Jozefien Gruyaert and Joke Leonare kindly accepted a while ago to get interviewed by Thomas regarding their project Jj funhouse. Since then, they released a cassette called ‘Tropic Daze’ by Alpár – consisting of 9 tracks.
1/ How did you meet and how did you start the idea to start working together?
We met each other at a birthday party from a mutual friend when we were 8 years old. We didn’t like each other much back then. For whatever childish reasons. We then met again in high school, we both rolled our eyes when we ended up in the same classroom but eventually became the best of friends. After high school we went to art school, we both got our masters in Graphic design and then got invited for a group show. That’s where we first worked together.
We’ve built a stage out of found wooden pallets, measuring one square meter on 2-meter high legs. It looked like a hunting cabin but with fancy red curtains. We organized 3 nights, with 3 different solo artists. Wieter Dockx made a tape loop that was going around the whole cabin. Gerard Herman filled it up with balloons and started a weird performance, making a beat by popping them. And Milan W. did one of his first solo synth shows up there. As graphic designers we also made the invitations for these nights, and we are still quite happy with how they turned out. This first collaboration encouraged us to start a label. One that collaborates with other people and gives some sort of (plat)form to their work.
2/ Does being based in Antwerp influence your work and ideas?
There are a lot of like-minded people and talented artists living here, some of them even moved here from abroad for that reason.
We are friends since puberty, so we also started going out together. Naturally these places and the people we met made us do what we do now. Antwerp is a tiny town once you’re in that ‘scene’.
3/ What are some things that inspires / influences the label?
Music wise, it’s pure personal taste.
Things we bump into in our everyday lives, this could be anything. A Flemish pastry with pudding inside and chocolate outside, but instead of chocolate they put on a blue frosting on top. A second hand store where the vitrine is a HUGE jeans hanging outside (picture). Amateuristic graphic designs, signings, shop windows which break all the ‘rules’ but still manage to look fantastic. We live in a neighbourhood filled with these weird beauties, it’s inspiring.
4/ How would you summarize the Jj funhouse ethos?
We only bring out stuff that we love and believe in.
5/ Who is involved and part of the label?
We are Jozefien Gruyaert and Joke Leonare. Jj are our names initialized.
We design what we bring out. 3 out of the 6 musical releases involve Milan Warmoeskerken, so he’s a big part of what we stand for. As a label we often work with the same people. A lot of our publications or graphic works (as a studio) are stencilled at Risiko Press by Jan Matthé. We also have an amazing writer for our catalogue descriptions, Wim Lots.
We also operate as Jj funhouse studio, in order of others.
6/ What is your approach to graphic design and music?
According to the music we release, it’s the music itself that inspires us to make the artwork most of the time. In case of C.Young’s Daily’s 10” (JJ001), the artwork came from the titles. He named all the tracks after the fancy boutiques of the Turnhoutsebaan. Housing one kebab-joint after the next night-shop, these temples of old glory are lighting up the half-dead end of Antwerp hood Borgerhout. The different typefaces on the backside are literally the pictures we’ve taken from the shop signs.
In some cases the artwork can also be a collaboration between the ideas from the musician / artist and ours.
7/ What where the main ideas behind the label?
We were searching for a way to cover our future plans as a duo. We decided to do everything according to the books: start a VZW, pay an accountant, pay taxes etc. Jj funhouse can be a record, a tape, a book, a picture, a cake, a DVD, a shirt, socks, a place, an event, an idea and so on…
8/ Is there a particular sound your trying to release?
The music that interests us the most as a label is mostly instrumental. The sound we approach isn’t really by any concept. It’s more personal taste or aesthetics.
We could try a few tag labels: library music, minimal wave, analogue / modular synthesizer music, romantic electronics, exotica.
9/ What does Jj funhouse actually mean?
We had this specific idea for a new project we never finished but still hope to accomplish in the future. The name for this project was Jj funhouse.
While dreaming about this concept, Milan made an album (C.Young - Daily’s (JJ001)), which we both really loved and saw this as an opportunity to start a label. We then got so used to the Jj funhouse name, we decided to use it as a name for everything we do together.
Our names are Jozefien and Joke, which is what Jj stands for.
Besides that it also contains the word funhouse. A funhouse is a mirror palace. It’s the cheapest attraction on the carnival; just misplaced mirrors that make you look funny and malformed. We like working in a similar way. We don’t choose the most fancy materials to work with. It’s nice to work with this discomfort sometimes; it makes you look for inventive solutions.
