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Oct 14, 2020 By Caleb Campbell Maxband

New York’s Maxband, the newest project featuring Max Savage of Parquet Courts and Patrick Smith of A Beacon School, first debuted in 2018 with its lowkey tape release Perfect Strangers. The band has since played support slots for Sports Team, Bambara, Tokyo Police Club, The Men, and others. The band recently returned to the studio to record their forthcoming EP, Top of the Stairs, out November 20, and have released the first single from the project, “Cut It Loose,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Savage, the longtime drummer of Parquet Courts, takes the lead with Maxband, playing guitar and splitting vocal duties with Patrick Smith who also plays bass. Longtime friends Tim Nelson and Eric Read fill out the lineup on lead guitar and drums respectively. Considering the band sports his name, it would be easy to pigeonhole Maxband as a Max Savage showcase yet, if “Cut It Loose” is anything to go off of, the band seems to be taking a more collaborative approach while carving their own lane independent of the nervy punk rock of Parquet Courts.

The rapid-fire palm-mutes and clean guitar tone give the track a bright indie flavor, bolstered by Smith’s buoyant vocals. Savage’s vocals on the chorus offer a strong counterpoint, sounding not unlike his brother Andrew’s vocals with Parquet Courts. Add in some razor-sharp call and response guitar leads and the track has an undeniable hook. At the climax, the hook gains even more urgency as the whole band locks into the groove, and Savage’s vocals gain even more of a punk edge. Yet, the band keeps the energy locked down, striking a perfect balance between breezy and fervent attitude.

The band says, “‘Cut It Loose’ was the first song we wrote for Top of the Stairs, and it functions as a good mission statement for where we are as a band: it was our first fully collaborative effort that was fleshed out from an idea that Patrick brought into a practice space, and the first song where Max and Patrick split vocal duties.” With “Cut It Loose” Maxband looks to be a band to watch, fusing aspects of its disparate projects into an addictive new whole. Check the track out below.

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