Juna

Pōneke pop-rock four-piece Juna have moved quickly since forming less than a year ago. The band is made up of Queenstown-born guitarist and vocalist Max Horn, 17, Wellington vocalist Hannah Patterson, 18, Christchurch-born drummer Hayden Lam, 20, and bassist Evie Patterson. Together, they have already shared stages with some of Aotearoa’s rising acts and built a sizeable following online. With their new single missing you (all the time) bringing Max further into Juna’s dual lead vocal dynamic, the band are beginning to explore a sound that feels increasingly their own. The track also offers a glimpse into their upcoming debut EP, a carefully planned story that follows a relationship from its beginning through to its bittersweet end. Ahead of the single's release and a busy few months that will include an EP, tour and more live shows, I caught up with Juna to talk about how the band came together, finding their sound, growing an audience and what comes next.

How would you describe Juna's sound to someone who's never heard it before?

Hayden: We're like a pop band, pop rock band. We're summery. We kinda have synths and strings in there,

Max: It’s very punchy. That's what I think. I think we're very energetic. We're trying to go for a very youthful kinda sound, 'cause that's what we are. It's very much a blend of what we all really like to listen to. Which is obviously what every band does, but I think we really emphasize on having this real cool “hit you in the face" sound, you know? Very big, very full of life, I think, and very energetic. 

If someone was listening to Juna for the first time, what song would you recommend they start with?

Hannah: Say So Little. I think that it was our first song that we ever wrote as a band and ever recorded and released, and I think it very much encapsulates the start of Juna. If someone was gonna do a Juna deep dive, they should start there, 'cause that sounds like us.

Max: Yeah, it’s got all the ingredients.

What's your songwriting process like? How do you start writing your songs?

Max: Oh, it's kinda a change for every single song kind of thing.

Hannah: We write as a band majority of the time. We are in the rehearsal room, and someone will kind of come up with a little idea, and then we all expand on it together.

Max: We do a lot of work in the studio as well. Our upcoming release, we worked real hard on it, and we wrote that with Nyjah Antony. We had a lot of sessions in the studio writing that, and then we did a lot of production sessions, and we did a lot of recording sessions. 

So this new one was a lot more made in the studio. And we’re quite excited because it has a different, unique sound in comparison to the rest of our music, and I think it's very thought-out songwriting.

Which other artists and bands inspire you guys?

Hannah: The first thing that comes to mind is, we have some small element of Bleachers, Jack Antonoff's band. I feel like our song skin on skin, which is our third single, sounds a lot like that, and same with our next one. It's kind of a sound that we've been in for a little bit and we're kinda transitioning into more. I would also say definitely Borderline, we are inspired by them.

Hayden: I was thinking a little bit of Olivia Rodrigo. And some of The 1975. And The Japanese House.

So what do you think makes a Juna song sound like a Juna song?

Max: Maybe how happy we are in the studio. If we're all getting along, and if we're really excited in the studio. I think when we’re really feeling it then that comes across in our sound. That's what I think with SHUT UP, honestly. SHUT UP was our second single, and we recorded it in Meow. We were very excited to do it 'cause we’d been aching to get in the studio for ages. And I think if you listen to that song, you can hear that come through in the energy and the performance.

Hayden: Most of our songs have Max and Hannah having a dual lead vocal role. I think that's quite unique to us. And we’ve got lots of guitar layers and harmonies.

Max: I think we put a lot of focus and attention in making the whole track really interesting.

Hannah: And making stuff sound fat. Very very big.

Max: Fat is a word that gets passed around the studio a lot.

You guys haven't really been a band for that long, but you've already done quite a bit! You’ve played with Borderline, and you've just done your own headline show. Does it feel like things are moving quite quickly, or is it kind of the pace you expected to be going at?

Hannah: Well, at the start it was definitely not the pace that we were expecting. I think we thought it would move a lot slower than that, but I think, well, me and Max were actually talking about this yesterday, remember we were talking about how we felt maybe at the start that we were moving quite fast. We jumped from releasing our first song to getting the call to open for Emerson like a month or two later, and then we opened for Borderline, and it feels like we were moving really fast.

But I feel like now we've settled into a really good groove. I think we're at, like, a really nice pace at the moment of, like, we have some experience under our belt with performing and with releasing, and now we're kind of settling into this nice pace, um, where things don't feel like they're moving too fast, and we feel like we have time to kinda do all the stuff we wanna do and not rush stuff.

You guys have gained a lot of Instagram followers quite quickly. What’s your secret?

Hannah: I think making your videos look really good to the eye. Making your video look very visually appealing, I feel like people like that a lot. When people scroll on reels and posts, if the video looks really nice, and the color scheme is nice, and it's nicely graded, I feel like people like that a lot and will stay to watch it. That was something that helped us. When we were promoting Say So Little, we really wanted to make everything look very vibrant and summery and want people to get hooked onto that sort of idea, and I think it worked really well.

Hayden: I try to put myself into the viewer's shoes. “If I was scrolling and then this popped up, would I watch it?” And if not, then I'd go back and change a few things until I'm like, “Yep, I like that. I'd stop scrolling to watch that.”

Max: Hayden's got quite a history with social media because he did a series of posting every single day till he played to a sold-out arena. And he achieved it after, I think, 380ish days. And that was 380 days of posting high quality videos. So we're so lucky as well that we’ve got Hayden’s experience on our side.

What’s the story behind your new song missing you (all the time)?

Hannah: We were in the writing room with our friend Nyjah, and we were working on this other song of ours West Side, and it just wasn't clicking with all of us, and we were trying to rewrite it. So we were in the studio and having a little yarn, and Hayden was talking about his recent breakup.

