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Local Guides
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MAXIMUM RNR
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by Bill Adams
MARCH 12 – 18, 2009 |
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Particularly in the realm of hard rock, there are few blows a band
can sustain that are so decisive as the loss of a lead singer. It
sounds silly to say it, but that is the voice of the band – the
proverbial calling card and face of a musical group – and the loss
of it throws everything about the band into a state of turmoil
from which many simply do not recover. While it is possible to
replace a singer (AC/DC has thrived since the passing of Bon
Scott) and the other positions in a rock outfit can often be refilled
(the Foo Fighters’ lineup has rotated regularly since 1995), more
often than not rock bands find themselves rendered rudderless by
the loss of their frontman. Black Sabbath, for example, never
quite regained the momentum they had with Ozzy Osbourne up
front and Alice In Chains has floundered in limbo since the death
of Layne Staley; those voices were important to the shape and
drive of those bands, and it’s not easy to simply slot new
personnel in – so when Maximum RNR singer Louie Durand sat
his band mates down and told then he was calling it quits, they
were justifiably worried. “Louie basically made a life change,”
explains rhythm guitarist Keith Mauronik of the change that cast
the future of his band into question. “He quit his job, quit the
band and he’s going to carpenter school now.
“I guess that’s what he figured he had to do,” continues the
guitarist with not the slightest amount of malice or ill will in his
voice. “I even told him, ‘Dude, I can’t hold that against anyone.
You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do and I’m not going to hold
that against you.’
“I was pretty worried though – I didn’t know what was going
to happen when Louie decided he didn’t want to do it anymore.
We had talked about it a couple of times over the years and, when
it finally did come down, the rest of us had that talk too and we
decided that still want to play music. We did have a small debate
on whether or not we should change the name, but it seemed like
such a shame to throw literally everything we’d done away and
start brand new from scratch again so that's why we decided to
keep the name, get another singer and keep it up.”
With what they needed in order to continue as a band made
plain before them, Maximum RNR set to the imposing task of
trying to find another voice that could live up to the body of work
they’d built that both the band themselves as well as their core of
dedicated fans would find palatable. The band already knew that
they didn’t want to start from scratch and so it stood to reason
that an untested singer would not even be considered; they
needed someone with hardened work ethics who was already
familiar with the rigours of the road. In short, “We didn’t want
someone who was of the mindset like, ‘Oh! Being in a band – that
sounds like fun,’ and then when they realize that it’s not all fun
and games, they bail on us and we’re left high and dry again,”
says Mauronik with a better–than–healthy dose of wry sarcasm,
“There were times when we’d just throw around ideas and wonder
about what–ifs and [former Dayglo Abortions frontman] Gymbo
Jak was way up on the list. When it eventually came to it, his name
ended up being the only one that we could really think of
seriously – we wanted him was because we knew he had the
experience and he’s done all this stuff before – Dayglos have
toured Canada a million times, been to Europe, been to Australia
and done all that stuff – he’s done all that stuff. At that point we
were just really hoping he wanted the job because we’d have had
to do some really hard thinking.”
So, as Mauronik himself puts it, the band asked Jak if he
might be interested in joining them and, to their relief and
elation, he accepted the offer happily. With the line-up once
again set, the band has been practicing in earnest to get their
new member in shape for the grand unveiling of the new
Maximum RNR at Jimmy Jazz in Guelph on March 13, but that
doesn’t mean they’re out of the woods yet according to the
guitarist – far from it. “Gymbo has learned ALL of the songs we’ve
recorded, which is great,” gushes Mauronic as he marvels at how
quickly things have started to realign within the band. “We’ve only
had six practices with Gymbo so far – we’ll have two more before
we do the first show in Guelph – but he’s already got all of the
lyrics learned and now he’s just working on a bit of the timing.
It’s really heartening that he’s gotten that much done because
that’s enough for a set [laughing] and that’s all we really need
right now.
“After that, the verdict is out on how this year is going to
work,” continues the guitarist. “We haven’t scheduled any shows
past the one in Guelph because we really want to see how that
goes before we get anything else lined up. After that, we’ll weigh
our options; Gymbo is really hot to hit the road and go out on
tour so we might set that up right away – we haven’t toured out
west yet behind the last two releases so that would be good I
think – or we might go and record another seven–inch and then
head out. Either way, we would like to get on the road at some
point either this summer or this fall, we’re just not trying to rush
into anything; we want to make sure that everything’s ready.
“In a way I think it’s going to be really cool because we’re
going to be nervous again,” laughs Mauronik. “I mean, we’re
already a little nervous just as we get closer to the show and we
haven’t felt that in a while. After you play so many shows, you get
to a point where you don’t really get nervous anymore but I think
we’re all going to be freaking out and shitting our pants in
Guelph and that’ll be a cool feeling to get again. Like, ‘Holy Fuck!’
and the adrenaline starts rushing. We’re starting again basically,
so it’s almost like that very first show all over.”
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