I had the pleasure of speaking with Justin Miner, founder of the eponymous L.A. folk-rock band Miner, about the band’s debut album Into The Morning , getting naked with his wife in the desert, jungle epiphanies, and much more. Miner’s sound is pure Southern California, radiating warmth and sincerity with a true family vibe. Here’s what Justin had to say.
Before starting the band you reportedly took a break from music to travel through the jungles of Central and South America. Did this experience lead you to the idea of starting Miner? What exactly happened out there? Any epiphanies?
Justin Miner: The traveling simply helped to reset my brain by forcing me to focus on mundane tasks like finding food and deciphering bus schedules. Also, being able to escape the pressure of trying to create every day was tremendously freeing and eventually allowed me to rediscover my love for writing music.
Your first band, Fight From Above, had a very different sound and feel — I mean, of all the bands you could have covered, you covered the Ting Tings in concert! What prompted the change? Have many fans of FFA followed you to Miner?
JM: As I think is probably the case with most bands, there were many reasons for the end of FFA. But the biggest reason was that I felt I was no longer playing music that spoke to my soul. I am grateful I was eventually able to bring along everyone from that band into the Miner project as they are all my best friends. There are a few fans that followed us over, but I was looking for a clean break and it was for the most part.
The videos for the FFA songs “Tilting at Windmills” and “Between the Curves” are superb and very original and creative. How important are visual images to your music?
JM: I grew up in the heyday of MTV, so I have always loved music videos. I wish I could take some credit for our videos, but they are primarily the product of the mind and talents of our bassist Justin Krook. We’ll hash out a little concept work together, but in the end he’s the man directing the shoots and doing the edit work. We like to think of him as our semi-secret weapon.
Miner is truly a family affair, with your wife Kate, your brother Jeremy, and your cousin Amanda in the band. How did you recruit them?
JM: It started that way simply because they were the people I knew best and were around to recruit, but has turned out to be a great experience. I had played in the previous band with my brother already, and when I was recording the EP I had my wife sing on some of the tracks although she had never really done anything with music before. Playing with all family and friends makes the long road trips a little more fun and short circuits a lot of the friction that can occur – everyone’s already fought and made up a thousand times before they were in the band.
Why “Miner” anyway? Besides being your surname, are there other connotations?
JM: Three band members have the last name Miner so it just made sense, but I also did like the literal/metaphorical image of someone sent to plumb the depths each day, who then comes back to the sunshine only to return to the cave again.
The album has such a sunny, golden feel to it. Is there a particular vision that Miner strives toward?
JM: My brother [Jeremy] and I grew up in Hawaii and live in Southern California, so the sun has literally been omnipresent in our lives. Anxiety and unhappiness had inspired so much of my art in the past, so with Miner I wanted to challenge myself to focus on the hope and love in my life. I still want to explore the dark cave, but also need to come back to the sunshine at the end of the day. I think it’s a more accurate representation of life in general.
Where do you want to be in the near (or far) future?
JM: Somewhere warm. With a cold drink.
The video for “Hey Love” is simply gorgeous, a combination of a very interesting Subaru commercial, a travel documentary and a well-done art film about destruction and rebirth. Where was it shot, and did you and your wife really get naked? Please explain.
JM: We shot it all at the Salton Sea, which is the largest lake in California. The lake was created 100 years ago basically by accident and eventually became poisonous due to salinity and chemical runoff, so now it’s become a sort of ghost town. We did indeed get naked for that scene, a few times actually, but it was about 110 degrees out so that was the easiest part.
Where did Miner play its first paying gig and how did it go?
JM: Our first paying gig was at The Echo here in LA, which is about a mile from my house. All things considered, I’d say it went pretty darn well. We’ve come a ways since then — our live show is something we’re constantly trying to improve.
Your upcoming mid-January tour takes you around California and into Nevada before the album drops near the end of February. What are you most looking forward to on the live dates as well as after the album is out?
JM: I love being on the road and playing shows, so I’m simply looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones along the way.
What sets Miner apart from the throng of other folk/bluegrass bands based in California, or anywhere for that matter?
JM: t’s always difficult to analyze your own music … we never really aspired to be part of a scene, or distinct from one for that matter. We’re just doing what makes us happy and hope that everyone else enjoys it as much as we do.
There’s something to be said for the innate ability of siblings to harmonize: the Avett Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, the Everly Brothers, and most recently the Secret Sisters. When did you and your brother start singing together?
JM: My dad would play guitar and we would sing some covers as kids, so it does help if you’ve been singing together all your lives. I don’t know that it’s so much innate ability as the inherent musicality of combining voices that are naturally similar yet also distinct.
What do you like best about the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles? Where do you and the band hang out?
JM: We love being surrounded by other artists of all stripes. There’s a vibrancy to the area that is unique to LA and we’re constantly meeting other creatives who are working on all sorts of projects. We’ve been spending a lot of time in downtown, which has been evolving at hyperspeed for the last few years.
Where would you take a first-time visitor to the city to pop their L.A. cherry?
JM: Totally depends on the visitor – if there’s one thing that’s true about LA it’s that it’s got something for everyone.
The close-harmony opening piece on the album, “Dawn”, sounds very much like a hymn, or at least a call to spiritual worship. Was this always your choice to set the tone for the album?
JM: “Dawn” was a piece that my wife [Kate] was writing towards the end of our work on the album, and when I heard it I knew it needed to go on the record. I loved the harmonies and spiritual tone of it, and I thought it touched on a lot of themes that ran through the whole record.
The album begins and ends with the sounds of bird songs. What is it about this sound that so captivates us?
JM: It’s a sound of peace and stillness – a delicate sound you only hear when you stop moving and bring yourself into the present moment. The birds on the record are actually the birds that I heard every morning outside our home when I woke up to work on the record. It was such a constant soundtrack to my mornings that I eventually rigged up a microphone next to the window one day to record it.
“Big Sur” is a beautiful little west-coast folky bluegrass tune, with you and your wife trading verses. It seems to be about simple domesticity and true love. What’s the story behind this gorgeous tune?
JM: My wife and I have traveled quite a bit together, but our favorite place on earth is Big Sur. We try to get up there a few times a year, usually camping. And so the song grew naturally from our experiences up there, and the feeling that no matter what was happening, we could head up the coast and find a spot beyond the reach of cellphones and the city to reconnect with each other. Incidentally, it was the first song my wife ever wrote, and so was the song that started our current songwriting partnership.
I read somewhere that Kate had never sung before joining Miner. How can this be possible? Her voice is so lovely.
JM: It is true she had never sung with a band or ever really thought of doing it as a profession, but she did come from a household where singing around the piano was a frequent family activity. When they get back together, she and her two sisters still remember all their harmonies from when they were kids.
What’s next in the works for Miner?
JM: Right now we’re just focused on getting the album out and getting a longer string of shows together for after the release. We can’t wait to see what else 2014 has in store.
[This interview originally appeared at Earbuddy.]