So we ended up taking quite a lot of inspiration from that breakup and putting it in the song. The song starts from the male perspective and it starts with Max singing, and then it goes to my verse afterwards, and it's showing both perspectives of the relationship.

And it's kind of bittersweet. The song is right after the breakup happens, and then all the feelings that happen after that. Sometimes breakups can just be the right person, wrong time. You know? Sometimes people just aren't meant to be together, and there's no reason for that, and sometimes you just have to grow out of people, and no one is in the wrong.

It’s quite a bittersweet fade out to the EP. It’s actually the last track on the EP. Our EP is very themed. We've thought through it a lot. There's been a lot of planning that went into it, and it's the story in chronological order from the start of a relationship to the bittersweet end, and, like, all the feelings that happen in between. So, missing you (all the time) is a very sweet, mellow conclusion to somebody's story.

So Max has quite a bigger vocal presence on missing you (all the time) than in other songs. Is that something you always wanted to explore? Listening through to your singles as you release them it seems like Max gets more and more focus as a vocalist in each song.

Max: Oh, well thank you. I like it a lot.

Hayden: I think we're kinda transitioning and like are more leaning into like the double vocal lead role. Like at the start we didn't really know what was gonna be happening. They're both good singers and we're kinda just exploring the double lead role now, which I think makes things interesting. That's why you'll be hearing a bit more of Max in the songs.

Hannah: And it's very nice having those two perspectives. It’s so great for storytelling. They're very key throughout the whole EP. It's just like these two people that are, you know, going their own ways. Having the dual lead matches the project very well with the others.

How do you decide who takes on different vocal parts? Does it just come down to the storytelling, who's telling what part of the story?

Hannah: It just comes down to what feels right and what does the song justice.

Max: Sometimes sort of just based on vibes.

Hannah: A lot of our songs, like skin on skin, are very female-led, teenage girl sort of songs. And so it felt right to have Max as just kind of a, have a little presence in the bridge and that sort of thing. But it was mostly a female-led song. And then with missing you (all the time), it's very much from the male perspective, and so it feels right to have him lead the song. 

Is the sound from missing you (all the time) the direction where you're gonna be heading with your music?

Hayden: The new Juna.

Hannah: I think so, at the moment.

Hayden: Yeah. We're still exploring our sound. We've got a couple, a bit more darker sounding songs. And there's some like this one that sound a bit more happy.

Max: We're quite lucky as well. The cool part of being artists in a group that’s less than a year old, is that we can just kinda do whatever we like, and make the music that we like to listen to.

Is there a particular song on the EP that feels most personal to each of you?

Hannah: Ooh, I think so. For me, there's a song called, Want Me on the album and it’s probably the most personal I've written lyric-wise. That's the one I'm most excited for. And it's the one that I enjoy playing the most live as well, 'cause it's very, it's very full and it's quite rocky as well. 

Max: Hmm. Know You I like a lot. Know You's gonna be real cool when that one comes out. It's like the start of a relationship and it’s like, well, at least for me personally, it's like feeling that you’re drifting apart so early, but you're like, "I wanna follow, I wanna see this through. I want to see the long game,” but it's just you can feel that drift apart and it's this little sense of hopelessness of like what do, what do you do.

Hannah: There's a lyric in there that I like as well that goes "I don't wanna be the one to have to recode you." That’s definitely talking about that whole liking someone so much, but wanting them to change, but you can't change people. You know what I mean?

Hayden: For me, probably the new one. Or maybe SHUT UP. I don't really write too many of the lyrics, but I was a bit involved with the arrangement and the vibe for that. 

When can we expect the EP? Do you have an idea of a release window that you can share, or are you keeping that all under wraps?

Hannah: I'd say as soon as possible. I think it will be the end of October when it comes out. 

Hayden: And then we're going on tour after that, later in the year.

Do you have a favourite venue that you've played so far?

Hannah: Opening for Borderline in Auckland at the Q Theatre is definitely one of my favourite venues I've ever been inside of. It was amazing. We're so lucky to get to play there, to be honest.

Max: I don't know, San Fran's pretty up there for me. San Fran's great.

Hayden: Yeah. San Fran or Q Theatre, those are pretty sick venues.

Max: Oh and we played the Hataitai Bowling Club last night and that was pretty odd.

Do you guys have a dream venue or festival, anywhere in the world that you'd play?

Hannah: Lollapalooza, for me. I would love to play Lollapalooza.

Hayden: Probably Madison Square Garden.

Hannah: Mm-hmm.

Max: Well I was going to say Winterfest in Queenstown, but you guys really went big. So I guess I would say Glastonbury.

Do you have a dream collaboration?

Hannah: I would love an Olivia Rodrigo collaboration. That would be great. I love her new album.

Max: I was gonna say Dijon or Mk.gee. That would be so tough.

Hayden: Yeah, probably Olivia Rodrigo.

Max: Come on, Hayden, dig into your brain a bit. Who else?

Hayden: Um, oh, my mind's not working. I've always looked up to Bruno Mars, but I don't know if this is the vibe.

Hannah: What, maybe like "Juna X Silk Sonic"

Hayden: Yeah, exactly that.

So you’ve got the new single coming out, EP release, upcoming tour. Is there anything else that you wanna plug or get out there?

Hayden: Well, we're opening for emerson on the 11th of September with Dillon Jo, who are another Wellington band. And the new single that's gonna be out next Friday the 4th of September.

You can follow Juna on Instagram @junabandofficial