Pitchfork

One can't help but wonder: had the timing worked out, could Junior Senior have been huge? After 2003's irrepressibly catchy "Move Your Feet" took over everyone's headspace and the accompanying album, D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat, took off, the band seemed primed for a takeover. But, despite earning raves and spawning a few international hits, their 2005 follow-up Hey Hey My My Yo Yo remains-- at this juncture-- unissued in the U.S.

That ends at last August 14, when Rykodisc brings Hey Hey My My Yo Yo to U.S. shelves. The band has also plotted a North American tour in tandem with its release. If Junior Senior's moment in the U.S. has passed, Jeppe "Senior" Laursen is convinced they'll make a new one. We spoke with Senior about Hey Hey's Stateside delay, how he maintains a balance between pop and indie, and providing a backing track for the antics of Mary Kate and Ashley.

Pitchfork: Your second album is finally coming out in North America after two years. What, in your mind, was the reason for the delay?

Senior: I think, when all comes to all, it [has been] too long. But with the music industry and how it is now, we have been realistic that we were going to take the time it would take. Obviously, we've had offers from labels that maybe wanted to release it, but if you want to have any chance of getting it out there, you have to be some sort of priority; they have to really believe in you and what they think they can do.

So I think we've just been kind of picky. It came out two years ago in Denmark and Japan, and meanwhile, it has come out in Australia. But also, it's really exciting that it's going to come out in the U.S., even though it's not a new album for us.

Pitchfork: Do you feel like your moment may have passed in the U.S.? There was certainly a lot of interest in Junior Senior after "Move Your Feet", but without a new record in stores, that's naturally waned.

Senior: I think the last time, of all places that the album came out, the U.S. has been the place that we've been understood the most, somehow. We feel that people kind of get what we were about, compared to, for example, the UK. We don't feel like we have to do a lot, or that people only know one song. We always just felt really comfortable with ourselves in the U.S. We're just really happy that it's coming out-- even though it's been two years-- because the U.S. market is the biggest one. Not for us, but for music and our inspirations, obviously a lot comes from the U.S. Actually, now that it's been that long ago since our first album, the expectations aren't as high-- in terms of comparing it to previous work. So, in that sense, it's kind of refreshing.

Pitchfork: Despite not getting a U.S. release, your music keeps popping up in the U.S.; you had songs in commercials, on "Ugly Betty", in the Looney Tunes movie. Do you feel like that's been a good way to keep your profile up?

Senior: Yeah, one of my friends showed me the "Ugly Betty" one. We both approve everything, we're involved with everything, our management knows things that it would be ridiculous to ask us, even if it's a lot of money sometimes. Like really silly commercials or, I dunno, Russian something commercials. I can't remember now but there's been some funny ones, and even a substantial amount of money, but, you know [laughs].

It's not snobbery in that sense, it's just important to say "yes" and "no" and we have said "no" to a lot of things. The problem is if you're advertising something that you don't... you know. I think with movies it's another thing than having a song representing a product. Because even if the movie's bad, it's in the background for like two seconds, then it ends up on a soundtrack that no one buys [laughs]. I mean like we've been on, I don't know, what is that Olsen twins movie? [laughs]. But do people buy soundtracks for mainstream pop music? I don't even know... it's a really good income of money, these soundtracks, you know.

Pitchfork: You're working on a new EP. What are your plans for that?

Senior: Yeah, it was actually mixed last week. It's called Say Hello Wave Goodbye. We started out just wanting to have a song or two for the U.S. release, just to have something new. It's more for ourselves, too, since it's been two and a half years since we recorded the album. We just finished it, and it's going to come out with the release of the U.S. album, and coming out in Denmark just as an EP [update: Rykodisc plans to eventually issue the EP by itself after packaging it with the U.S. release of Hey Hey My My Yo Yo]. It's not a third album or a mini-album, even though it's seven songs. It is totally performative, an EP. It's sort of just like a blip of the moment, it's not a certain direction. We were just saying, "alright, let's just record seven songs and not think too much about it."

Pitchfork: Are you planning on putting together another full-length album anytime soon?

Senior: We're always sort of writing and recording. This EP's going to come out now, and we're going to tour in the U.S. in the fall, and then we're sort of seeing what the next step is. With us, we never plan more than a few months ahead. So we're kind of focusing on this right now, because you kind of want to finish something up before you move on. It's kind of a weird thing to be writing something while you're promoting the last album. But it's exciting: it's going to come out and it's going to be a good way to sort of move on from Hey Hey My My Yo Yo.

Pitchfork: There's always been this dichotomy in your music between obvious commercial appeal and craft. It's very immediate, but it's also very measured; sort of deceptively simple. How do you maintain that balance?

Senior: I think that's just what we do. It's not something where we sit and measure it out, you know, in that way. But I think that's what's appealing about us; we can actually manage to do both, and it's a really fine line. You could say you want to do that, but some people wouldn't be able to do that.

I think that's why we started, as a reaction to that: either you could say indie cred, or the mainstream versus the alternative. In the last ten years, it seems to have changed a lot: now it's a common thing, that [indie] has crossed over. And I think that's why we do it well. Because we love pop, and we don't have a problem as to what extent. It's just something in our stomach, something that we know, a gut feeling. And that's always been the strength with me and Jesper; we don't need to talk about it, that's what we want above all else. It's very natural.

Pitchfork: What can people expect from these shows that you're doing in the U.S. this summer?

Senior: In the U.S. we've never really played big big venues, so for us, these venues are the ones we always played in the U.S. There's a lot of people who haven't seen us, and we added another member to our live show; we have seven people now when we play live-- so it's full guitar, bass, drums, back-up singers. And the fun thing about it, even though we're seven people, bands this size always have a crew, but we've always only had a sound guy along with us [laughs]. We don't have extra guitars on the side, you know, or a guitar tech or a drum tech. Even when we play major major festivals. I think we just kind of like the DIY of it; even though it's seven people-- and that's a lot of people to bring around-- but that's just the band. We sort of just focus on the music. It's not a show, it's just us having a good time and playing.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye EP:

01 Stranded on an Island Alone
02 Together for One Last Dance
03 Headphone Song
04 I Can't Rap, I Can't Sing But I Would Do Anything…
05 Simple Minds Do Simple Things
06 Simple Minds Do Simple Things Part 2
07 U and Me

Junior Senior:

08-10 New Orleans, LA – Tipitina's Uptown
08-11 Boston, MA – Middle East
08-13 New York, NY – Highline Ballroom
08-15 Los Angeles, CA – Roxy Theatre
08-16 San Francisco, CA - Popscene