a rock band who balances their sometimes intensely hostile
energy with dreamy space sounds, epic blasts of guitar, and
great lyrics. “You don’t have to be strong if you
don’t want to be free. When you turn off the alarm I turn
on you and I. I turn on my disease. Go.”
Some things you should know about Juno: These guys are crazy.
In the three and a half years of their existence, they’ve
done six van tours without ever having a full-length record
until now. They were touring with only the support of three
seven inches, released over the years on the Jade Tree, Sub
Pop, and Magwheel record labels. After constantly working with
a variety of independent labels, their full-length record entitled
“This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes...” is
a co-release between Seattle’s Pacifico Recordings and
D.C.’s DeSoto Records.
So you guys just released your first full-length record,
and then canceled your tour with The Most Secret Method. What
happened?
Arlie: I broke my neck. I’m a professional snowboarder
for Santa Cruz Snowboards and Bonƒre clothing. I was in Tahoe,
California on a photo shoot for Santa Cruz and I broke 4 vertebrae
in my neck and spent some time in a trauma center in Nevada.
I’ve been recovering for the last 3 months which canceled
our tour and put a few things on hold. My neurosurgeons and
my nurses have all told me that I’m either the luckiest
person alive, or that it’s basically a miracle that I’m
alive and walking because most people either die or are paralyzed.
I was paralyzed for a time, so I actually do feel really fortunate.
It’s amazing to me that I’m going to come out of this
perfectly all right. I’m in physical therapy now. I’ve
got 2 plates, 4 screws, a piece of my hip and some wire in my
neck. I’m going to ultimately in time make a full recovery
and I’ll be ƒne. I know it’s going to work out, and
difficult as it’s been, it’s probably been one of
the most positive events of my whole life. I have a greater
appreciation for life and a much broader perspective on what
being alive is all about. I appreciate people as I never have.
So what’s going to happen with Juno now?
Arlie: Well, we just released our record, and hopefully we’re
going to go on tour again in the Fall.
Doesn’t Gabe work for a snowboarding company?
Gabe: Yes. I’m the Shipping Manager at Mervin Manufacturing.
I’m Santa Claus. I ship the toys all around the world.
Stoked! Who are your main musical influences?
Arlie: No one’s ever asked us that before. Okay, I’ll
keep it to 3. Rites of Spring, Husker Du, and the Laughing Stock
record by Talk Talk.
Gabe: The Scorpions. I was always kind of an early Def Lepard
kind of guy too. Mixed with a little Duran Duran and Van Halen.
Greg: Three dollar punk shows at the Community World Theater
were a big in¼uence. You know when you’re 15, you might
know one of the bands, and your like ‘oh, who’s that
7 Seconds band that’s playing?’
Jason: Okay, probably the three, if I had to distill it, Minor
Threat, Dinosaur Jr., and Yo La Tengo.
Greg: My number one old in¼uence would have to be the Clash.
When I think about what I want to play now I think about Chavez,
for sure, Jawbox, Fugazi. Radiohead, and other limeys.
Travis: I think some of my earlier in¼uences were from going
over to my friend Vincent’s house. His dad had an awesome
hi-ƒ system and was always buying records. Some of the earlier
stuff I got turned onto from going over there was stuff like
Blondie, Adam Ant, Kiss, and AC/DC. We deƒnitely share common
in¼uences too like Fugazi, musically and ethically. I could
go on and on. Actually I’m beginning to take the Yanni
approach and I don’t listen to anything but my own music.
So,
you’re an independent rock band as opposed to a commercial
rock band. What does this mean to you?
Arlie: I think that for us what it means is...we bought our
van with our own money. We put ourselves in debt thousands and
thousands of dollars, and we predominantly tour with bands that
want to play the kinds of shows we want to play. Shows that
are fun and supportive of a community ethic. We’re trying
to be...a band; as opposed to trying to be macho money-making
entertainers. That’s really all it means.
Jason: If it entertains, that’s great, I think entertainment
value is important, but our ƒrst priority is not to entertain.
I think that we all like to have a good time, and that probably
hopefully entertains people, but my biÎest priority is
to make good music. I want to feel good about the songs, I want
to write songs that are good. I think that in the end we’re
just honest. At least we’re not writing songs that we think
are going to make us money.
Arlie: Well, I think that we have a responsibility to entertain
people when we play shows. I think that you shouldn’t be
a boring band, but that responsibility comes through making
music that you really believe in. That responsibility to entertain
sort of shines through when people see that the music you’re
making is something that you really really believe in, that
you really feel good about.
What are you trying to achieve by being in this band?
Gabe: I don’t think we’re necessarily hoping to quit
our day jobs with this band, but we’re hoping that the
band will eventually perpetuate itself to be something that
enables us to travel and play music for people without it costing
us money. With the way it is right now, all of us are up to
our eyeballs in debt just to do it. It’s not that that
mağers so much, but it would be nice if it wasn’t that
way. I don’t think any of us have starry eyes or ambitions
of making multi-million dollars by doing this band. Making the
music itself comes way before that.
