It’s the spring of 2017. Connor James is on the couch when Alex Callaghan stumbles through the front door. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in on you like that. I was expecting there to have been a mudroom.” It’s the first time the two are meeting. Alex puts down his guitar and wipes off the half-frozen Halifax slush he tracked in. He’s there in response to an ad Connor had posted online earlier that week. “Looking for musicians to join a project called June Body,” it read. “FFO: Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Eat World.” A musical bond is tethered between them almost instantaneously. From the moment they begin rehearsing what will become the first June Body songs, they unknowingly set into motion a new wave of Halifax rock lore. A week later, the two are trying to find a way to fit a drum kit into Connor’s bedroom. It’s their idea of a studio–and it’s in that North Park Street bedroom in Halifax that they will track the debut June Body album, ‘Star for You’ (2017).
“Thirty seconds, guys!” says the stage manager. Six years have passed. It’s the spring of 2023, and a fully-formed rock trio called June Body is thirty seconds away from opening for The Beaches in front of a sold-out, two-thousand-person crowd. The band now has years of touring around the country under their belt–countless performances that have prepared them for this opportunity. The audience is unaware that an opener has been selected. It was never announced. The three bandmates love the idea–a chance to surprise everyone. The newest addition to the band, Matt Schofield, goes up the ramp first and sits behind the kit. The other two are close behind. The crowd roars. The amps come out of standby, and for thirty minutes, the two thousand in attendance are glued to the infectious rock sound the trio has been incubating for six years. The songs are new to nearly everyone in attendance–yet a nostalgic familiarity permeates the rhythms, and has everyone bopping and moving in time with one another. Connor James’ memorable one-liners, soaring vocal harmonies, and hooky passages begin to give way to unexpected explosiveness. Without warning, the poetry is backed by insane stage action. The band is unleashed in the bridge of “Living Inside,” with forcefully gritty guitars in odd rhythm, pulling raised hands and cheers toward them. Like a blur, the set is over, and the band is hightailing it to their merch table in the lobby. They arrive to find dozens patiently waiting in line to buy their June Body shirts, and greet the band that had seemingly just come out of nowhere.
“Why don’t we build our own studio for this record? We did it with Star for You, and we can do it again, but better.” It’s a suggestion that’s welcomed by every band member, and it sets into motion plans to convert Matt’s ancient family cottage into a studio to record a new album in the summer of 2023. Of course, the band would have to live there until the record was done. The rickety wooden “studio” is far out of town, built on the ocean along the Northumberland Strait. For a week, the band would channel the June Body they had always been since the very start–stuffing amplifiers into different rooms, locking each other in makeshift vocal booths, and precariously hanging the most expensive microphones they had ever rented from the loft–all in the name of DIY experimentation. They would sleep surrounded by all the gear they had managed to fit inside. And on the last night of May 2023, the three would agree they had finished the album. They would strip down, wade into the ocean just as the sun set, and give it a name: ‘Last Everythings.’
‘Last Everythings’ (2024) sounds like June Body in their truest form. It’s a culmination of the band’s growth on a musical and personal level, and is their first outing to feature the post-production prowess of an indie rock legend, Jace Lasek. Having mixed and produced beautifully organic-sounding records for Land of Talk, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and The Besnard Lakes–the Juno and Polaris Prize-winning engineer felt like an obvious choice. Lasek has delivered a high-fidelity, large rock record that by no stroke of luck, is the definitive June Body sound. The album solidified a sense of tragic specificity and forthrightness as a staple of Connor James’ lyrical style. “I was writing songs about leaving the relationship I was in, and I didn’t even know it,” says James.
June Body’s most recent release, ‘7678’ is the band’s most notable divergence in sound yet. It’s as heavy and dark as they have ever been. The three-track EP was recorded live off the floor to a 16-track tape machine at Ocean Floor Recording in Halifax. The title track is the first June Body instrumental to ever be released, featuring math rhythms and perhaps the most cathartic outro in the band’s catalogue. Other tracks, “Alarms” and “Red Sun,” are massive in their sonic approach, with lyricism that analyzes the self with both worry and wonder. “Functioning organs fed by a heart, but I can’t make it beat at just the rhythm I want.” The new release embodies the union of the three band members in its explosiveness through such modest means. It’s a turning point in June Body’s sound, but all the while is an expression of the band’s journey from humble beginnings to maturity and loudness.
Name:
Connor James – June Body
Genre:
Rock
Founded:
2017
# of Albums:
5
Latest Album:
7678
Latest Single:
Red Sun
Latest Video:
Favourite musician growing up:
Elliott Smith
Favourite musician now:
David Bazan
Guilty pleasure song:
Ariana Grande “Bad Idea” – is this even guilty?? what a song.
Live show ritual:
Whacky vocal warmup exercises
Favourite local musician:
Pat LePoidevin
EP or LP?
LP
Early bird or night owl?
Night owl
Road or studio?
Studio
Any shows or albums coming up?
New EP ‘7678’ out now on all streaming platforms
June 4 at The Seahorse
Where can we follow you?
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Rapid Fire Local Questions:
What is your favourite local restaurant?
Bar Kismet
What is your favourite street in your city and why?
Clifton St in the North End. I used to live on this cute street, and it’s also home to Tom McDonnell’s Auto Service who brought my ’98 4Runner back from the brink, so I am indebted to them.
What is your favourite park in your city and why?
Not so much a park, but the Suzie’s Lake trail behind the Kent in Bayers Lake has always been one of my favourite spots to hike and swim.
What is your favourite music venue in your city?
Gotta say Gus’ Pub–so many smells and memories of performing and going to shows over the years. Recently though, I have been to some amazing dance nights at Stillwell Kempt Road and am growing to love that venue.
What is your favourite music store in your city?
Long & McQuade, the greatest establishment in Canada.
