Just Friends Podcast: The Juice

Episode 15 is our second late-night show (and another audio only one). Recorded way back in the last week of September 2025 while our beloved Matt Yanko was once again out on tour with The Story So Far, but have no fear... Our very own stage right prince Brandon Downum is back on the show and he may just surprise you with that he has to say... We hit you with the yin and the yang having both My Recent Obsession and Respectfully, No segment because life is all about balance. Sometimes you gotta eat your veggies!! And of course, the big beautiful mailbag because the Juicers, as we are calling fans of the pod, are the life blood to this entire operation that and El Molino in Concord, California. Music in this episode: The Juice Intro by Glom Revelations by Slimy Member Cryogenics by Cryogenics Bay Slap Interlude by Halo Davis Produced by Sammy Kless & Brianda Goyos Leon & Kent Soliday

Episode 14 is our first late-night show (and another audio only one).  We’re back from the West Coast run and doing it PTI style like the ESPN show where two guys argue with a clock, except it’s three bandmates running through every gig, meal, and mess from the road. Then we roll out a brand-new segment: Respectfully, No. Sammy says no to Reverend Guitars, Yanko says no to San Francisco bikers, and Brond says no to Walnut Creek’s Kinder's Deli. And of course, the mailbag because what’s the show without it?   Music in this episode: The Juice Intro by Glom Zero by BURP! Eyes Like Sponges by Karoshi Boy Bay Slap Interlude by Halo Davis Produced by Sammy Kless & Brianda Goyos Leon & Kent Soliday

Recorded in the Goldfield green room in Sacramento after soundcheck, two days into this lil’ West Coast headliner sprint. We’d just sold out Reno at the Holland Project on 8/1 (start the month strong, right?), and the AC is still broken because of course it is. Brandon is in the corner pouring E&J shots and handing out orange slices like some kind of demented soccer coach. Six out of seven band members made the cut (Avi, conspicuously absent). Think summer camp, except no cabins, no lake, just six friends yelling over each other in Sacramento.   Music in this episode: The Juice Intro by Glom Complete Degenerate by Cheap Appeal Sidewinder by Barbed Wire Chrome Lust by Barbed Wire Bay Slap Interlude by Halo Davis   Produced by Sammy Kless & Kent Soliday Audio by Brianda Goyos Leon

Look who’s back it’s the whole gang: Sammy, Brond, and Yanko. Yanko just got off the road with Balance & Composure and Turnover (he’s still dehydrated). Brond has been running social media from a cruise and somehow ended up hanging out with one of her heavy metal heroes (no, seriously). And we all came together in one place, at the same time for Sammy’s wedding. Miracles happen. Oh, and there’s a mailbag, because of course there is. Stories and questionable wisdom… we missed this. We missed you all.    Music: The Juice Intro by Glom Criminal Banner by Chain Rank Sensory Overload by Cheap Appeal Knock It Off by RINGER Bay Slap Interlude by Halo Davis   Produced by Sammy Kless & Kent Soliday

Ok, we're not going to sit here and pretend we didn’t vanish for a while. We did. But now we’re two episodes deep into this comeback tour, and frankly, we’re feeling pretty good about it. Recorded on Memorial Day, powered by Celsius, donuts, and a near-total audio meltdown (we recovered beautifully, thank you). Will Levy of The Story So Far returns to the pod to talk about the band playing Bottle Rock Festival in Napa and we dive deep into the mystical art of setlist building And of course we end with the mailbag, we talk sandwiches. At a wondrous length.  We’re two episodes into the comeback, don’t call it a streak. Hit play. Get Juiced. Music by: The Juice Intro by Glom The Voice by RINGER Howler by Barbed Wire Nine Pin by Digital Thought Bay Slap Interlude by Halo Davis VOG: DJ Chuck Salad

