JR JR On Rising Hit “Gone,” Their Next Single & Chumbawamba-Inspired Drinking Games: Idolator Interview

Mike Wass | November 9, 2015 11:45 am
Popping Up: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
We profile duo Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (now known as JR JR). Go back to the very start.

It has been a big year for JR JR. The Detroit duo changed their name (you might remember them as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.), released album number three and scored a hit on Triple A radio with “Gone.” They even went viral with the visual, which is undeniably uplifting despite the dismembered bodies. With “As Time Goes” landing a major sync with YouTube and a Fall tour in progress, expect to hear a lot more from the indie-pop outfit in the near future.

I recently spoke with Josh Epstein about the success of “Gone” and the unexpected response to it appearing in an episode of I Am Cait. He talked about the song’s eye-popping video, touring with his adorable dog Potato and the perfect bagel. Josh also opened up about inventing a Chumbawamba-inspired drinking game and the band’s new moniker. Find out more below.

Your Twitter bio describes you as the “poor man’s Rob Thomas.” Please elaborate.
My old guitar player in my other band always used to joke with me that I looked like a shitty version of Rob Thomas. I just thought it was funny. A little self-deprecation never hurt.

“Gone” has taken on a life of its own. Did you have a feeling it was special?
Interestingly, I had a dream that I was listening to the radio and the song came on. When I woke up I recorded a version of “Gone,” but it was way faster and had some weird time signature changes. When we sat down to work it out, we decided that we were just gonna play everything on a guitar and finish writing the entire song before we recorded it as opposed to trying to produce it while we were in the studio.

I knew that the melodies are really good, but I definitely didn’t really know how it would connect with people. I sent it to a couple friends right after we wrote it in rough demo form. I send a lot of demos to friends. Everyone really responded to it, so I guess at that point I kinda knew that it would connect with people, but you just never know with those things.

The video is incredible too. Where did the idea come from?
We actually came up with seven concepts for it, and none of our concepts ever felt like they were the one. The director Los Pérez sent us this idea. At first we were like, “Yeah, but how could you pull that off? It’ll probably just look stupid.” Then we looked at the reels, looked at some other stuff that they’ve done. We decided that we were gonna trust them, because they had done such good work.

We had a couple of conference calls, but we chose not even to be in the video. I think that was actually great. Not have to be in it, and have them make a piece of art that they thought represented the song. I think that was one of the most positive video experiences that we’ve had. It was the first time that we saw a video as a rough cut and just thought, “Oh yeah, this is gonna be good.”

Have you decided on the next single? I know “As Times Goes” has just got a big sync coming up.
It does, but no we haven’t. I think if we had our way we would have “Hypothetical” as the next single, but a lot of that is not necessarily up to the band. You have a say in it, but you can’t force people to put out a song that they don’t want to put out and then they just won’t work it. They’re not passionate about working it. It’s always a little bit of back and forth and just figuring out what everyone’s really passionate about.

I think we really like our entire album. This time around we said, “Whatever’s the single is the single.” We’ll feel good about going out and performing any of these songs.

How do you get pumped up before a show?
We don’t do anything. We don’t do vocal warm-ups. I think it’s just the audience feeding you energetically. There are probably shows where we’re a little bit quieter because we’re getting a different vibe from the people there. It’s back and forth. The room takes on its own energy every night. The Los Angeles show was really up. Really high energy.

You guys recently handed out bagels outside your label. What’s on the perfect bagel?
That was actually with a company called Yeastie Boys. We just partnered with them to feed a bunch of people at Warner Bros. because they’ve been working really hard for us, so we figured it’s kinda the least we could do. We didn’t make the bagels, but I did get to design a bagel sandwich to my specs.

What was on it?
I try to stay away from gluten because it makes me really tired, but I love bagels. I don’t like to waste the gluten on the bottom half of a bagel if it’s not flavored, so I always buy two bagels and only eat the tops. My bagel sandwich was two tops with an everything bagel. It had butter, egg, cheese, sausage and avocado.

That sounds so good.
It was really good.

I noticed you bring your dog Potato on the road. How does he enjoying touring?
He is a real trooper about everything. I just actually had to take him to get his nail trimmed in Atlanta. He likes being on a bus. He’s small enough that he can play fetch on the bus, so he’s constantly bringing in stuffed animals. The only thing that’s kinda scary is that there are some open bunks and sometimes he’ll jump in them and get under the blankets and you can’t find him. We think that he escaped, but he’s just not coming when we call him and sleeping somewhere. For the most part it’s pretty great having him around.

There was a minor backlash when “Gone” was I Am Cait. Were you shocked?
The thing that really affected me the most, was realizing that people… we had a song loosely associated with someone who is undergoing the transition and that was the kind of backlash that we got. It really made me feel for the people that are going through it, and their family members, and knowing that there are people in the world that are that vitriolic towards other peoples’ gender identity.

I think that me and my friends and the people that I surround myself with, I don’t really know any bigoted people, I guess. It was a little surprising. I was glad to lose the fans that we lost.

Do you ever miss the old Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. moniker?
I don’t really feel nostalgia. I tend to believe that when you’re nostalgic about things, you’re kind of putting them on a pedestal or remembering them with rose-colored glasses. I like to try and move forward all the time. I try not to think about it too much.

Do you find that people are less confused with the new name?
I don’t know. I guess no one really talks to me about it. I don’t really read reviews or too many things on the internet. Unless it’s someone that we’ve talked to, I don’t really want to read what they’ve written. I don’t know. You’re probably in a better position to tell me if people are less confused.

There are less people referring to you as “him”…
Right. I think especially in Europe, people thought it was a singer/songwriter.

Do you have a guilty pleasure, musically?
No, I’m not guilty about pleasures. I just think if you like something, you gotta own it. There’s a lot of terrible things that I like, and I’ll admit that it’s terrible but I still like it. Like Shania Twain. I actually like that Chumbawamba song, “Tubthumping.” I have been known to throw parties with a Chumbawumba wheel. There’s a Wheel Of Fortune wheel that has vodka drink, whiskey drink, water drink, soda drink. People have to spin it to determine what they get. It’s a pretty fun party, but everyone feels sick the next day.

That sounds like fun. Which member of Friends do you most identify with?
I don’t know, I’d like to think that I’m a Joey, but I’m probably more like a Chandler.

Who has the best hair between you and Daniel Zott?
Oh, Daniel. Hands down. He has way better hair than I do, yeah. My hair does a few things like a Jew ‘fro or it’s short and that’s it.

Thank you. Bye.
Cheers, man. Bye.

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