September 2003 - Juliana Theory fans haven't exactly been starved for new material from the band this year. In the last six months, they've released both their major-label debut, Love, and a long-awaited concert album, Live 10.13.2001.

And the band is already looking forward to making their next full-length, possibly as soon as this winter. "Since then [releasing Love], we've written 12 songs," Brett Detar, the band's lead singer and guitarist, said. "We would love to be recording this winter." For now, though, the band is still on tour behind Love, headlining a run of dates that take them throughout the US this fall. Hopesfall, Celebrity and Unsung Zeroes will open up all of the remaining shows, which Detar said had been going well just a few days out. Originally from Greensburg, where the band started out in 1997 as only a side project, the Juliana Theory has played in the Harrisburg area in the past. So far, though, the closest tour date announced this time around is Oct. 11 at Shippensburg University. But if you can't make the one-hour drive out to the college, listening to Live is a worthy substitute for seeing the Juliana Theory in concert. Comprised of many of the best tracks from the band's first two albums, Understand This is a Dream and Emotion is Dead, Live is proof that the band's pop-oriented blend of emo, punk and indie rock translate very well to the stage, at times gaining more energy and power in a live setting. Both of their first two records were released by Tooth & Nail, as was the live album, but its release was delayed by contractual issues due to the band's split with the Seattle, Wash. indie and migration to Sony Records. "Basically, there were contractual reasons for it coming that much after it was recorded," Detar said. "They couldn't put it out till when they put it out. We look at it almost as a time capsule." While Detar said the band originally had high hopes for their move to Sony, they were very disappointed by the label's handling of Love. "It's not nearly as good as we had hoped," he said. "We've never really had a great time at any record label we've been at." Though Love's first single "Do You Believe Me?" was embraced by Juliana Theory fans, it received a cool reception at radio. Detar said many of the band's new songs tested as hits with record label focus groups, but Sony did very little to promote anything from the album at rock radio. "We were hoping they would do something more than an indie label," he said. "We kind of got lost in the shuffle of a lot of high-priority records that came out at the time." Detar said that, though the band never writes with radio in mind, it's hard to forget about the pressure to have a hit and take the Juliana Theory to the next level. "The question in the back of our heads is 'Do you think this could be on the radio?'" he said. "We write songs that could be good singles." Love was a much darker and heavier record than either of the Juliana Theory's first two more pop-leaning albums. That might have made it a tougher sell in a radio climate that increasingly favors bouncy pop-punk bands like the Ataris and the All-American Rejects. Detar said the band didn't necessarily set out to make such a dark, prog-rock-leaning album - that's just how the songs turned out. "It just sort of came out that way," he said. "A lot of times music just writes itself. Of course we have control over it, but sometimes things just take a life of their own." The band's latest material has been moving in another new direction, combining elements of their past with a different sound. "It has elements of the older sound," Detar said. "It's a lot faster. We got tired of being mid-tempo for a while." - Todd Thatcher