Few bands ever blow me away on first listen. Junction 18 though has earned that distinct honor. Within a week of listening to their debut full length, “This Viscious Cycle,” I knew that an interview had to be in the works. Without going into a lengthy introduction, this band is more than worthy of your attention. Junction 18 has one of the freshed pop-punk-emo type sounds going, which is rather remarkable considering how crowded that genre is getting. Check out this band’s release, out now on Fearless Records. Interview with Andy, and Spencer, and conducted by Jordan A. Baker.

Pastepunk: Describe Junction 18′s sound to someone who has never heard of you guys before.

Junction 18: Well Junction 18 is just all your favorite bands rolled into a big ball of rock. We like to think that we offer something to everyone and we don’t like to limit ourselves musically, like we don’t “try” to write for a specific genre of music. We just write what we think sounds good. At first we were worried people wouldn’t like us because we don’t have a style pinned down, and some people make up their minds that they won’t like you before they have even heard you. But so far the reaction has been a lot better than I expected.

Pastepunk: How did the Fearless thing develop?

Junction 18: Well, we were just concentrating on recording the cd and getting it out. We’ve been together almost 5 years now and we never put out a cd. I was in touch with some labels about putting it out but I figured we’d just end up doing it ourselves. Then Chad from New Found Glory contacted me and said Fearless was asking about any good unsigned bands. He told them about us, I sent the cd to Fearless, they liked it and now they’re our label.

Pastepunk: Is New Found Glory an influence? Have you played any shows with them?

Junction 18: New Found Glory is one of the bands we’re most friendly with. Our old bass player was from Florida and he knew them. They conctacted him to set up a show in boston for them on their first tour and we opened. We played with them a second time a few months later. As for influencing us, I think they might have had an effect on the newer songs. I loved “Nothing Gold can Stay” and listened to it when I was writing my stuff for the record. but all in all I think we’re in the same boat musically. We both focus heavily on the melody and lyrics of our vocals.

Pastepunk: What are the resources for the lyrics to your songs? They seem to all tell stories more than direct feelings…

Junction 18: Well sometimes when I’m writing the lyrics to a song I’ll want to be completely honest about myself and totally reveal how I’m feeling at the time but like you noticed, I like to take some of my own experiences and put them in another person’s shoes. I can’t sing about cars or how drinking is fun because I would just feel like a moron. I just take the serious aspects and experiences of my life and try make a really true, vivid story. You can do anything with a song…You can fantasize with it, have it be completely true, or you can make it totally fictional. So it’s up to the listener reading the lyrics to guess what I’m really singing about in the songs. I’m just trying to cover all grounds. I think I’m doing a pretty good job so far.

Pastepunk: What is Junction 18′s tour history? Any future plans that can be divulged? Junction 18: We really haven’t toured yet but we really can’t wait to get on the road. We’ve just taken trips down to New Jersey and up to Maine to play shows but mainly we’ve just been playing only around the New England area for the past 5 years. Finally we’ve put out a great CD with good songs that we can’t wait to tour with. We’re just trying to jump on anything right now. We’re starving for the road and we just want to play everywhere and meet people everywhere. It’s destined in our hearts..we’re just trying to make it happen.

Pastepunk: So some girl comes up to you guys after you’ve finished playing your set and says that she really digs your band. What do you say in return?

Junction 18: Well, if that was to ever happen , I would say “well why do you like us? Is it becaus we’re so sexy, or do you just like the music?” And if she answered wrong I would slap her in the mouth. Noooo, just kidding, I would proabaly just say “Thanks, gimme $5.”

Pastepunk: Do any of the members have jobs outside of the band? If so, what are they?

Junction 18: Yeah we all work like animals – I help to run my family’s pizza shop in my hometown of Abington, MA, and Chris works there too. We pay him to drink strange things like jalapeno juice and malt vinegar. Scott delivers pizzas for Domino’s. Andy works at a paint store, and Jeff works at Big Wheel Recreation right in Boston and he is also a manager at Blockbuster Video. Oh yeah, and we all steal babies and sell them on the black market as well, hey we gotta eat too.

Pastepunk: “Granite Street Knife Fight,” has some of the coolest lyrics I’ve ever read. Was their a particular incident that set the tone for this song?

Junction 18: Last year was one of the craziest years I had ever experienced in my whole entire life and it wasn’t just a particular incident that set the grounds for the lyrics to be written. At a certian point in that summer, I watched people lose their heads, lose their friends, overdose, a local kid that everyone knew here in town drove his car into a tree and killed himself. I look back on myself that year and realized how many stupid things I even did. It seemed that my whole entire suburban life was burning up in front of me. I watched it all happen and I learned. Some parts of the story I can’t reveal, but I can tell you that each and every line in that song has a major story behind it.

Pastepunk: What is your best memory from High School?

Junction 18: Hmm..that’s a tough one. I guess it was when me and my friends drew a huge skull mural on the chalkboard in this teacher’s room at detention when she left for a minute. That skull was awesome.

Pastepunk: What’s your ultimate show line up?

Junction 18: My ultimate show lineup would probably be Weezer, Green Day, Lifetime, and Poison.

Pastepunk: Did any of you vote in the Presidential election? What do you think of the resulting mess?

Junction 18: I’m not sure who voted in the band. I’m not even registered to vote. I don’t think I ever will either. We’re not too into politics. We have enough politics with music and girls.

Pastepunk: Describe your perfect Saturday…

Junction 18: Well, first I would sleep till like 2, and not work. Then eat at a fine Italian eatery in western MA, play virtual tennis with my homies, watch a good movie and just kick it. I get stressed, i’m an old man.

Pastepunk: The state of punk rock is……?

Junction 18: Competitive! I think a lot of bands are using the idea of competition to push their writing. I know I do. When I hear an awesome band I want to write songs better than theirs. I think as long as the competition is healthy, awesome music will be made.

Pastepunk: Final comments?

Junction 18: Please listen to our album and come and support us and the other bands when we tour. It helps us a lot. Thanks!