Apollo Junction boldly declare 'Here We Are' with new album
Written by: Brooke Eboule
It’s half past ten on Friday night and several members of the “AJ Family” (as Apollo Junction’s fervent followers are known) are at another band’s show in Leeds, UK, attempting to refresh the official charts page over and over again despite shoddy phone service in the basement venue. Forty some-odd miles away at yet another gig in Manchester, another contingent are anxiously doing the same. They’ve been at it for hours. The charts were due to update at 5:45 pm and everyone is dying to know how Apollo Junction fared in the quest for a top 75 album.
Here We Are is the Leeds-based group’s third album, but it’s the first time the independent band has been in a position to enter the UK’s official charts. It’s a rare feat for any truly DIY musicians and the midweek figures – which have the album ranking 33rd – have blown everyone’s minds. After all, Apollo Junction’s label is a one-man operation run out of a shed in someone’s yard. Their music doesn’t get widespread mainstream radio play. There’s no marketing budget, or team to speak of. That is unless you count the batch of ardent, merch-clad supporters who happily joined the guys at their pop-ups to promote the album the previous weekend, handing out grayscale flyers to passers-by, and occasionally getting cursed out by strangers for their efforts.
The anxiety is well justified. There’s an almost inevitable slide for independent artists in the back half of the week, when the existing support base is tapped out, when the mass streaming numbers courtesy of major label artists and big playlist placement come into play, and there isn’t any money to throw behind a campaign to reach new receptive ears. The late week plunge has happened recently to rising artists with big names behind them and international arena tour experience – artists with no day jobs to return to after weekends full of 16-hour album promotion days.
Not so for Apollo Junction. One of the band members' work obligations even has him in America during release week, missing out on the band’s pop-ups and listening parties, Q&As and impromptu acoustic performances. In addition to burning the candle at both ends to keep up with their very real, adult jobs as teachers and IT managers and programme managers, most of the guys also have young families. They’re just regular 30+ Yorkshire lads chasing an exceptional dream, and they’ve got the goods in the music – and an uncommon bond with their fans – to back it up.
When the update finally happens, there are whoops and hugs and happy tears, not to mention any reactions from the band members themselves. As of October 27, Apollo Junction has officially secured #68 in UK's official album chart, #11 for physical albums and #1 in the Independent Breakers Chart, as the UK’s biggest independently-released album of the week by an artist who has not yet reached the Top 40.
For the band and the devoted supporters who stand behind them, sitting even briefly among perennial chart fixtures the likes of Queen, Oasis, and the Rolling Stones is a staggering, expectation-smashing accomplishment. It’s a position that reflects years of relentless grind and a declarative statement befitting the album’s title. Here We Are!
Band of Brothers
Formed more than a decade ago of reconstituted parts of previous bands, Apollo Junction is made up of Jamie Williamson on vocals, Matt Wilson on guitar, Ben Hope on bass, Jonny Thornton on drums and Sam Potter on keys. “We all sort of knew each other from the music scene at the time,” said Jonny. Some of them had been in previous bands together, but they’d all “definitely given up on attempting to make it in bands,” according to Jamie. “Because what sort of idiots would do that? The majority of bands don’t get anywhere and we knew that. We just missed making music. We missed songwriting and that sort of art. You have to have an outlet for creativity. So we agreed to meet up and just write some songs together with no purpose other than writing some songs.”
“My first memory; I’d already got there,” said Jonny of the cool old church-turned-rehearsal space where the band met up. “Being the drummer, I’m usually the first to get there and the last to leave, having the most equipment to carry around. Matt came in and was looking really cool. He had long hair at the time and a leather jacket on and I knew straight away I wanted to be in a band with that guy. And then Sam came in. He had about 14 keyboards. His setup was insane. So I was like, yep, he’s a guy I want to be in a band with. And then Jamie turned up probably fashionably late, a typical singer. So, he kind of passed that test. And I was already in a band with Ben.”
From the outset, it was clear they’d struck upon something different. “It sounds incredibly cheesy but the second we hit into that first first verse, it just felt like it was something that was meant to be,” said Jonny. “An instant connection, and we all sort of got it. Songs were just pouring out of us all from just jamming in the room. Before we knew it we had this little batch of songs that were really good.”
The band didn’t even have a name yet, but a brotherhood had been established. “The banter was really good,” said Jonny. “You need that in a band. You need not just the music, but everything that goes with it, because this is essentially a family, isn’t it? It’s really important that you get on at all levels. We’re still the same lads.”
The bond is clear in the way the band members interact with one another, in front of the audience and not. When I ask the guys about their favourite moments writing and recording the new album, Ben and Jonny each tell me about a different prank pulled on Jaime. That bond remains vitally important to the guys today, as both band mates and best mates.“The band is incredibly important to each other, so we always look after each other,” said Jamie. “On stage, we are a family. We’re united. Off stage, we are a family. We’re united.”
The band still didn’t have a name the first time they had a song on the radio. “I think it was Ben who sent a demo to BB6 Music,” said Jonny. “Typical Ben had written the track listings wrong on the CD, so Steve Lemac introduced the song as ‘Place Your Bets’ and then the original version of ‘Begin’ started.” That’s when friends and family started asking if they could come see the band live. “We said let’s do it, then. Let’s get a band name, get some gigs booked in,” said Jonny.
