Junior High

San Diego area electro pop duo Junior High were born out of producer Michael Deakers and electronic solo artist Josh Ottum's shared affinity and nostalgia for the positive dance grooves of 1980s radio pop. Both musicians grew up in the 1980s, raiding their older sisters' cassette collections and becoming permanently changed by the infectious dance-soul pop of Prince, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, and many others. In the fall of 2010 the two met up for a casual dinner and returned to Deakers' house for an impromptu jam session, which produced the pair's first song. Over the months that followed, the duo worked obsessively on Junior High songs and began playing locally by the winter of 2012. An eponymous debut album followed in May of that year, with a European tour scheduled to follow.