Introducing....

Max & The Wild Things

To be honest I don't know much about this band other than the fact that they are from Tennessee, they only featured on my radar when I was sent a request to review their self-titled album 'Max and the Wild Things' which is available to download for free by the way!  

To be totally honest, I did have pre-conceived notions as to what sounds might fill my ear. I was expecting some sort of old school 60's rock - maybe its the connotation of Wild Things that made me think that? All that filled my mind was Chip Taylor's rock classic - 'Wild Thing' and the amazing Jimi Hendrix cover we all know and love ... however, a contemporary spin on country music was not what I was expecting -but much to my delight that was what I got! 

The self titled album consists of 12 wonderfully constructed tracks that lead you on what can only be described as a musical journey throughout various pivotal era's in music. We have songs like "Enough" that capture the essence of the  1960's i.e. The Beatles Mania - with its catchy riffs and sing-a-long lyrics we also have tracks like "You Got Your" which is led by a powerful riff that highly resembles the 1970's track "The Joker" by The Steve Miller Band. This album is a mixed bag which is why I am sure it'd probably have at least one track that appeals to you, the only way to find out is to listen for yourself! 

As I listened to the entirety of this album and tried to pigeon hole Max and the Wild Things I realised, as each track went by that this was near impossible. It seems that Max and the Wild Things are just that "wild" in their approach to music, it is evident that they are knowledgeable in regards to the history of music but rather than replicating the great era's that have passed they have given their own unique contemporary Tennessee slant on classic genre's. 

The only genuine pigeon holing I can do (because we all like to classify every artist as much as we pretend we don't!) is that Max and the Wild Things bare a great resemblance to another band hailing from good ol' Tennessee, one that has left quite the impression on a British audience - The Kings of Leon. This feeling became prominent when I heard the track entitled "Without a Sound" - it had that Americana slur that could be considered Aidan Traylor's signature at the end of each lyric and reminded me of something that could pass for an early KOL track which is obviously praise indeed! 

To the listeners: Don't let the first track on this album fool you, like it did me. Max and The Wild Things are not one trick (1960's rock'n'roll wannabe) ponies. You do have to listen to the album with an open mind and I am sure you will find a track that suits you. 

New Indie Band - Morning Parade!

MORNING PARADE INTERVIEW

Two years ago, Morning Parade were trapped in a variety of dead-end jobs. Their thoughts were of career advancement and growing up, but music had always been a cornerstone, a passion that stopped real life closing them in. Now they are releasing their new single ‘Under the Stars’ on the 22nd of November and I got the chance to ask the up and coming band a few questions...

Where did the name Morning Parade come from?
Morning Parade came about when we were having a fun night out - clubbers going home at 6 in the morning crossing the paths with people on their way to work doing their day to day things. It’s where something ends as another begins. It felt right at the time and it stuck.


How did you all meet?
Phil and Steve went to secondary school together and Steve met Chad at college while studying a music course. Ben and Andy were in other bands in the local scene.

Who would you say is the most creative out of all of you?
Steve is very creative across all the instruments, but we all work hard and are as creative as each other. We're always swapping instruments when we're jamming.

If you had 3 words to describe your sound which would you use?
Anthemic, Euphoric, Rock
There are so many Indie-Rock bands around - what makes you different to all the others?
I think its the massive blend of styles and influences that we share, we don't all share the same tastes musically, so it makes for interesting arrangements/arguments. I hope with the album we can show a good cross section of what we're into and what we can do. I think the blend of styles gives us a lot of freedom to go forwards in any direction we like... more guitars or more synths or something completely different...

What advice would you give to unsigned bands?
Stick to your guns, trust your gut and don't be precious with your songs, be brutal when judging your work and most of all make something you are proud of.

So we heard you are from Essex...have you managed to catch an episode of The Only Way Is Essex? if so what are your thoughts?
Haha, It's fast becoming a guilty pleasure...

If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?
Richard Branson- I wanna see what's up with that galactic thing he's up to. £100,000 a go.... chicken oriental.

Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
Literally no idea, things are happening so quickly at the moment that we can't really tell you what we're going to be doing in a year let alone 5. Most importantly we hope we're still enjoying making music and hopefully making music far superior to what we're doing now, who knows? An Ivor Novello would be nice.