Although it might seem entirely appropriate to ponder an association to the Greek Apollo, god of music and dance, that's pure coincidence. Or maybe serendipity. In any case, the origins of the band’s name are not nearly so pretentious. “Before we knew it, we were in a pub called the Junction, talking about our mutual love of the Rocky films and the character Apollo Creed,” explained Jonny. “In a weird way, those things kind of came together. Apollo Junction was born.”
The growing AJ family
Having decided to really give things a go, the band began years of chasing and hounding that continues to this day. “My God we have worked our socks off,” said Jamie. “We have grafted to this point. We toured what’s known as the toilet circuit for a long, long time. We’ve done the cold, wet Tuesday nights. We’ve done the empty venues where we’ve played to barstaff and one or two other people. And you need to go around that circuit because you almost need to build what you’re made out of. Slowly, but surely, people have got more interested.”
Chief among them is French fan Sylvie Rapiteau, who has traveled to the UK to see the band perform more than 40 times since she first heard the band’s second single, ‘Born for Now’ on English radio in 2016. “Whether there was almost no one or a crowd of thousands, they have always given it their all and make sure everyone has a good time,” said Sylvie. “I saw their progress. I’ve watched them grow and I feel so much pride and admiration for what they’re doing now.”
“She’s the first person who made us realize that our music could mean something to somebody other than us,” said Jaime. “We just keep getting more and more examples. We’ve had people from Australia. But to be honest, anyone who gets up off the sofa and comes and watches us is very valued and appreciated.”
With special appearances from a crowd-surfing, blow-up dinosaur, Ben’s swanky gig jackets and Jamie’s regular walk-abouts in the crowd, Apollo Junction’s live shows have become known as complete experiences. They’re also gaining a reputation for bringing people together – both platonically and romantically.
“I love that Apollo Junction have been transformational in our lives,” said Vicki, who met her partner, Shaun, at one of the band’s shows. “They have been for us, and for our friends as well. The Apollo Junction family, we talk about it an awful lot, but it genuinely is the best group of people. People that started out as our ‘hello’ gig friends are now our proper friends and we all love each other to pieces. There’s an appreciation for who each other is as people, in a way that for some people, had never been experienced before.” This lends itself to a genuine love for Apollo Junction and a heartfelt hope for all good things for the band. “They’re the nicest lads ever,” said Vicki. “You do feel like a family. A part of their family and their growth as well. It’s lovely to see.”
Today, “we’ve got a really, really loyal fanbase,” said Jonny. “Everything we do is for them, in a strange way. If it wasn’t for them, we probably wouldn’t be doing this today. The love, and that sort of response that we get… we do it for that connection.”
Here We Are, celebrating together
There are certain themes omnipresent across Apollo Junction’s discography – togetherness, mutual support, hope for the future. These resonate deeply, uplift and insist in the possibilities that lie ahead yet. Here We Are is no exception. “2022 was quite a tough year for us as a band,” said Jonny. “That kind of went into the record, in a positive way. There’s a little bit of our soul in each of these records.”
“Here We Are has got some incredibly high highs, and I don’t want to say incredible lows, but low points in the band over the last year, to be honest,” adds Jamie. “Times where the COVID hangover on the world really hit us as a band, and we had to find our way through some stormy times and we came out the other side. My goodness, we kicked down some doors and we found ourselves on the other side going right, ok, here we are. (And there’s that title again.) The music this time is a lot more developed. There’s a lot more layers. Not to dismiss the other songs we’ve done. I think this showcases us as a band that can write some serious music, and really show a different side of ourselves.”
The album will perhaps resonate particularly with those who have reached a stage in life where the boundless optimism of youth has surrendered to the realities of adulting. With those whose lives have perhaps taken twists they didn’t foresee but who dare nevertheless to nurture fresh hopes. The wildly inspirational album stands as a powerful affirmation befitting its title, a stirring call to action for anyone sitting on stalled dreams, and a celebration of the special people who hold us up and hold it all down in bad times, as well as in good.
Celebration was certainly the name of the game the day after the chart reveal, as Apollo Junction kicked off their 8-stop UK tour in the seaside town of Blackpool. Many in the AJ family had traveled from all over to be there for the intimate afternoon acoustic set in HMV and the evening’s gig, supported by Kiwi and VIVAS.
Despite being exhausted from the non-stop nature of the previous few weeks’ campaign and at least one of them being sick, the guys put on a phenomenal show, performing several songs from the new album for the first time, including ‘Endings’, ‘Mil1ion’ and ‘Magic’. The joy in the room was tangible, with many attendees later saying online it was among the best shows they’d ever been to, period, not just the best Apollo Junction show. The guys’ next stop is in Glasgow on November 4 – their first show ever in Scotland.
So, what’s next? What’s the vision for the future of Apollo Junction? “We are always looking ahead,” said Jamie. “We’ve got loads in the pipeline for the next year or two. That includes more live shows, a new album.” Ultimately, “we just want to keep having a good time. Keep meaning something to people and to ourselves. I suppose we are very aware that we are only here for a very small moment of time. And we only get a certain amount of moments in time, don’t we? If we can soundtrack some people’s moments for a while, then what’s more beautiful than that? We couldn’t wish for more than that.”
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Apollo Junction have tour stops in Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Cardiff to come before the end of the year, and many more dates on the horizon in 2024. Notably, it’s just been announced that they will be supporting Shed Seven, alongside Brooke Combe and Peter Doherty, for the Brit-pop legends’ homecoming 30th anniversary show in York next July. You can find them on X, Instagram and TikTok @ApolloJunction