Julie Julie
Kiosk spoke to Julie Julie, Belfast’s newest pop grunge group. We talked about their inspiration, style and their brand new EP release.
All photos of the band courtesy of Lindsay Mead
Congratulations on the brand new EP. It's a blast of upbeat, peppy pop, it's so infectious and almost impossible to resist bopping along to it. Was it always the intention to make the EP sound like this?
I think overall my songwriting is quite happy and upbeat, or at least given the themes that I write about, it’s what feels the most natural. Now, we have the likes of “Easier If I Could” and some unreleased material that are less upbeat. But because I talk about “light” subjects, it was quite natural from the moment we went in the studio that most of the songs would have that “peppy pop” vibe. Also this is our debut EP, and we wanted it to be something light and breezy overall, with some deeper stuff coming later on. I also think that my songwriting will evolve the more I write songs, and I am definitely drawn towards “darker” themes and sounds as I go along. I would say we all like pop music in the band, amongst other genres, so it’s only natural to make music that we would want to listen to as well.
The lyrics are beautiful storyscapes, are they based on real life?
Oh definitely so! I write about my own experiences, about real people (and sometimes said real people get wind of the song and that is for me to deal with!) because that is my way of navigating and processing those moments. I used to be a bit self-conscious of my songwriting, because I felt it wasn’t as deep or as intellectual as other songwriters I listen to. But one time I was speaking to Cheylene from Beauty Sleep (a significant inspiration both musically and artistically) and she said something along the lines of “From listening to your songs, I can sense that you are a daydreamer, and you observe the world through those daydreamer’s eyes. Your songs are stories, you’re a storyteller and that is what’s great about your songs.”
That gave me such a confidence boost! So yeah I think that’s it, to me songwriting is a form of storytelling in quite a transparent sense. But I want to challenge myself and write from a different point of view, not just from my own life experiences. I also need to add that I have a couple of songs which are poems that I put into songs, written by my friend Tim who is a great poet (including “Easier If I Could’). He writes the way I WISH I could write!
Can you talk us through the members of JulieJulie and how you all decided to work together?
Starting in chronological order, we’ve got Sylvy our bassist and background vocalist, who is one of the OG JulieJulie members! She started in the band as it formed, as part of the Tutti Music Club performance at Women’s Work Festival (back in 2024). There was a spreadsheet for those with songs who wanted musicians to collaborate with, and for musicians who wanted to join someone else’s project, and Sylvy volunteered as bass player! She’s been part of the JulieJulie adventure ever since! Sylvy also has her own music projects as a singer and guitar player……
….Then we’ve got J’aime Rachelle, on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. She met me at a Tutti music club gathering, then saw my post asking for a guitarist. She’s always been an acoustic singer-songwriter, but replied anyway and asked if I wanted her to join the band and I said yes!
It is J’aime’s first time properly being in a band and playing electric guitar! She has worked with other musicians before, like Wardomized, but never been in a band. In her own words: “It’s actually been so fun to be part of a group because when I was a solo artist, it felt like a lot of pressure. I have anxiety so going onstage has always been a struggle, but with the band it feels like a lot less pressure!”
We must mention as well that J’aime’s partner Bruce created the gorgeous artwork for the EP, which makes things even more special and sweet.
We then have Tia, our drummer. Originally, Conn Thornton was our drummer. But as another talented singer and songwriter, they were spinning a lot of creative plates and had to step down from the band (but they will always be part of JulieJulie <3). I put a message on girls club Ireland and on my own socials asking if anyone knew a drummer who’d be interested to join us. My friend Laura said she knew someone who was looking to drum in a band again and then we met Tia at one of our band practices. As nerve racking as it can get, I was really happy with how that first meeting went! And the rest is history…
Finally we’ve got Ellen who’s the lead guitarist of JulieJulie. I had posted again in the @Girlsclub_Ireland group chat on Instagram that my band JulieJulie was looking for a lead guitarist. Ellen had just moved to Belfast for her masters and apparently she really wanted to join a band and this kind of fell into her lap at the right time! She met for the first time at Hustle to discuss rehearsals and the recording of the debut EP and I can’t believe she was super nervous meeting everyone. I think we also ran into Stephen who filmed our ALMA music video that day! And I need to add that Ellen is also a singer songwriter!
Julie, your solo work is peppered with French, an element that is carried through JulieJulie's EP. Is it important to you to keep the French language thread running through your music?
Adding French lyrics to my songs wasn’t something that I had thought of doing from the start, quite the opposite actually. I am at a stage where I find it easier to write in English than in French, because obviously the more confident I get with the English language, the more I will want to express myself with it. I did write my first songs when I was in uni, and obviously they were in French (they weren’t the greatest though!) but since then I have lost the practice of it. However, I love singing French covers at open mics, and I am not naive, I know it’s something that grabs people’s attention. So whenever we were in the studio recording the EP I thought I should try to distill a bit of French, at least in one song for now, and see how that goes. So that part at the end of “Bet” I came up with just before we started working on it in the studio. And people love that part of the song apparently! So, I am happy that I did push myself to do it, because the new material I am writing has more French parts in it and I feel like I am reconnecting with my 19/20 year old self.
After recently having your EP launch, what do you hope the audience experienced and took away from watching JulieJulie live?
I hope people had a good time, a bop, and got to not think about whatever might be troubling them for an hour at least. I also hope that with our prom theme and me being me on stage, that people got to allow themselves to be a bit extra! I want people to enjoy themselves, feel all the feels and leave with a big smile on their face (and feel like the diva they are).
You have teamed up with Lindsay Mead for photos and videos to celebrate the new EP, could you tell us more about that collaboration?
Lindsay is a really good friend of J’aime’s, so naturally when I asked the girls to think of a photographer for our promo, she was first to be mentioned. And we gelled really quickly with her! She has such a unique way of taking and editing photos, and it’s also quite old school and vintage looking, which fits our vibe perfectly! She is an absolute dote which makes it easier to relax, because having to pose or act natural for photos can be awkward especially at the start. I also really like the fact that we are supporting another female creative, that is something really important to us.
What is next for JulieJulie, where can we see you live, and do you have plans about where you want the band to go next?
We just played a gig as part of the Sunflower Sessions, organised by the wonderful Tom Gee on Saturday, 27th June. It’s was acoustic and intimate. We have done quite a few of those gigs and they are lovely. T
hough we would love to play more fully plugged gigs and obviously play in even bigger venues and bigger stages. We would love to play in Dublin, Derry and Limerick (so Ellen can play in her hometown) for example. Speaking of, we were joking that one day we might do a tour to play in each of our hometowns! That would take us as far as France, Italy and England! If I am allowed to dream, I would love for us to support a really cool band and go on tour with them.
