Blending the worlds of Americana, rock and blues, Justin Devereux is an LA-based Kiwi musician with a powerful voice that’s still early in development, despite a life already well-lived. Starring in My Dreams is the first single from his debut album titled ‘Nickels&Dimes’, and was included on NZ On Air Music‘s May NewTracks compilation.

What’s your given name, where do you hail from, and what instruments do you play?

Hi, I’m Justin Devereux, a singer-songwriter from Auckland. I’d consider myself a cross between a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist. I play arpeggios, a combination of riffs and chords, and a lot of hammer-ons, which give my songs an Americana, southern rock sound. I taught myself guitar out of necessity. But ideally, I’d prefer to just be the lead singer.

Where are you currently based?  

Well, Auckland’s had a terrible decade of weather. So post Covid I moved to Los Angeles, California for some sunshine.

Any other projects that we might know you from?

Musically, I’m fresh on the scene, but I’ve worked in film and television; on projects such as Lord of The Rings – The Rings of Power, The Meg, and Ash vs Evil Dead, usually in production roles or art department.

So, what’s the background story of how your solo artist gig came about?

I had an original band when I was a teenager and things were starting to happen for us, but our guitarist moved away from NZ with his family. We tried to find another guitarist but we never quite found the right fit. I was heart-broken, but then you just get busy trying to make a living. I’ve been a first-class international long-haul flight attendant for QANTAS, and I briefly flirted with journalism before working in film and television.

Covid was the catalyst for starting my solo music career. I wasn’t entirely happy working in film, and while we were all in lockdown I had a lot of time to think and reassess my career. I began waking up in the middle of the night actually freaking out with dread that I hadn’t followed my lifelong dream to make my own songs, and time was ticking on by. I decided I had to try, even if I failed. I couldn’t live with the regret of not at least trying. I began to dabble at songwriting almost as a hobby, but then the songs actually started to sound okay. And I knew I could do better.

You also represent yourself as a producer?

Well, musically I co-produced the ‘Nickels&Dimes’ album along with De Stevens at Roundhead Studios, and my earlier singles I produced on my own. When it was time to record ‘Nickels&Dimes’ I wanted to team up with a producer that was also a musician, so I could bounce creative ideas off them and fine-tune instrumentation or song structure.

I’ve also produced advertising content videos direct-to-client and for NZ advertising agencies, as well as production management roles in television and film projects.

How has your songwriting evolved from your earliest released music?

My previous releases were a learning curve. In studio time, and in writing. The earlier songs gave me confidence but they also showed me how not to record. So, I’ve learnt what works best for me with regards to recording, and how to get more out of that studio time. Tami Neilson was a big help with that.

Previously, I’d recorded all my songs track-by-track, which is time consuming. And when you bring in session musicians it’s often hit or miss. Tami encouraged me to record live on the studio floor, and that was gold for me. You get a great collective synergy on the floor which you can hear on the recordings.

Songwriting-wise, there’s more variety of songs emerging. I’ve allowed myself to play characters and take my voice in other directions which I think is really paying off. One of my new songs, Go Going Gone for example has a powerful vocal. It’s violent and gentle all in the same breath, and the music bed is raw and restrained. There’s real tension there which gives me goosebumps.

Based on Spotify you’ve had only occasional single releases since releases from 2022. How come?

I released my first song, Deer in the Headlights on Christmas Eve 2022. There were more songs recorded in that session that are currently in my ‘b-sides department’! Then early in 2023 we moved to the US. That was a massive, stressful time. In the end, I remember trying to pack our lives into nine suitcases, which meant just three cases each. I had to choose, do I take my clothing or do I take my guitars? So I took the guitars!

Landing in LA and starting from scratch all over again. You can imagine how hard that was. Somehow I did manage to record Sugar Baby and Cotton Wool in a studio here in the valley. But the studio process was slow and expensive, being in USD. I decided to focus on writing new material. I created demos on GarageBand from our home in Laurel Canyon. There was a really creative energy in the air, which may be what attracted famous musicians to the area in the 1960s. Quite frankly, it’s even possible our house was haunted as so many of our neighbours also experienced! That made for great songwriting, with sometimes two or three songs coming to me in one sitting.

Then in April 2024 I was invited to play a show back in Auckland, so I entertained the idea of recording at Roundhead in the Brick Room while I was there. I did the math, got some quotes and suddenly we were all booked in. De Stevens was recruited as engineer and would co-produce along with me.

Those live sessions at Roundhead changed everything for me. They were quick, somewhat fun and very fruitful. We recorded four songs over one and a half days, then I returned again in August to record the remaining seven songs over two days. So I guess the album was finished in September, but there was a lot of waiting for mastering and the business side of things – the ‘real’ work, which can sometimes be a tad dull compared to songwriting.

What’s been the career highlight to date?

I feel like I’m just getting started so my ambitions haven’t been met just yet. But hearing my songs played back for the first time can be pretty special. Let it Rain was one of those moments. The song was a happy accident that I added to the first Roundhead session at the last minute.

I’d been staying at my parents’ and I needed time out. I grabbed my guitar and lay down on my bed in the dark. Suddenly a song just emerged, with words and chords. It was so well formed that it must already exist. I burst out of my room asking everyone if they knew this song, and then googled it just to be sure! I couldn’t believe it. The song is so simple, just two chords in the verse and a third chord for the chorus.

The session guys nailed it and took it to another level. Neil Watson played lead over top of my acoustic, and he had this great modulation pedal which emulated a Lesley rotating speaker. I think I only played the song to them once, and then we pressed go and played it together. I had goosebumps. De was in the control room frantically grabbing a keyboard so he could play along. We did two runs, and that was that. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album. There’s something almost gospel-like about it.
Recently, we visited Monument Valley in Arizona and when we put that song on we all felt it. It’s made for wide open spaces or a big desert sky. The perfect hymn for a road trip.

