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Welcome to the Get Sad Y'all Artist Spotlight!
We'll be doing these every week, typically on Fridays, to showcase artists from around NC and beyond. If you'd like to have your band featured in an upcoming spotlight, shoot us an email.
This week, we chatted with Jess Ray and Matt Graham from Raleigh, NC emo/rock quintet Juxton Roy.
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Who are you?
JR: I’m Jess and I sing and play guitar in Juxton Roy.
MG: I'm Matt and I play guitar.
Where did your band name come from?
JR: I went by a different birth name. At one point in my life, when I met our bassist Kevin a few years back, we got a little drunk one night and Kevin started doing his Sean Connery impersonation. The way he pronounced my name came out as Juxton Roy. I’ve been using it ever since for anything I write and we ended up using the name when we started this band in 2017. I like that it’s super unique and memorable. It doesn’t really denote any particular genre as well.
MG: Well there was this wizard named Jeff and he gave us the name. It's kinda like Shazam where if we all say it at once we become one spandex-clad superhero.
Who do you think your band sounds like?
JR: We’ve been called the queer Manchester Orchestra and I like that description. There’s a little bit of everything going on in our sound, so I’ve just taken to telling people we’re a rock band.
MG: I honestly don't know, I have a lot of trouble answering this question. We have so many influences that all come together into something I feel is pretty unique. That being said, we got Matchbox 20 meets Explosions in the Sky meets Jason Isbell recently and I got a big kick out of that.
What are the plans for the band over the next year?
JR: We went into the studio at Blackplate recently and recorded two songs. One is new and one is a crazy, gospel rework of an old tune. Those should be out in the next few months. Past that, we plan on playing a lot more shows and, hopefully, doing some touring and doing a full length at some point this year.
MG: We are writing more songs and playing shows.
Pick one song in your catalog that everyone should check out.
JR: I think "Only Stone" is the song most indicative of our sound and message. It cycles through all the different genres we dabble in and has this really big anthemic, hopeful ending. The lyrics really reflect what we stand for as a queer band in a predominantly straight scene.
MG: From the released material, I'm partial to "Only Stone," I think it best represents where our sound was going. Keep an eye out though, we have some new stuff that I think you're really gonna love coming pretty soon.
Anything else to add?
JR: Be on the lookout for our upcoming releases! Follow us wherever you stream music, it’s available on pretty much everything. Come hang out with us at Hopscotch Day Parties (9/6 at Schoolkids Records and 9/7 at Legends), Slims (10/3), and the NC State Fair (10/22) as well!
MG: I'm just really jazzed about everything we have coming and I hate to be all "big things coming soon," but I'm really excited to share it with everybody.
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Follow Juxton Roy on their socials and check out their music below!
Enjoy this spotlight? Check out the other artists we've featured here.