Juniper is an indie band based out in Nashville, originally from Boston. They have taken over the Northeast and Midwest with plans of expanding their reach. The band was formed in 2017, evolving and changing, ultimately bringing Scott Johnson (vox), David Sessions (guitar), and Alejandro Marin (drums) together to form the dynamic band it is today.
Their music mirrors their journey, an evolution of growth within the human experience. Topics such as heartbreak, love, loss, and change weave into their lyrics, emotions that are seen when growing up. Juniper strives to create music that allows them to be vulnerable about their experiences in hopes of connecting with others looking to find solace. Their emphasis on connecting with their audience has earned them a following across the United States, bringing up tour and travel opportunities that have enriched their musical process, as seen in their countless singles, EPs, and albums.
Their recent release of their newest EP, Pennies in the Driveway, and single, Wasted Time, have marked a new chapter for them, and I was lucky enough to sit down with Juniper right before their last show in New York City at Mercury Lounge, where we dived deeper into this new chapter, musical process, performing, and so much more.
(This interview was conducted in person and has been edited for clarity.)
[Veronica Anaya]: Would you mind going around stating your name and what you do for the band?
[Alejandro Marin]: My name is Alejandro Marin, and I am the drummer in the band.
[Scott Johnson]: My name is Scott Johnson, and I'm the singer in the band.
[David Sessions]: My name is David Sessions, and I am the guitarist of the band.
[VA]: Where does the name Juniper come from? What does it mean? Does it have a story behind it, or was it just something you saw on a billboard and thought, I want that for a band?
[SJ]: Kind of the billboard vibe. I started the band right after I finished high school. So I was 17. This is the summer of 2017, and we were looking for a band name. We had this project of a couple of songs we recorded, and I was just sitting in the passenger seat of a car and drove by a street that said Juniper Road, and I thought, “That kind of has a good ring to it.” It was kind of serendipitous.
[AM]: And the first EP of Juniper is that road sign. The cover photo is that road sign that just says Juniper Road.
[VA]: Would you mind telling me how you met each other to form what the band is today?
[AM]: I'll start sort of from the beginning. Scott and I met on the first day of college at Loyola University, Maryland. We were in our sort of freshman seminar, and there was an icebreaker of “What do you listen to? What type of music? What type of bands do you like?” Scott said, Vulfpeck, and I resonated with that right away. We didn't know each other at all, but right then and there, we became close friends. We were good friends for at least six or seven months before we even played music together. It was cool to have that foundation of friendship first, and then it evolved into playing music together.
[DS]: So I met these guys through a mutual friend who was playing bass as a performing member of the band. Jack Davies introduced me to the guys, and they needed a guitarist to fill in for a show, and I guess we did that one. The vibe was good.
[SJ]: The rest is on Wikipedia.
[DS]: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Not yet, but it certainly will be.
[VA]: Is it ever difficult to establish a friendship-to-work relationship, meaning being able to transition into these bonds differently? Was building this connection that excels as friends and workmates organic, or was it something that you had to work on?
[SJ]: I think what we're doing is art, right? So, I think who you're doing it with and that process is everything. It's not just some industry, like the medical world or the corporate world, where you're forced to wear the hat and do the thing. I think being able to make art with people you care about makes the art better or more honest and authentic. Such as friendships, it's something you work on, and it's organic, and I think that kind of drives the creation of music and the influence. This is also a professional setting, but I think that's one of the reasons why we love music; unlike other industries, being friends is critical to the process, and that's made us enjoy this so much more.
[AM]: Just going off of that, I think all of us have an understanding of the passion that we have for music just in general. We are friends first, and it's effortless for us to say, “Let's watch a movie, or let's go to the bar, and let's just hang out.” But it's also having a passion for something bigger than ourselves that is the driving force. We love music, we love doing it together, and it's very easy for us to just get in a room together and just do it. Having that simplicity of, We love music, we have a passion for it, and we're all good friends, it's just a recipe to do something great.
[VA]: Collaborating is something you do in most of your songs, and you're all musicians with different influences. How did you go about implementing new influences to keep the Juniper language or sound the same or the message the same? How does collaboration with new people or new musicians kind of come into play?
