Rock music is a genre unlike any other.
One sub-genre of rock is indie rock. Here in Manchester, we have our own local indie rock band.
Back To June is an indie rock band that debuted in 2023, featuring six members. Gabe Calafati and Harrison Hopkins on guitar, Owen Jeffers on bass and vocals, Matt David Kuperman on vocals, and Ben Said on drums.
All members are from Ocean County, however Back To June’s connection with the Hawks Nest lies deeper. Calafati, Jeffers, and Said are all Manchester Township High School (MTHS) students, with Calafati set to graduate this year (2026), and Jeffers (2024) and Said (2023) are esteemed alumni. Kuperman and Hopkins graduated from Brick Twp. HS and Donovan Catholic in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Calafati and Jeffers are also prominent within the MTHS Music Department, as the two were both Drum Major of the MTHS Marching Hawks in their respective senior years.
Back To June has released two EP’s, Area of Refuge (2024) and Exit Wound (2025). They’ve also released three singles, Sick of You (2024), 99/1 (2025), and Your Brother Still Likes My Instagram Posts (2026).
The group just finished up their early 2026 tour, the Six More Weeks of Winter Tour.
Guitarist Gabe Calafati, senior at MTHS, sat down with The Talon writer Valentino Vaccarella for a Q&A interview.
Calafati answered the following;
Q: What’s it been like to start a band from scratch in the modern era of streaming music?
A: “I think in the modern day of streaming, starting a band is fun and amazing, there’s a lot of opportunity with social media and reaching out to venues is easier, and it’s easier to put ourselves out there, a challenge though would be that it’s hard to gain traction on socials, you have to be consistent, even when you’re consistent, you’ll have viral videos or ones with 200 views, that’s happened to us, but it’s definitely great because of the opportunities but it also comes with a challenge.”
Q: What’s been the biggest motivator to make new music?
A: “The experience, creating music in general, the guys are my best friends, to be together making music is fun, we’ve been surrounded by music our whole lives, we always take music that we like and make new things, we’ll go see shows and other bands together and use it to create our own sound, and playing shows with these guys are fun, playing college shows, Rutgers is awesome, so yeah I mean the biggest motivator is our love for music, and the bond we’ve created and the connection we have.”
Q: Seeing as BTJ has been raised in Ocean County, how’s the reception been in the community and what’s it like to tour around the state?
A: “It’s been positive in the community, it’s funny, we’re from Ocean County, but we don’t play here often, the music scene is up north. We played Cheats DIY in Lacey/Forked River, it was cool, we’re going back there in June, those within the community have been great, we’ve had great reception, and we’re blessed to have a positive reception and being able to create things that people connect with, and we’re grateful for that. Touring around has been great, seeing different environments, NJ is weird, it’s not huge, but there’s so many different spots, it’s diverse, northern cites like clifton and somerset, but then we were recording in the woods of the pine barrens, and we always go to mcdonalds after shows, they’re all different.”
Q: Any sneak peeks?
A: “We were in the studio for 10 hours on Sunday. We’ve been hard at work, four new songs we’re messing with, we’re going to keep writing, gonna back track vocals, lay down drums, we’re trying to make an album by the end of the summer.”
Q: Anything else?
A: “Follow us on Instagram: @backtojune.nj TikTok: @back.to.june, and go stream our new demo! Come to a show, we have two shows next weekend, even if it isn’t at our show, support local indie bands and groups.”
Linked here is Back To June’s Spotify page. Follow along to catch future releases!
