Joe Maxi Release Blistering New EP ‘The Game’ (Irish Post Punk/Alt Rock)
Few bands stand out as truly original in a world that has seemingly heard it all before, Joe Maxi are that rarest of breeds that make can such a bold claim. Building on the momentum they set in motion with blistering singles ‘Butterfly’ and ‘The Game’ two chaotic whirling dervishes that caught the attention of Hot Press ‘Underground rock in all its glory’, The Thin Air, IMRO, Ragged Cast, Genuine Irish, Turn Up The Volume, New Music Sonar and Rock N Load, amongst others! Joe Maxi now unveil their largest body of work to date, new EP ‘The Game’. The EP acts as their flag in the moon, staking claim to the world in the name of Joe Maxi.
Joe Maxi was born back in 2022 after old friends Lee Reddy (lead guitar) and Mikey Fowler (vocals/guitar) played a game of show and tell with each other, sharing their best tracks in an attempt to impress the other. These went onto become singles ‘Bo Diddley’ and ‘Cents of Reality’. Pulling members Jamie Lydon(bass) and Louis White (drums) into their gravity completed the line up and the band began crafting their one-of-a-kind sound.
Shortest track on the EP ‘Shift’ explodes out of the speakers like the Tazmanian devil, sucking all into its orbit as it cuts its path through the world. Initial frenetic funk gives way to rocked up rhythm and blues verse that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Booker T. and the M.G.’s record, had they chosen uppers over…whatever they choose. In true Joe Maxi fashion this doesn’t last long as we move into a third movement in under a minute thirty. As Mikey intones ‘shift and sway, what a time to be alive’. The whole song is over before we know it. Mikeys vocals feel like coded commands to the band, when to cut loose and when to pull back. Everyone is firing on all cylinders throughout; incendiary guitar work is underpinned by slink bass lines and powerhouse drums.
Titular track ‘The Game’ finds the band veering between being the resident lounge act for a very David Lynch cabaret and spilling all manner of sonic dissonance and hell upon us. The juxtaposition of these movements that are poles apart serve to pull the listener deeper and deeper into their psychosis. In other hands these disparate elements might become non-sensical but in the Joe Maxi vernacular they become complimentary bed fellows, two sides of the same maniacal coin.
‘Butterfly’ showcases one just a portion of the breadth of the Joe Maxi sound. A track that slams the visceral expression of Minor Threat against the angular prog tweakiness of King Crimson via the pop sensibilities of the Beatles and indie darlings, The Strokes. All providing the landscape for an usual love song that speaks to long distance relationships and the adoration of ones partner. Over the tracks taught 3 minute run time, it’s constantly feels the band are playing on a knifes edge, at any moment it could all fall apart. Luckily for us they see it through to its demented end.
‘There’s Still Time’ comes at 6 minutes 30, as the band take the run time to fully explore parts and not rush to any conclusions. Mikey channels Bob Dylan both in tone and in seemingly disparate lyrically choices, that ultimately create a narrative around the ability to choose and change. 70’s space rock sounds help us enter and traverse through the musical worm hole as the track morphs from section to section. As everyone builds to a crescendo it begins to feel like the end of 2001, as we spiral, gasp in awe and recoil in horror at the what the mirror reflects back at us.
The sheer amount of sonic territory covered across the 4 tracks is staggering. The band leave no stone unturned and no idea unexplored as they craft and create their sound. Chaotic though it may be, it never feels unintentional. Sounds, movements, lyrics and syllables are all very deliberate. There is no road that Joe Maxi can not go down and make it their own. A singular band with a singular voice and one of the most exciting in Ireland.