Junodream Just Put Out Our Fav Quarantine Anthem

The alt-rock group, Junodream is as dynamic as their songs. Members Jake Gidley, Will Ryder, Tom Rea, Dougal Gray and Ed Vyvyan have been together for years since school and their chemistry and sonically cohesive sound is seen throughout their music. We discussed their latest single, “easy life” and how it is coming to be a quarantine anthem. 

How did you guys meet and form as a group?

Tom: We met in school and we were forced into a school band group. Jake, Will and I. Jake was a bit older and we convinced him to join and then we later convinced Ed to get join. At first we were just doing our best, but now I’d say we are okay! Haha

Ed: We weren’t called Junodream originally, and through the years we’ve changed our names, and now this is the band we’re sticking to! 

This is the best, honestly. The best bands I’ve seen are the ones where everyone has been through it all together and it’s great to see how you’ve all grown and changed. 

Tom: Definitely. We all know some terrible things about each other. 

Let’s talk about the inspiration behind the single, “easy life”? 

Ed: Sonically, it was a song Tom brought to all of us. We all started singing a melody from another song I was thinking about So it was a mesh of things we created in the studio. The lyrics were actually written before lockdown began, but the themes speak to things happening today. Will people go back to normal and have those conversations or have we become more obsessed with the internet and the validation of social media. This track is about someone who is complaining about the difficult life and decides to make it easier by purchasing a computer and becoming more obsessed with the internet as the real world becomes intolerable.  

Tom: This seems to be the theme of our songs. It sounds happy, but sometimes we have a sinister undertone. 

Going back to that, would you say that your music has specific themes or inspiration? 

Dougal: We’ll kind of take an idea 60% of the way and then in terms of “easy life” we really like sadness, but all the music we like resembles that. It walks the line of hopeful, but desperately leaning towards the sad side. We try to do a mix of happy music with sinister undertones. 

Ed: Generally, we do try to stay away from heartbreak songs, unless we experience heartbreak. Waiting for my next one!! But really, we try to write about the micro moments and things that don’t really get a ton of air time in music. 

Who are artists that you’ve listened to that inspire your sound? 

Tom: Across the board, we listened to songs that most of our parents listened to. The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams. I think  my first CD was Robbie Williams. As we got older I think our tastes have varied, but there’s a common theme. But I think Ed had a couple of different ones, ha!

Ed: Yeah, I’m into more of John Mayer and High School Musical….

But recently, during quarantine, I’ve listened to a bit of 1 and 2! 

Tom: Will’s not here, but I remember meeting we were asked who our favorite artists were and he mentioned Taylor Swift and Guns n’ Roses. 

Dougal: Yeah, I love Beck, early Beck! 

Any new hobbies or shows watched in Quarantine? 

Ed: I’ve been playing the dijourdou and painstakingly writing a page of my book. 

Have you found quarantine easier to write songs together? 

Dougal: Honestly, yeah. We’ve done the same stuff we did before. We’ll work together and then send it over to Ed. 

Tom: It’s worked well for us. We always wrote our own bits and made sure we liked it before sending it to get produced. 

Ed: We’ve gotten better at recording ourselves. I even have this *holds up Logic Pro X for Dummies*

I wish y’all could have seen this group via Zoom, but maybe when I don’t loathe the sound of my own recorded voice, I’ll share with you. Until them, stream, ‘easy life’!! 

Follow Juno Dream on Instagram and Spotify to stay tuned.