All Things Music, behind the scenes, and her EP “Black Fae“ with Rachel Maxann
On June 17th, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rachel Maxann.
Based out of Memphis Tennessee this Goth Folk indie rock artist talked all things music and gave us an in depth look into her powerful EP ‘Black Fae.’
Stay tuned till the end of this interview where we look into what this amazing artist has been up to these days.
Let’s dive in!
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Q: Where are you from?
A: I’m originally from Cincinnati but my musical hometown right now is Memphis Tennessee.
Q: What genre would you classify your music?
A: That’s always a hard question for me but if I would have to categorize it, I would say ‘folk’ would be my main category that I tend to put things under; ‘alternative’. Usually some form of ‘alternative folk’ but then some of my songs are a lot ‘dreamier’ and I guess ‘dreamscape?’ if that’s a genre *laughs*
Me: If it’s not a genre we can make it one!
Q: I heard that you’re also a therapist, would it be okay to ask how you balance your busy schedule?
A: I feel lucky because I feel like it’s one of the few professions that work well with being a musician because I gig at night and I can do remote so like when I need to travel or go on tour a lot, I don’t have to abandon my clients, I can do it online then just come back home. It does create a busy schedule but luckily most of my gigs can be on a weekend and if anything needs to be rearranged it can be done. All my clients are great, and they all know I’m a musician and they’re very supportive! But, outside of the schedule I feel like emotionally it’s a pretty good match. I find music very cathartic, and I’m usually absorbing a lot of emotions throughout the day, so it’s good to have that release by then going to my second job as a musician and it recharges me.
Q: When did you start playing?
A: Well, I started dabbling in music when I was a kid because my mom is a singer, and my dad plays bass. They put us in piano when we were kids, so I kind of grew up with it but never thought about it being a career till probably about college. I went to OU, and that’s where I got my bachelor’s in psychology, but, at the same time I also joined a band, and I was like “oh my gosh we can really do this!” We had great shows and toured around, so that was the first time I realized that this could be a career and that it would follow me for the rest of my life. And again, with psychology and music, they’ve always intertwined, you can’t have one without the other.
Q: What’s your favorite tour memory? Is there something that sticks out the most?
A: The first thing that pops in my mind was the first day of support with Valerie June. It was St. Louis, already one of my favorite cities to go to and tour, it’s a very musical appreciating city as well, but it was the first day our tour there and I had just gotten to meet Valerie, the theatre was beautiful, and everyone was just so supportive and just so ready for music. It was just a very beautiful moment, and you know it inspired me. It was probably one of the bigger audiences that I had played to with my original music with just me and my violinist.
I’m also thinking of more goofy moments as well, the last tour I was on; you know my drummer is a quieter reserved guy until he’s not, you know? at some point it was probably like four or five in the morning, on the second day of tour, he thought that he could slide down the stairs…headfirst. well, I was downstairs, and I hear all this noise and my guitarist had him by the foot saying like “no you can’t slide down the steps!” then my bassist was taking pictures, and you know it’s just like “going on the tour with boys’ *laughs* just being able to hang with my friends and go to different cities and have fun together.
Q: What does your writing process look like?
A: With this album specifically, the songs come from different parts of my life, timeline wise and geographically and emotionally. They all fit together in what I call a ‘depressive spiral’ you know and ends on a sort of medium- high note. Some of these songs I wrote years ago and i never really found the right group of people, platform or way to express it; then some of them I’ve written in the last year or so, but the sore thread of the music is definingly more cathartic for me and more emotional. When I write I’m usually in my room with my guitar, and/or piano and sometimes I’ll sit down and write but most of the time they’re inspired by some kind of emotion, mostly heartache. That’s how I process my emotions, through music. but then there’s other songs like “Remember the Stars” which is more of an environmental song. With that, I took my dog and myself to Mexico for about a month, just to get away, and I was sitting on the beach just watching the trash roll up while I was having this like beautiful moment then I was like “oh that doesn’t fit the aesthetic *laughs*” and I kind of took my guitar and fiddled around to see what happens and that’s what inspired me at that moment. So, you know most of the time it’s what’s happening around me, people I know, things that I experience, and what feels the most natural.
Q: What is your favorite song that you’ve written on your new EP ‘Black Fae”
A: Oh, that’s hard because it’s kind of like picking your favorite child, you’re technically not supposed to have a favorite child, and I think it changes, but right now I’ve been listening to “Far from Me” a lot and that is one of my favorite songs right now because, I have the violinist and cellist on there and it’s just so beautiful. That song is about the loss of friendship and how difficult that is, especially over romantic relationships.
