An Interview with Raleigh Musician Max Gowan
Photo by Anna Moneymaker.
Hi Max! Thanks for taking the time to do the interview. First off, how have you been? Of course, thanks for having me. I’ve been pretty good all things considered! Obviously no one has been untouched by the greater context of this year but all in all I feel pretty lucky at this point in time.
Overall, what’s it been like to be a musician during Covid? Did you adopt any quarantine routines? The main thing that changed for me as a musician is not playing shows at all. I did one zoom show to promote my album release, but other than that I haven’t really performed live to speak of. I also was almost done recording and mixing my most recent record when the pandemic hit, so I took several months after that as a break from writing music. I was working a terrible call center job at the time as well which made it difficult to write anything.
When did you first start making music? Were you a self-taught musician? I first started learning guitar when I was 8. My dad played and wanted to teach me so he got me into it and then I started taking lessons from his teacher for years. I really didn’t expect to become obsessed with it but that’s what ended up happening. On bass and drums I’m “self taught” in a sense - but I’m still pretty bad at drums.
Photo from Get Alternative
Who were your musical mentors growing up? My biggest musical mentor was definitely my guitar teacher, Richard Fitzgerald. He showed me so much about theory and jazz that I never would have had the motivation to pursue on my own. I also played in a metal band in middle school and we’d go watch the older high school bands play and sometimes they would jam with us - that had a big impact on me.
You’re a pretty prolific composer and have released a total of four albums in the past four years. A couple questions: Do you ever get writer’s block?! If so, how do you overcome it? And secondly, how would you say you’ve evolved as a musician over the course of these four albums? I get writers block all the time! It’s common for me to go months without writing a usable song. Taking a long break usually helps get me out of that mind state, or sometimes I will intentionally try to make a song terrible and that exercise frees up my mind a lot. I think my music has gotten a lot tighter and better-produced over the years. I like to try and a lot of layers and polish it enough to make it feel really immersive to me, but my older songs have more audible mistakes and blemishes.
On your most recent album, Last Companion, you feature a lot of other musicians on strings, horns, saxophone, etc. What was it like working with all these people? Would you say Last Companion is your most collaborative album yet? This one is definitely my most collaborative album. I used to want to do everything myself, mostly just to have total control. I still do most of the stuff you hear on the album, but recruiting friends helped tremendously and allowed me to get sounds that I otherwise would never have arrived at. They all did amazing work. Some people recorded parts remotely and sent them to me, but Caroline White (Infinity Crush) is my roommate and I recorded her singing on the song “My Kind” which was a really fun experience.
What’s your songwriting process like in general? Melody is probably the most important thing to me, so I’ll sit and play guitar until something feels compelling and catchy. Once I have some kind of structure created, I’ll think about how I want to dress the song up and what textures I want it to have. Lyrics are usually last, but I still try to give them the attention they deserve and make sure they have a purpose.
If you were stuck on an island and could only take 5 albums with you, what would they be and why? Oh man. This could probably change on any given day but I’ll give it a shot. Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter, Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell, Either/Or by Elliott Smith, DSU by Alex G, Some Rap Songs by Earl Sweatshirt. Tomorrow I’m sure I’ll come up with a way that this list is wrong (lol)
I really like the artwork of your four albums. Can you talk a little bit about how you chose those paintings/images? Thanks, I’m glad you like the artwork. My friend Robbie Green has painted the album covers for a lot of my stuff - he did Bygones, Mass Transit and Exit Line. I usually just showed him the songs and asked him to come up with something and it always felt right. My friend Anthony Holten took the photo for Last Companion and when I saw it I knew I wanted to use it. There’s no analytical decision-making behind it, I just listen to the songs and know the kind of image I want them to have. Usually it’s something kind of whimsical-feeling
I’ve always wondered about how artists decide to order the songs on their album? Is there any particular significance to the ordering of the songs on your albums? Song order on an album is really important to me. I wish I had a cooler answer but honestly I just go with what feels the most intuitive. Lyrics don’t really dictate the order of the songs - for me it’s all about the sonic mood of each song. I want to make sure there’s enough variation and that nothing sounds too alike back-to-back.
One of the reasons I like your music is because so many of your songs feel timeless. They’re a good fusion of modern indie rock and the sounds of early 00s musicians like Elliott Smith and Death Cab for Cutie. I was wondering who your musical influences were (both current and past)? When I first started playing guitar, my dad got me into Pink Floyd and they were my favorite band. I still love their music, but as I got older I got really into metal and then mellowed out a bit in high school and started listening to stuff like Elliott Smith and Pinback, which I’m sure is easy to pick up on for people who’ve heard my music. My friend showed me Alex G later in high school and I loved his approach to music as well. That made me realize I could record stuff on my own and still make something compelling. I also really admire Joni Mitchell and Jeff Tweedy as people and musicians.
There are a lot of songs off Last Companion that I really like. I was hoping we go a little more in-depth with some of them. For example, Ocean is extremely catchy. And in the chorus you sing, “You were on the island now you’re in the ocean/ You were in the picture now you’re in the album”. What is that verse about? That song is a fictional story about a falling-out. It’s pretty open-ended, it could be about friends or lovers. But that line in particular was really just meant to be an expression of what it feels like to have the foundation ripped out from under you (island/ocean) and what it feels like to go from being an active participant in someone’s life to one of their memories (picture/album).
And then there’s “On a Word”. I love the piano accompaniment on this one. What made you decide to add the piano? Thanks! I wrote the guitar part and then I was at my parents’ house one day and sat down at their piano and just started playing until it clicked. That piano hasn’t been tuned in years, so it’s in some semi tone between standard tuning and one half-step up. So oddly enough, for all the other instruments I recorded on that song I actually had to tune them wrong in order to make it work.
I also want to talk about, Tracing, probably my favorite tune off the album. It definitely feels one of the faster, more upbeat songs on the album. What was it like writing that song? And what was your inspiration for it? Tracing started with the intro guitar part that you hear. I knew I wanted to make the song a bit longer and more involved than the other ones on the album - I wanted it to have lots of different verses and sections to make it feel like one long journey. I got my friend Elise (from Truth Club) to drum on it and got my friend Daniel Sohn to do string and horn arrangements. Once the instrumental was close to done, I decided to write a story about an alien abduction for the lyrics. Who knows why! I love paranormal/UFO related stories, so I guess I wanted to indulge myself a bit.
Ok, last question, got any big plans for 2021? I have some bits and pieces of music recorded that I may be able to turn into a more fleshed-out release for 2021. But other than that, I’ll just be working, hanging out with my girlfriend and our pod of friends, reading, and playing tennis. That’s most of what I’ve been doing since quarantine began. Hopefully this is a much better year for everyone!