Everyone has their girl crushes, and today I get the honor of introducing you to mine. It’s not often I fangirl over someone right off the bat, but that all changed when I met Miss Emily McCreight
This 21 year old bass enchantress and I crossed paths this past year, and I have believed in her everyday since. Emily has been highly involved in the industry from a young age with Nashville’s School of Rock, as both a player and mentor.
Having performed on tours all over the country, The Ryman Auditorium, and now with up and coming band Juke of June, Emily isn’t slowing her roll anytime soon.
The band has over 50,000 streams on Spotify, and this is just the beginning. She is an inspiration to many, and now you get to learn from her first hand.
Why bass? How did you get started?
My parents opened Franklin School of Rock in 2011, and that really kickstarted things for me. Guitar was my brother's thing, so that was a no. It was never going to be drums because I was sadly not blessed with any sort of coordination. I started getting into vocals and piano, but I think I took to the bass so easily because of the female instructor we had just hired.
Whats do you miss most about the music world pre Covid-19?
Live shows. That has been my happy place for the past nine years, and I hope it always is. Not being able to play on stage, especially now that I’m with JOJ is very hard. Thankfully we are going to start doing livestreams, with our first being this Friday (August 28th, tickets go live Monday on their instagram @JukeofJune ). The tickets for the show go towards a fund for recording new releases. We’re trying to make it a bi-weekly thing, getting other Belmont bands to join in on the fun. We’re super excited and have a lot of ideas like themed weeks with ‘80s, yacht rock, etc. We’ve missed it a lot.
Whats your favorite part about being involved with School of Rock?
My favorite part is the end of season shows. I get to see these thirteen year old kids play things like the Hard to Handle solo from the Black Crowes.
All I can think about is wow, he could play circles around some 25 year old guitarists I know.
I see them start out in Rock 101, which is young kids learning the basics, all the way up to shredding Metallica, Zac Brown Band, etc. Getting to see the smiles on their faces while on stage is such an incredible feeling.
How did you land with Juke of June?
This is actually such a funny story.
Featured left to right: Jackson Hahn, Ben Ballard, Emily McCreight, Bradley Crow, Jackson Kilburn, and Zach McCoy
I hadn’t played bass in two years after graduating high school. I was just so burnt out. Being the only advanced bassist at the time meant I had to play everything for everyone. A guy I had met through School of Rock All Stars needed a bassist, so I picked it back up to help him out with an EP release. I remember posting a picture on instagram, and captioning “feels good to be back” or something like that. Later, I get a DM from Jackson Kilburn (one of the band’s guitarists), saying that I should come check out one of their rehearsals.
I know for a fact that he didn’t know I could actually play. Not to mention at the time I had no clue he even existed. So now here’s this random Belmont Kid asking me to come in on a rehearsal, after never having met me.
A little after, I posted a video of me playing Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin and Jackson Hahn (the band’s lead singer) messaged me as well. I was so confused, like why were all these boys contacting me. I remember talking it over with my mom and being like “I’m just gonna go for it”. I even brought charts to my first rehearsal, I was so nervous. I was way too prepared for these boys. It all worked out in the end though, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Who are your biggest influences?
Definitely John Paul Jones, Geezer Butler, and Tal Wilkenfeld. I’d say John is the most reflected in my style, but the band can take credit on helping me figure that out.
I’ve always been super insecure about what my style is, especially when it comes to writing. I have never really felt creative enough. I had so many influences thrown at me starting out, so finding my niche was hard.
School of Rock only does covers, so one show I’d be playing metal, and the very next I would be doing something like funk, blues, rock, etc. Which is great for a band like JOJ since we draw a lot of different inspirations from a variety of genres. It allows me to always bring something new to the table.
What does Juke of June's writing process for look like?
Most of our work is written in a pretty similar way, and it usually always starts with someone bringing in either lyrics or a chord progression.
A lot of times we will just be talking and then someone will start playing the progression while we each jump in and build on one another’s additions. All while Hahn is dancing around taking videos of us since he can’t contribute just yet.
We repeat this a couple different times to get a few variations until we find something we all love. Then comes the lyrics, dynamics, etc.
Right now we're working on a song called Cloud Girl that’s particularly detailed. We spent weeks on end trying to get it perfected, and I think it shows how we’re growing as a band, especially in listening to one another.
Emily wants me to let you know that their next single is Turn Around, and it's set to release in late September! We hope you fell in love with Em just as much as we have. Be sure to check out the links below to follow her and the band on socials, as well as a link to grab tickets for their livestream August 28th at 6 pm! The band will be playing with Charlotte West, it's not something you’re gonna wanna skip out on! Thank you so much for checking us out this week and supporting Emily! We can’t wait to provide more content your way, stay healthy, stay real my friends. <3
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