blog moved to junemadrona.com

This Blog has moved to junemadrona.com!

Interview on Pop Rock Candy Mountian!

Indie 101 With Aly Carr: June Madrona

September 2, 2008 by poprockcandy · Leave a Comment

Aly Carr is the creative writer and co-host of The Merry Andrews Show in Tampa, Fla. She is an amateur small cat trainer and she is very fluent in knock-knock jokes. The Merry Andrews Show can be heard online at the show’s official site.

The Merry Andrews Show At MySpace

June Madrona is a folk band based out of Olympia, Washington. They create songs that will make you laugh, cry, and dance all in less than 4 minutes. I recently got to talk with lead singer, Ross Cowman, and melodica player, Micah Ellison, about how they came together, their Europe tour, campfires, secret music projects, and Clint Eastwood.

Aly Carr: It sounds like there are a gazillion people in the band, which is one of the reasons I think I’m drawn to your music. How many people are actually in the band and how did you all come together?

Ross Cowman: Ha! That is a funny question. There are actually 4 and 1/2 people in the band. I’ve never actually counted how many people have been in the band historically… I’m going to do it now … 16. That is just everyone who has played a show as part of June Madrona. If you count people who have recorded an album with the band it goes down to 8. Currently I play guitar, Danielle plays flute, Micah plays melodica, and Bob sings and claps (he is the half because he never actually comes to practice). The story of how we all came together is complicated but briefly, Micah and Sean both met me by coming to June Madrona shows, Danielle and I met at a Valentine’s Day party, and this crazy lady named Celina introduced me to Bob, whom she was stalking at the time.

Micah Ellison: I came across June Madrona when it was in a time of transition, in early ‘08. I’d heard a bunch of songs from the Winged Life online and really liked them. I eventually had the chance to see Ross at a house show and it totally blew my mind to be exposed to this incredible acoustic experience. He was playing with Bob Schwenkler, his partner at Bicycle Records. I went to the Bicycle website, saw that June Madrona was working on a new album, and e-mailed them saying, “Hey, need any melodica on the album?” Then I met Ross, played with him for a couple hours, and he made me dinner. I think we were pretty much sold on each other at that point.

I think Danielle’s and Sean’s stories are interesting but they should tell you those stories themselves if they want to. =)

AC: You all toured Europe last year, was this a first for you, and how did it go?

check out the rest here!

Summer '09 Tour Dates!

Hey folks,
thanks for writing to us with your suggestions for places to play. they were super helpful! We have decided to visit the northern and middle part of the country on this tour since we haven't been to many of these places before. (don't worry west coast, we won't forget you!) What follows is a list of cities and dates we plan to hit up. If you would like to help us, book a show, sleep at your house, or put up fliers, please let us know! you can email me at ross@bicyclerecords.com!
xoxoxo Ross

date city
Fri Jul 31 tacoma
Sat Aug 1 seattle
Sun Aug 2 couer 'd alene or spokane
Mon Aug 3 missoula
Tue Aug 4 Billings
Wed Aug 5 fargo or pierre, ND
Thu Aug 6 mineapolis
Fri Aug 7 wynona
Sat Aug 8 chicago
Sun Aug 9 chicago
Mon Aug 10 chicago
Tue Aug 11 grand rapids, kalamazo, lansing
Wed Aug 12 clevelend or toledo, oh
Thu Aug 13 jamestown
Fri Aug 14 syracuse, binghamton or albany, ny
Sat Aug 15 montreal
Sun Aug 16 montreal
Mon Aug 17 montreal
Tue Aug 18 portland or turner, maine
Wed Aug 19 boston
Thu Aug 20 providance, ri
Fri Aug 21 brooklyn
Sat Aug 22 manhattan, new york
Sun Aug 23 philadelphia
Mon Aug 24 DC
Tue Aug 25 DC
Wed Aug 26 DC
Thu Aug 27 pittsburgh
Fri Aug 28 columbus
Sat Aug 29 columbus
Sun Aug 30 dayton, oh
Mon Aug 31 st louis
Tue Sep 1 kansas city
Wed Sep 2 salinas, ka
Thu Sep 3 bloomington
Fri Sep 4 bloomington
Sat Sep 5 denver, co
Sun Sep 6 denver, co
Mon Sep 7 saratoga
Tue Sep 8 salt lake city, ut
Wed Sep 9 bosie, id
Thu Sep 10 nampa id
Fri Sep 11 kennewick, wa
Sat Sep 12 portland, or

Eugene, OR!
We're staying with in eugene for a week while danielle attends the Midwifery Today conference. Some super nice folks named Jeff, Molly, and Richie, are letting us stay at their house. Molly works at a bakery in town and Jeff plays drums in some local bands. We havn't met richie yet, he's been in portland. It has been super cold in the mornings here, but quite nice once the sun warms things up. We've all been really usy getting the last of the tour scheduled, i think we're pretty much done now.
Tomorrow we are going to play at the museum of unfine art, which is a record store in downtown eugene. It is pretty last minuet but it should be fun. It feels so good to be on the road again and away from all the day to day things I usualy think about. Last night the train kept waking us up. One came by blaring it's whistle every half hour or so. Eventualy I got out the earplugs and got some sleep. Still I drempt about trains, I kept seeing them run past me in strange cities. ok, enough for now!
-ross

June Madrona Spring 2009 TOUR DATES

Hey everyone! We're on the road!

June Madrona Spring 2009 TOUR DATES
3-13- Eugene, CA @ The Museum of Unfine Art
3-15 – Redding, CA @ Sue’s Java
3/16 – Chico, CA @ Café Flo
3/18 – Sacramento, CA @ The Hub + R5 Records
3/19 – Santa Cruz @ The Crystal Plaace
3/20 – Santa Barbra, CA @ The Furnace
3/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echo Curio
3/23 – Gilroy, CA @ The Myatt Farm
3/24 – San Jose, CA @ Barefoot Coffee
3/25- Berkley, CA @ Nabolom Collective Bakery
3/26- Oakland, CA @ TBA
3/27- Arcata, CA @ TBA
3/28 – Ashland, OR @ The Bike House
3/29 – Salem, OR @ The Space

Let us know if you'd like to help out with one of the TBA shows! Details about these shows can be found at bicyclerecords.com/junemadrona
junemadrona@bicyclerecords.com
xo june madrona