[ t h e c h a r a c t e r s ]:
Jeffery MuellerMr Mueller plays guitar, talks, whispers, shouts and sometimes sings in June of 44. Once upon a time he could be found in Rodan whose album, Rusty is very, very good. But alas, Rodan is no more, whereas Shipping News, in which he plays guitar, whispers, shouts and sometimes sings, has emerged from the shadows. He also has a new solo record called 'Fold and Perish' on Monitor Records.
Sean [heavy] MeadowsSean also strums his six string and sings some words in June Of 44. He could also be found in Lungfish, and occasionally in the Sonora Pine. He's also got some solo stuff happening, called Everlasting the Way. There exists one 7" / cdep on Magic Eye singles, and a longer thing coming soon. If he weren't in a rock band, Sean would want to be a buccaneer.
Fred ErskineFrederick Erskine plays the thumpin bass in the band, as well as dabbling in the trumpet. Hoover and the The Crownhate Ruin used to both occupy his time, but now its just June and The Boom, and the soapstone carving, although with the arthritis that might be over soon as well.
Doug ScharinThe post of timekeeper is given to Douglas Scharin, who we have heard and loved in such outfits as Codeine,Rex,Him and Directions in Music. The name Douglas comes from the Scottish place-name, Dubh Glas. Dubh = dark blue, dark green or grey. Glas = water. Thus: Dark Water.
they are helped by Robert Weston, Julie Liu and Bundy K. Brown.
t h e s t o r y t h u s f a r :
Once upon a time, in four sweet little cities across the USA, there lived four men, who all played in different bands for fun and profit. One of these was a fella named Jeff Mueller, a Louisville resident, and the real hero in our tale. He played with some other folk in 'Rodan'. Through powers unknown to man, the other three of the men were all somehow united with Jeff. He says:
I met Sean, he was playing with a band called Boondoggle from Tennessee. I met him from just seeing his band play in Cincinatti and we talked about making music with each other. Rodan played a show with Hoover in Louisville and after the show Fred and I started talking about making music with each other. Doug was playing drums in Codeine and they were practicing actually in the basement of my house in Louisville. Doug and I met and we started talkingİ about playing music with each other as well.
Suddenly the infamous Rodan broke up! Then Codeine followed and a few of these men found themselves at a loose end. So Jeff called them all up, even though none of them had met before and said "Hey, I've got a good feeling about you guys and maybe we should try and practice and write some music." In November 1994 the foursome met in New York City and wrote some tunes, put out a record, became 'indie' guitar heros; everyday stuff really, when you live in Louisville.
What were they to call themselves? Jeff explains how the name came about:
"Sean and I were just talking 
about names on the phone and came up
with June of 44 as the name of our
band. Then all these other things came
with it. Henry Miller, who is one of
Sean and my favorite writers was
sending correspondence to a liaison of
his in 1944, this woman named Anais
Nin in June of 44 was sending to letters
to her about how he wanted leave his
wife whose name was June. My mother
was also born in June of 1944, so all
these really strange surrounding things
came after we decided to name the band June of 44. We also try to leave as much open to
personal interpretation as we can. It's just like saying there's a lyric in a song that reminds you
of one thing and then you were to ask to me "what does this lyric mean?" and it doesn't mean
that's what you think it means. We try to leave things as open as we can so people can form
their own assumptions and make it whatever they want."
Since then? Four albums. Two eps. Side projects/other family bands have come [Sonora Pine, Shipping News, Him etc] and gone [Hoover, Codeine etc]. Shows have streched from Italy to the former penal settlement of Australia . Web sites have arisen. The band members became slightly fatiqued . And everyone lived happily ever after.
