Letzten Monat erschien Friendly Enemies – die Debüt-EP der amerikanischen Alternative-Band JULE VERA. Exklusiv für Popmonitor hat Gitarrist JAKE ROLAND die Songs kommentiert und einen kleinen Vorspan zum Album-Cover verfasst…
We took the picture for the album cover in a mansion in our hometown of Alabama. The props all represent betrayals throughout history and literature and go with the theme of „Friendly Enemies“. The Turkish Delight is from when Edmund betrays his family in „The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe“, the Red Heels are from „The Great Gatsby“, the Apple is from the story of Adam and Eve, etc. There’s over ten references in the album cover.
1896
This track is the introduction to the whole EP. It flows perfectly into Chemical Machine. It’s called “1896” because that was the year that radioactivity was discovered.
CHEMICAL MACHINE
“Chemical Machine” is a song about love that’s bigger than just a feeling. It’s the first song we put ukulele on and discovered it had a really cool sound alongside the rest of the band.
LIGHT THE NIGHT
This song is about making the most of your life. It’s the feeling of being invincible with the one you love. We really liked making the music video because we got to make an infinity mirror room with lots of crazy lights. It’s also one of our favorites to play live.
ONE LITTLE STRING
“One Little String” is a love story of a couple where the string tied around his finger represents a reminder to remember her while they’re apart. It’s our simplest song and has a really laid back feel. It’s the first song we sent out to anyone, and it really encouraged us when we got a lot of positive responses back.
DIE TRYING
We wrote this song while we were reading the Hunger Games books. You can hear the similarities from the story in our lyrics, especially in the second verse where we talk about The Hanging Tree song. It’s about overcoming your struggles and building yourself up when people pull you down.
FRIENDLY ENEMIES
“Friendly Enemies” we named the title track of the EP because the lyrics go along with the theme of betrayal we have throughout the record and the album cover. The song has a dark and mysterious vibe, and is the most in your face song we have on the album. We also loved recording the drums and bass in a big room to get the huge sound on the verses of the song.
YOU CAN’T MESS IT UP
This song we wanted to end the record with because it shows independence and a positive outlook, even when it seems like no one else is on your side. The EP ends with the words „I’m feeling fire for the first time“ so it leaves us room to keep the story going on the next record.
JULE VERA
Friendly Enemies
(Pure Noise Records)
VÖ: 26.06.2015