[SJ]: We relocated to Nashville about a year ago, and something we love about Nashville is that it’s kind of the musician hub of the country, right? Everybody has some sort of relevancy with being a musician, being in the music business. We just get exposed to so many different types of people and musicians from across the world, whether that be producers or other people we play with. It's fun to have their creative brains mixed with what we have already going to create something new. Every time I work with someone different, there's a different flavor that's also reflected in our music. Our music is pretty eclectic. I think being able to just know at the end of the day, if it's the three of us making it, then that is what Juniper is, not necessarily having to put ourselves in a box. Working with other people is the best part about all this. We do it for the people that we work with and the experience of that. I think that's what makes this different from any other job or potential outcome for a career. It's all about the people we do it with.
[VA]: What does making music look like for you when you allow yourself to bring in so many new voices and different opinions? What does it look like to create a song for you guys? Do you guys come in with one idea and stem off of that, or do you all kind of play around?
[DS]: We'll come into stuff with an idea, like a rough sketch of something, and then just kind of fill in the gaps, all together using each of our creative voices. It's also trusting our taste and trusting what we are listening to at the time or what we've grown up on; those types of influences kind of shine through in what we do, and I think that's our sound, the blending of the three of us.
[AM]: I think collaborating with other people for us, whether it's a producer or something, we kind of always treat them as a fourth person of the band. We're very open to collaboration and hearing someone else's ideas, even if they're not in the band. It's just coming together to create something that we all believe in. Whoever we work with, whether it's two producers, one producer, or whatever it is, we try to latch on to making sure their voices are heard, and we want to be able to act as if they're a part of the band in those moments. It's all about creating what's best at that moment.
[SJ]: That's what's special about a band, is that it is a group effort. It is a group of people coming together to make something versus a singer-songwriter kind of delegating what they want. There's constant compromise, negotiating, hearing people out, and sometimes having to let go of ideas if they're your own because it's a democracy. Two people might like it, one person might not, and that's exciting too.
[VA]: How does that collaboration translate itself on stage? Do you build off of one another while performing, or do you enter a whole different mindset where it's more about focusing on yourself?
[AM]: When it comes to live shows, I think we all have our ways of how that happens. I think just simple eye contact on stage can be key; if Scott just turns around and his head is banging, it just makes me play harder. If I see David’s hair just going crazy, it just builds the energy in the room for the band itself. Even in rehearsals, you know to go crazy.
[SJ]: Practice as you play. It's an energy transfer between stage and audience but also people on stage; that's tangible; it almost feels like sometimes it's even fun to block out an audience and just be like, “Hey, this feels like we could just be in someone's basement; it's a rehearsal like we've been doing since we were kids.” It's fun to always kind of tie back to; that's why we do it; we enjoy doing it together.
[VA]: You put so much emphasis on performing live, touring, and showing your music to other people and bringing it to people who might not have access to it. What does performing live mean to you as a band? Because not many bands emphasize touring and performing live. Why do you guys emphasize it for yourselves as a band?
[SJ]: After COVID, when that was taken away from us, being able to connect with people again in real life is fuel for the creative process. We always say the full circle is you start as a stranger, then you become a listener, then you become a fan and a superfan, and then a friend even, and I think to get to those last two or three cycles, you have to get in the room with people, and I think as a band, our show is probably the best thing we have to offer. I think that's what we love to do most; that's how we get to connect with people in real life and meet people because it's so easy to listen on streaming services, even content on social media is so passive versus buying a ticket. That means so much to us when people pay their own money to see us. We always stress, “Is anybody going to spend their own money on us?” Because we just feel so grateful for that, and I think that's why we want to give people everything we have when we go on stage because we're just so grateful. There's a lot of gratitude when we're on stage.
[VA]: I think it's also interesting that I read somewhere that you waited to release a song because you wanted to see if the audience would resonate with it. Is that your way of bringing in fans and people who listen to your music into your music creation process?
[SJ]: With Used To This, we have talked about how there are some songs that we will write and play on tour on stage for over a year before we release it. There are parts that we would have never come up with unless we played it live for people, which is so fun; it's kind of like testing it out almost.
