Producer bob junior keeps it on-brand no matter how you encounter him. You gotta admit, it’s friendly-sounding name. And appropriate, given that he’s got a new album called friends, vol. 2 out on May 23rd.
There’s a different collaborator on each track, so you can safely assume he’s an easy guy to work with. And with this being vol. 2, you can assume there’s a vol. 1 (check) and that everything went well (fair assumption).
We talked to him on Zoom about vol. 2, and he invited collaborator Jordana to join us, too. Their track, “Just Go,” is one of the highlights of the diverse, mix tape-style LP. The Zoom talk was both informative and enjoyable: just a chat between us and, well, friends. bob junior was every bit as affable as expected. In fact, the conversation was one of those rare (very rare!) moments that make a print journalist consider the value of a podcast.
bob junior—whose real name is Esteban Munoz—is a Norwegian producer. His music, which has an indie rock-focused sound, is catchy and infectious, just as you’d expect from a guy who cites The Beatles as a primary influence. Also, his family members seem to avoid using capital letters.
And, yes, he likes to be called “Bob,” if only because people mispronounce Esteban. “You can’t say Bob wrong,” he said, with a laugh.
Jordana is a bedroom pop artist from Washinton, D.C. In addition to solo work as a singer/songwriter, she has collaborated with TV Girl.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
There’s another guy, Bob Junior, whose music is described as Tanzanian Bongo Flava. You’re laughing. Are you familiar with him?
Only on TikTok. I’ve seen him and sometimes I get tagged on something more like beat-based South African music. And I’m like, “Well, it’s cool, but it’s not me, you know?”
Right.
And there’s a famous lion called Bob Jr., as well. Very random. If you go on TikTok and you write bob junior, this lion comes up.
Where does the lion live?
I think he’s dead.
Oh, man, the story took a dark turn.
Yeah, I know. But it’s just a name, you know? My name, bob junior, comes from when my little brother couldn’t say my name when he was a kid and he loved Bob the Builder. So, I became Bob from when he was a kid.
How’d you get started in music?
I can’t even remember starting playing drums. I’ve always played drums. When I was eight years old, my parents bought me a drum kit, and we had it at home. I’m so very grateful for their patience, because it’s very loud. I started playing drums in a church. And churches are a cool place to learn music. I feel like they encourage you a lot to do music. And then there was a lot of Latin music. My parents are from Chile and my background is all Latin music. That was my main genre until I discovered West Coast hip hop and fell in love with Tupac and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Bergen, where I live, is s pretty dark city. We’re surrounded by seven mountains and it rains, like, 250 days a year. There’s a lot of like black metal and rock and punk music, stuff like that. I got involved in that scene and also the shoegaze stuff. I ended up being in love with a lot of different music styles.
What other instruments do you play? Guitars, keys, any of that?
Yeah, guitar. I injured my shoulders while touring because I love Travis Barker, and he always had his cymbals way up, and I did the same thing for a lot of years. So I got a shoulder injury, and then my mom taught me how to play the guitar. Then I learned bass, and keys is, like, the instrument that I know the least, but I know where everything is. I mean, I can do it, but it’s not where I make the songs, you know?
How does that work out live? You’re playing a lot of the instruments yourself on the friends comps, right? You’ve got different vocalists, you’re covering the instrumental work.
Good question. I haven’t thought about it yet. I have no idea. I just got an opportunity to jump on a tour that’s some friends of mine from Bergen, and it’s a good tour. They always sell out everything they do in Europe. I’m like, “Cool, I’ll join.” What I do know is that I’m bringing a friend from Australia to do the vocal parts. He’s on friends, vol. 2. He has a good range and everything, and he can play a couple of instruments. I think I’m going to do it as a duo. But it’s six months ahead of time, so I don’t know yet. We’ll see. It’s going to be fun.
What kind of bands did you tour with when you were young?
Mostly punk bands. A lot of DIY driving from Norway to Serbia doing, like, how do you say it? English isn’t my first language. Like, occupied houses.
