With blues that smolders and a sound that stings, The Max Tribe step into the Boston rock scene like firemen kicking down the door of a smoking house.
The Tribe have been mixing their magic for over year now at Berklee College of Music, but “Tape Machine” is both their first song and music video release. The Tribe’s ingredients? Smooth Fender Rhodes, heavy Hendrix-influenced guitar riffs, harmonica, driving drums, thumping bass, and a whole lot of groove.
“Groove makes you move,” said tribal leader Austin Max (guitar/vocals). “Everything groove traces back to ancient tribal music. We play, live, and breathe like a tribe. We are a faction of musicians, a division, a family.”
It was through his biological family that Max fell in love with the tape machine. Growing up, Max soaked in sounds from the recording studios his father designed and built in California and Tennessee. “Being in the studio was like being inside a crazy rocket ship,” he said. “I loved it.”
The warmth of the studio’s tape machine lured Max in, and one day, alone with his guitar, he wrote the riff that would become the backbone of The Tribe’s “Tape Machine,” the title track off their upcoming debut album. “It rang in my head. I had to record it and put it down,” Max said. “There’s a descent and rise throughout the song, ending with a descent that slows with echoes swinging a tape delay, giving it a real tape reel sound.”
Though the group will be taking time off this summer from playing shows, they will be hard at work writing, promoting, and further developing their sound. Come fall, The Max Tribe plans to play a string of shows and release their second music video.
For now, sink into “Tape Machine,” and listen to The Max Tribe work their magic.