Junius, O'Brother with Vaura

After touring solidly across North America, the UK, and Europe for the last several years, the bearded men of Junius are currently working on the follow-up to their critically acclaimed The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist (on The Mylene Sheath worldwide and Make My Day Records in Europe).

The past year has seen Junius touring extensively in support of both The Martyrdom and their new split 10" with Juarez (Us Two Records), recently touring and playing with the likes of Valient Thorr, Howl, Orbs, Rosetta, Battlefields, Tombs, City of Ships, Caspian, Irepress, Mastodon, Bad Religion, and many others.

Junius has been electrifying rapt audiences with its spellbinding walls of reverb-drenched guitars, haunting vocals and self-made lights since 2003. The band's music is both cinematic and accessible, building to crescendos which echo some of Post Rock's most epic moments, but with vocals, hooks, and lyrics creating focus throughout. While Junius can be tough to categorize (they've been called a hybrid of Neurosis and The Smiths by Rolling Stone), band members have cited such artists as Bedhead (Junius singer/guitarist Joseph E. Martinez's uncle Trini was their drummer), Philip Glass, Hum, and M83 among a long list of inspirations.

Shortly after releasing their first EP, Forcing Out The Silence, in 2004, Junius began a tireless touring regimen to fan the flames of an already blazing press. Among its accolades, Disclosure Magazine declared the debut "one of the most engaging Dark Rock albums to come out since Joy Division last graced a stage." Junius toured for over 9 months and played over 200 shows in the first year alone, embracing a DIY ethic which remains at the core of the band's ideology.

The early birthing pains of O’Brother saw Michael Martens, Johnny Dang, and his brother Anton Dang joined in making quiet climbs from graceful notes , a struck pose to an older guitar focused indie-rock. But as is the duty of all freshman bands members fade off and new friends, like Tanner Merritt and Aaron Wamack, joined establishing a new vision, and accidently stumbling into the dark 2009 debut EP The Death of Day.

"The music we like to put together is dark, but so is the subject matter, so the medium has to be as well," O' Brother’s lead singer/guitarist Tanner Merritt spells out the capturing of the Georgia band’s first five written songs. To break the cimmerian shade of an album based around sleep and its emboss to the natural world a dynamic had to be created, a wall of density given breathe and firm grip around melodies unable to wander. The expected sprawl of soft, then loud, then back to soft was sacrificed projecting a new luminance where the strength was in the tiny twisting light that exhales from the EP as a whole.

The band sought to keep their on stage essence by laying the album down live, forgoing the studio temptation to fill each space. Recorded by Brad Fisher with assistance from Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull the best takes were chosen for keys and effects to be added in later creating the soundscapes tucked beneath each song.

Since the 2009 release the band has shared stages with Thrice, Circa Surive, Manchester Orchestra, Biffy Clyro. Ready to record again the band is in a new dawn; where the sun is rising and a new eclectic output is being embraced.

“I think we are enjoying the writing of our full length more than we did with the EP,” Martens explains the bands next step. “It is more of a shared experience with this one because everyone is writing. The music is coming out better than ever and we are really happy to be coming into our sound.”