Interview: Fictionist
Fictionist are a 6 piece band from Salt Lake City, orginally named Good Morning Maxfield. They’re known for having a natural and epic rock sound. And have so far released two albums: “Invisible Hand” (2009) and “Lasting Echo” (2010).
How and when did Fictionist form?
Fictionist began around the time we released our first record, Invisible hand, which was about a little over a year and a half ago. I had already been playing with some of the guys in the band for years before. A lot of us grew up in the same neighborhood in Salt Lake City, and we knew each others families.
What’s your musical background?
Me personally, I grew up playing violin, I picked up the bass and the guitar when I was a teenager and a handful of other instruments. I grew up being the little brother bass player in a variety of bands, with my older brother playing guitar. Song writing has always been one of my things too, I think I picked up the guitar for the sake of songwriting. I am always thinking along the lines of creating music. We all had some what of a musical back ground. Jacob the Keyboard player grew up on the trumpet, and played with Aaron in Sacramento. Robbert grew up singing and playing in his older brothers bands who played at dances and ended up playing some shows with Spence. Brandon and I actually had a band together in high school. We’ve done quite a lot of playing at this point.
How would you describe your music?
Our music sounds like the music we grew up on as it finds form in our hand and our voices. Our only goal is to make good music. But to give you an Idea of what we were influenced by, Pink Floyd comes to mind James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Counting Crows to name a few but we grew up in the 90′s so we Identify with bands like Pearl Jam and Radio Head too. Its hard to exist and not be exposed to everything these days. Fictionist ususally sounds pretty big just because of the size of the band. As far as Lyrics go, I tend to write what is on my mind and in my heart. Some times its sad, some times its happy, but I try not to get too much in the way of that process. I tend to think a good song is an honest song.
What is your favourite song you’ve written and recorded so far and why?
That would be my latest song. The artist curse is to always be excited about whats next. Most recently my favorite song to play would be The Well Made Shadow, I love that song, because it is super epic and I think it hints at what we do best as a band. When I get bored of that I’m sure there will be another.
What’s your music making prosess like?
Usually starts with an emotion, then some notes, then some kind of rehearsal and then some kind of performance. I can’t figure it out exactly, but I know it starts with emotion and some kind of meaning.
Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues?
We have played from LA to Toronto so far. Favorite venue would have to be on where there are people to listen, our least favorite is one where there are no people. Its all about people in my opinion. There is a rad venue in Amarillo Texas called the 806. We have had amazing shows there.
How do you promote your music?
Our fans help us out. Music is all about word of mouth.
What are your plans for 2010?
TONS of regional touring and we will be releasing a free song a month digitally. We want to reach out a little more.
Thanks to Stuart Maxfield for the interview. Check out Fictionist’s music video for the song Blue-eyed Universe here.
