Down in the depths of the famed Tin Pan Alley studios lurks a mysterious creature; part blues, part noise, and part human. This bizarre creation is Junkbox, and they have taken a break from recording to talk to Rm13 about anything and everything that can be thought of.
“This is where we’ve been doing our album,” John looks around the tiny room where a poster of Syd Barrat stares at us all. Between working, recording and gigging they are all knackered.
John: “It’s good ‘cause there’s loads of good bands around at the moment and we get sort of dumped in with them and they all seem to know each other and we don’t know anyone! (laughs) I think that it’s really healthy, loads of people are in bands now, I mean there’s good ones and crap ones there’s more good ones than there have been for years, but there’s still crap ones….” Darren cuts in- “There’s more crap ones than there used to be, but more better ones…”. John: “A few years ago you’d go into town to see a band and they’d be absolutely shit but now they’re playing anywhere."
Junkbox play anywhere too. Their first gig was at the 'Armpit' in Liverpool- they built it themselves with 'Gelatin' as part of the Liverpool Biannial arts festival in 2002. Some bands may play well-established venues, but not many can say they created their own!
The three of them met each other at University, but didn’t form the band until much later. When they were there, Darren fell ill with meningitis-, and was hospitalised after John called an ambulance.
John: “We didn’t know Shoko very well at the time and Darren he was alright, it was touch and go for a while, but he was alright, he’d had the penicillin and he was recovering, but nobody told Shoko and she thought he was dying…”
Shoko: “Someone came in saying he was dying”. Shoko visited Darren and brought nearly 400 origami birds, which she strung together.
John: “…and she came to visit him…”
Darren: “I was fine! I was fine!” While he was living it up in hospital poor Shoko thought he was on his last legs. But, as John reckons, that when he (Darren) was lying in his hospital bed he thought “…she’s got an eye for detail, she’ll be a good drummer, if I can just get out of here, if I can just survive the next 24hrs then I’ll form a band with you!”
Darren: “And just before Shoko came along with these beautiful birds, I got a Snoopy balloon!”
Shoko: “I thought that was the last day to see him”. John and Darren look stunned before falling about the place pissing themselves laughing.
Darren: “No! You thought I was gonna go at the end of the night!" (This seems to be news to everyone, and is greeted with howls of laughter. And let it be known that John hates Earl Grey tea).
Daren: “I like Syd Barrat”. The conversation has moved on to influences. “He was a bit fucked up (Rm13: A bit?!). He was mad- he grew potatoes on his feet, that’s why we covered it up.” He points to a strip of duck tape on the poster, covering Syd’s feet. John points out John Spencer and The Cramps. “Yeah” Shoko replies.
When they’re recording, Junkbox do it with a clear mind, and they all do it together. When they get into the studio they rehearse a bit- get tighter, and “accidentally” wrote six songs the other evening.
John: "When we do this stuff we do it when we’re not thinking of anything, we all do it together, like make a noise or something.”
Shoko and Darren: “Jammin’!” (they all break into fits of laughter).
John: “We’ve been recording it ourselves, so it’s all self contained.”
Darren: “We’ve tried to keep as many people away from it, not that it’s precious, but just because we’ve been in this thing for so long …”
John: “The more people it involves, the more complicated it gets, we know how we want to sound. We’re not your normal group.”
Darren: “We don’t like football.”
John: “So that’s half the nation out!” (laughter)
Darren: “Or the Olympics, and that’s the other half. A lot of bands have this thing where, “oh he was a bit tall” or, …you know what I mean?!”
John (to Darren): “We are exactly the same height…”. Shoko mumbles something, and he turns to her. “…yeah you’re short aren’t you. What shoe size are you?”
Shoko: “I don’t know, (shrugs)”
John: “You’re a three…”
Darren: “Three!”
Shoko: “I think I’m a four or a five…54.5cm”
John: “What size is that?”
Shoko: “42 or 40”
John: “Yeah but what?!”
Shoko: “Miles!”.
The end of the interview? Watch this space…
Emily Warner