Yanko’s on tour with Turnover and Balance & Composure playing Berkeley so we snuck in a mid-tour check up over some Dunkin. He got a Dunkalatte. First time in about a month we’ve all caught up since Yanko hit the road and Sammy and Brond wrapped the UK Just Friends run. In the second segment Sammy goes suit shopping for his wedding and gets called fat by some San Francisco stores. Brond did a photo shoot for Mother Selene with Kay Dargs and somehow made it look easy. We wrap it all up with a mailbag because the people demand it. Music in this episode: - The Juice Intro by Glom - Panic by Cheap Appeal - Nine Pin by Digital Thought (Mail Bag) - Love It by Halo Davis (Outro)

UK trilogy: complete! Three episodes, one tour, too many questionable snacks, and unforgettable moments. This episode of The Juice is the full debrief. We just wrapped our first-ever headline tour across the UK, and now we’re back in the Bay: grateful, emotional, maybe still jet-lagged. - Every show? Broken down. - Food? Yep, way too much. - Shoes? Discussed & admired. Highlights? Fans singing the riffs back at us (you made us feel like rockstars). Brond got us a hawk walk in Ireland. YES! We had a hawk land on our hands next to a castle. Wild. Oh, and Sammy showed up with cold Taco Bell chicken nuggets, more science experiment than snack. Brond kind of liked them. The sauce? Suspiciously like Cook Out. We ate them anyway. Obviously. We’ve got a special twist too! Producer and off-camera legend Danny DeRusso finally joins us on camera.  This one’s a thank you. To the UK. To the fans. Thanks for showing up, singing loud, and making it real. We’ll unpack our suitcases eventually.

Recorded just a day before we hopped the pond, this episode is a Central Valley special. We’re joined by Ben from Just Friends, along with Bart and Logan from Chain: the full 559 crew in effect.  We dive into what it’s like commuting for hours, not just for band practice, but also to pile into a van and disappear for a month on tour. We unpack the legendary, steaming green mystery that is Pea Soup Andersen’s. And then it gets real: from touring the U.S. and hotel habits, to van hierarchies and the weird little rituals that come with living in a 15-passenger box with your best friends and your collective body odor. In segment 2 we attempt optimism very cautiously. We talk about what we’re excited to eat in the UK (spoiler: yes, it involves beans at breakfast), whether British hotel rooms will have more than one electrical outlet, and what kind of emotional collapse might happen at our acoustic set at Banquet Records. Rounding it out w the most epic mailbag one could ever hope for, narrated live by DJ Chuck Salad in the flesh. We open up the bag and it’s bursting with greatness. These questions? Straight outta our beautiful Bay Area Party People Discord, and they brought the heat like a Stockton summer. This is Part 2 of the UK Invasion Trilogy. If you missed Episode 1, go back and do your homework. Episode 3 is coming and it’s not wearing a seatbelt.

We are back! The kickoff to our three part UK Tour series! Recorded one week before we left for our first-ever headlining tour in the UK, starting in Ireland and working our way from Glasgow down to Brighton. Yes, we’re international now. Sammy and Brond break down what they’re looking forward to, what’s keeping them up at night, and why this tour feels different. In the second half of the episode, we drop some bittersweet news: our boy Yanko won’t be on this run. He’s heading out as a guitar tech for Balance & Composure on the Peripheral Vision 10-year tour, supporting Turnover. Huge opportunity. Huge loss. We’re not crying, you are.  We squeeze in a lil connective tissue with a meal before the mail bag, and close with the only thing that truly matters: our Taco Bell orders. This is part one of our totally unplanned but now very real UK Tour Trilogy:  • Ep 6 – One week out  • Ep 7 – Night before we leave  • Ep 8 – Two days after we return (exhausted, emotional, possibly still jet-lagged) Let’s ride.

