The Wayback Machine

Greetings once again time-tripping friends 'round the Orb! We've an entire band today strapping in and rushing through the portals of time: the pride of Leicester in the U.K., The Junipers!



The Junipers are: Joe Wiltshire (guitar, bass, drums, sitar, piano, organ, mellotron, mandolin, zither, banjo), Marc Johnston (vocals, organ), Pete Gough (guitar), Stuart Pratt (drums, percussion), Liam Riley (bass).

Their new album, out now, Cut The Key, is garnering quite a lot of raves from those who like their psychedelia from the Toytown era. To wit:

"Maybe a year and a half ago, The Junipers wandered out of 1967 and affiliated themselves with the great stable of bands based around London's Redbricks club night. Unlike a lot of modern bands that tip their hat to late sixties psychedelia, The Junipers decided that songs and melodies were more important than getting the right haircuts and sitting around pretending they lived in Laurel Canyon. On this, their debut album, the band have merged a melodic touch that really is second to none, with a refreshingly timeless production; taking inspiration from the golden era of recording, but never laboriously emulating. It sounds like it could have been recorded on tape, but to be honest who cares when the songs are this great? Imagine Curt Boettcher and Brian Wilson double teaming McCartney's Ram and you wouldn't be far off. Nowhere near enough bands sound like prime Harry Nilsson nowadays."
Shindig! Review, September, 2008

"The West Midands based label's second signing after Scott Matthews. This The Junipers debut album, is packed with rather lovely soft psychedelic folk-pop like the summery lolloping Fly The Yellow Kite, the Sgt Pepper influences evident on Gordie Can't Swim and Mortimer and, for real psych-pop devotees, the spangly joys of Mark (Teenage Opera) Wirtz, Terry Melcher and Curt Boettcher to be heard buzzing around Song That Fades Away, Callooh Callay and the psychedelia carousel ride of Little May Rose. Elsewhere, Already Home shows a jangly jogging country element, Sheena is pure CS&N West Coast shimmering pop while the title track is Simon & Garfunkel folkie and Sunnydown Ave suggests a lost collaboration between Brian Wilson and McCartney. They're definitely a gin and tonic."
Net Rhythms review, August, 2008 (The label is San Remo Records.)

So, where might these five gent's wanna' go..?

You've been given a one-time opportunity to use The Wayback Machine; what band would you like to see, in what year, and what song would you most want to see them play?

The Junipers: An obvious one would be The Beatles in '67- if they hadn't stopped touring, doing Strawberry Fields with live mellotron; but we'll go for something odd like the Bee Gees in '67 doing "Red Chair Fade Away" live with mellotron instead. That would be impressive. We'll probably think of a different band/song tomorrow, but we'll go with that.

Red chair fade away
Bring back memories

Think of something nice
Fragrant lemon trees
I can feel the speaking sky
I dont want to know
Its filling up the air
Grandpas fairy tale
Red chair round the fire
Rainbows all the time
Were all going higher
I can feel the speaking sky
I dont want to know
Its filling up the air
Red chair fade away
Red chair fade away
Red chair fade away
Red chair fade away
Red chair fade away
Bring back memories

Think of something nice
Fragrant lemon trees
I can feel the speaking sky
I dont want to know
Its filling up the air
Red chair fade away....
Red chair fade away....



Thank you Junipers! Best wishes on the new album! (Available through their own website as well as other fine & discerning outlets. For a sample try their MySpace page, or their Last.FM page! Highly recommended.)