Jen chats to Port Juvee about their EP ‘Crimewave’ and more.

“Relatable songs with a punk attitude.” Music Injection Australia

“Garage rock genius.” – Beatroute Magazine

“A tireless vibe that does not let down.” – Culture Collide

“Their songs aren’t just catchy, but thought provoking and knee shaking.”-Earshot! Online

Although PORT JUVEE embody a sound that is equally indebted to New York City post-punk and California surf garage, the Canadian prairies is where the band calls home. The 5-piece’s latest release, CRIMEWAVE is a collection of 7-songs, produced by the band with help from Justin Gerrish (Vampire Weekend “Contra”).

Between the ramshackle post-punk urgency of “Double Vision,” the lackadaisical punk of “Bleached Out Soda Pop,” “Trapped Under Water’s” pounding garage rhythms and the 80’s-inspired escapism of the title track, PORT JUVEE’s CRIMEWAVE offers the band’s most dizzying assortment yet.

PORT JUVEE has supported DIIV, Titus Andronicus, Twin Peaks, Sticky Fingers, Bleachers and The Orwells, and played a multitude of festivals including CMJ, Sled Island X-Fest and Rifflandia.

Hi, sorry for the delay on this interview, life is so hectic!

No worries. Life has a way of getting away on us all sometimes. For example, I was meaning to answer these questions two days ago!

You have had a few weeks off now after your Canada tour, have you recovered yet?

It was nice to chill for a week or so, it’s a lot of driving going across Canada. We did the drive home from Montreal to Calgary non-stop, which is about 36 hours. Everyone needed a little bit of time after that because, well, it’s completely ridiculous to do that. We’re back at it now, starting with writing new songs and planning what’s next.

 

Last month you released Double Vision with a music video with an interesting concept. Can you take us through why you chose this theme?

We thought a montage of flashing visuals from the experimentation and isolation of Cold War era space travel seemed to match the creepy post punk feel of the song. There’s this somber, almost haunting feel to focus and intensity of the astronauts as they slowly go through the paces, preparing to be shot into space at the montage near the end. The song is inspired by a feeling of isolation, but still while being around other people, so it seemed like a great fit as a concept.

‘Double Vision has “ramshackle post-punk urgency and underlying dark verve.” As stated in your press release, this sound of yours is rather unique, is this the way you just sounded or was it a conscious decision to adopt this as your sound?

It was just what we ended up agreeing on and really liking throughout as a group. We took all kinds of ideas and brought them forward, tried them all, and this is just kind of what came out the other side as to what we all liked. It was pretty natural to find for us.

I love your track ‘Crimewave’ I can see why you made it the title track. Was it always planned to be the title track?

Not from the get-go actually. We recorded a handful of tracks, mixed them and then planned to release that as the EP. The song Crimewave wasn’t written at that point. We wrote and recorded another three songs really quickly, Crimewave being one of them, to add to the rest of the songs. There were 10 total and 7 made it onto the EP. We all just really liked how the song sounded and the vibe around it, so we decided to name the whole thing CRIMEWAVE.

Can you choose one of your songs off ‘Crimewave’ and explain its meaning and its significance to you?

Bleached Out Soda Pop is the newest video we made, Lauchlin came up with the term to explain a group of girls that chilled around town with bleached out hair that had a specific style. The song is about nostalgia and impermanence, how you remember people a certain way, but as they change, the memory stays and you begin to romanticize it. It’s like everything else you remember fondly, the memories tend to appreciate and the mistakes you make seem more severe. The song is very chill but still has this underlying power to the rhythm section.

You guys really like cats, not only in music but in photos on facebook. Any reason? Do you own a few?

I don’t think anyone actually owns a cat in the band, haha. We were staying with my cousin in Montreal while we were on tour, and she has these two kittens. We got home after the show super late and decided that we were gonna take photos with the cats in th middle of the night— and so that’s how all that came about.

 

I really like your tee with the rose on it  do you design your own tee’s? Any plans for more? Check out the range of merch here

Yeah! We design all our own stuff in a design program from 2002 on a super old computer that crashes all the time. The whole set up totally sucks but we enjoy the nostalgia. We try to make as much of our stuff on our own as possible.

 

 

Your tour van has seen better days! Bit beaten up, is this is the Van you travel the country with?

We put 11,000km on that van in just over 2 weeks last month. It’s a tough one. It’s been broken into a few times and we’ve driven into some stuff, but it just keeps on going. We call it Champagne Papi and hope it lives forever.
 

Love that name! You have supported some sweet as bands, has there been one thing that you have learnt from these bands that has been really valuable for you?

We feel super fortunate to have played with the bands that we have. You can always pick up little things from pretty much any bands you see. To me the most fascinating thing is seeing how different people prepare for shows. But really, the single thing I appreciate the most is when bands are cool and fun to chill with. The last tour was with Sticky Fingers and those dudes are hilarious. Great band, great people.  

Any funny stories you can share from any of these tours?

One time we were driving to Toronto from Calgary, which is like 30 some-odd hours and before we even left the city limits, one of our headlights just out of nowhere fell off the van and we ran over it. The headlight was smashed to hell and we almost crashed the van in the process. That was unique.

What is next for Port Juvee?

We’re looking forward to 2017. It’s tough to tour in Canada in the winter months, but that gives a good opportunity to jump back into writing and the studio before the snow thaws out, after which we’ll be looking to go back on tour.

Thanks guys, Jen

THANKS JEN YOU DA BEST!

ikr! haha

 

BAND MEMBERS

Brett Sandford: Vocals
Distance Bullock: Drums
Jourdan Cunningham: Guitar
Lauchlin Toms: Guitar
Logan Juke: Bass