Junket

Junket is a four piece rock band from Newburgh, New York. Chris Wicher, Evan Santoro, Michael Miller and Chad Babcock come together, blending different musical backgrounds and a variety of collective influences ranging from Led Zeppelin to Tool; Kirk Hammett of Metallica to Brandon Boyd of Incubus, creating a unique and catchy, yet edgy sound. With the incredible musical riffs created by Miller and reflective lyrics of Wicher, the band brings in droves of fans to every show and has won spots as the opening act for groups such as Breaking Benjamin, Trust Company, Ill Nino and Taproot.

Junket was born in April, 1999 at Washingtonville Middle School in upstate New York. Miller and Babcock formed the group in the 8th grade. “We started Junket with a couple of friends,” says Babcock. “In the end, Mike and I were the only ones who stuck with it.”

A year later, when the two were freshmen at Washingtonville High School, Miller met Chris Wicher, a senior at the school. “Both our dads were Marines working on the same military base and Mike’s dad invited our family over to watch the Super Bowl,” recalls Wicher. There, Miller displayed his musical abilities as a guitar player and told Wicher that his band needed a singer for an upcoming talent show two days away. Wicher agreed to sing in the talent show with Junket, where they played “My Own Worst Enemy,” by Lit and “Damnit,” Blink 182.

After high school, when their bass player had been accepted to an out of state school, Junket found themselves looking for a replacement. Determined to continue the dream Miller, a Music Theory student at Orange County Community College, ran into Evan Santoro, bass player for rival band Children At Play on the campus and asked him to try out for the position with Junket. “He was a perfect fit for us,” says Wicher about Santoro joining the group. “He wanted to play our style of music and he completed the sound we were trying to create.”

Not only was Santoro a perfect fit for Junket, Junket seemed to be the perfect fit for Santoro as well. “I never saw myself playing with Junket when I was in High School,” says Santoro. “But my other band members used to tell me all the time, ‘that’s the band we see you playing with. They’re more your style.’”

Since then, the four members of Junket have come together not only as a band, but personally as well. “We’re all good friends and we work pretty well together,” says Babcock. “We’re in the band, but we hang out together, and all of our parents are friends.”

“My mom considers everyone in Junket her sons,” says Santoro. “She makes dinner for us when we’re practicing. All of the guys have a key to my house. We’ll come home and they’ll be there sitting on the couch.”

But in the end, it’s all about the music. Together, Junket has created quite a following in Upstate New York. They get most of their energy from performing in front of an audience. “It’s great to play in front of people and see them dancing to your music, cheering and then getting to meet them after we play,” says Miller.

“Crowd reaction is key for us,” expresses Wicher. “To play a song that we’ve worked hard on, share our music with other people, and be able to express ourselves on stage and get a response back, there’s nothing like it.”