This is a monumental episode, people. A landmark. The moon landing of The Juice. Why? Because for the first time ever—we’ve got a guest. And not just any guest. We’re joined by Will Levy of The Story So Far. Guitar slinger. Riff wizard. Chill dude supreme. We kick things off with some hometown talk—and yes, the rumors are true: the A’s are now in Sacramento, and it hurts. It hurts deep in the soul. So we pivot to something more joyful—like memories from The Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco, where dreams are loud and ceilings are low. Then it’s story time with Will: we dive into TSSF’s recent tour that took them to Japan and Hawaii—because nothing says punk rock like sushi and surf. We talk about the new song they cooked up after their album "I Want To Disappear" dropped (the creativity never stops), and how that came together like magic. Then it’s on to BottleRock, where The Story So Far will be sharing the stage with Green Day and E-40—two Bay Area icons and, quite frankly, the most chaotic crossover we never knew we needed. And of course, we round things out with a juicy edition of the Mailbag, where your questions fuel our nonsense and occasionally lead to insight. Or not. Who’s to say? So pour something cold, find a shady spot, and tune in. The Juice is flowing, and Will Levy brought extra.

We start off the show catching up on the weekend. Brond was back in the studio with Marta, cooking up new stuff but of course, nothing’s ever easy. They discovered an issue with one of the very expensive mics. You know the one. The fancy mic. Meanwhile, Sammy and Yanko were out at the Oakland Roots home opener, and look Sammy’ll say it every time: the Coliseum is his favorite place on Earth. We talk Mom Jeans Summer, California headliner dates, and then we somehow jump from Sacramento to Birmingham, Alabama in a 24-hour span for Furnace Fest 2025. Then, we do a deep dive into the world of Mother Selene art direction, vibe creation, and the beautiful joy of building a whole aesthetic from scratch.  Then we slide into our very first Errors & Grievances (some of you had thoughts, and yes, we do need to apologize), and we wrap it all up with the Mailbag shoutouts, questions, and a few curveballs from our beloved listeners.  It’s Episode 4. It’s “The Juice.” Thanks for being part of this little thing we’re building.

Yanko survives a near-death driving experience, then we dive into “My Recent Obsessions” Ibanez guitars, one song on repeat, and Sammy’s passionate (and concerning) love for cold cheese from In-N-Out. Then, Chain’s debut record No Spirit is out! We celebrated the right way by rolling up to Chain Reaction with a Blackstone grill  And Just Friends is making a new record! Bart Thompson (Mom Jeans, Chain) is producing, and we’re deep in the lab making a punk rock dance party Finally, the mailbag! We love your questions, we love you, and we can’t wait to do it all again next time.

Magic of Tajín: Mom Jeans, Metal, and Mother Selene We kick things off with a gift from the heavens Brond’s signature egg sandwich, featuring mayo mixed with Tajín. A perfect choice.  Then, in The Most Current Thing Happening, Sammy’s band, Mom Jeans, just got announced for Aftershock 2025. Yes, the same festival packed with metal and hardcore bands. Emo at Aftershock? Sacramento’s getting adventurous, and we’re here for it. Next, Brond takes us deep into her new doom project. She just wrapped a studio session with Marta from Pure Hex an absolute dream collaboration. Also, fun fact: Marta and Sammy basically grew up together because their parents are besties. We dive into the magic of recording with another powerhouse vocalist and what it’s like getting creative in the studio. And then? We take a sacred pause to discuss snacks because life is about balance. Finally, The Mailbag. The heart and soul of the show. Your questions, your stories, your chaotic brilliance from Discord and beyond. That’s it. That’s the episode. We laughed, we recorded, we ate, and we definitely didn’t forget the Tajín. Enjoy!

On today’s show, we take a trip down memory lane with some tour toilet war flashbacks because of course, that’s where we’re starting. Yanko gives us the inside scoop on a dinner outing at Thee Parkside in SF (was it good? Was it terrible? Who knows?). We break down our weekend run with Chain, and then Brond soft-launches her new doom project, Mother Selene big things happening there. And finally, we dig into the mailbag, where we get some love from the listeners, answer your questions, and bask in the warm embrace of the Just Friends community