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Music

We Chatted To Juce about their German Pop Bootcamp

It's not a cult they swear.

Juce are probably going to have quite a big 2015 so we thought we’d grab them before they stop being friends with us and start hanging out at Chiltern Firehouse with members of 5 Seconds Of Summer.

We went for a pub lunch and a pint to talk about their pop preparations, which it turns out are pretty intense. I say “we went for a pub lunch”, I ate a massive meal and they had some chips. I say “we went for a pub lunch”, I actually left before them and forgot to pay the bill. So really a more accurate preface to this interview would be: Juce unwittingly took me out for dinner and I wouldn’t drop it about the boot camp.

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(Oi oi! At the end of this article is a competition to win a £200 ASOS voucher. Are we bribing you to read the whole interview? You bet we are. Watch this interactive Juce video then enter at the bottom of the article.)

Noisey: Is it or is it not true that you all went to do a pop band boot camp in Berlin?
Chalin: It’s not a boot camp but we do go and see this amazing woman. Everybody has different things in their performance that they need to fix up, so you go individually. It might be that your tuning is out. It might be that your dancing isn’t right. It might be that your stage persona isn’t right. Whatever it is, she will hone in on it and bring it out of you in various…
Cherish: Very German ways.
Chalin: It’s not even German it’s just-
Cherish: It is so German.

So what happens?
Cherish: You have to read this book while you’re there.
Georgia: She gave me a lot of German children’s stories, like fairy and folk stories.
Cherish: And then it was like classic Beyoncé vibes, singing and skipping at the same time.
Georgia: It’s one-on-one sessions but for like 6 days. Out in the park. Shouting at the top of your lungs.
Cherish: It’s fucking full on. You only have like one lentil salad a day.

Why do you have to go to Berlin for it?
Chalin: To get you out of your comfort zone. You could do it here, but it wouldn’t be the same because you could go down the pub after.
Cherish: To be fair, I was up with her most nights past 2am talking about stuff and then up again at 8 like “Do your stretches!” And the stretching made me feel fucking sick and she was like, “Oh, it’s because you’re opening up, you’re so uptight.”

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Is this a legit thing to do as musicians or is it some crazy cult that one of you is really into?
Chalin: If you want to be the best at something or make your way there then you need to know what to learn. And in accepting that, we’ve decided to work with someone incredible who can make us do that.

So she’s like a fairygodmother?
Cherish: Kind of. I mean, it’s not cultish. She’s an interesting character because she’s quite feely and spiritual in a way where maybe you could interpret her like that. But she’s got this whole other personality which is totally German teacher, and that’s just like no bullshit and her voice drops about two octaves.

I really like the sound of this. Can she fix my life? I’ve got a lot of problems.
Chalin: She can definitely fix your life.
Cherish: The thing is it’s really not about relationships, you know? I was like, “I’ve just broke up with a boy!” and she was like, “Shut up. I don’t wanna hear about it.”

So she’s not encouraging your emotional development?
Chalin: It is if it’s about you being an artist. She’s interested in picking up what it is that makes you an artist. I mean, if you aren’t standing on stage properly and that’s linked to one time when you were five, then she’ll talk about that. But that’s the only reason she’s gonna talk about that. And then she’s gonna punch it out and get rid of it and deal with the situation. But it’s not about all the other fluff you’re using as a barrier between you and what you’re doing, because she doesn’t care about that and she’ll tell you straight up.

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You’re like those people who go to uni and don’t drink or go out or anything. They just do their degree in one year and then fuck off.
Cherish: She’s kind of like that actually. She’s like a gap year and a university experience rolled into one, but for a performer. It’s like the School of Pop. Think of popstars now that have had a bad time. What’s the one from Steps who got fat?

Claire?
Cherish: Yes. Send her to Berlin and she’s gonna be fucking winning.

She could even fix Claire from Steps?
Chalin: She can fix anyone.

Could she fix Lee from Blue?
(Silence)

So did you meet each other before you knew you were going to do JUCE?
Georgia: We met at a party and just talked about music because we all liked the same songs and stuff and we were all at a point where we were making music but didn’t have the right people.
Cherish: We didn’t even get each others names straight away. We’d been talking about music but we were just disorganised or whatever, so I was saved in their phone as “Girl Band Ting”, which I still am.

Who popped the question first?
Georgia: I took them out to the pub and was like girls, do you want to be in a pop band with me? Chalin looked at me like “pfft, you dickhead”. And then I explained obviously there would be all sorts of integrity and it was all very meaningful and it was going to be fucking cool.
Chalin: I was into saying “yes” at the time.
Cherish: I didn’t give a shit.

Ok well that’s pretty much the end of the interview. Let’s finish by asking the two questions I ask everyone. What were your first email addresses?
Cherish: buttonmerchant, and it is still that. A button merchant was like, you know when you used to collect badges and stuff when you were a kid and you’d be like “I’m a button merchant”
Chalin: babygirlpuff. My ex-boyfriend used to always call me “baby girl” and we used to call my boobs “sugarpuffs” or something so it’s a combination of those two.
Georgia: iloverainbowsbaby…
Cherish: Are you lying? You are so out of the band.

Sorry Georgia. Finally, How would you end The Simpsons?
Cherish: Bart becomes a rent boy. Bart goes really dark and becomes a smackhead. Bart grows his hair and turns into Jared Leto. Who plays Homer?
Georgia: Terry Richardson.
Cherish: Lindsay Lohan is playing Lisa, obviously.
Chalin: Nah Lindsay Lohan would totally play Maggie.
Cherish: Who’s going to play Lisa?
Chalin: Lisa would be really fucking dry. Who’s the girl that looks like you? Sandra Bullock.

Par. Thanks guys.

(Right remember before when we told you about that competition to win £200 of ASOS vouchers? Ok great. Well here's your opportunity to do just that. Just answer the question below. Full Terms and Conditions are here)