Below is an interview and article written on my husband’s band and posted on Clearchannel Communication’s “New!” music section. My husband is the very talented drummer and it’s about time he is getting the recognition he deserves 🙂

One Million John Mayer Fans Can’t Be Wrong

Just Off Turner has self-released one E.P. and two full-length albums, including 2007’s “The Long Way Back”. Their music has been featured on the ABC sitcom “Help Me Help You” and the E! reality show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”. In June of last year the band was a New! Featured Artist after reaching #3 on the New! Adult [Contemporary] chart and #5 on the New! Hit chart.

A big break came in 2007 when singer/songwriter John Mayer posted their song “How Much It Hurts” on his MySpace page. (Click here to listen!) That blessing attracted a lot of attention and garnered Just Off Turner more than 1 million plays on Mayer’s MySpace page. A nationwide tour followed, with plans in the works for a West Coast tour this spring.

We caught up with Mounce as he and the band were heading back into the studio to work on new material and get ready for their fifteen minutes.

24/7: How did the current line-up of Just Off Turner get together?

Mounce: It all happened coincidentally. Stephen was invited by a friend of a friend to a party at my place just a couple of weeks after we lost our original bass player. And we met Phil when he was working as a guitar player one night at the Saddle Ranch. We got to talking and found out he was a keyboard player as well, and that’s exactly what we were looking for. It all happened in about a month…but if you look at it another way it took about six years to establish the final line up.

24/7: Have you guys always been called Just Off Turner?

Mounce: I guess we have. I formed the band right after high school and we used to rehearse in the garage of my parent’s house all the time. The guys would ask where I lived and I would say ‘It’s just off Turner Street.’ It just kind of stuck.

24/7: How has your sound developed over the years?

Mounce: We’ve all really grown as musicians in the last few years. I have a hard time going back and listening to things we did even a few years ago because I think we’ve gotten so much better at what we do. Steven, Phil and Eric are all really just amazing musicians so I’ve had to really step up and practice on my own more just to keep up with them. We all really like to work together, explore the songs and make them what they are.

24/7: Some of the attention you have gotten recently came from John Mayer. How did that come about?

Mounce: In January of this year, Mayer wrote a blog on his MySpace page saying that he wanted to use his four song slot to give attention to an unsigned band to help give them a break. We

got an email from him and we were like ‘Yeah right, John Mayer is emailing us’, but we sent him what he needed and about an hour later our song was up on his site. Just last month we reached one million plays on his page. Because of that we were able to do a nationwide tour from here to New York and back. We had a fantastic time and just met people. We got to New York and found out we had fans there all thanks to the attention (Mayer) gave us. Eric and I got a chance to meet him last month and he was really nice. He’s a really cool guy.

24/7: What are your plans for the new year? Is there a record deal in the works?

Mounce: The (music) industry is changing so much. I’m not even sure if a record deal is necessary these days, but if somebody offered us a record a deal and it was a good opportunity of course we would take it. For now, we’re able to play and make fans and we’re slowly starting to be able to branch out and tour to different places. We’re kind of just waiting to see how things are going right now, and trying to keep our options open.