Maximum RNR Move Up From The Mailroom

The general rule is “those who can do, those who can’t teach/critique,” but no one seems to have told Keith Carman, arguably Canada’s most renowned heavy music scribe and lead guitarist for Toronto punk rawkers Maximum RNR (the band is rounded out by Louie Durand on Vocals, Keith Maurik on Rhythm Guitar, Mike Sydney on Bass and Mike Childs on Drums).

Drawing as much from classic punk bands as classic rock, Maximum RNR infuses the organized chaos of Motorhead and Canadian legends like Nomeansno and D.O.A. with southern rock riffery and blazing balls-out solos. Maximum RNR is the musical equivalent of a speed ball and J.D. colada. Having previously releasing two EP’s independently, they have an upcoming effort due out on Relapse Records, a label known for putting out records by mathcore legends Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as Melville quoting buzz-band Mastodon, and death metal kings Nile.

Carman says, “Our connection with Relapse actually came about through the most traditional of means. We’d been mailing out our first release to a whack of punk labels when the other Keith (Maurik, guitar) realized that we shouldn’t fucking bother. We should go for the people who aren’t typical and see what happens. He was dead-on, ‘cause the 7” wound up in the hands of a dude there who was the mailroom guy at the time. He liked it, came to check us out here in Toronto and when he moved up in the company, gave us a holler. It just proves that the standard means of attack still apply, but you’ve gotta tweak ‘em to suit. I mean, we’re not gonna send our music to a major label, but the ones who seem just poised to cut their teeth on something a bit daring? Why not? I guess you could say it worked. We feel pretty fucking lucky.”

But do they feel any pressure to be heavier? “Not at all. Maybe if a band like Zeke wasn’t on the label, we’d really wonder what the fuck they were thinking but that just proves that despite being known as a metal label, Relapse has their ear to the ground in other equally raucous areas.”

Battle-tested road warriors, the band describes their live set as “frantic… that car wreck you stop to gawk at on the highway… it’s way too loud, we’re way too hyper… it’s more Bull In A China Shop than Meticulous Technicality.”

As with most Canadian artists, much of their success to date is based on relentless touring, having played approximately 200 shows by the time this article is up, with everyone from Electric Frankenstein to Canadian stalwarts C’mon and Three Inches of Blood. What allows them to play to such diverse crowds is their music unclassifiable they “(offer) up our take on their fans’ favourite genre (like it or hate it)…at the end of the day if they like you, they’ll find a way to slot you into the genres they dig. If not, they’ll go get a drink.” To them, the live experience is “the single most important aspect” to the Maximum RNR experience.

“CDs are fun and you get to learn the words (when our singer isn’t bellowing inarticulately), but nothing compares to the kick drum making your heart skip a beat, having your hearing permanently damaged by piercing guitar solos and getting gross sweat and booze all over you. It’s sensory overload…and then you also get to talk to us and realize that we’re not (always) a bunch of hairy freaks.”

Being such a well-known force in Canadian music journalism, you would think that Maximum RNR would be on the cover of every music mag and subject of countless “next big thing” features, but according to Carman the opposite is true.

“If we get a good review, people say it’s ‘cause we know the writer. Other bands that I’ve been honest about in reviews get pissed off and won’t play with us or want to beat me up (oh, it’s happened) and what-not. Or they’re just playing with us to hit us up for coverage… But then again, we’re really not doing this to see our name in print. That’s never a bad thing, but we’re really just piling up the credit card debt so that we can hear our amps on 10.”

Though their sound comes more from the classic punk rock sound than anything else, one can definitely hear a classic rock influence, especially in Carman’s soloing.

“There’s nothing like hearing a fuckin’ fuzz-out guitar blasting away. Analyze that all you want, but you can’t pare it down to anything other than the perfect match of adrenaline, testosterone and overdrive. People may ignore it for a while but eventually they come back. They ALWAYS come back…people are starting to progress to the need for a raging guitar and actual solos instead of dudes who can barely ham-fist their way through a barre chord.”

When asked if he thinks the current trend of bands incorporating a more rock inspired aspect to their sound, the critic in Carman comes out. “I think it comes from…the cyclical progression of music. It’s a trend that most people (alternative cultures aside) want to move from angry, fast music to slower music to upbeat…you get the idea. When Nirvana hit, people were into that. Then it diluted to the moderate rock stuff Cobain was mocking. After people got sick of being mad, they wanted fun music and upbeat pop was in vogue again”

But is this a product of musicians getting older and wanting to rekindle something from their youth? “Nah. It just comes with an open mind. Most older people are too fuckin’ jaded to progress.”

Just over five years into their existence, Maximum RNR have criss-crossed the country played with their idols and peers, and finally been reviewed by the magazine that inspired their name, the Punk Rock bible Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll (who “couldn’t give a shit about our name…but that’s punk rock. If they were to bitch and moan, they’d be shooting themselves in the foot, no?”). Their sound befits their name: classic punk meets classic, raging, rawk, squealing and thrashing, pumped up all the way to 10.

Catch Maximum RNR March 4th at the Reverb in Toronto, closing out Canadian Music Week, or online at www.maximumrnr.com and be on the look out for an upcoming release on Relapse Records in the coming months! 

- Jeremy Shum

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