Interview: Porches’ Aaron Maine talks Water EP, the creative effects of pot, and “Bummer Pop”

By: Curtis Sindrey –

Aaron Maine of Porches. (Photo: Jessica Lehrman)

Aaron Maine’s Porches followed the release of this year’s acclaimed Pool with the Water EP – a special opportunity to experience the music that formed the melodic skeleton of Pool in its raw state, alongside a pair of previously unreleased songs “Black Dress” and “Black Budweiser T-Shirt”. Recorded solo in his adopted home of New York City, the Water EP strips Maine’s work down to its core, opening the curtain on his musical metamorphosis from previous releases Slow Dance In The Cosmos and those of his alias, Ronald Paris, into the Porches of today.

In our new interview with Maine, we discuss the making of the Water EP, being labelled as a “bummer pop” artist, the creative effects of marijuana, and more!

With the sound of Pool, it’s very danceable, but it also emotional depth, is that something you see yourself trying to develop?

Yeah, absolutely that was a goal of mine, I guess.

When creating the demos that make up the Water EP, and those that ended up on Pool, what was it like to record in your apartment in the sense of being able to separate yourself from the studio?

It was nice. You were not on anyone else’s time so I found that I got some good takes were I could just obsess over certain aspects and really make sure that I got what I wanted to out of the recording. I really liked the idea of doing it at home, but I think it has a certain quality you can kind of keep your impressions and faiths.

At what point when you were recording were you 100 percent happy with the songs instead of working on it forever?

Absolutely… that’s the one thing about working from home is that it’s always at your fingertips, if you are home. Which most of the time is a good thing but sometimes it would have been good to step away or leave the studio and let it rest. Yeah, I’ve obsessed over it as I’m sure most artists do over their work, I enjoy doing that.

You’ve said before that you created Pool on your own terms. But do you think that your creative output would be different in quality had fans and critics been less receptive to the album?

No, probably not, I mean it’s hard to say if I felt like the criticism was true. Or if I agreed with it, I guess try and change it. I do respond and read some reviews and I do take some of it to heart, I try to adjust it if it’s something, or something is coming across in the wrong way. Then it’s in my best interest to try and work it out so my message comes across the way I want it to. So it is important to me what people think in that sense, because I want to be able to communicate to the best of my abilities and at the same time when it comes down to it I’m just trying to make something that I’m proud and that I would listen to. So I guess It’s a combination of both. I wouldn’t, as long as it’s… yeah… I don’t know, Haha.

With the release of Pool, you were branded as a “bummer pop” artist. What did you think when you first heard that phrase?

I didn’t like it when that phrase was getting thrown around. I think it was more about the last record Slow Dance In The Cosmos, sort of like you were saying earlier I responded to that criticism, I guess the criticism towards kind of labeling of the music. I realized that my lyrics were a lot grimmer than I wanted them to be. Which is funny because the act of writing is sort of… even it’s about something that’s a bummer is kind of a victory in itself. Just getting it out and a part of it is that cathartic process that I realized that you know the person listening to the song is going through the same, as I am. I was made more aware of what I was saying and how it was coming across, so I think it was a good thing because I don’t want my songs to bum people out.

Porches released their new EP, Water, on September 20th.

Before Pool, you didn’t have a computer, so was it mostly recording on analog tape machines and things like that?

Yeah, it was all over the place. Slow Dance In The Cosmos was recorded at my friend’s studio… being in tune to an eight-track and tape machine and then Scrap and Love Songs for before that. I recorded that at home on a four-track and GarageBand and then the one before that I did with the same guy, first one was with a friend who knew how to use Protools, you know… took two weeks. So kind of been all over the place.

So far on my brother’s computer, friends computer and just to get the ideas down on Garageband so it’s nice when I finally did get a set, it was pretty exciting I just wanted to keep going with it and make it a nice spot for a chorus.

One thing I love about recording on tape is that you have to connect to an idea, because it’s a pain in the ass to go back. You have to finish the lyrics, have the whole structure down, if you want to record anything because you can’t punch I mean you can punch something you know. I really like that actually after Pool was done I was writing a lot and was demoing a bunch of new stuff strictly on the tape machine for that reason. So you can just force yourself to commit to an idea. I think I am a lot more productive that way and the computer is cool for all these reason, endless possibilities which is most of the time great or sometimes you can spend three hours on an snare drum and go “what was I thinking?”

With Pool, there seems to be an ongoing theme of smoking pot. Do you think that pot has any positive creative affects?

Sort of, I don’t smoke that much pot. Maybe like before bed an hour or two before I go to sleep. Maybe with some friends, so sometimes I’ll work on music after smoking and it feels pretty good. I more like listening back to that day a little high sometimes… it’s cool. But think I work better when I’m clear headed in the morning. I kind of wish I could, I’ve never been good a smoking pot… I can always smoke a tiny bit before I freak out and then can’t be that productive, haha.

You grew up in a musical family with your dad being a songwriter and your mom who played piano. Were you interested in songwriting, etc, growing up, or was that a different world when you were a kid?

I was interested in playing music a lot when I was younger. I picked up the trumpet for a school dance in fourth grade. I played trumpet from fourth to 12th grade and then probably around sixth grade when I got a bass, my first electric bass and played that in a few bands this was my intro to rock music, I guess. And then I started learning the guitar in ninth grade just messing around on, I got a laptop with Garageband. So I don’t know… I feel lucky, I think a lot of people grow up and songwriting seems like such a weirdly untouchable thing, like a lot of people are just like, no I don’t know where to start. I feel lucky that I just saw my dad do it and it was kind of like, seemed like you could do I guess. You know what I am saying, that it wasn’t this untouchable thing it was just something my dad did and I watched him do. Not even a chore it was just right there in front of me, just seemed like I could probably do it. It’s hard to explain, I think with anything it’s easier when you have an example.

You create all of your own cover art. What inspires you visually?

I don’t know, there’s not… it’s not too particular and it’s always changing. I just like paying attention to stuff like photographs, paintings or just whatever. I feel like I’m a pretty visual person so it kind of makes it way into my work, I guess. Instagram, tumblr and just people on the street. Everyday life.

With a batch of dates still to go throughout the US and Europe, are you writing as much as you want to be while on the road?

No, not as much , it’s hard for me to write on the road. The most I do is write in my journal and I kind of like stepping away from recording for a little bit. And it’s fun to go home and have a notebook full of random, half asleep thoughts you wrote down in the van and stuff. It can be exciting to see that.

Well, you know I feel like I have to kind of turn off my brain a little bit, day to day, sitting for most of the day and you’re not really experiencing much emotionally I guess. I mean sometimes you are but, I don’t know it’s such a whirlwind and takes so much energy to stay healthy, focused and calm that I don’t feel very inspired while touring.