In the wake of her latest single and upcoming EP releasing on Friday the 17th of November, we sat down with the exceptional Mia June to talk about an array of topics, including her favourite lyrics, Fetch the Boltcutters, nostalgia, and some perfect songs.
I want to start off by saying that what I really love about your music in particular is you talk a lot about growing up, nostalgic experiences and watching friends come and go as you grow older. It sort of speaks to you. So my first question is, do you have a favourite lyric from any of your songs?
A lyric I really love from my newest song ‘Freckled Friend Forever’ is ‘Going home feels like a death sentence, as much as coming down does.’ It sort of has two meanings. In the song I’m talking about going to [Nannup] Music Festival with my friends when I was 17, and it really felt like a death sentence when I was going home because I was scared my parents would have known what I was doing when I was there. The other part of the lyric is because it also felt like a death sentence ‘coming down’ to the festival because I was jumping in the car with my friends who had just got their P’s, and they could barely drive!
What about your favourite lyric from any song in general?
That’s a tough one to answer. I really love Fiona Apple’s music and especially ‘Fetch the Boltcutters,’ which she released when she was 42 [years old.] There’s a lot of ageism in the industry towards women, but Fiona Apple is able to defy the stigma surrounding age. Its pretty inspiring for me because she made that at such an age of maturity. It makes me think that because I am recording music at a young age at the moment, I can keep going and record music at an age like her when I’m older.
A lyric of hers that I really love is off the song Relay, and its sort of just a repeating ‘Evil is a relay sport / When the one who’s burnt / Turns to pass the torch.’ It speaks a lot about the state of relationships.
So, you were born in Wales, moved to Australia at the age of 8, started singing and playing guitar too. And before 2022 you were recording music with a band, is that right?
Yes, I’ve got my own band now that I perform most of my songs with.
But before that you were in a band called ‘Escapist?’ And you won an award at the ‘Rock Scholars’ festival for Singer of the Year?
What!? Oh my god, how do you know about Escapist?
Damn, you’re like Nardwuar. Escapist was a big part of my early teenage years. So Escapist was a band I was in because I was a part of a band program called ‘Rock Scholars,’ and what would happen is they would put you into a band with other people with the same interests as you and you were matched with a mentor in the Perth recording scene. It was quite cool. And at the end of the year, they would have a competition for all the bands. I think ‘Rock Scholars’ influenced me to enter the recording industry, and I was thinking ‘I want my own band!’
What happened to the band in the end? Was it just the program ended?
No, I left it. I was still friends with them all, but I wanted to go and do my own thing. It was quite dramatic. It was a lot of crying.
I played with my own band for a while, and then I went to WAAPA, which is a music university, where I got a new lineup. I’ve gone through a few bands. I think it’s hard to have your own solo project and have a band in it. So, I played in that one for a while, and then I recorded my first song when I was 17, but it didn’t release until I was 18.
So when you did decide to do your own thing, why did you choose ‘June’ as your artist name?
It’s my middle name- Mia June Deriu. So ‘June’ is my dad’s mum’s name. But it’s my middle name, and I think it sort of has a ring to it, so I just kept it at that. And no one can say ‘Deriu!’ So, I thought I’m not going to go with that.
You were saying you were studying at the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts (WAAPA). Are you still studying there?
No. I didn’t love it, but it was good for meeting people because they were people who loved music as much as I did. But I didn’t really like what they were trying to fit us into a certain mould, which does sound pretty cliché, and it’s almost just too easy to say that, but that’s really how it is. In my experience it felt like they didn’t really nurture creativity at all. The course that I did was supposed to be about being an original musician and learning about the music industry, but for most of the year we played covers. It was mostly trying to teach you how to be a session musician, which wasn’t really what any of us were expecting when we got into it. I’m not a lover of WAAPA to be honest. When I was 15, 16 it just seemed cool, like we were going to be in ‘Glee,’ and I guess it sort of was because I was surrounded by people who loved music as much as I did. I didn’t feel my most creative when I was there, like it was hindering me rather than helping, which was disappointing because I did want to go there for a while.
