Christian Rose saw Michael Ricciardulli walking around with a guitar when the two lived on the same floor while attending Boston College. When they both realized their shared passion for music, they decided to put their talents together.

“We just started jamming together,” Rose said. Now, Rose is the violinist and vocalist for Juice, a band that blends elements of pop, hip-hop and rock to create a unique sound for its listeners.

Juice will bring its music to central New York at Funk ‘n Waffles on Thursday. The Boston band formed in 2014 — since then, the band has opened for DNCE at Summerfest 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is now beginning a tour of the East Coast.

Rose said he and Ricciardulli, the group’s guitarist, clicked instantly when they met. The duo then encountered the rest of the boys, who would later join and make up Juice.

After meeting their freshman year, the group won Battle of the Bands and realized it had an interesting sound that audiences seemed to enjoy.

“We take different colors from different genres and influences to make a collective collage of sounds,” Ricciardulli said. “We embrace it as Juice.”

The band pulls lyrical inspiration from their life experiences and blend a variety of sounds to create its tunes.

“The sound depends on if we’re just jamming in a basement and something just comes together or if we’re working at it,” Rose said. The group latches on to a sound if they find it particularly interesting, Rose explained.

Juice has released singles such as “Coconut Girl” and a self-titled album in 2016. The band hinted that a new single called “Sugar” will debut soon.

“It’s my favorite that we’ve ever recorded,” Rose said. “We love performing it live because by the end, everyone knows the lyrics. It’s really amazing.”

The band emphasized that performing in general is one of the best parts about making music.

Ricciardulli said he’s always blown away when the band tours a new city and they see someone in the crowd that knows every word to every song. He said the band can get so caught up in working on its sound that they forget there’s an audience listening to what they produce.

“It’s really cool to see people respond to what you created,” Rose said. “When there’s a bunch of people who are really excited about what’s happening (on stage), you know you made connections with those people.”

The group emphasized that they work on creating an experience for their audience. They love seeing how their music affects listeners — that experience was what drove them to improve as artists.

The members of Juice recently graduated from Boston College, which has allowed for them to further pursue their careers in the music industry. Ricciardulli said he hopes the group can keep making music for its fans as long as possible. Rose added that the members of Juice want to continue to grow as artists now that the group has more time to work on its sound.

Juice hopes to become more successful, gain more listeners and maybe even make it to Lollapalooza someday.

“(The band) was never a means to an end. We were intoxicated in this feeling of doing something that we collectively knew was the right thing,” Ricciardulli said. “If it feeds your soul, do it.”

Juice will perform with Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers at Thursday’s show at 307 S. Clinton St. Doors open at 8 p.m. with the show starting at 9 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $10 online.

Published on February 5, 2018 at 9:46 pm

Contact Brooke: bnkato@syr.edu