[DS]: There's always funny moments too when the song develops after you record and release it, where you write new parts and you update it, and then you think, “Oh man, I'm kind of kicking myself. I wish we recorded this.” It's cool to get a song started live and have it grow and reach a form and then get it in the studio when you feel it's ready. It's like cooking something; you have to let it simmer for just the right amount of time.
[SJ]: Don't eat it right away!
[AM]: Like when you cook a steak, you have to let it rest.
[VA]: There's so much of a process that goes behind creating just a singular song for you, including so many voices from your fans, producers, and other collaborators. What's also interesting is that you guys put so much emphasis on the environment you're in, from going to Michigan for your EP or your move to Nashville, a music-central area. How do the environment and spaces play a factor in your process?
[AM]: We try to latch on to the location that we're in, and wherever we are, that is going to inspire us. It might be a simple walk in the morning. To be able to just wake up and take a walk in nature in itself is a big part of how the song might come out at the end of the day. I think in 2020 my family had just moved up to Maine, so we did a lot of demos up in Maine to be able to write, go to the beach, come back, record a demo, and go on a hike. All of those surroundings and where we are is the inspiration for how the song comes out. I feel like when we came to Nashville the first time and worked with Julian on Fresh Air Love, songs like that, we were trying to take the landscape around us and have that inspire the sound of what comes out. The environment around us influences how the song finishes up sounding.
[SJ]: The landscape does influence us, but also the environment of where we're in our lives, what age we're at, and what we're dealing with in our personal lives influence us as well, and I think the best art comes from listening to what's around you and kind of taking a step back and taking that in and using that as an influence. You're right; it can be as literal as taking a walk in the morning, and it's foggy before the fog lifts, and that's a vibe. Or someone's going through a breakup, and they can't even think straight or eat food because it's all-consuming, and that is something we pull on. The cool thing is that it's been all of us, right? We all share different experiences at different times, and then sometimes we'll intersect at the same time. Someone might be in a season of struggle and someone might not be, but to be able to be on the outside and watch someone else in the band see and experience something like that is a big influence too because there are two perspectives about the same thing.
[VA]: When you allow yourself to create music in a space where you aren't allowed to just create music, it allows you to focus exclusively on music. Yet, I can't stray away from the mention of your newest EP. It's been an incredibly transformative year for you guys with your new EP and the newest single you just released, and what's fun is that both deal with transformation, changing, and taking time for yourself. What do you want people to take away from this new era of Juniper?
[SJ]: We first started to see a lot of traction when we were 20 and 21 years old, and we were kids and thought, “Okay, we're doing the thing.” Now that we're a few years old and we've matured, what does that look like in terms of where we're at in our lives? Such as how we're not writing about the same things, our influences are not the same, and we have experienced more. What we want people to take away from where we're at is that we're almost growing up with you. When we try to write, we try to write about what's affecting us. Because we have to believe that other people are dealing with the same thing, maybe it looks different, but it's the same principle. I think that creates a community, and that is how we identify that we are all people figuring it out, and some people might be in different spots than others, but there's a pretty good guess that we've all experienced hardship, enjoyment, love, and heartbreak. We want to show people from our music that we're here with you.
[VA]: It was a successful year full of releases and travel, and it's crazy to ask what's next, but what can we expect in the new year? Do you plan to stick with this era, or are there already works of moving in a new direction?
[AM]: We're in a time of wanting to have as much music as possible. A lot of new songs, a lot of new sounds, a lot of different styles. For 2025, how we've used the rest of 2024 is by hunkering down on what this next era is. We're in a searching part right now, being able to have as much music written and as many demos as possible; it's giving us a direction of where we want to go. Right now we are trying to focus on having as many songs as we want that mean something that we're passionate about.
[SJ]: I agree with a lot of new music, but also getting into new markets is something we're interested in. We've never made it to the West Coast; that's something we want to do if we can afford it, but even going to Europe. We have had a real footprint in the Northeast, a really good footprint in the Midwest, and now Nashville and surrounding areas, but I think getting to places we haven't been to yet, like the West Coast, statistically, is where the most amount of people listen to us, so bridging that gap is going to be cool. I think that's a big goal for next year.
[VA]: Thanks for answering those bigger questions, but now I want to ask more rapid and fun questions. Starting, do you have any pre-show rituals?
