Bottle of Justus

The Quinlan brothers vividly remember the first time their big bother brought home his first drum kit. The boys were barricaded out of the family recreation room while BJ pounded away with the big kids on their Peavey guitars. Chris and Joey were not deterred and instead plotted their eventual revenge while listening to the racket outside. The story pinpoints the inception of Bottle of Justus.

Growing up “small town” with “big city” dreams caused a near Footloose style uprising at Charleston High in the winter of ‘96. The debacle began at the school Christmas program. The trio, brothers Chris and Joey Quinlan and best friend Justus Woolever, broke into “Hey Jude”, which garnered hurrahs from the crowd. The school administrators tried to stop the uprising by drawing the stage curtains but the audience wouldn’t have it. Students and parents came to the side of the boys and in the end the band played on with apologies from the principal. The power of a Paul McCartney song was all it took for the boys to affirm they were on to something.

Quinlan-Quinlan and Woolever came to the campus of Illinois State University in the fall of ’97. The freshman from Chucktown initially submitted to lonely college life and spent many hours sulking in their dorm rooms. But they soon found that a pair of six strings makes for incredible ice-breakers when placed in the right hands.
Jam sessions lead to playing parties where the Quinlans met drummer Erik Bogdonas and bassist Jeff Johnson. The group quickly solidified during rehearsals and the quintet began performing at late night college parties. They decide on the name Bottle of Justus and dove into the ISU frat and nightclub circuit where the band flourished. Woolever opted to pursue acting during this period. He left the group with his blessing and the rights to his name were passed to Chris. The price was a pizza and a twelve pack of beer.

BOJ released Sunday Midwestern Afternoon during this time and the short run of 1000 CDs were sold at a head spinning pace. The band decided rather than reprint SMA they would move on to a bigger sound. Mark Kindermann was recruited on sax while BOJ began work on the next album. The sophomore BOJ CD was produced by Edwin Pierce and Chuck Fudge at Shiny on Top Studios in early 2000. Nine months of odd hour recording sessions combined with rigorous shows and school nearly pushed BOJ into oblivion. But the end result became the April 2001 release of the ironically named titled America Cries. The album garnered college and Midwest airplay with the single “Caroline is Waiting” which also was featured on MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge.

America Cries was paramount to the grassroots success of the band as they began touring the Midwest. Bottle of Justus moved from the college circuit to medium sized clubs and even caught the eye of a few Chicago event promoters. The Quinlan twins proved they fronted a fantastic live band and began networking with acts in other areas. The House of Blues began calling and the boys quickly established themselves as a headlining act. During this period the guys were also sharing the stage with many established acts such as The BoDeans, The Why Store, Freddie Jones Band and Stroke 9. So it didn’t take long for the band to set their sights higher and aim towards a more powerful artistic direction.

Chris and Joe met producer Jason Elgin via an association with the Freddie Jones Band in 2000. Elgin was known for engineering duties with Collective Soul, but the Chris was especially impressed with his production of the band Wayne. So BOJ naturally jumped at the chance to work with Elgin and spent a month recording at his studio in Birmingham Alabama. Jason’s no nonsense approach and direction showed he understood how to push more than faders with the band and his direct approach proved challenging. But in the end the On Air EP served up the band’s power pop dynamic with slick major label production. After the On Air sessions, Mark Kindermann amicably split with Bottle of Justus and after its release of in 2002 BOJ was once again quartet. The next year and a half was spent touring in support of the EP while the single “Try it Again”, scored radio play. The song was featured on many compilations as well as the feature tune for the soundtrack of the movie Winter Break.

“Suddenly ok.” , reflects the band’s mature pop direction and seeds them as one of America’s premier unsigned musical forces. This was the band’s second trip to Alabama and was recorded with Jason Elgin at the production helm once again.

The videos for the singles, “Hello” and “Picture” are favorites on Podcast radio worldwide and the band continues to evolve and interact with their fans via official band website and www.myspace.com/bottleofjustus

Bottle of Justus released "Suddenly O.K." to a frantic sold out crowd at the House of Blues Chicago in January of 2005. It should be noted that Chris and Joey didn’t kick their older brother Brian out of the House of Blues even though he really had it coming.

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