Brooklyn – Iowa native Max Jury is a soloist that’s rapidly gaining a global footing and stacking up a sizable fan base along the way. With two EPs released to date and the first full-length endeavor in sight, Jury’s yet brief and explosive career includes opening gigs for the powerhouse outfit Lana Del Rey.
For our readers in New York, Jury, just 21-years-old, is in the midst of three shows on deck for CMJ Music Marathon that’s taking over this town with tidal force. All other interested parties would be well advised to check out Jury’s lengthy list of scheduled shows via his current label The Windish Agency.
In anticipation of CMJ, Jury spoke to Best New Bands about his trajectory as a musician, the challenges inherent in the profession and the satisfaction he’s finding in pursuing his passion. Read on for a look into the mind of a rising star.
How did you first get into music?
I started writing songs a while ago, when I was 13 or 14. I went to college for songwriting, in Boston at Berklee. Eventually I dropped out when I turned a publishing deal with this group in the UK called Marathon. I’ve been working with them for the last two or three years and have put out a bunch of songs and played a lot of shows in support of the first two EPs. They’ve been super helpful.
You just got done touring in the UK, correct?
That’s right I just got back a couple days ago actually. I hit a lot of stops – Ireland, Scotland, England and a couple shows in Germany, Copenhagen, Denmark and Belgium. The tour was kind of all over the place in Europe, it was a lot of fun. Some shows were better than others. It’s sometimes hard to get people out on a weeknight. But the shows in London were really good.
Touring like this is new for me. I’ve done a fair amount of touring in the past but it was always less intense. I’m going back out on the road Wednesday and basically won’t be done until the middle of December. But I really like it because playing live is probably my favorite aspect of being a musician. It’s just a great way to connect with people, and for audiences to connect with my music. So though it can be exhausting and trying, it’s the most honest way to make new fans.
For your live sets, do you have a band to support you or is it a solo effort?
For this last tour in Europe, it was just me onstage. But for CMJ and for the U.S. shows, we’ll be a full band.
Speaking of CMJ, what’s your agenda look like?
This is my first time! I’ve played a few festivals in Europe, though, so I suppose it’ll be similar. I’ve got three shows scheduled for CMJ. On the 23rd we’re playing the Windish showcase, which is at Pianos. Then I’m actually playing a solo set later that night at Rockwood Music Hall. On the 24th we’ll play another show as a full band, in Brooklyn at a venue called Spike Hill.
What was the songwriting process like for your most recent EP, All I Want: The Sonic Factory Sessions?
The tracks on that EP are a selection of songs I wrote over the last few years. We recorded the whole EP live. We chose that method for this particular EP because the full band’s not where I’m from in Des Moines and we were only in the same city for a few weeks.
A song like “Black Metal,” we wrote together as a band. It sort of started out as a joke. We got to a party, and there was a girl there that was dancing with a guitarist. We looked her up later and it turns out she was a Satanist, so we thought we’d write a funny little song about it. I think we only did two takes on it, during recording. Otherwise I wrote the other songs. But yeah the EP recording was all done live. We wanted to capture that moment in time when we were all together, and it was a blast.
“Black Metal” is a great cut, but it’s also really funny. Is that something that you try to bring to your work often?
Absolutely. A lot of my songs are sort of ‘sad, serious singer-songwriter’ type of tracks. But I don’t really take anything too seriously. I’d never want to get stuck in the mindset of thinking what you’re doing is so serious. It’s nice to play around and have a little humor in the work.
Some of my favorite songwriters have kind of funny songs, and there’s nothing that says a song can be touching and emotional, but not funny. I definitely admire people who are really good at writing humorous, cleaver songs. That’s something I’m definitely trying to bring to the table. If I were to always write such serious songs I think that could be exhausting for listeners.
Who would you list as influential to your work?
My influences are really all over the place. Growing up I loved The Beatles and The Kinks, that whole era of rock-pop British Invasion bands. I like old country music like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. I’m also really into old R&B, especially the production styles of Al Green.
Those are some of my longest influences, but I also like indie rock from the 90s. As for new groups I love First Aid Kit, The War On Drugs, Mac DeMarco. I also really like Drake and the Weeknd, I’m really into all that new, minimalist R&B. And the Frank Ocean record, obviously.
What’s the music scene like in Des Moines?
It’s definitely growing. There are plenty of bands cropping up here and lots of venues where you can go see live music on a nightly basis. There’s a really cool venue called the Vaudeville Mews that brings a lot of great bands in. I remember I saw Ben Kweller for like $8 or something. You’d be hard pressed to find tickets to a show that size in other cities. There are always people to play with and a lot of my friends play in bands, too.
What’s been the most trying thing about doing music full time?
Although traveling is really fun, and it’s the best way to spread the word about what I’m doing, it can be really exhausting. Travel all the time can be really hard on personal relationships. But I think it’s just something every musician has to do in order to get out there, and there’s really no substitute. Also, staying healthy on the road can be a challenge. You have to be really mindful of that sort of stuff. That said, I wouldn’t change a thing. I really love touring.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you want to be?
This is a good question; I don’t really have a backup plan. But! In a perfect world, I think I’d want to be a cold, hard-boiled detective. That will never happen. But I’ve been watching a lot of “True Detective,” so you never know.
So what was it like opening for Lana Del Rey?
Yeah it was crazy! The first show we did was in Chicago, and it just felt like pulling a Band-Aid off really fast. It was our first show as a band and we got a call from our manager. When he told us we were opening for Lana Del Ray we were like, ‘Oh my gosh I don’t know if we’re ready for this.’ But it’s been great. She’s a really cool person, and her band’s really nice to be around and really generous. The shows have been amazing. The amount of people I’ve gotten to play for opening for her is incredible.
That’s a pretty huge act to support. Did you feel at all like that transition was emotionally jarring, or was it more surprising and exciting?
I think all of the above, actually. I know what you mean by ‘emotionally jarring,’ because it’s totally exciting but it’s definitely jarring because I’m still trying to find my creative identity and put out an album. It’s strange, but the feedback has been really positive. So that’s giving us confidence moving forward, and helping give us fuel to put out that first album.
I’m really happy with how things have gone so far. We’ve been working really hard to get to a point where we feel ready to play these kinds of shows, so it definitely was a positive experience and it made us work a lot harder, a write tunes a lot faster. It’s been great for our work ethic.
What’s next? What’s your vision for the band moving forward?
We have more recording time scheduled and I’ve been writing so we’re definitely going to release something this winter. We have a new music video coming out for “All I Want.” Otherwise, we’ve just been solidifying our sound, writing a ton and hopefully getting an album out there in the next year or so!
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Liz Rowley
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