Maxwell Varey
Ever since he was a youngster, Maxwell Varey remembers constantly being surrounded by amazing music tastes. Whether it was his mum and dad playing albums by The Killers, Kings Of Leon and The Libertines at the family home and taking him to festivals as a child, or his grandad playing the guitar around him all the time and sharing his love of The Eagles, Thin Lizzy and Fleetwood Mac, the now-20-year-old’s exposure to indie and rock came at a very early age. “I remember car journeys and knowing the words to every great indie album subconsciously,” says the Wigan-based artist, who also has fond memories of his first gig, seeing Little Man Tate with his mum; “I remember being on her shoulders at the age of probably six or seven, with a cowboy hat on, which the singer pointed out and loved.”
An inspired Varey picked up the guitar himself around the same time and started learning to play the instrument. “My mum forced me to have lessons but, as soon as I began, I immediately fell in love with playing, writing and performing,” he adds. Naturally, Varey progressed to producing and writing his own songs, which he has been doing for the decade since he turned 10-years-old. “I’ve always had an unshakable love for creating music layer by layer and listening to the final product - there’s nothing more satisfying,” he says. “It’s been an instinctual thing to make music and play live for as long as I can remember, and no feeling comes close to creating and performing my own music.”
Now, his stadium-sized indie-rock anthems - or “guitar-driven music in the setting of pop”, as Varey puts it - take influence from the artists he loved as a teenager, ranging from Tame Impala, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Arctic Monkeys to Kanye West, KAYTRANADA and Nirvana. Conceptually, he views his music as “an abstract painting rather than a watercolour one. I always set out to make my music as striking, bold and as satisfying as possible while keeping a rough edge and an apparent element of darkness through the lyrical content.”
Often taking on the unofficial role of narrator within his songs, the overarching theme comes from a real-life, generational perspective: being from a strong working class northern background. As well as alluding to mental health and drug use and how these two things go hand in hand, Varey also openly talks about about topics that some tend to shy away from; “issues that men commonly find difficult to talk about, in order to help other lads that are part of my culture and also just help people in general to feel more comfortable about how they feel.”
But far from his views coming across like a lecture, Varey innovatively takes a playful approach to his songwriting, for example flipping a personal topic metaphorically into a context that anyone can absorb and relate to. “I love poetry, so I think this has inspired me to often write in this way,” he explains. His upcoming single, ‘Falling Down’, is a great example of this, and is the first teaser of a self-produced debut EP that is sure to make him a name to watch in the UK music scene. “I’m really really proud of it and can’t wait to get the ball rolling,” he says, adding that performing the tracks live is equally exciting for him. “I can’t wait to play bigger and bigger shows and festivals all over the country to connect with new people through my music in the purest form.”
And that’s exactly what he’s been doing, having played 20+ shows in the last six months alone - including a sold out hometown headline gig in November back in Wigan; Varey’s London debut, at The Old Blue Last for Live Nation Source in January, was also a sell out and came a month before he supported indie band, MILK at Oporto in Leeds.
Looking to the future, Varey’s goal is to sell out world tours, headline massive festivals and make an impact in the industry through mainstream success with his music. “My dream for as long as I can remember is to headline Glastonbury,” he says. “I really think that, if you do that as an artist, you have really made an impact.”
With tunes as big as he has in the locker, Maxwell Varey’s dreams could soon become reality.
