When Juan lived in Spain he dreamed of playing big stadium arenas with his rock band, Climax. But after the drummer suffered a psychotic episode, the band disintegrated and its members went their separate ways. Juan moved to London, formed Mean Business and played the circuit of legendary venues including The Water Rats (site of Oasis’ first London gig). In 2017, the band self-released an EP with five songs influenced by 90s Britpop and grunge. The EP landed Juan a licensing agreement with the online platform ArtList.
By this time, Juan had settled down and was starting a family. Disenchanted with London, he decided to move again, this time to Amsterdam.
Fast-forward four years, three gigs, two children, one office job, and zero music albums. Out of nowhere, Juan receives an email from a German fan asking him how he can buy his music (Juan had removed it from Spotify). The stranger’s kind words imbued Juan with a renewed confidence in his music. Juan started writing again, and taught himself to play drums and bass. One thing he was sure of: he was going to do it all by himself.
The result is an EP of four songs of which ‘Waterborne’ is the first single. A mid-tempo song with echoes of Rufus Wainwright and The Flaming Lips, it describes the pursuit of sleep from the perspective of an insomniac like Juan. The follow-up single, inspired by activist Greta Thunberg, is a rock stomper about climate change.