[SJ]: Oh yeah. We got one. We got one.
[AM]: For our pre-show ritual...
[SJ]: Don't say too much.
[DS]: They can't know the deets.
[AM]: It's kind of random, but we have a saying: “One, two, three…”
[SJ]: And we praise a fast food restaurant. “Hey, this one's going to Panda Express. Here we go. Panda Express on three.”
[AM]: It's so random, but we've done it for the last three years.
[DS]: It's a moment where we all get a chance to center ourselves and just kind of take us out of the anxiety and overthinking. It gives us a chance to be like, “Ok, we're all in this together. Everybody takes a breath. Let's do something silly right before we go on. So we all feel good about it.”
[AM]: Now we're in a position where we're running out of fast food establishments.
[DS]: That's why we moved to the South because they have so many more down there.
[SJ]: David's right; it takes us out of the clouds and anchors us. We mentioned we had a long day of travel yesterday; today's been a long day; sound checks can be tossed up; and I think at the end of the day, we're here because we love to do it, and a joke like that just kind of centers us.
[VA]: Favorite city to have performed at?
[DS]: I'm going to answer this first. New York is my favorite, and I'm not just saying that because we're here.
[SJ]: Yeah, New York. I love Chicago. We've had a lot of fun in Chicago.
[AM]: I would say Columbus, Ohio. We've done a couple of shows there, and it's always been a fun time. The fans are always really engaging, and it's a fun time.
[SJ]: And shout out to Boston. That's where this all started. Yeah. Every time we go home, it's a reunion.
[VA]: Dream venue that you want to perform at, or have you already played at a venue you dreamed of playing at?
[DS]: A dream venue I would like to play at is the Sphere.
[SJ]: I'd say Wembley. Let's get going. Let's get across the pond and do it big.
[AM]: I would say Red Rocks. Red Rocks is just everyone's dream, so I got to say that one.
[SJ]: And a venue that we have played that I think was a dream was Bowery Ballroom. That was a great one.
[VA]: Favorite city you have visited?
[SJ]: Honestly, I'd say Nashville. I know we live there now, but I feel like we're still scratching the surface. There are many venues and so many people to meet, not just musically but also visually, like videographers and photographers. I’ve loved just taking a nosedive in Nashville.
[AM]: I would say Nashville too because it's new for us, but the community feels that we've already built down there. I'm originally from Boston. Boston has a music scene; it's popular, and it's fun, but I think you can only go so far there, especially with people that you can meet and just that community feeling that everybody's kind of doing the same thing. It's so cool in Nashville; you meet a barista, and right away they're like, “I'm a musician too.” That automatically just allows you to have a different conversation. We're scratching the surface, and there's so much to do still, and being surrounded by people that are very similar to you is a cool factor.
[VA]: Favorite song to perform?
[SJ]: I love performing the newest song we ever add to a set because it's hard. It's not going to be potentially as tight as everything else, but I think that's a fun challenge that pushes us.
[AM]: My favorite song to play is a classic of ours, but we love playing Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra. We've been playing that song since I've been in the band. It's just a staple of ours, and we have our version of how we do it. That song usually gets everybody jumping up and down. When that happens, that's the exciting part.
[DS]: I think my favorite is probably Used To This because it gives us a chance to kind of touch on some different textures and kinds of colors. It's a bit of a darker song that gives us a chance to get a little heavy. It touches on some different emotions that we don't normally get into, so I like that one.
[VA]: Last question, you guys have played with so many bands, you guys have toured so much, and you have supported bands on their tours. What was a band that you loved playing alongside?
[SJ]: In September of this past year, we did an opening run with a band called Dog Park. They're originally from Richmond and based out of New York now. They're just, like, great dudes.
[AM]: The funniest guys ever.
[SJ]: Super talented, they write killer music. They're just good people. It's harder to find good people than it is to find good music. So to have them both is cool.
[DS]: They rock. I'm a big fan of those guys.
Check out and follow Juniper’s social media pages for more music! Juniper is currently on tour with the incredible Arts Fishing Club, catch them in a city by you!
Interviewed by Veronica Anaya
Photography by Emma Wannie