Squats?
Yeah. It’s like super punk. I’m like, yeah, I love that.
Let’s talk friends and collaborators. Is it friends that you already know? Is it, “Oh, this sounds great on the Spotify algorithm?”
It’s all friends. It’s either friends that I’ve met touring because I did play drums with my brother’s project, called boy pablo. And I toured with him a lot. And we met a lot of cool people throughout the years. Or my publisher is like, “Oh, you should meet up with this girl or this dude or whatever. You’ll make great music.” The only thing I care about is making music that I love. And that’s it. A big artist or a small artist, whatever, as long as it’s fun and it’s honest. I do have a couple of, like, “Oh, I want to make a song with that guy.” And then I like try to make it happen. But more often than not, it’s just a natural meetup.
Is it a collaborative thing, where you’re hanging out in the same room, hashing it out? Or is it “I’m gonna to email you some files. What do you have?”
I prefer to do it face-to-face. Being in the same room is always the best thing. And when I set up sessions, I always want to do more days in a row, because I want to get to know whoever I’m working with. If the music is gonna have a personal value, and mean something to me, I want to know who you are. What’s your background? What are your issues?
(At this point, Jordana came onto the Zoom call.)
Great to see you, Jordana. Let’s get caught up to where you come in. What were some bands or artists that inspired you?
Jordana: Well, growing up, I was a really big Strokes fan. I was a big fan of Vampire Weekend and a big fan of Grizzly Bear. I still am a huge fan of Grizzly Bear, and I really love Daniel Rossen’s voice. His breathiness and his voice are really cool. I feel like it sounds easier on the ears when you use as much breath as possible, even though the big sacrifice is that you really have to be, you know, conservative about how much breath you’re using. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time.
What’s the difference between working as a solo artist and collaborating, whether it’s with Bob junior or TV Girl?
Jordana: Working with Esteban was super chill. It was super chill. I don’t know if you remember, Esteban, but I was chilling, man.
Bob junior: Dude, same.
Jordana: I had gotten cavities filled at the dentist a couple of days before. It wasn’t, like, hard to sing, but it was hard to eat and drink things. But other than that, we were vibing, bro. What a day! But Brad (Petering) is basically TV Girl. It was just us making the music. I mean, there are two other band members. But as far as, like, producing goes, for the most part, it’s just one guy. Sitting in his house and listening to things on loop and coming up with clever lyrics. And recording them in his kitchen (laughs).
Where all the classic records are made.
Jordana: For sure!
Let’s talk specifically about the new track. Bob, it’s your record. Tell me how “Just Go” came about.
bob junior: We first met up at the Airbnb that I had and we just hung out. We made something that I really liked, but I don’t know if Jordana did.
Jordana: I don’t even remember what it was. You should send it to me.
bob junior: Yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna. We made that and then we were like, okay, cool. I go to LA, like, a couple of times a year. I think it was towards the end of my trip. I was like, I want to get into the studio with Jordana. I asked her if she was down and she was, so we booked a studio at the Honeymoon Suite, which is a friend’s studio. We brought a friend of ours and he started a tune on the piano, which is what you hear in the beginning of the song, but it’s reversed. Jordana put some drums on it. Like, she started a beat. It was inspired by another track. I saw it on your story. I didn’t know that.
Jordana: It was my top song on Spotify last year! It’s “Unifying Thought” by Chanel Bead. I wanted the swing of it. I was like, I want to replicate this beat because it’s so cool, but it’s not even real drums. I guess they were programmed.
bob junior: We did the drums and we just went on from there. In the beginning, we only had like three chords, I think. And the whole vocal melodies, you made it super quick. You wrote it so fast and I loved it. We switched up some chords for the chorus and it was nice.
Jordana: I think it was mainly going to be a guitar track at first, right? You had a different guitar melody for it at first, too.
bob junior: I don’t even remember that! But it was all made in one day at the studio.
