Orangeuglad: Junebug Interview

Hello everyone!  

On my show Orangeuglad, I was able to interview a band named Junebug. I recently went to go see them perform at Harlow’s in the Starlet room on March 11th of this year, and they were amazing! If you were not able to catch the interview but are still very interested in learning more about them, I hope this helps! I was able to do the interview with the help of my co-host DJ Nessi (host of Insoundwefindeachother, Mondays at 10AM). The interview aired on March 3rd, 2025.  

Who is Junebug? They are a rock alternative band from Modesto, California made up of three members: Julian (guitarist/ lead vocalist), Margaret (drummer) and Kenny (bassist).  

The band formed during COVID. A mutual friend was looking to make a band, and Julian was already part of it. “It was like, ‘swipe up on the story if you want to join the band’, and I did [swipe up] … that’s how I met Julian”, says Kenny. He then goes on to say that there were many different bands they tried out, but Junebug has been the one that has stuck.  

When asked what got them into music, Margaret answered that her brother (Julian) was the one who got her into music. When Julian was asked about it, he said that him and Margaret went to “Minions Camp” when they were younger, and that was what made them more interested to get into music. “We basically did a small play for the summer of Despicable Me 3, which still was not out yet… we had to do something to the Beach Boys and the Beach Boys led me down to a bunch of different people”. Kenny said that his cousin Dylan was the one who introduced him to music. “He (Dylan) is like my older brother, I guess it all comes from brothers.”  

Kenny and Julian also said that video games such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil inspired their sound. “When I first met Julian, it was actually one of the first arguments we had…he liked Silent Hill, and I liked Resident Evil. He said that ‘my game’s music is better’… and it is so cool.” Kenny goes on to say “We still go back, to this day, ‘What would the Silent Hill producer do? And that is how we do our songs honestly.”  They mentioned that “Slowdive” also inspires their sound but the Silent Hill Soundtrack is their main inspiration.  

Their name “Junebug” was created by their original drummer who had to step away due to personal issues.  

When the band first formed, Kenny was the lead guitar player. But after their first band failed, Kenny decided he was going to be the bassist. “I had no clue what bass was even about. I was like ‘I guess I’ll play bass, it’s kind of close’.”  

Julian used to be a drummer. “I was a drummer for a different band, but I can’t do anything anymore.” But now, he is the lead vocalist and guitarist for Junebug.  

Margaret was not always in Junebug. She was in a different group at first. “When I first started playing drums, some girl asked me if I wanted to be in her band and I was like ‘sure I’ll play the drums for you’ and I just started learning it”. She was also in her high school’s jazz band.  

Their song making process starts off with Julian creating something on the guitar and then he sends it or plays it for Margaret and Kenny. “I make the bases, and they add on to it” says Julian. Kenny explains that Julian has an archive of a lot of riffs/ ideas but a lot of them do not make it to the next stage. When they are trying to make a song, they have to do it individually. “It has to be Julian alone, then me, then Margaret then everyone else. So, it really just stars with Julian. It is a very time consuming process, but I like how everything turns out in the end.”  

Some bands in particular have been big inspirations for them. Margaret said that seeing the band Pretty Sick perform, made her want to perform. “That was the first concert that I went to that I really felt like I wanted to perform in front of people. I wanted to start playing live… it was like a new era for me”. Panchiko was a big inspiration for the Kenny. Kenny explains that he went to go see Panchiko and he felt so inspired by their performance that on the way home he called up Julian and said he wanted to take Junebug more serious. “It was around $700 to record with this producer, but we were serious about it… seeing that concert was so worth it because we have music friends now and people want to see us play. I think that was a moment for me.” Julian said that a band that has been an inspiration to him has been a band name Hello Mary, and another band named Fentanyl. 

They recently opened for two shows for Flyingfish. One show was in San Francisco and their second show was in Sacramento. Their performance was amazing! They are performing in Los Angeles on April 2nd with an artist named Forest. They will be playing at Gehghis Cohen! So, if you ever have the chance to go see perform, you should definitely go!  

They are working on new music right now. They said they have three songs named “Untitled” so hopefully it will come out later this year! Stay tuned for their new music! 

I am super grateful that they did an interview with me and hopefully you got to learn more about them! If you missed the interview and want to watch it badly, it will be posted on my YouTube channel that I just now made! So go watch it!  

 I hope you guys enjoy and thank you all for reading :) <3 – Daniela (orangeuglad)