I heard you were awarded a bit of money from the WA government for producing four songs and performing them. Is that right? And which songs were they?
Yes, that’s right. So, I released ‘Hungry’ earlier this year, and then ‘Melbourne,’ ‘Cooking Oil,’ and ‘Freckled Friend Forever,’ my three most recent singles. The money was to help record them, which is good, because recording is expensive. I feel like government grants, at least in Perth, is the only way to do a lot of things. For example, if you want to go on tour but you’re from Perth, it’s so expensive. Unless you have a lot of money you wouldn’t be able to do that without a government grant, which sort of makes us feel like we’re isolated from the rest of Australia sometimes.
And then you’re going on a tour yourself after your EP releases?
I’m going on my own mini tour, and I’ll be in Melbourne on the 30th of November. It was kind of a leap of faith having my own show in Melbourne because I played there with Stella Donnelly earlier this year, but I just wondered if I booked my own show if people would come.
So I want to talk to you a bit about your song writing process. When you make a song, or even say when Fiona Apple made Fetch the Boltcutters for example, do you know that the thing you are creating is going to be special?
Maybe sometimes. I think there’s definitely been times when I’ve written a song and I’ve gone, ‘this is the one.’ Sometimes I have been right, but there are other times when I’ve written a song, and I’ve thought it was eh. But then I’ve showed it to other people, and they’ve said, ‘you need to play that with your band.’ I feel like sometimes you just know, and sometimes you’re wrong. For me, I feel like when I’ve written a song I really love, it clearly and accurately portrays how I was feeling when I wrote it. When I’m putting it into words really well, it’s more satisfying for me. But I reckon Fiona Apple, she must’ve known when she wrote ‘Fetch the Boltcutters.’
In another interview I did last week, we were talking about how we think that everyone’s music taste is somewhat inspired from their parents. Your parents listened to britpop bands, is that right?
They listened to Oasis and that sort of thing, which is sort of britpop I guess. But my mum loves ska music. I definitely did not inherit that from her because I don’t like ska at all. My mum listened to a lot of Kate Bush when I was growing up, and a Welsh band called Catatonia. I feel like I’ve carried those with me, but it’s sort of more just for nostalgia. Sometimes I’ll show my parents a song I like, and they won’t like it much. But I don’t think I’ve inherited music taste from my parents, it’s more of just a nostalgic thing. I definitely get it from my friends, and I definitely feel what I’m listening to is influenced by what my friends are listening to because it's what I’m around.
I don’t quite know about the parents thing, but sometimes I’ll put on my mum’s playlist when I’m driving, but it's more one of those nostalgia things.
I was going to ask you this a bit later, but I might as well ask you now: can you tell me some of your most nostalgic songs?
‘The Boxer,’ by Simon & Garfunkel. I feel that’s just the epitome of nostalgia. There’s a band called Sly Withers from Perth. When I was younger, I used to go and watch their gigs a lot, and they are sort of ‘pop-punky.’ Me and my friends always used to go and listen to their music, so a lot of their songs are really nostalgic to me. Lots of Taylor Swift, because I’ve loved Taylor Swift ever since I was eight years old. But I feel like that nostalgia is a bit different because I’ve had a lot of experiences when I’ve listened to that music. Also, a bit of Rhys Mastin, and Carly Rae Jepsen. Sometimes I’m just a bit nostalgic for being an eight or nine year old, listening to bubble gum pop music. But then there’s a different nostalgia for listening to pop-punk and Midwest emo when I was 16.
Now I’ve got a bit of a challenge for you. I’ve got a bracket for you of sixteen songs that I know you know, and there’s going to be a few matchups. I’ll play you ten seconds of each song, and then you just have to say which song is your favourite from that pairing.
Round 1: Head Alone – Julia Jacklin vs Dealer – Lana Del Rey
I like Head Alone more. I like Julia Jacklin more. I love that song because of ‘I don’t want to be touched all the time,’ and it's sort of an angsty relationship song without being a break up song. Its like trying to care for your partner when your relationship is stressed but you still love them. I love that song, but I also love Dealer.
