Dunedin-born, Mackenzie Hollebon (Mac), the mind behind Juno Is, has been in the gig scene for a while now. She initially emerged as the drummer for ‘Lacuna’ before pursuing a solo career - after some growing pains, she is thriving. “It was a really good transition into having full creative control,” she said, and appreciates having “something I can put all my effort into and it’s always going to be there”.
Her latest EP, Creatures of Habit, takes notable elements of the classic Dunedin surf rock style, but roughs up the edges. The raw tracks has a pleasant dissonance between the rough guitar riffs and floating, layered vocals: a new take on a familiar sound.
The songs on the EP have a cohesive, flowing sound between them, all individual and distinct, but gliding comfortable from one to another. Mac attributes this to having written it in about a month, last winter. “I had all this creative energy built up after leaving Lacuna, and it was just me home with my cat, and it all came together.”
Mac creates all the demos herself, working her way through the various instruments she plays. “I usually start with rhythm guitar, and then drums, and then it kind of goes from there.” She then works with producer Steven Marr in the studio to create the final product. Not one for overthinking, most of her songs are pretty close to their first version, without heavy editing. “The thing I try to do with my music is, as soon as I write the track, I don’t go back to it, I don’t overthink it, I just decide whether I’ll use it or not.” Similarly, her song inspirations are in the chill creativity that defines her style, “I don’t actively think ‘I’m going to write a song about a certain subject,’ I just zone out and then ‘oh! This is what this means.’ It’s just cruisy, aye.” The title track of her 2020 EP, It’s No Groover, also featured on Creature of Habit, follows her raw writing style with a smooth vocal track, crunchy guitar riffs and a wafting synth tone. The song is untainted by auto-tune, and has the subtle imperfections unique to a live recording. It makes you feel like she’s in your ear, singing personally to you about “what is right and what is wrong”.
Her current genre is self-described as “psychedelic dream rock,” but upcoming releases are going to move in a slightly different direction. “The music I’m writing at the moment is way dreamier, more synth, more toned back, I guess just the stage of life I’m in right now.”
Mac has been lining up gigs for the next few months around Dunedin and New Zealand, working with Garbage Presents. Looking to tour in the summer months, Mac is hoping to play some more alternative festivals around New Zealand, having played RnV with Lacuna and it wasn’t really her vibe. “I don’t really listen to drum and bass, but it was a cool experience to be put in an uncomfortable situation like that and see it in the perspective I live in.”
On 8 August, Starters Bar hosted an all-female show, featuring Sofia Machray and Neive Strang. It was one of the first female-headlining and led show since Mary Berry’s Bring the Noise gig. Although this is pretty shitty, and shouldn’t be as rare, it was a great showcase of some of the lesser recognized musicians. “I didn’t even plan it to be an all-woman show, it just sort of panned out like that. I just thought of the people I really wanted to play a show with. It wasn’t because they’re female, it’s because they’re good, awesome musicians,” Mac muses.
With new music coming next year and gigs lined up, Juno Is is a band to watch out for. A refreshing change of pace, but with the musical integrity to line her up with the Dunedin greats. A soundtrack to a cold-sunshine day, Mac is the latest staple to the gig scene and will hopefully be gracing more dirty stages in the near future.