Going back…Mike & Phil met shortly after college as interns for a record label office in Detroit. The two developed a strong bond over their common love of music, working their way through various music related jobs and studio all-niters which eventually led to opening slots for Shaggy, Nelly, ASHANTI, 98 Degrees, KC & The Sunshine Band, The Village People and others. The name Justus Boyz was derived from nicknames they picked up form their friends. “Many of our friends, especially the girls, refer to us as ‘the boys’.” The clothing lines for Justus Boyz and Girlz were quickly established. The boys went to work and emerged six months later with a house full of stuff! Now they ship from their warehouse location outside Detroit to all over the U.S., Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, France, Mexico, Switzerland and many other countries. “There’s this creepy conformist movement out there right now. But we just don’t buy in to the fear and the hate, which usually turns out to be part of some other agenda anyway. People who get it - get it, they’re livin it, rather than preachin it. After all, isn’t it more fun to be, than to be-atch!” More… M: We started within a week of each other at Universal Records just outside Detroit. We were pretty competitive at first, but when we were both thrown in the mail room - we quickly got over it. P: It’s like we were destined to meet! My Dad used to take my brother and me to piano lessons not far from Mike’s house when we were kids. M: We both studied music at Interlochen (National Music Camp) at the same time and still didn’t meet. We used the same practice rooms, cafeteria, and had classes in the same rooms. It wasn’t until several years later that we met as interns. P: Once we got some keyboards and stuff we would save up for six months for studio sessions at some sweet classic Detroit studios like United Sound Systems - lots of history there (Aretha, George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelics, Johnny Taylor, Dramatics, etc.) Lots of work, but it was worth it to record in the big rooms with the Neve consoles. M: We used to make fried chicken for the people who would come in and play/sing for us cause we couldn’t afford to pay them. It wasn’t long before we started to build our own studio so we could spend more time working on tunes. P: Nothin like jumpin out of bed, kickin on the gear and writing tunes in your boxers! M: We first built it around a Roland 1680, then saved up enuf for a Pro Tools system. Nice! In the process, we found ourselves evolving. When a group of songs we were working on seemed to work together as a unit, we focused our attention on finishing a second CD “Uh Oh.” Justus Boyz will be featured in a couple of upcoming motion pictures - stay tuned! |
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