A north-east band who relocated to Glasgow several years ago will return to Aberdeen for their largest ever city gig tonight.
Junebug, formed in Aberdeen in 2011, have been gigging relentlessly across Scotland since their formation, and in the last year have hit the ground running with shows at some of the country’s top venues and Highland festival, Belladrum.
The band played a sell-out show at Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut – widely regarded as the country’s best Indie venue – in June this year, and will play Belladrum once again in 2015.
Tonight’s show at the Lemon Tree is held in high regard by the band’s two founding local members – Owen Rataj and Harry Smith.
The band’s long-time drummer, Mr Smith, 20, is from Cults, as is bassist, David Devereux.
Lead guitarist and songwriter, Owen Rataj, 23, of Crathes, said: “Harry and I have been gigging in Aberdeen since our early teens and this is our largest show in Aberdeen by far. We’ve never gigged at The Lemon Tree before, and have wanted to perform there for a long time so having the opportunity to perform a headline set is even better. This is also the final date of our mini-tour around Scotland, so you can expect big things from it.
“It’s always great to come back north. It always provides us with a chance to catch up with friends and family that we haven’t seen for a long time, and those who may not be able to make it along to the shows down south.
“One thing about Aberdeen that we love is the fact that there are a lot more walk ins to the shows than you’d expect, people just turning up at the show, not necessarily there for us, but who still get stuck in and involved. Last time we had a group of ten students creating dance circles for us.”
The band – who also played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year – also consists of front woman, Alli Brown, and guitarist, Aonghas Maxwell.
For years Junebug have been split between the north east, Edinburgh – where Mr Smith is based – and Glasgow – where the rest of the band have set up camp.
However, Mr Rataj stands by the five piece as a “Scottish band”, adding: “Whilst we’re based in Glasgow, I’d definitely say (we’re) a Scottish band. We always try and make the effort to perform across the country.”
Mr Rataj added that Belmont Street’s Café Drummonds has acted as an “old faithful” for Junebug over the years.
He said: “It’s one of our most played venues over the years, and has been home to some pretty important gigs for us – including our first ever live performance of Junebug back in September 2011. We’ve also gigged at The Tunnels a couple of times which is a cracking venue.”
Junebug latest EP, “The Singles”, was released in June, and since then the band have played shows at Glasgow’s Nice N Sleazy’s, Inverness’ Hootananny’s, Perth’s The Green Room and Edinburgh’s Electric Circus and Cabaret Voltaire.
Tonight’s gig will be the last in their 2014 Scottish mini-tour before the release of their next single, “Wild”.
Mr Rataj said: “We’ve just finished writing the next EP – which we’re hoping to release sometime around March 2015 – however the next thing in line is the release of our new single and music video, “Wild”. We’re hoping to have it out at the start or mid-December if all of the dates work out correctly.”
Junebug play The Lemon Tree tonight at 8pm, tickets are available on the door and are priced at £7 but may cost more at the door.
More information about the band can be found at
https://www.facebook.com/junebugband
and
http://junebugband.bigcartel.com/
.