The Max Bien Kahn Interview
Max Bien Kahn is a songwriter and musician based in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he is the bandleader and creative force behind Max & the Martians. In the spirit of his adopted home city, his resume is bursting with musical partnerships: he has spent the last decade playing full-time with Tuba Skinny, a band built around the musical traditions of New Orleans, working as a studio session player and back-up musician, and collaborating with songwriters like Esther Rose, Duff Thompson, and Steph Green. Max also contributed to the landmark Mashed Potato Record compilations, a collection of NOLA’s most exciting artists and a testament to the city’s continued musical vitality.
When and where were you born? What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Were these things that were relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings?
I was born in ‘86 in San Francisco and lived in the city my whole childhood. I was the middle of three brothers and my folks were civil rights lawyers that worked with incarcerated people. They encouraged me and my brothers to pursue our passions and didn’t try to lead us in any direction as long as we kept busy and spent some time outdoors. We had loud conversations around the dinner table where I would barely get a word in. We weren’t really allowed to watch TV, except for baseball games, the Simpsons and Seinfeld. Nobody in my immediate family were musicians but when I was little I loved to sing and fake chords on a ukulele. My folks signed me up for Suzuki violin lessons when I was about four years old. I had trouble getting into classical music then. Now I love it. I started playing guitar a few years later because it seemed like more fun and soon quit the violin, unfortunately. But ever since I can remember music’s been a part of my life.
What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When did you realize you wanted to spend your life pursuing music?
I’ve always been a floater between “scenes” if you can call it that when you’re a kid. I had some friends I’d play baseball with, some I’d play music with, some I’d run around the city smoking weed with. There was a crossover, of course, but at one point when I was a teenager I realized I needed to quit the baseball team in order to play rock n roll. I didn’t have enough time to do both. I’m only half-kidding. I grew up listening to Neil Young, Paul Simon, and the Stones in my mom’s car and the Grateful Dead and baseball in my dad’s car. My older brother was a big Dead Head and got me into them for a while, which exposed me to all the good music that influenced them. But as a teenager in San Francisco I was mostly playing in rock bands. It was a great city to grow up in, my friends were playing stoner-rock, punk, cow-punk, ska, hardcore, folk, whatever you want to call it. Besides the alternative stuff, I also played bass in the school orchestra and guitar in the jazz band. I had a group of buddies that would have endless Bitches Brew jam sessions in my basement, lol. At one point since I was spending most of my time playing music I decided to study it in college, though I didn’t really know what I would do with it. Music school sucked, but I’m glad I got through it.
Before we jump into your very own recordings and releases, I’d like to highlight Tuba Skinny. Can you tell me about this outfit?
Tuba Skinny plays traditional jazz, with a repertoire ranging from early New Orleans jazz (Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Sevens, Clarence Williams), string bands, early blues, classic New Orleans R n B, and originals. Our lineup is cornet, tuba, trombone, clarinet, guitar, banjo, washboard, bass drum, and singers. We play tunes from different genres and decades but try to make them our own. I started playing with Tuba Skinny in 2012, about a year after moving to New Orleans. I met them because we would all busk on Royal St in the French Quarter. I filled in when their guitarist left town and eventually joined the band. I’ve been a full-time member for more than ten years now, they’re like an extended family. We stay busy when we’re in town and tour a lot in the summer.
In 2019 you released your very first single, “Please Hold On/Love On Vacation” with the great Duff Thompson on his label MPR. Tell me about writing and recording that record and how the partnership with him initially come about?
“Please Hold On” was a song I wrote for my grandpa who had Alzheimers, but then rearranged and revived it when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. It’s about when we lose someone we still keep them alive in our memories. It’s a love-letter to loss. I recorded it with Duff and Bill Howard at Mashed Potato and we used lots of fun tricks to add overdubs and create a lush sound with their old gear. I actually first collaborated with Duff on my self-released LP in 2016. We recorded “Island” which was also on Mashed Potato Records Comp Vol I. I met Duff when he and Bill came to New Orleans and started recording our friends on tape machines they set up in their vans. One van was the live room and the other was a control room and they would park them next to our friend’s house on the Mississippi Levee and record people all day and night. Duff and I got along and then realized that we loved each other’s music and could play in each other’s bands. I’d play bass with him and he’d play drums with me. I was also a session player on the MPR Comps I and II so we worked together a lot.
2021 saw your debut “All The Same”. How did the deal with the fine folks over at Perpetual Doom come about? We’re huge fans of both of everything Lou does! What was the overall approach of this record? Would you mind giving some background to some of your favorite songs that are featured on the record and why?
When Covid happened I realized I had been sitting on All The Same for way too long. I recorded most of it with Ross Farbe, who’s in the band Video Age and is one of my favorite engineers. All The Same has a lot of care-free songs with a feeling of something big looming. My mom had just started her fight with cancer and I was stumbling through life. That album is for dancing while the building burns around you. I found Lou at Perpetual Doom when I saw their co-release with Curly Cassettes called Golden Sounds of Covid-19. It had some artists I knew on it and I was making my own Covid collection called Stay At Home Demos at the time. I got really excited about all of Perpetual Doom’s releases and their humor. I sent him All The Same on a whim and we got in touch. It was a slow time, early in the lock-down, but eventually we got it together and put it out. Lou has always been so supportive and Perpetual Doom keeps putting out great stuff. I’m honored to be part of that family.
Your most recent work will be released this year with PD and MPR entitled, “When I Cross It Off”. Can you tell me about this album and what the process of writing and recording this record was like for you as well working with these guys? How has this record been in terms of conception compared to your previous works? What has changed with your style, process and overall approach since you first started out on this journey?
I had a new batch of songs that were pretty fun and weird. While I was writing this my mom was dying and I was falling in love. It’s amazing how when you’re heartbroken from grief you can open up in ways you had never known before. I was going through the hardest time of my life, but also getting to know my partner and feeling giddy from new love. She’s a writer (check out Hardcore by Mik Grantham) and would inspire me to write about little every-day things because those big things can be hard to tackle when you’re right in the middle of it. This record starts with trouble, which comes from external and internal factors, but trouble isn’t always bad, it can be fun too. As the album progresses I work my way through it by finding joy in everyday tasks, walking dogs, taking baths, having sex, falling in love. When I Cross It Off is about finding levity in your life. It’s the closest thing to a party album I’ve ever made. There’s no self-pity, just self-deprecation. I had been talking to Duff about making an album for years, and in the spring of 2019 we finally started. I made a bunch of demos on my four-track and we planned out the sessions. For most of the songs I’d play with a big live band in my shotgun house and leave a little space on the tape for some minor overdubs. We had so many great musicians on these sessions. One of the perks of living in New Orleans. We spent a lot of time trying to give each song its own space.
What has your spring and summer shaped up to be so far? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
The spring is officially over in New Orleans, festival season just ended and the days are getting hotter and hotter. We had a great spring though, I had lots of gigs and the festivals were busy. Normally I tour most of the summer with Tuba Skinny, but this year we’re just doing a big one in August with a couple short trips before that. So I’m going to be home for June-July, playing a few gigs and enjoying the slowness of summer here. I’m going to Spain in September to play my own songs at a festival called Hola Nola which features a bunch of New Orleans songwriters that play in each other’s bands. (Duff, Steph, Sam Doores, Sabine McCalla, Gina Leslie, Twain…) My final word: come down to New Orleans! Some of my favorite songwriters live down here. Everyone dances and everyone can really play. Literally every day of the week there’s something good to hear. It’s humbling and inspiring to live in this city.
