Janus 4-14 are a three piece indie rock band based in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Their latest E.P. “Blue To Infinity” echoes the spirits of artists like The Replacements, Elvis Costello and Sebadoh.
I caught up with Vocalist/guitarist Chad Barnard, lead guitarist Shane Mauck and drummer Brett Beardsley to talk about their early musical experiences, how they started playing music together and the making of the recent E.P.
CMM:What was the first music that really made an impact on you all as kids and what artist or band did you enjoy the most?
Chad: My first music memory is getting Michael Jackson’s Thriller on cassette and a boombox for Christmas when I was 5. I was pretty much always obsessed with music and went through various phases until a friend played me the first Violent Femmes album and “Killing for Jesus” by the Circle Jerks. I was hooked on underground music. Then in my late teens, my holy trinity was Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Sebadoh. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with post-2010 Sloan and the Ex-Bats.
Shane: The rise of 90’s grunge coincided perfectly with my high school years, so there’s a connection there that I can’t shake. Hendrix was (still is?) my inspiration for playing guitar.
Brett: I grew up on what was on the radio in the 70’s and 80’s, mostly classic rock and some country. It wasn’t until I heard Dream Theater in the early 90’s that I got “hit” by that style of music which further led me down the prog rock path…and yet don’t play that music… hardly at all.
CMM:When did you all start playing music and writing songs and what eventually led to the formation of the band.
Chad: I started playing music when I was 16, around the time that Seattle took over everything. Once I learned three chords, I immediately started writing songs. I have everything (songs and ideas) that I’ve ever written saved on tons of microcassette tapes that I digitized this year.
The formation of the band is very un-rock-n-roll. I had all of these songs, but I was cripplingly afraid of performing for anyone. If you wanted to hear a song, we would have to go into a room with no windows, close the door and turn off the lights, and I would sing in a near-whisper – I wish I was exaggerating. I got it in my head that I wanted to put on one show, in my hometown, just to say that I did it. My wife said that a girl’s husband that she knew from our kids’ playdates played music, and that’s how I met Shane.
Brett: Previous drummer Chris got hurt and they needed me to learn 26 original songs in two weeks for a big gig in Winston…the rest is history!!
Shane: Played saxophone in the school band from 6th grade on. Borrowed a Silvertone Les Paul copy and amp from my uncle when I was 17 and was hooked.
CMM:You recently released an e.p. called “Blue To Infinity” last month. What was the writing and recording process like? What gear and instruments did you use during the sessions?
Chad: When we started working with John Agnello for Ghost From Your Past, we hadn’t released anything since 2016. I had a stockpile of 50 songs and really wanted that old-school producer experience. I told John to pick the six that he thought worked as a unit and we went from there. We decided to try the modern way of releasing a new song every six weeks, and then collecting those into an EP. We’ve released a song every six weeks since January of 2024. It worked so well that we decided to keep doing it. I keep adding new songs to the ones that I originally gave John, and he picks a new six after each EP. We jokingly refer to it as EPs ’til Infinity. My day job is a studio owner/engineer, so the gear topic could be exhausting (you’ll have to let me know if there’s something specific you’re looking for), but I used a Martin D15, a Johnny Marr Fender Jaguar, and a Fender Deluxe amp.
Shane: My approach to building parts is to fill the right tonal spaces in each song and to hopefully not sound like I’m repeating the same guitar riffs from other songs (my own or someone else’s). On Blue, I tried guitar melodies where I could hear them and then a variety of effects when that seemed to fit. It was my first time recording with several things: Whammy pedal, Rainbow Machine, Shield’s Blender, baritone guitar, ukulele, maybe more.
CMM:If the band could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Chad: Since our music reminds people of the 90s, I would say it would probably be an early Hal Hartley or Richard Linklater film. It would be about young adults in nowhere America trying to figure it out and failing a lot, but there’s a modicum of hope that everything’s going to work out.
CMM:What do you all have coming up next? Any new recordings or upcoming shows?
Chad: We start recording our 4th EP, in this series, in September, and we just released the first song, Tattered Dreams, off of our upcoming 3rd EP: Our Weird Little Songs. We have a few shows coming up, but the next one is Aug 22 at the Back Table in Greensboro with Creatures of the Sun (Charlotte) and a local artist TBD.
