Briston Maroney

Photography by Lexie Alley. Interview By Heather Hawke.

Though Briston Maroney is only 21-year-old he’s already lived in lots of places including Knoxville, Los Angeles and now Nashville (where he’s one of the city’s most compelling new artists). He also has lived quite a life so far with competing in American Idol while still in high school and also going through rehab before turning the legal age. He weaves all of this life experience into his songs – 2018’s Carnival EP and this year’sIndiana EP (released in May).

 

I want to start from the beginning. Where did you grow up? What was your childhood like? Did creativity play a big part of your childhood?  

Hey!!!! Thank you so much for havin me!! The beginning is a great place to start! I was born in Marietta, GA, moved to Knoxville, TN, shortly after that, and spent the rest of my youngest years between Knoxville and a tiny little town called Amelia Island, FL! Between the constant back and forth between those latter two cities, creativity was always my escape and rock. I was, however, a complete sport-boy for like most of my childhood as well, basketball being my unfulfilled dream.

 

Tell me about your musical upbringing. When did you first become aware that music was going to be a part of your life?

I always had an unspoken romance with music from my earliest memories. The idea of telling stories through songs and communicating in a way that brought out something common in everyone was very appealing to me. I hope this doesn’t sound cocky or anything, but I really don’t remember a time when I didn’t know that music was all I ever wanted to fill my life with. I have early memories at 8-9 years old, sitting in front of my family boombox listening to CDs, falling in love with being transported somewhere new.

What was your formal / not formal music education like growing up?

I never had any formal education in music before college, aside from a couple cello lessons that I always showed up unprepared for, and some piano classes at 17 where I was accidentally put into the 1st grade course and was like 5 feet taller than the rest of the kids in the class. Mostly everything I know about music and songwriting came from obsessing over records and players as a youngster.

Let’s talk about your formative years. What was the very first concert you attended? Did you play any sports / go to summer camps? What music were you and your friends listening to in middle school / high school? Were there posers on your wall when you were growing up?

I am incredibly pleased to share that my very first concert was at a 6 Flags amusement park in Atlanta, GA, where I saw Raven-Symoné of the Cheetah Girls perform a solo set. I don’t know how much of her stylistic approach I held on to, but I do remember loving the environment of live music. Music was always the thread that I followed to every important moment of my life, but it wound me through many years spent attending various sport/religious camps, picking up interests in philosophy and English, and a brief stint in a professional basketball career attempt. After I realized none of those things were my true passion, I was incredibly lucky to meet a group of kids a few years older than me in high school that opened my mind to so much amazing music. Around 15 I discovered bands like Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, Elliott Smith, and Nick Drake that went on to change everything for me. I would spend hours sitting in my closet looking for new records I thought no one had heard of (i.e. Abbey Road), surrounded by posters I tore out of Guitar World magazines/CD liner notes and taped on the wall.

Describe your path to becoming involved with music. What’s your very first earliest musical memory? When was the first time you felt super inspired by music? 

I was exposed to it very early on in my life, growing up around lots of CDs and acoustic guitars. My earliest musical memory is my grandfather teaching me how to play “Wild Thing” on a nylon string guitar on my bunk beds in my family’s house. I remember playing it over and over until I got a blister on my thumb. I remember realizing that and feeling so cool for having a physical sign of my love for music, and that inspired me to dive completely in and make it my life.

When did you start writing songs? Do you remember the first song / piece of music you wrote?

The first song I ever wrote was at age 11 or so. I distinctly remember it being a love song that included the word “lightning” and was a direct rip-off of a Jack Johnson song my mom would always play around the house.

Does it feel like writing music is something you’ve always had to do or is this something that you discovered along the way at some point?

Writing was always my passion. I loved poetry in school and once I learned enough about chords on guitar to write songs, I knew that was all I wanted to do. Being a singer was definitely not my first instinct, I really started singing as a way to show people songs. Being a singer was never my priority.

Your Indiana EP (released this past May) comes only a half a year or so after your debut EP Carnival. Were you writing / recording these EPs at the same time? Was there a specific moment when work on Carnival was nearly finished and Indiana began? Or does the line between the writing for both releases sort of blur? 

