The first time I heard indie rocker Briston Maroney’s hit song, “Freaking Out On The Interstate,” I must have replayed it 40 times that day. It wasn’t just his powerful vocals or soothing sound but rather his lyrics that made me emotionally vulnerable when hearing his songs.
I got the opportunity to sit down with Briston before his show at The House of Blues in San Diego on Wednesday, Oct.16 in the Voodoo Room. Briston walked over with his overalls on, his curly hair to his shoulders and his smile wide as he greeted me with the warmest welcome.
Over the next twenty minutes, we talked about his tour, being twenty-one, his day spent in Ocean Beach, the new camper he just bought and he even mentioned owning a San Diego State shirt.
Briston’s setlist consisted of many songs off his newest EP, “Indiana” as well as some upcoming singles. I hadn’t been to a concert in a long time that made me walk away feeling as elated as I had after Briston’s show.
The intimate venue upheld its purpose during Briston’s emotional bridges and guitar solos that left the crowd in awe. There is something special about the singer-songwriter that seemed to touch the hearts of everyone in the audience individually.
Your latest single is called “Steve’s First Bruise” and before that, you released “Indiana”, is “Steve’s First Bruise” going to turn into an album or are do you think you’re going to sporadically release music as you do?
Steve’s First Bruise was one of two singles we tracked in that session so there will be one more coming out next. Not long from now. After that, the miracle singles are done and then we’ll start working on the full length.
Last week you performed at Austin City Limits. How was that?
ACL was awesome, it was super crazy to be there. It was two weekends so we had the whole week in between that felt like one long crazy week of meeting people, and it was cool to meet people the first week and then come back the second week and have friends there. It was so community-centered.
Was that the biggest festival you’ve done?
Totally, yes.
In high school did you excel in English? Or when did you realize you were good at writing?
Definitely did not excel in anything in high school. I always liked writing and enjoyed writing for myself when I was younger. I used to read a lot as a kid, I’m trying to do that more. I’m reading “Paper Towns” right now, I feel like a fourteen-year-old.
Do you ever have writer’s block?
Yes. All the time, it is hard to do on the road. I’ve been writing a lot this year and a lot of times it happens really quickly and when it does happen the songs that end up on the record are written in fifteen, twenty minutes. Sometimes you can go for six months without anything and then out of nowhere be really inspired. It’s up and down, but it’s worth it.
Do you ever worry that people won’t respond well?
It’s crazy that people are connecting to songs from my college dorm.
Musicians are often asked about their goals for the future, but I wanted to go back in time a little and reflect on the past. Is there a decision that you think if you had not made in the past you would not be where you are today?
Yes. I don’t know if there was just one decision. Simple things, waking up to start a day is a huge man. Any time you decided to leave your house and go to a show or sit down and write music for twenty minutes, all those decisions make a big difference. I try not to regret anything, I do wish sometimes I’d look back and compromise less on what I wanted to say with music and realized it was okay to be myself earlier on. Not to get too John Green.
What are your favorite and least favorite things about tour?
Favorite thing is being on tour. You get to play every night and meet nice people. Meeting people is my favorite thing. My least favorite part is writing. It’s really hard to write on the road because we don’t have a lot of free time and at night you’re so tired. But I don’t want to complain about anything.
At what point did you realize like, “Wow this is it?”
I think every day we get to do this is a cool moment. ACL was a big moment of like, “Dang, I got to be in a place where my heroes have stood before.” Hearing people share stories of their connection to the music or when people know the lyrics, it’s a meaningful moment.
Who are some people who influence you a lot whether it’s authors, musicians or people in your life?
Honestly, a lot of my biggest influences are actors. I love Brad Pitt. I’m really into his movies and inspired by a lot of people who have done their own thing for a really long time. My favorite musicians are old songwriters like John Prine and Bob Dylan.
Do you have any parts of your life specifically that inspired your music the most or do you take it from other outside things?
I think my earlier memories of just being a kid were the most important to me. Growing up, I spent a lot of time on my own, so growing up alone and learning a lot of lessons on my own then. Pre-teen like 12-13 is great years and super important because you don’t know a lot of things and you feel a lot of things you can’t explain and music helps with that a lot.
What pressures do you think you face coming into the music industry at 21. Do you feel that things are different in this environment we have currently?
I think a big thing for artists now is how quickly things move. You’re expected to be cranking out music and staying relevant isn’t easy to do. I think there is a level of respect, almost, so many movements in 2019 of people being called out on their shit. I think there is a level of intentionality and you can’t be an asshole anymore. People are being held accountable and if you’re in music for the wrong reasons you’re going to fall now. It really excites me, I hate to see people hurting. It’s a crazy climate right now but at the end of the day, we’re totally on the right track of people spreading music.
