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Album, tour... What's next for Junior?
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Matt: I thought you said "album two" there. The first one's just come out! Bit of stress going on there.
Mark: I'll be honest, we're kind of unsure at the moment in a sense that... We released this album ourselves, we didn't have a big label behind us so it was all self-produced, with the recording, we did have help from friends but it was very much a DIY project.
At this point, your kind of just seeing what comes next. We have a lot of other things going on in our life. Site with head above the waves, matched with hot tag, Mu with the wrestling. You're seeing how everything goes and it's great to just be back on the road, finally get this album out that he'd been working on for the past two years.
Matt: A labour of love, for sure.
Mark: Definitely a labour of love. I feel like, at this point, we're kind of just seeing what comes next. We always have something going on in our lives - Si with Heads Above The Waves, Matt with Hot Tag, me with WWE and my wrestling career. There's so much going on that we're really just seeing where things go. For now, we're just happy being back on the road again and being able to play shows - and to finally get the album out after two years!
Whatever's next hopefully is good, hopefully, it's positive. I'm sure it will be. If it wasn't, we wouldn't do it.
You've just mentioned how difficult it is to actually make music together and find time to tour. How difficult is it working around Mark's schedule - and even you, Mark, having to juggle both of your passions with everything else in life?
Mark: It is but I quite like the challenge. We were talking today about going to the gym while on tour. When you're in the wrestling bubble, around loads of other wrestlers, it's a priority for everyone.
When you're on tour, driving from Wrexham to Glasgow today, tomorrow is here to Manchester. When you're in the van for five hours at a time, it is quite hard to maintain a decent diet and hit the gym regularly and stuff - but it's also quite rewarding then when you manage to pull it off!
Equally, that's why sometimes we will have a month or two at a time where it does seem quiet in Camp Junior, because I might be off in America or Si might be touring with Novo Amor.
We accepted a long time ago that we were never going to be in the same situation as other bands. We're never going to be able to climb the ladder of the music industry in the same way that other bands do, be able to tour constantly, but I kind of like that in a way because it's a bit different.
You don't take it for granted.
Mark: Exactly, yeah. We just do what we can and when we do end up doing a tour like this one, it's really, really fun. We're not burnt out.
Matt: We are not at each other's throats or anything, we enjoy each other's company, which helps because I feel a lot of bands who go on tour for months and months, they just get on each other's nerves - but we just like each other's company. Obviously, we have our own personal space and go do our own things but we just enjoy being in a band and having a laugh with the guys, so that is really beneficial.
Mark: It works out quite well, actually!
I like ending with one controversial question. You don't need to answer if you don't want to. I know you guys are big blink-182 fans, Tom DeLonge or Matt Skiba?
Matt: Tom DeLonge.
Mark: End the interview, now! No!
I mean, musically, obviously, I'm going to favor Tom DeLonge when he was in the band because it was nostalgic but I like the California album, and I think Matt's got an awesome voice, and I really like Alkaline Trio so... I don't know.
There's a fence there if you want to sit on it.
[Mark actually sits on a fence - literally]
Mark: I'm in the middle. I'm the middle.
A huge thanks to Junior for joining me on Dropkick DiSKussions. You can order your copy of Beautiful Life here and follow the band here. You can also follow Mark Andrews here, check out Hot Tag Media Works here and Heads Above The Waves here.
