Sunday 4 May 2014

Here Come The Zombies! Interview With Apollo Junction



For the lads of Apollo Junction the outlook seems to be a positive one at the moment. Graham Norton sort of fancies them (although he may have been drunk at the time of calling them 'very handsome') and they've been grabbing the attention of the mainstream music press with their indie ballads such as 'If I Fell' and dance anthem 'Born For Now'.  Therefore I decided it was about time to find out what this group were all about and emailed them for a quick interview.



Most bands that I have featured on my blog so far have shunned the hassle of hiring a management and PR team, deciding instead to do the legwork themselves. Apollo Junction are no different, but how do they dish out these roles between them?  'We all have roles within the band but PR wise Jamie takes most of the lead on it. Matt and Jonny do the logistic side of things (organising gigs, practices, sending cds out etc). Sam does all the web based geeky stuff such as the website etc we all do a bit of the social media and Ben makes the tea!' They explain.  Taking double roles within the band seems to have reaped the results they were after, but how have they absorbed the reaction to their hits and how does it feel?
'I would say humbling but that would be the wrong word. The right word is proud, proud of how people have taken an interest, proud of the songs we have written, proud of how hard we have worked to get them out there and finally proud of our mothers…for having such handsome sons!' In between maintaining their Mother's gift of handsome features and Ben making the tea, is there any time left for inspiration for songwriting? 'We all inspire each other and are all each other’s muses. I know it sounds a bit lame but it’s true what happens when we are jamming is like magic sometimes.' 

Apollo Junction have made themselves known on the music circuits in both Leeds and London. However most bands I've crossed paths with so far have been from either London or Manchester, both places where the music scene is thriving, but Leeds?  'Well in all honesty Leeds is an amazing city with some great bands but it can't be compared to London's music scene as that's where bands go to make it, in our eyes it's why it's so important people champion their local scene!' They tell me. 'Having said that I personally believe that the whole city scene thing isn't quite as prevalent anymore due to social media you can have fans all over the world let alone your own city! But we think Leeds’s scene is fab we have shared the stage with some amazing bands.'  So any best or worst gigs so far? 'We have only done 11 gigs we have gigged sparingly and concentrate on writing. Our gigs have caused much more of a ‘buzz’ this way. No best or worst so far for us just all brilliant!'

By the time the year is out, Apollo Junction want to have achieve three main objectives and these are 'Get back on the radio, play festivals and finally all of us get a tattoo of the band somewhere! I would see that as a way to start 2015 with a bang.'  You can help them do this by checking out their Soundcloud and if you like what you're hearing you can download the tunes here.