I interviewed Junestar months ago for a post, he was one of those people who I heard about ever since starting this blog. He is crazy talented, stylish, friendly and a huge supporter of the art scene in Jersey City. While I was interviewing him he talked about his new band “June and the Pushas” and I remember even telling him then “That sounds like Post #2”. A few days ago, he reached out to let me know that the band will be doing a “Chilltown n Tour” at various hang out spots in Jersey City.
I went to meet the band and their creative director Bunz, at lead guitar player Jof’s apartment in downtown Jersey City. As soon as I arrived we started talking about everything, it was a serious vent session, that I almost forgot that I was there for an interview. These guys are so down to earth, I had a blast getting to know all of them.
What are your names? JuneStar Mr. Black Man
Joshua Feliz.
Jof.
What do you guys do?
June: We are June and The Pushas.
Who are June and The Pushas?
June: They consist of Chris Jof on lead guitar, Roger Martin on bass, and Anthony Blunder on drums, including myself Junestar Mr. Blackman playing guitar as well as singing. And it also includes all the people who are pushing positivity, so you’re actually a Pusha yourself.
How long have you guys been a group?
Jof: Eleven months.
June: We’ve been pushing for eleven months straight.
How did it start?
Jof: I met June outside of the old Lamp Post and he asked me if I played guitar and asked me if I skateboard and then asked me if I had a skateboard and I said, “No.” So he got an old skateboard and handed it to me and asked me to follow him and Roger. So I kind of relearned to skate which was a good thing because it was like my first month in Jersey City.
June: It’s a skateboard band.
It’s a skateboard band? June: About a year and a half.
What kind of genre would you consider your music?
June: We do soul music.
Jof: Magnetic Soul Punk.
June: Magnetic Soul Punk, I think that’s the genre they tried to squeeze us in.
Can you tell me about your upcoming gigs?
June: We actually have our Chilltown Tour coming up, it’s Unlimited Everything.
Jof: It’s in support of our EP we just released, our first EP Magnetic Electric.
June: With our single, “Keep on Pushin’.” What we’re doing is we’re doing a fundraiser benefit tour for Sacred Heart Elementary. It’s an instrument drive; our goal is to get all 214 kids instruments. We’re using the mantra “Push, persistent ‘til something happens.” So we encourage everybody to keep pushing and being positive and we’ll get there.
You guys all live in Jersey City?
Jof and Joshua: Yes.
June: Yes, definitely.
What are your favorite hangout spots?
June: On the 18th it’s going to be Brightside Tavern.
Jof: Master Splinter’s house.
June: Oh yeah, his house is good.
Other than the place you have gigs at, where do you like to eat, drink, hangout?
June: Jersey City is filled, we go everywhere, Jersey City is filled with…
Jof: Unlimited everything.
June: Yeah, unlimited spots to eat at.
Jof: We do have a sandwich spot where we get the avocado and the turkey, where is that?
June: That’s on Columbus. We be at Lucky’s all the time, man. I ain’t even gonna front. We be at Lucky’s killin’ in. Paradise, killin’ it. But there’s a lot of new places like Port-o, Union Republic.
Jof: But there is a deli you can get a really awesome turkey and avocado and egg and turkey bacon and mayo and it’s mammoth and it’s like five bucks.
How long have you guys been in Jersey City?
Jof: About four years.
June: About six.
Six years, and you?
Joshua: I was born and raised in the heights.
Oh wow and how do you feel Jersey City has changed in the past couple of years?
Joshua: Everything original is getting knocked down. I feel like a lot has changed, especially Downtown. I don’t know, the change was like in a blink of the eye it was like, “Wow, everything is different.” I feel like we’re getting a new crowd from the city.
Jof: Yeah, it changed a lot but we’re highly adaptive, we kind of expected this really.
Mr. Blackman: I think they call that shit “gentrification.”
Jof: Something like that.
Mr. Blackman: They call it “gentrification” and hello to all my artist brothers and sisters. These people wouldn’t be here if we weren’t so dope so we need to step it up and create platforms and play our music for them and welcome all of these people ‘cause now we might be able to get paid when we’re doing it.
Jof: Another message is remain unfeigned, like unchanged, unfeigned, and have fun and keep the art going.
What are your musical influences?
Jof: We listen to a lot of 70s Punk and a lot of Motown.
June: Punk, Motown, a lot of Jersey bands, Ska.
Jof: 2-Tone Ska.
June: I like Club City, I like English Beat.
Jof: You were from a band—
June: Bi-polar Jay. Shout out to Wild Life, Crazy and The Brains.
I love Crazy and The Brains. That Ice Cream song is stuck in my head.
Jof: They’re fun.
They’re fun, they’re really fun.
June: I like their “I want to be on Saturday Night Live” I can relate to that. Kiwi, kiwi is dope.
So you guys support a lot of the local bands?
June: We try to support all the local bands. Aminal, Papermaker, there’s a lot of dope groups too. Jay Gem, Race Bannon, CF, Tin Man, Wyme, Vancouver Riots it goes on and on.
I feel the love. After you guys go on tour what else do you guys have planned to push the record?
June: We plan to extend the tour and maybe take it on the radio and go south.
What about visuals like a music video?
June: Yeah, we’re going to do a video pretty soon.
Jof: Yeah, the radio tour was incepted by June.
June: I all these concepts from the ancestors. Big shout out to Bunzalino, FLXX Fiend, FLXX Army, Classic Skateshop, Sho’ Shot Skate, Vancouver Riots, Joey Anderson…everybody that’s pushing. ChicpeaJC!
Urban Collective, we’re just trying to unify Jersey City and Newark, shout out to The Fun Lyfe, this is the thing we’re pushing with, shout out to Solarnova Designs. Urban Collective is just a conglomerate of dope artists, brothers and sisters that are doing their thing. You’ll see a lot of upcoming events that June and The Pushas support, you know, Urban Collectives, check for it.
Jof: The Urban Collective is even going reach a city called Perth Amboy, where I’m from, and BJ Torres who is a Jersey City native and he plays a major role in the supporting the Urban Collective as well.
June: Shout out to the Zulu Nation, Wu-Tang forever.
Leave a Reply