Across the suburb of Riverdale, in bars and living rooms, people have been talking about it, asking for it and wishing it to be so.
Now it’s finally happening, the reunion everyone has been waiting for: The Juice is getting back together, for one more surprise show.
The Juice, for the tragically unenlightened, is the Riverdale cover band from which the Edmonton indie rock trio Scenic Route to Alaska evolved. It’s an ensemble famous for rocking venues like the Riverdale Canada Day party, and for its covers of Spinal Tap classics.
According to Trevor Mann, lead vocalist for Scenic Route to Alaska and former guitarist for The Juice, he and his bandmates Murray Wood and Shea Connor all grew up in the same neighborhood, and have known each other since they were boys.
In their early teens they began learning how to play music, starting The Juice so they could hang out together.
“We started that band because we just wanted to jam, it was like playing hockey or something. We didn’t want to play shows, we just wanted to play music,” Mann said in an interview Dec. 18.
As a bunch of 13 and 14 year olds, their musical taste was eclectic, and they would learn whatever songs they happened to hear and like—no genre restrictions or thematic links between songs were necessary.
“We didn’t really give a rip of what other people thought—we just did it for ourselves,” Mann said. “Originally we had no intentions of ever playing a live show. We just did it because we liked to jam. Then we got a taste of what it was like to perform for people, and we never really looked back.”
That taste came when the band accidentally stumbled into a gig at the Riverdale Canada Day party, and after that they gigged all through high school, sometimes playing as many as 50 shows a year. Tragically, however, The Juice disbanded when their frontman (and other best friend) left them to pursue a co-op program.
No longer would their teenage voices grace local sock hops and weddings with renditions of “That Thing You Do.”
But by this time Mann and the others had developed some serious musical chops. Mann had written a few songs of his own, which he took to the remaining members of the band (Wood and Shea). They wanted to keep gigging, but figured they should do it in a different iteration, and Scenic Route to Alaska was born.
Since its official beginning, the band has steadily gained popularity for its upbeat, feel-good indie rock. After getting featured for a month on an Edmonton radio station, the band’s popularity surged, and since then they’ve charted well on college stations across North America, picking up a growing fan base.
The band’s latest album, Warrington, is a touching tribute to Mann’s late grandmother, and promises to vault the band to new heights of popularity.
But, this Christmas, the boys will return back to their hometown, and reunite with that former member of The Juice that left them so long ago. Mann hinted that a reunion of the cover band is probably in order.
Riverdale, and the world, can only wait with baited breath.
Trevor Nichols
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