Tell us something about… with fruit juice parade

The value of emo: Shannen Petersen: We describe our sound as earnest, melodic ‘tweemo’ rock. To be emo is to actually care about things, and to be empathetic towards yourself and other people! It’s more a mindset than a genre to us. Tharushi Bowatte: Emo is about being as honest as you can in your music. Showing sensitivity through lyrics and expressing broad feelings through broad chords. Starting a band: TB: Starting a band is easy! Finding a place to practise and committing to practices is the hard part. My advice for new bands is to play lots of gigs, even to audiences of fewer than five people. Learning your way around the stage and thinking about how the crowd will hear your music is a great way to be critical of your work. Being creative in a small town: TB: Small towns are pretty conducive to creativity. We grew up in an all-ages, DIY scene in Palmerston North, NZ, with some extremely talented musicians. Just because it was a small town doesn’t mean our lives weren’t as profound as any other person’s. In a way, coming from a place where there wasn’t much to do meant we had lots of time to focus on music. Ultimately, all you need to be creative is a landscape that makes you feel things, complicated relationships and a sky to try to find yourself reflected in. The future of Fruit Juice Parade: TB: For now, our goal is to keep writing music together and playing live shows. Our stage presence is hard to replicate in recorded music. SP: Our shows are very funny. To truly replicate them, we’d need to record a comedy album – which is probably not where we’re headed, but only time will tell.