Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned Leeds band Apollo Junction to find out more…
Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the band name?
Ok well we are Jamie (vocals), Matt (guitars), Ben (bass), Sam (keyboard) and Jonathon (drums). We are a five-piece from Leeds, Yorkshire. We play massive electro indie anthems which are born out of the 80s and 90s Britpop era with a slight nod to acid house meeting the 1960s at a party.
We always liked Apollo, due to it being the God of music and if we are honest we like the Rocky films (get up you bum!). We met a lot in pubs early days discussing ideas and all that jazz, one time it was in a pub called The Junction. Think it was our guitarist who said “how about The Apollo Junction?” we lost the The and yeah the name stuck.
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
We all loved OASIS and still do. We keep tweeting Liam G for a support on his tour but he’s having none of it! Modern, we like Arcade Fire, The Killers ad our good friends Bang Bang Romeo.
How would you describe your sound?
We have been described as “New Order meets the Killers and Doves”.
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Borderlines. It’s a song about all the panic there is in the world at the moment. We wrote it in Jamie’s living room! His terrible cooking meant that we had to leave early, so we wrote this song very quickly!!
What’s your local music scene like?
It’s absolutely thriving! We need the lockdown over asap so we can get back to it!! Leeds has always been amazing. I can’t lie though, it’s a worry seeing great venues like The Cockpit and Joseph’s Well closing down. Hope we can keep all our lovely venues.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
So 2021 sees a big year for us. We are playing our biggest hometown show yet in Leeds at The Warehouse (March 20th).
We’re performing at The Isle of Wight Festival on the Big Top! Again, that’s going to be amazing.
We also have 2 dates playing with The Kaiser Chiefs at The Piece Hall in Halifax which is an absolute honour.
We are also looking at playing more tour dates and will make announcements shortly. And this goes without saying, there will be many more singles and another album 🙂
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Tim Burgess would be amazing!!
Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Once there was a smoke machine that went off during a performance and one member thought there was a fire and stopped playing!!! They got on the mic and shouted “Halt… Stop the show there’s a fire!!”
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
That we’re all down to earth genuine lads. We’re trying to make the best music possible for you, the people. Get in touch. We’re always interacting with fans. It’s vital to us that we get to know our fans.
You can find out more about Apollo Junction via Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitter or YouTube.
UPDATE: Apollo Junction are now signed to independent record label Shed Load Records, congratulations!
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