Juice is a big band that sounds a little like a lot of stuff

By Allison Rapp

Moving to New York is, for many, an exercise in self-discovery. Moving to New York as a seven-piece band in the middle of a quasi-post-pandemic world with plans to release new music, is another journey entirely. Unlike those who left the city in the early months of 2020, Juice, an indie-alternative rock band originally from Boston, arrived in Brooklyn last spring to “get some space.”

“We’ve never made any new music all living in our own apartments like this,” drummer Miles Clyatt told Brooklyn Magazine over Zoom. “We’ve always been kind of on top of each other on the road.”

Juice, which also includes Ben Stevens (lead vocals), Christian Rose (violin, vocals), Kamau Burton (guitar, vocals), Daniel Moss (guitar), Michael Ricciardulli (guitar) and Rami El-Abidin (bass), is set to release “Boy Story” later this fall, a collection of eight songs that falls somewhere between an EP and a full album—a “project” they call it. A new single, “Superimposed” is out today.

Not having quite the word to describe their work is a familiar motif for Juice, whose sonic style ranges from vintage soul to indie rock to contemporary hip-hop, sometimes all within the same song, making them somewhat undefinable in genre—the Strokes are as much an influence as Brockhampton.

“It’s a combination of the sounds that we grew up listening to and liking, and yet it’s something totally different than that,” Rose says. “Some artists, it’s simple because they’re in a scene and they’re in a lane and that’s what people latched onto for them, and I don’t think it’s ever been that for us.”

Who or what is Juice?
In 2016, the same year they released their debut self-titled EP, Juice performed and won the Land the Big Gig Competition, a nationwide talent festival in Milwaukee. It was there that the band met Grammy-nominated producer Johnny K, who invited them to record their next EP, 2018’s “Workin’ on Lovin’.” They began selling out shows in Boston, New York, and then embarked on a national tour. Since then they’ve gotten shoutouts from the likes of John Mayer and Blu DeTiger, while accumulating thousands of Spotify listeners and millions of streams.

Having formed when they were still in school at Boston College, there’s a youthful energy that permeates their music. Now in their mid 20s and working in the industry full-time, Juice takes themselves seriously, of course, but not too seriously. Stevens is only half-joking when he cites Rebecca Black, the infamous teen singer/YouTuber who went viral in 2011 for her song “Friday,” as an influence on the new project. He’s referring to something broader.

“Like on one song,” Ricciardulli elaborates, “we could be referencing a hyper-specific sound for one section of a song, as opposed to sprawling vaguely, it’s a little more detailed.”

The kaleidoscopic style is evident on the new single, “Superimposed,” which at first sounds like a sturdy synth-pop song, but midway through features a hip-hop type interlude from Rose. Even the lyrics offer a noticeable shift — “We talked on the phone, you told me you’re sorry, it’s over, it’s over again,” Stevens sings in the first verse. Rose continues with a different perspective: “Damn, why you gotta be difficult, why you gotta be so goddamn muhfuckin head ass stupid ass typical. Woah, please forgive me, I get angry, I’m a boy.”

Music from Big Airbnb
Their eclectic approach appeared to match nicely with their songwriting process for the new project. The band isolated together in multiple Airbnbs throughout the summer of 2020—Connecticut, Vermont, White Plains, Cape Cod, among others—constructing songs along the way. Spending so many hours together in close quarters wasn’t unusual for Juice, but with live shows and touring off the table, they honed in on their writing.

“Each house kind of took on its own role and brought its own energy to that specific part of the project that we were working on at that time,” Moss says. “I think it actually really worked to inform the project.”

That cohesion didn’t come without speed bumps—they’ve tried writing together using various methods, from working in pairs to jamming as a group. “We’ve gotten a lot better since we first got together in college at problem solving, at coming up with compromises,” Rose says. “And I think while it can be difficult, it’s also one of our greatest strengths, is that we’ve been able to mature together.”

It’s paid off. “It’s better,” Moss swiftly and honestly replies when asked how the new project compares to their previous EPs, which the band partly credits to an increase in their knowledge and access to better production tools. Those leaps forward, however, butted up against an event that seemed to be the opposite of forward progress: the onset of the pandemic. They had been working away on songs in the Airbnbs and tentatively prepping for various live shows for fall 2020 when they were told to pump the brakes.

“At that point, we were like, we’re here to write and record anyway,” Clyatt says, “So we might as well just keep focusing on that.”

It was a deeply determined attitude fitting for the band’s new home borough—Juice relocated to Williamsburg a few months ago, where their hodge-podge style of music and candidness has fallen right in step with their new neighborhood and friends. They’re slated to begin an 18-show tour this October (Delta variant permitting), which will include a performance at New York’s Irving Plaza on Dec. 14.

“The city will influence how that feels and how people interact with it, and how we are able to share it with people, whether that be through shows or rooftop parties or cool stuff like that,” Moss says. “I think it will give us an opportunity that we haven’t had before.”