At the time of recording Carnival, those were the only 5 songs I had to record! There were other ideas floating around of course, but after tracking those I had to start completely fresh for the new record. After Carnival was tracked I went through a very intense period of life in which I was moving around a lot, coming out of a relationship, and getting sober. That period of time was when the 4 tracks on Indiana came together!

What was the writing process like for both EPs? Where did you pull the lyrics from? Where were you at physically, mentally when you wrote them? Was there an event or a specific timeframe where a large chunk of the lyricism came out?

Carnival was all written between Knoxville and Nashville at a time when I had absolutely no idea what I wanted in life. Those songs were me trying really hard to play the role of the musicians that made records that saved my life during that period of time. Indiana was really a continuation of that feeling, but tinged with some more confident thoughts and feelings of confusion and longing. Those songs were written mostly in my childhood bedroom of my mom’s house in Florida, where I lived for the summer, walking on the beach and working at Arte Pizza.

Did you feel any sort of limitations when writing or recording either EPs? 

Those two EPs were both incredibly unique in the sense that they felt very seamless and organic to make, a lot of which was a result of the producer Tone Def making it such an awesome environment to work in.

What’s the biggest hardship that’s helped inspire your writing? 

I don’t know if there was one specific hardship that inspired the writing or if any of my hardships in life are even really hardships. I grew up feeling alone a lot of the time, and I would say that left the biggest mark on the sentiment of these records.

Are you ever intentional when you sit down to write? Is there ever a “I’m going to write a song now” moment or is it more ephemeral, like you’ve been kicking something around in your head for days, weeks, months, and then suddenly it comes spilling out?

I try to avoid setting goals for writing when I sit down and play, but I definitely try to take some time every day, even if it’s literally 2 minutes to play and keep my mind accustomed to sharing feelings through songs. Almost every song tracked and released was written in like 15 minutes. I always feel most connected to the songs that come out quickly and organically.

I read that you’ve lived in lots of places, including Knoxville, Los Angeles and Nashville…Does traveling influence you as an artist? Are you inspired by the places you go, or do you think your work would sound about the same no matter where you created it? 

Traveling is everything!!! Even if you get to a city and feel like shit and are lonely or confused, at least you learned a lesson about where in the world makes you happy. I think the places we get to see absolutely have an influence on the music. I visualize a lot of landscapes in my head in the studio, and most of them come from tour memories of beautiful places we get to see.

When you first start writing a piece of music, is writing something you enjoy doing?  

I loved writing from the second I was introduced to the concept!

What was your favorite part about the writing / album creation process? 

I love the process of taking a step back from looking at a batch of songs, and seeing each one as a vessel back to a time or place in my life that I want to share with other people who might have felt or experienced the same thing. I love seeing a record as a concrete chapter in time.

When and how did the titles Carnival and Indiana come about in the album creation process? 

Both names came pretty late in the game, within a week or two of both being released!

With your artwork, how did you interact with the artist/designer? Did you contribute ideas or remain hands-off? Was there a revision process? 

The artwork for both records were photos I did not seek out or conspire in my head, just chance shots shown to me by incredibly talented and kind people that I fell in love with deeply.

How important is it to you for the art that accompanies your music to represent the sound and the lyrics? Do you aim for a conversation between the two, or are you more interested in an aesthetically cool package? 

I think album art/visuals are hugely important to a record! A record should be its own planet that you step onto when you listen, album artwork and visuals are the scenery for those sounds! Cool packaging is fun too though.

What is your perspective on how you want to be represented throughout your band’s visuals (press photos, music videos, album artwork)?

I want to be seen as a human because that’s what I am! We all are! If we can all collectively find the place to recognize being alive is a beautiful thing, life takes on a whole new meaning. I don’t mind to do anything too foreign to human emotion with the art, because the influence emotion has on us is everything.

How do you recalibrate before getting on stage? How do you get in the correct mindset?

It depends on the show totally! Sometimes we walk onstage straight from eating some tacos, sometimes from writing a song in the venue bathroom, sometimes from a big group huddle in which we list our favorite animals. I try to look people in the eye through the first song to get an understanding of the environment and remind myself that everyone in that room deserves to be loved!

Have you had any mentors along the way?

I think everyone in the whole dang world can be a mentor!