June In Winter

June In Winter

I often get the question of how I came up with June in Winter. In 1975 my grandparents bought a lake house. This lake house is where many of my most fond childhood memories are from. It is still in our family and I frequently take my kid there as it is just 45 minutes from our home. The name of the lake is June in Winter. I do a lot of sailing with my kids and spend a lot of time enjoying observing light on waves. It is a place for me to pull out my guitar or ukulele and compose. Early HistoryIt all started with a casio keyboard, pots and pans, & arguments about our band name. My brother Tom wanted to be called The Deputies or The Pelicans and I wanted to be called American Flash. This was the early 1980’s. We had vinyl singles of The Police & Prince that we had picked up at U-save. Through the years Tom and I played lots of music together. Early on I gravitated towards drums and he picked up guitar and vocals. We split off into multiple bands over the years. Tom went in a more southern rock direction (living in S. Georgia) and I went into punk, then emo, then post rock instrumental.

Raw Rock

(That I Still Listen To Regularly)I can still remember the first time I listened to “Blue Collar Love,” by Starflyer 59 (still active) in my Toyota Celica. It was 1994 and my mind was blown! Another release that pushed me further into what music could be was “Beside This Brief Hexagonal - 1997,” by Roadside Monument. Then at the cornerstone festival around 1999? I was walking back from a swim and heard a band practicing in a shed or tent(can’t recall.) The sound was something completely new to my ears. I peeked inside and noted familiar faces. David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) was on drums, and Jonathan Ford (Roadside Monument) played bass, and it was…. Instrumental! It turned out to be a new band, Unwed Sailor (still active.) To this day, still one of my favorite live shows, was a rehearsal. Leading up to my first “real band,” I must mention one other major influence on my formation as an artist. The Appleseed Cast’s (still active) “Fishing the Sky - 2000,” again pushed my Imagination as how powerful music could be, and their release of “Low Level Owl Volumes 1&2 2001” are likely two of the most listened to CD’s in my vast collection.

Early Bands

I purchased an off-brand guitar at a pawn shop in 1992. I just started making songs, before I learned chords. The creative process has always been the part that I enjoy the most. My 3rd band’s first demo was recorded on cassette around 2000 under the name Barron Silas Greenback (along with Garret Simpson, Sean Nelson & Jess McDonald). That demo led to filling in for Further Seems Forever at a maxed-beyond-capacity show in Myrtle Beach opening for The Juliana Theory (who didn’t even bother to watch our show). That show was amazing and we sold out of Merch and had great conversations with new fans after the show. Greenback broke up shortly after and reformed with new members as The Paradise War. And I "Solo Verde" was my self-made label.

Into A Cocoon

I was at the "peak" of playing and performing when I fell in love, got married and ended up down in Mexico. We adopted our son from Mexico in 2007 and had our first biological child in 2010. Our son turned out to have pretty severe special needs and our daughter was born def. We have one that can’t speak and one that can’t hear. On top of that def children can be extremely wild and my son couldn’t handle stress very well. That makes for difficult parenting & marriage. Although my music production went into a cocoon for over a decade. Music & art helped me get through a very difficult decade of intense struggles with my sanity, a stronger marriage, deeper faith, and some amazing inspiration to tap into. I also picked up violin, piano, and during the most difficult times the only instrument that I could grab was my ukulele.

BACK INTO THE STUDIO

Learning Production & Figuring Out a WorkflowI picked up a copy of Ableton Live. Initially I wanted the capability of doing some live looping, one man band type of setup. I wrestled with this DAW for months and months. What I found myself working towards was a workflow for rapid song creation. I upgraded some of my gear, bought a new guitar and started refining my petal setup. By the time I finished two songs I started to get excited. I found a way to release what had been trapped inside my head for the last two decades. I found a way to make noise! For current recordings I am playing all guitar, bass, and keys. I can't fit a drum set into my current setup.If you read this far then, well, God bless you!All the best to you and your loved ones,Joel