Leeds indie band Apollo Junction are laying the ground for their second album with anthemic new single ‘On The Ropes’. The Strange Brew’s Jason Barnard speaks to their drummer and co-songwriter Jonathan Thornton about their formation, love for their home city and future.
Can you tell me the spark of inspiration for ‘On the Ropes’?
We’ve had this song knocking around for a few years and has gone through different iterations, but it’s a sense of how our next album is sounding and the direction we wanted to take it. Big drums, loud vocals, catchy synths, and a choir, (which doesn’t feature on every song by the way!).
How do you write your material?
Really depends, we honestly don’t have a set formula. Sometimes we have a vocal line that sparks a song, or a melody. Sometimes it’s a riff or a drum pattern that we like the feel of. For this song, we started writing around the drum and bass pattern and then everything else built on from there.
Do you think your sound has evolved since your debut material in Mystery?
Massively. We’ve changed a lot since Mystery, we still love that record, but as a band you change and develop from your experiences and learnings and what your fans seem to love as well. We have certainly gone a little heavier on this record, but hopefully kept the ‘core’ AJ sound and vibe.
Where and how do you record?
We are fortunate enough to have a home type set up, that we write and demo all of our songs in, once we’re happy, we share them with our manager Martin, and our publisher John, and most importantly our lovely producer Andy at Nave Studios in Leeds who then helps us turn them into what they sound like.
What tracks of yours would you recommend we seek out?
If you’re new to our band, I’d recommend you check out ‘Born for Now’ from our first record which is a song we all love and gives a good insight to our sound and what we’re all about. And then something more recently was our single ‘Borderlines’ released last year, a little rockier….
There seems to be a huge camaraderie between Leeds bands, rugby and football teams.
That’s just northern folk for you! We are all supportive of one another and try get behind what people are up to. We’ve been very lucky that Leeds Utd and the Leeds Rhinos have been hugely supportive of us and we’re really humbled by that. In this crazy world we’re currently in, we’ve got to look out for one another. MOT.
How do you think Leeds influenced the band?
Well we’re all mostly from Leeds and surrounding areas, so huge influences on who we are as people and as a band. We live in Leeds, go drinking in Leeds (not currently!), play gigs in Leeds, so everything we’re about is Leeds.
Do you have any favourite gigs?
Probably different favourites for different members, but for me, was our first time at the Isle of Wight. We walked out to a reasonably busy crowd, but by the time we finished the whole arena area was rammed, and it just felt surreal. The weather was amazing, the vibe on stage was incredible, and most importantly, the crowd was just buzzing. We live for those moments.
How did you form?
A few years ago now, but we all sort of knew of each other ‘on the scene’ from different bands, and we had a conversation about jamming, and that happened, and the rest is history. We never set out to be a ‘public’ band, we wanted to just write music and jam, but we recorded a few demos, and Ben sneakily sent one off to the BBC and Lamacq played us a few times. People started asking to come watch us so we thought we best get some gigs booked!
How did you settle on the name Apollo Junction?
We were in a pub called The Junction, discussing our mutual love of the Rocky films and the legend Apollo Creed. A little lame, but the two came together and that’s what we settled on.
What music shaped you?
Everything between The Beatles and Mozart. We have a real eclectic mix of genres. But we all have a mutual love of New Order, Oasis, Pulp, and Ben our bassist loves Dire Straits.
Was it important to release through a local label in Shed Load Records?
We’ve known Shed Load Records for a while now, and as mentioned before, we love local initiatives and local people, so when Mick came knocking and offered us this deal, we snapped his hand off.
Has the pandemic affected the band?
Yeah of course, but thankfully, we are all healthy and that’s what’s important. So many people have had their lives turned upside down which is awful. We had a load of shows and festivals cancelled which was a shame, but we kept positive and productive with writing our second album and engaging as much as we could with our fans.
Are you able to make any plans for 2021?
We’re trying, a lot of our shows from last year have moved into this year, so hopefully the can happen but who knows… So far, we’ve got CarFest, Isle of Wight Festival, Bingley, dates with the Kaiser Chiefs and a whole bunch of others. Oh and we’re also releasing our 2nd album!!
How can people keep in touch?
All the usual ways, we’re on twitter/insta etc @apollojunction
Apollo Junction’s latest single ‘On The Ropes’ is released on 22 January. See also apollojunction.com