Round 2: Night Shift – Lucy Dacus vs Untitled God Song – Haley Heynderickx
Where are you finding these songs from and how do you know that I know them!? I like Night Shift more. I feel like Night Shift is one of the best songs ever written. I love Hayley Henderickx, but I think Night Shift is just perfect. There are very few songs that I think are perfect songs, but I think Night Shift is a perfect song.
Round 3: Vampire Empire – Big Thief vs Cool About It – boygenius
Here’s my thing: I really love Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, but I don’t like ‘boygenius.’ You’d expect me to really love them, but there’s something about it. I love seeing those photos of them performing and I love the energy, but I just can’t get into any of their music. I don’t know why. But I love that Big Thief song- I covered it. I will eventually put it on my Soundcloud because we got a recording of it from a gig that we covered it at.
Round 4: Garden Song – Phoebe Bridgers vs Ladies – Fiona Apple
Oh, this one is hard. Because Garden Song, when Phoebe sings ‘I’m not afraid of hard work / I get everything I want / I have everything I wanted,’ just listening to that, I just love it. And Ladies is about not holding grudges against your partner’s exes, and every love is different. Both songs are so beautiful, I feel like I can’t choose between these two. Maybe Ladies? That one is so hard though.
Round 5: Liability – Lorde vs Under the Table – Fiona Apple
Under the Table is one of the Fiona Apple songs that I heard first. Probably Liability because I think that’s also a perfect song, but Under the Table I love as well.
I saw Lorde twice this year. I saw her in Sydney, and I saw her in Perth. And in Perth, she made eye contact with me!
Round 6: Capacity – Big Thief vs Before You Gotta Go – Courtney Barnett
I don’t think I know that Big Thief one. But I love that Courtney Barnett album. Things Take Time, Take Time.
Round 7: Oom Sha La La – Haley Heynderickx vs Real Love – Big Thief
Probably Oom Sha La La. I don’t know why, but that’s just my gut reaction.
Round 8: Ribs – Lorde vs Anywhere With You – Maggie Rogers
I love Maggie Rogers, but I feel like I have to go Ribs.
Quarter Final 1: Head Alone – Julia Jacklin vs Night Shift – Lucy Dacus
Night Shift.
Quarter Final 2: Vampire Empire – Big Thief vs Ladies – Fiona Apple
Oh that’s so hard!! But I'll go with Vampire Empire.
Quarter Final 3: Liability – Lorde vs Before You Gotta Go – Courtney Barnett
Oh, Liability.
Quarter Final 4: Oom Sha La La – Haley Heynderickx vs Ribs – Lorde
Ribs. But again that one is so tough.
Semi Final 1: Night Shift – Lucy Dacus vs Vampire Empire – Big Thief
That is so hard. Night Shift.
Semi Final 2: Liability – Lorde vs Ribs – Lorde
Ribs.
Final: Night Shift – Lucy Dacus vs Ribs – Lorde
Oh no. Ribs probably. Argh, that was painful.
So last question that I like to ask everyone: do you have any words of wisdom, anyone to shout out, or anything to promote?
My words of wisdom is don’t listen to the music industry culture telling you to only release singles. Release multiple albums a month and keep doing that for the rest of your life. If you’re writing a lot, you can release a lot, if you’re not writing at all, you don’t have to release at all. I feel like the culture of releasing singles over and over and over again is getting tiring and old, and it’s not fulfilling. At least it's not for me, and I know it's the same for many other artists. Just release what you want to release. Don’t release what someone else tells you.
I want to shoutout ‘Scratching,’ which is the new project of Grace Sanders and her partner Ezekiel. They’re about to release a new record which is going to be awesome, and I also want to shoutout 40th Parallel, which is a new band from Perth. And I also want to shoutout my best friend Ruby Taylor!
My new EP is coming out Friday on the 17th of November, and it’s called ‘Don’t Forget Your Bags.’ And Melbourne, come to my show on the 30th of November!!
Find Mia here!
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/_miajune/
Tickets to Melbourne show on 17/11/2023 - https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/15663051-55c4-4e6b-90e3-261471de55ff
Comments