What makes Starring In My Dreams stand out for you as a single choice?

Starring in My Dreams has sheer intimacy and emotion, with a strong melody and a great chorus. My heart was absolutely on my sleeve and De captured it at just the right moment. Along with some haunting pedal steel by Neil Watson, the rest of the guys nailed it too with lots of space and dynamics.

What is the story behind Starring In My Dreams?

I’d been trying to write a chorus about the isolation and alienation of the post-Covid era. Technology was keeping us locked away in our homes, more and more isolated, without the need to go out into communities as much as we used to do. I got this idea of a person dating someone online – someone they’d never met in real life. Then the guy gets this radical idea – ‘Hey, let’s meet in real life!’

I just couldn’t get a good chorus going with that phrase. I almost gave up but then I realised maybe I should say the opposite. ‘Who needs real life? – if you’re starring in my dreams tonight.’ Then it was just a case of trying to piece together lines here and there. I liked the play on the word ‘starring’, as if the person in the dream were a movie star or something like that.

In the end, I finished the demo and my wife and son came in to listen back, and they were in tears. It was really powerful and it seemed to take on more meaning than the original idea. Like, trying to spend more time in a dream with a loved one that’s passed away. 

What’s your favourite moment, musical or lyrical, of the track?

Verse two, ‘‘I’m up in the air with you, with the stars and the silver moon, Baby, give us one more try before the credits rise, take it deeper than a fade to black.” The chords don’t change, but half-way through the verse we hold longer on the D chord before we go to the C, and suddenly the song gets really tender. Neil’s pedal steel is epic. You really get an atmosphere that you’re floating up in the air with the stars. And the breakdown is another favourite moment.

Did you write the track with anyone else?

I write all my songs myself, and then demo them for recording sessions. I’d love to write with a band. I don’t know whether you can be as creative working solo, so having other people to collaborate with is definitely on my radar.

What would you like listeners to take away from this song?

To make the song their own. I couldn’t ask for more than that.  

Who else is in your team?

I’m an independent and self-managed artist, like so many others. It seems to be the new way. Mike Carpinter has helped me through the MMF NZ mentoring programme. He’s been a total legend. He knows his stuff and I like working with him, but he’s super busy with his own work and is managing other artists such as Georgia Lines and more.  

Are there any other musical endeavours you’re working on that we should keep an eye out for? 

My debut album ‘Nickels&Dimes’ was released on May 10th. The title is taken from a lyric in one of the tracks, Go Going Gone. That song is pretty powerful, and the title just felt right. The album is ‘genre-fluid’. A collection of songs that flow and fuse together well into one body of work. It certainly has a vibe and a ‘sound’. 

Ultimately, there’s a sense of restlessness and movement. Many of the song lyrics take you on that journey through sonic landscapes. Like the wide-open cinematic sound we got on Let it Rain, or the wanderlust of Coming to a Town Near You. It’s sounds like you’re travelling, maybe even through the genres of rock, gospel, blues, Americana, and country folk themselves.

The session musicians are Neil Watson on pedal steel and lead guitar, Glenn ‘Chip’ Matthews shared the bass guitar responsibilities with Jonathan Burgess, and Alex Freer on drums. I play piano, acoustic guitar, electric and lead guitar on some songs, and I do all the vocals. Callum Lee also joined us on violin for two tracks, and De Stevens added keyboard to his bag of tricks.

Go Going Gone is a song that started as a chorus when I was messing around with a delay pedal on my voice. It had a great vibe and the words I was singing just worked, so I built the rest of the song around it. I really love that vocal. There’s absolute venom in the vocal delivery and yet it tappers off to be soft, tender and gentle all within one breath.

Dirty Water is another stand out for me personally. It’s based on an old guitar riff I had for a few years. One day I just changed my voice to be all deep and Delta Blues like. Then all these words I wouldn’t normally use started coming out along with a melody and I just jumped on it. That song is cool because it’s dynamic and raw. To me, I hear elements of Cream or psychedelic 60s mixed in with Elvis. Then the bridge comes along and it’s all James Brown and energy.

Can you name three other local tunes that would fit well on a playlist alongside your song.

Tami Neilson – Beyond the Stars
Liam Finn – The Howl
Jenny Mitchell – House Like A Home

Have you previously applied for / received NZOA funding? 

I haven’t been able to apply for NZOA funding in the past mainly due to social media criteria and media coverage, but that appears to be turning around for the better and I can see real momentum starting to build.
It was an honour to have Starring in My Dreams selected for NZ On Air’s May ‘NewTracks’ and to be part of. I think NZOA funding is quite a unique and a wonderful gift to NZ artists. I haven’t seen anything like it anywhere else in the world.

Are there any musical blogs, Youtube channels or podcasts you follow?

I enjoy following my music heroes and hearing about their journeys, so anything I can find really. I also like ‘geeking out’ on musical gear, so reviews and comparison on amps, effect pedals and guitars – there are loads. YouTube channel ‘timpierceguitar’ comes to mind. He’s the session guitarist who did the solo on Don’t Dream It’s Over for Crowded House’s debut album and hundreds of other artist hits. And he does great interviews too.

How can we find you on social media? 

Link Tree

Spotify

Website

Apple Music

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Is there a music video for the single? 

Not for Starring in My Dreams, but Tom Grut directed one for The Dirty Water that’s a film noir wrestle with delta blues and rock, filmed at The Vic Theatre in Devonport. It’s strangely fresh in a nostalgic setting, with a foot in both soul and cadence funk. It’s something you might stumble in on at a roadhouse blues bar, deep down in the shallows.  

Any last words?

Someone, please find me a manager!