Q: I heard tons of stringed instruments; would you like to go in a bit about that?
A: My violinist is also my best friend, I may be a little biased, but I think she’s the greatest the world has ever known! She is also an amazing singer and songwriter as well and most of the time she goes on tour with me. She did a lot of solos on “Breathe” and then the cellist is another good friend of mine, also a singer and songwriter. She’s in a rock band which I think is super cool! Those are the two main players as far as strings, but my producer also composes… I would say ‘extra strings’ almost as if there’s a whole symphony.
Q: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A: well I think of two things specifically, music related, I had an old friend tell me I needed to focus on myself a bit more and you know I’m a libra *laughs* and feel like I struggle with balance and setting boundaries for myself, and I’ve gotten a lot better over the years, but one of the boundaries she helped me see is at the time I thought I needed to have a band name every single time I had a new project, I want everyone to be equal owners and equal to everything but that ended up leading to quite a bit of heartbreak. Because it wasn’t always a falling out, people change or have other obligations and for example, my first big band that I mentioned earlier, in college we mostly broke up because people were moving and having children and life was just going. But, from that I got this idea like, “I’ve got to be in a band blah blah blah’ and it wasn’t till I was in Memphis that I was finally like, “you know what, I’m just going to use my own name” and I would love for people to sit with me, but people come and go and this time I just needed to put myself first. Especially when it comes to my music, so that would just be a very valuable piece of advice given to me. It helped me get through some tough times when people had to leave for whatever reason and I’d be like “well that sucks, but I’ll have to replace you now,” you know like I didn’t have to fall apart and delete an entire project, it was still just “Rachel Maxann.”
Q: A bit more of a fun question I like to ask is ‘what’s your favorite road snack?’
A: These little biscuits, I’m vegan so there’s not a whole lot of options, but they’ve kind of grown over the years. But the Tevas little snack bars and more recently they started putting vegan jerky in gas stations and I’ve been super excited about that! It’s like the golden goose because it’s not everywhere.
Q: What is one thing people don’t know about you?
A: Most of the time it’s because I’m a therapist, people are usually surprised about that. But also, the fact that I love really heavy metal and goth stuff, like I was goth in high school, everything black! and I think that inspired a lot of music of mine because most of the themes are pretty dark and emotional and it’s like “that’s the goth coming out of me” but for example even before my last tour in May, I went to this sick festival called “Sick New World,” and I think people tend to be surprised to hear that Amy Lee from Evanescence and Serj Tankian from System of a Down are two of my musical heroes. I think they are amazing, fun, expressive, and gorgeous. I think people are really surprised by my musical influences.
Q: what are your top three favorite songs right now?
A: I’d probably say ‘L’enfer’ by Stromae, ‘La Razon’ but the Mariachi version, and ‘Rasputin’ by Boney M.
Q: What is one thing you hope people can get from your music that they can take and carry on?
A: That they’re not alone and their emotions are valid. That would be the main takeaway.
Q: whats next? do you have anything big in the future you’re looking forward to?
A: A possible tour in the fall season, but that’s up in the air. In Memphis the fall season is pretty big with festivals because its finally cool enough outside for us to go out and do things. *laughs* Just for now a lot of writing and I’ll be going back to St. Louis and Cleveland Ohio. But its more like “one offs” than tours. But, I’m doing something called The Black Opry, which is really cool, its self-explanatory it’s like the Opry but for black people. so that’ll be in St. Louis in around October. Besides that, I’ll be playing around Memphis and being home.
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To close out the interview I’d just like to say, speaking with Rachel Maxann, being able to vibe with her and talk about all things: music, road memories, behind the scenes, and more was just amazing. She is truly such an incredible artist and inspirational musician.
What has Rachel been up to since?
Since our sit-down, Maxann has played many gigs like the Black Opry in St. Louis, that she mentioned, which showcases black country artists, giving black artists the chance to showcase their music in a community with other black artists while having support and love from one another; and She has also played in Cleveland with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) which is a campaign that’s mission is to fight for the rights of the LGBT community in Cleveland Ohio. She was also apart of the Trans Youth Benefit Concert in Memphis Tennessee following the ban on gender - affirming care. She continues to write inspiring music, perform, and advocate for all.
You can listen to her wonderful EP “Black Fae” here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6ne1NcYTRQEZzBVkx0SXJD?si=fsp5gMN-TiOPlqA9GNCaOQ
Check out her Instagram to keep up with what she’s doing, maybe she’ll be performing in a city near you!
Rachel Maxann (@rachelmaxann) • Instagram photos and videos