Arlie: The goal, as simple minded as it might sound, is to make
music that we like, to play to people who genuinely appreciate
it, and don’t see what we’re doing as the ¼avor of
the month or a fad. To make music that we honestly believe in,
and hopefully to gather an audience of people who are looking
to support a band for the length of its life span. As opposed
to just being in a band because of one song they may have written.
We intentionally chose to be on smaller labels to work with
people who believed in what we did. Not from a commercial standpoint,
but believed in what we did from an artistic standpoint. We’ve
chosen to work with people playing the kinds of shows where
we get greater artistic satisfaction. I think that if anything,
the point or the end result of all the work we put into this
band is to play a lot of shows, and to play for people who like
the music that we make. Music that hopefully makes other people
feel beğer, makes people feel like they have a sense of community.
I think that punk rock anymore, like the indie rock community
in the United States, is really fractured and crazy. Everybody
ƒghts about what the deƒnition of punk rock is as opposed to
actually embracing all kinds of different music and making sure
that shows happen, and making sure that people get more out
of the musical experience than just sort of going to a show
and being like “I’m the punkest person here.”
I want to play shows for people that are coming to shows sort
of as a collective celebration. My idea of punk rock is, as
far as punk rock shows are concerned, a lot of people coming
together to see a show and to support one another and support
the music that they’re listening to. That includes playing
beneƒt shows for causes that you believe in, or playing lots
of basement shows, and making sure to play a lot of all-ages
shows. Just so that younger people can see music and art as
a creative outlet, as a way to help them get through a day.
Without music in my life at a really young age I know that I
would’ve turned out a much different person. I would have
turned out much more negative and probably much more hostile
person than the person I am. I think that as a result of growing
up going to punk rock shows, I saw that for whatever shitty
situation I might have been in as a kid, that there was this
way out through playing music. I wound up hanging out with kids
who were also fuck-ups, and it made me feel beğer about being
a fuck-up. If you can use it as a source of empowerment - instead
of this thing to beat people over the head with that makes you
the king of the hill - if you can use it as something to make
you feel beğer and to help other people feel beğer, then that’s
the camp I want to be in.
What
priority does Juno hold above other things in your lives?
Travis: Well, it’s very important. I think it’s something
that all of us would probably be lost without. It’s personally
part of who I am. I’ve been a musician preÛ much
all my life. It’s the only constant thing in my life. It’s
the only thing I’ve done for a long long time without a
break. To me, it’s important to have that in my life.
Greg: Keeps me sane. I’m a jerk if I don’t play music.
Arlie: Yeah, I think that without this group of people collectively,
sort of on a mission to make music together, we’d all be
much more unhappy.
Gabe: Not that it stops us from being unhappy.
Jason: It’s both the cause and the release of our...
Arlie: ...of a lot of frustration. I would say that everything
else in our lives sort of revolves around being in this band.
I think a lot of us have put other things on hold, or have chosen
not to do certain things like taking certain jobs, or making
other things bigger priorities in an effort to make this our
biggest priority.
Do you consider being in a band a job?
Gabe: Juno’s something we all live to do. It’s not
like a job in that respect. I don’t think it’s work.
It’s hard, but it doesn’t feel like work.
Jason: I actually think of it as the way work should be. Things
go over terrible sometimes and they’re awesome sometimes,
but when we make music it always seems like it’s worth
it; when we practice and get a song together, or we play live
and it sounds good. It’s a sense of satisfaction that I
don’t really get in a whole lot of other areas in my life.
Creating something by yourself is great to do, but sometimes
it seems like more of an accomplishment when you can get ƒve
guys to create something together. I’m really proud of
us being a band just for that. I’m proud of our record,
but I’m also equally proud of the fact that we’ve
come this far together.
Is that why you’ve stayed a band so long?
Travis: Yeah, I also think that everybody wants to be a part
of some community. I think that’s very human. We all grew
up in music related communities. It’s what we know and
will continue to do because it’s a familiar community to
us. I think we all enjoy being part of a music community, I
think that’s why we do it.
How
does one describe the Juno? First off, there are three guitars.
It’s amazing to me that a band would know what to do with
three guitars, but these guys do. They create a powerful dynamic
by all working on different levels of sound. Guitarists Jason
Guyer and Gabe Carter not only play guitar, but Gabe plays strange
instruments known as the farfisa and the glockenspiel, while
Jason twiddles knobs. The bassist, Travis Saunders, plays with
the smoothest most beautiful deep tones, and the drummer, Greg
Ferguson, just takes shit over. The guy knows how to play the
drums. Between screaming, singing, and whispering his poetic
lyrics, you might think there was more than one singer in this
band, but Arlie Carstens, who also plays guitar, just sounds
different in every song - and that’s a good thing. Juno
is a rock band who balances their sometimes intensely hostile
energy with dreamy space sounds, epic blasts of guitar, and
great lyrics. “You don’t have to be strong if you
don’t want to be free. When you turn off the alarm I turn
on you and I. I turn on my disease. Go.”
So,
you’re an independent rock band as opposed to a commercial
rock band. What does this mean to you?
What
priority does Juno hold above other things in your lives?