While aping certain elements from punk and hardcore, experimentation was key for the Dublin band Joe Maxi from its inception. “How it first came about, the name of the band and our first two singles, was – me and Lee [Reddy], our guitarist – during COVID, during the lockdown period, we were living close to each other, so we were kind of jamming,” explains their vocalist Mikey Fowler when talking with Post-Burnout.

“We were just kind of jamming all different types of music, starting out. Trying different genres, listening to a lot of different records together. So, starting out, we were very much into the punk stuff of Minor Threat, Movements, and Fugazi, and that kind of stuff. Pixies and Kings of Leon. So, it was very kind of punk rock/grungy stuff at first.”

Lacking a rhythm section, they enlisted the session drummer Louis White when it came time to record their first two singles in 2022. Louis says, “The first time I met Mikey was the day we were recording the first two singles.

“I came on just to record the singles, and then, that day, he asked if I wanted to join the band. I said, ‘Yeah.’ I really liked the two songs that we were recording that day, and it ended up working out pretty well. We have a lot of similar tastes, I think.” “Definitely,” adds Mikey.

“How Louis came about was our producer, Joe McGuirk – he’s still producing our upcoming single and EP – at that stage, in 2022, he was only kind of getting started with recording with bands. You wouldn’t have thought it, because it was really, really good quality from the start.

“So, he was just kind of looking to take on any kind of projects, anyone who just wanted to come in. He just wanted to record a set of musicians, just to practice. So, me and Lee, we got the two songs down, and we were like, ‘We’ll make these songs. See where they can go.’ We sent them on to Louis – Lee and Louis knew each other from college – and, yeah, funnily enough, I met him on the day.”

While Joe McGuirk would initially play bass with Joe Maxi, after two singles and five gigs, they found themselves in need of a consistent replacement. Enter their most recent member, Jamie Lydon. “I was at their first gig. I thought it was fuckin’ mental, ‘cause Mikey’s a madman,” Jamie says about what made him want to join.

“I just really enjoyed the songs and I was like, ‘This would be class.’ Then I heard their bass player was leaving, and I was like, ‘Perfect!’ […] Me and Louis are kind of a package deal, as well. I know Louis from college, so I was like, ‘Louis, nepotism. Get me in there!’”

Now settled with their permanent members, Joe Maxi has been enjoying a lot of success in the Irish punk scene, which has seen them travelling across the country. “The punk scene, and that kind of post-punk, post-noise thing, from what I’ve seen, you can see a difference,” Mikey says.

“We found that a lot of our audience, the people that like us, tend to be fans of the likes of Paranoid Visions and that kind of scene, the older punk bands. They always kind of give us a good reputation. They’re good to us. They look after us. The people that would have grown up going to see Paranoid Visions somehow found us.”

Yet, due to their experimental nature, the band don’t think they fit neatly into the scene. “I feel like if we didn’t agree with the death of the genre, then what we’re doing would be fuckin’ insane,” Louis says.

“What we’re doing would be mental, you know what I mean? We almost live by the death of the genre. There’s nothing that we feel like we can’t do because of that. In relation to the post-punk scene, everyone’s got their own take on it and it seems like we could all be labelled ‘post-punk,’ but it’s not really. You know, you can’t really label any one of them like that, because they all have different takes on it.”

Joe Maxi’s diverse range, bred from experimentation and open-mindedness, can be heard on their latest single, “Butterfly,” which was released today. “With ‘Butterfly,’ specifically, how that song was written, that is just a loose cannon in itself, that song,”  Mikey says. “It was a mistake!” adds Louis. “It was!” continues Mikey.

“It was written by mistake. It came out of nowhere. So, I think the whole frenetic energy behind that…It’s a song that has sections in it where anything could go wrong, and that just adds to the manic side of that song. But there are other songs we have, like ‘The Game,’ there’s a lot of stops and stuff in it. Sometimes you might hear a bit of feedback that might sound cool, but that might be a mistake in itself, as well.”

When we asked if they write songs individually and bring them to the band or get their music from jamming, Jamie responded, “It’s a bit of both, I would say.”  “A bit of both, yeah,” agrees Mikey. “Before, for a lot of our older songs, it’s definitely been written and brought in,” says Louis. “And then worked on together, but mostly just written. But, recently, we’ve tried out a bit more arranging in a jam.”

“Everything we’re writing and will probably release next year is that,” says Mikey, expanding on Louis’s comment. “That just kind of comes because of the time in the band, really. We’re practising more with each other. Still, Jamie’s only been in the band since 2023. It’s not even 2025, yet.” “Nearly two years, guys!” says Jamie.

Continuing his thought, Mikey says, “But ‘Butterfly’ was kind of a jam sort of thing, in a way, that song. ‘There’s Still Time’ and ‘The Game,’ I think everyone brought their own sections from afar…” The others laugh at Mikey’s use of “afar” and imitate shouting instructions from a long distance. “That’s it, like!” defends Mikey. “I was in the Northside of Dublin, and they were on the Southside!”

On November 22^nd, the band will release their first EP, The Game. For them and producer Joe McGuirk, an important element of the EP was capturing Joe Maxi’s energy and mania onto a record and making their distinctive tracks make sense when put together in a collection. This was done, in part, by having the band in the same location and recording collectively, compared to having the members record their parts separately, like before.

“A big thing for this EP was we want it to replicate how we sound, live,” Mikey explains. “Because the first two singles don’t do that any justice, at all. Like, it’s quite an energetic set we have, so we just want to replicate that as much as possible on the recording process.”

Before their EP releases, Joe Maxi will perform at the Bello Bar in Portobello on Halloween night. “The event’s called Na Mothúcháin. It means ‘The Emotions’ in Irish,” Mikey says of the show.

“It’s a visual art and music event. So, there’s going to be ten to fifteen visual artists, all based in different parts of Ireland, that will be showing their art at it. It’s at Bello Bar, a real intimate venue.

“The bands that will be playing it: Blue Slate. A fantastic band. A kind of alternative, shoegaze-y kind of band. They’re from Kildare. They’re fantastic. There’s Stratford Rise. In my opinion, the best band in the world right now. Definitely. By far. Anyone listening to this, give them a listen.

“Ourselves are playing, and then we’ve a band, Chest, from France, coming over. So, they’re going to open the night. They’re fantastic, as well. I’ve heard great things about them, so they’re playing that night. So, yeah, it’s going to be a great night.”

Joe Maxi’s latest single, “Butterfly,” is out now on all streaming platforms. The band’s EP, The Game, will be released on November 22^nd. Tickets for Na Mothúcháin can be purchased via Eventbrite. You can keep up with Joe Maxi’s music, live dates, and social media accounts here.

Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight at 21:00 (IST) to hear this interview in full. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.