Joe Maxi are our latest First Signs of Love (FSOL) featured band. FSOL is about those moments when you find a new artist to love, and you can’t get enough! Discover more from our archive.
Regular readers of this blog will be aware of our love for all things alternative and our determination to surface and champion the new wave of indie rock. The great indie revival is on, and Joe Maxi might be leading the charge. Find them sitting proudly at the top of our playlist.
Introducing Joe Maxi
Judging by the name alone, you might be fooled into thinking Joe Maxi was a folk balladeer or acoustic guitar-wielding troubadour with a jaunty hat. The reality couldn’t be more different. Joe Maxi is a four-piece from Dublin with a penchant for experimental, post-punk and alternative rock.
Their latest release is The Game EP, a raucous, rambunctious explosion of heavy guitars, spoken word and breakbeat that fuses into something wonderfully confrontational, set against a backdrop of bleak landscapes and humdrum boardroom melodrama. Listening to the EP allows you to trace a diverse range of influences including Nirvana, Talking Heads, Fugazi, Dry Cleaning and early Fontaines D.C.
The EP kicks off with the jittery intensity of ‘Shift’ that would fill any self-respecting indie club dance floor in a heartbeat. It’s brooding cool quickly envelops you. The title track ‘The Game’ infuses circus ringmaster-style spoken word with explosions of hazy hard rock.
Discussing ‘The Game’ as a single, frontman Mikey Fowler said, “We’re beyond excited to share this one—it’s hands down one of our most thrilling songs yet. In a world that feels more tangled by technology, feeling like a simulation every day, we want this track to be a reminder to take the leap, to play the game, and to embrace the chaos with us.”
The first single ‘Butterfly’ lands with an uncompromising slice of astral rock, delivered with a Talking Heads swagger and the stop-start elegance of a giraffe walking on a tightrope. The guitars are metallic, the beats seemingly increasing in speed, the bass growling throughout. Yet the most uneasy moment is saved for the end – when the entire track threatens to distort amid the frenetic violence, thrown from the mosh pit.
The EP closes with the mesmerising ‘There’s Still Time’ which gives us seriously cool Mark E. Smith vibes. Joe Maxi are a joyous prospect, Their tetchy, talkative brand of art-punk makes them anomalies in a city which rarely favours the abstract over the elemental, but they are a band impossible to ignore.
“The Game demands and warrants your attention like most other EP’s can only dream.”
Their growing reputation as one of Ireland’s most explosive live acts is undoubted and earned through gut-busting dedication to their craft. At their last headline Dublin show in Bello Bar, punters were turned away at the door due to overcrowding, whilst those who managed to make it into the venue were transported to a raucous, unfiltered alt-rock show, complete with foundation-shaking mosh pits galore. Catch them if you can, while you can.
Discover more from Joe Maxi
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Words Mark Knight
 featured band. Discover their new EP The Game now on Right Chord Music.){kind=link}