I've been playing the Maxes' eponymous indy rock-'n'-lounge disc fairly frequently this month. The second release by this pair of retro-minded New Yorkers (the first being Make It Snappy), the disc's hot blend of Latin rhythms and rock sounds seem especially apt for a muggy June day. A busy duo (in addition to their life as a hotcha club band, hubby Josh writes a weekly driving column for the New York Daily News and free-lance writes for venues like Salon, while wife Julie does voice-over and parody vocal work for Sirius Satellite Radio), they still managed to find the time to fend off ten questions from yours truly. Let's go meet the Maxes.
So how would you describe your sound to the uninitiated?
Josh: We have both a "live" sound and a studio sound. Live, we're a power trio fronted by Julie and I and we share vocals about 50-50 unless it's a duet. Our show sound is Sun Records-period Elvis -- stand up bass and slap-echo 1968 Gibson ES335 electric guitar played clean through a Fender Twin Reverb amp, and we expand music-wise into power pop, Latin and jazz. On the CD, it's more dense -- 12-string guitars, flute, Hammond organ, accordion, congas, piano and mellotron.
How would you characterize your audience?
Josh: It's rock 'n' roll music any old way you choose it, so we get punks, seniors, anarchists, students, all types. Small children also play "Stand And Dig It" until the parents want to shoot themselves in the head, I hear.
What did you two listen to when you were kids?
Josh: Heavy, heavy on AM and FM radio hits of 70s and 80s. We also had a lot of Broadway records from the late 60s in the house -- "Hair", "Hello, Dolly", and "Oliver!" I had, and still have, the ability to absorb and be able to play songs after hearing them only a couple of times, and I know about 3,000 tunes -- everything from entire band catalogues to standards to what-have-you. My mother's radio was tuned 24/7 to classical -- she doesn't like pop, folk, blues, Broadway, rap, or anything that has a drum or a guitar. So I was happily drowned in Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and all the other dead white guys. My Dad listened to traditional jazz and I didn't get into that until I met my recent bassist, Chris Anderson. Now I have it on all the time when I work.
Julie: Growing up I was in an incredibly insular Christian community, and I listened to Sandi Patty, a Grammy-winning Christian superstar. I consider her my teacher. Rock music was strictly forbidden -- especially anything with screaming guitars of any sort, AC/CD, Black Sabbath, like that. They even convinced us that the Eagles had backward masking and subliminal satanic messages, with lyrics like "They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast." But I also listened to light 70s pop with my Dad, Barbara Streisand, John Denver and Kenny Rogers.
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