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R2RB Podcast - Women Entrepreneurs and Indie Artists Series
Where Indie Artists and Women Entrepreneurs share their journeys.
We sit down with indie musicians from diverse genres, shedding light on their personal and professional experiences. From the euphoria of their first gigs to the challenges of carving a niche in the industry, R2RB Podcast is your backstage pass to these rising stars' raw and unfiltered narratives.
We also embark on a journey of Women Entrepreneurs and share their inspiration, amplifying the voices and stories of remarkable women entrepreneurs. Join us as we delve into the worlds of visionary leaders, innovators, and trailblazers who are rewriting the rules and reshaping industries.
We look forward to sharing your journey!
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R2RB Podcast - Women Entrepreneurs and Indie Artists Series
The Alicia Maxwell Project - Navigating the Indie Music Scene with Heart and Harmony
The heart of the episode showcases the undeniable chemistry that binds the band together. We chat about their nomination for the Hometown Heroes Homey Awards in Delaware, which honors local and original music. The band reflects on the joy and recognition that come from these accolades, sharing a memorable performance at the 17th Annual Homey Awards and the fascinating inspiration behind their hit song "Tap and Z," named after the Tappan Zee Bridge. Listen as they recount the excitement they feel being part of an indie music scene that celebrates creative freedom and heartfelt collaborations.
The Alicia Maxwell Project doesn’t stop at blending genres; they shatter boundaries, intertwining blues, rock, jam, funk, and soul in a way that keeps both their audience and themselves constantly engaged. Join us as we explore their ever-evolving live performances filled with spontaneous covers and energetic jams. The band also opens up about the balancing act of pursuing their musical passions alongside day jobs and personal lives, emphasizing the crucial role of support systems in their journey. We wrap up by discussing their upcoming shows and reflecting on what true success means to them: personal satisfaction and the invaluable support of their community.
https://linktr.ee/deblamotta
Hi and welcome to the R2RB podcast series. Today I have with me the Alicia Maxwell Project, and hello to everybody there. How are you all Good? How?
Speaker 2:are you doing?
Speaker 3:Fine.
Speaker 1:Very good, oh, my goodness gracious. So usually I ask two questions to get us warmed up, or at least me. But I would love for you to introduce yourselves and tell us what part of the band you are.
Speaker 3:My name is Alicia Maxwell and I am the singer.
Speaker 4:Joe Geiger, the bass player. I'm Bill Duby, the drummer.
Speaker 2:Joe Casamento guitar and background vocals.
Speaker 1:Awesome, oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much for being here with me and, as I had said before the interview, I have followed you, so I'm actually a little nervous. I'm very excited to be talking to all of you.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:So you have a sophomore album coming out this year.
Speaker 3:Hopefully. Yeah, we're working on a bunch of originals now and hopefully we'll get in the studio later this year. Oh cool.
Speaker 4:End of summer. We should have everything pretty tight by then.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I hope so.
Speaker 1:Alright, do you all do your own recording, mastering the whole gambit.
Speaker 2:No, we recorded our first album in Wilmington at 85 Studios and then we had it sent out to be mastered. That was the process we did last time.
Speaker 1:Is it different this time?
Speaker 2:Probably not, probably not. It seemed to work out pretty good, yeah it worked out great.
Speaker 4:They only have X amount of dollars.
Speaker 3:We worked with Rishi Rubini from Wilmington uh for our last record, and we love work with him, so oh, there you go.
Speaker 1:Hey, if it works, moza, continue on with it, right, that's right, that's right I like it. How'd you all?
Speaker 3:meet. So I was in a band previously with um joe geiger and bill doobie and then, uh, we were doing a side project and Joe was I didn't really know Joe, but we met, got together for a little rehearsal and then we've been doing it ever since. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I knew Joe. He was in another band. I filled in a couple of times, as have I in other situations.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I was familiar with Joe and invited him to come down and see what happened. Yeah, yeah, I was familiar with Joe and invited him to come down and see what happened.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And here we are five years later. Yeah, I guess it worked out, really well, it did.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, so getting together the Alicia Maxwell project name itself wasn't meant to be permanent, though.
Speaker 3:No, because I didn't think the band when we first got together it wasn't really going to be like our well, for me it wasn't going to be the main thing. I had another project I was working and and then it just so it was just kind of thrown together, I think, and I don't wish, I wish it was another name, I don't, you're the singer. He was out, but it's not. Yeah, I prefer. I just know I'd like. It's not my band, I like it to be. We should have just a name of.
Speaker 4:Oh, the Joe Geiger Project.
Speaker 3:The Joe Geiger Project. Yeah, I just, I don't like my name being the.
Speaker 1:She'll get over it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm stuck with can we change our name?
Speaker 1:now is it too late yeah, I think, I think, I think this one is working out pretty well yeah, everybody knows now by this yeah, and, and everybody knows who's in the band. I mean yeah yeah, absolutely at this point. Yeah, they definitely do so.
Speaker 3:You've been together since 2019, right before COVID or yeah, and our first gig was September 1st 2019. So it was right before the pandemic. And so what held you all together? We just stayed in contact. We would rehearse, joe and I did a couple of practices together, like via Zoom in the beginning, but we just never lost time. We started writing. We wrote a lot during that time. A lot of the songs that were on our last record were written during the pandemic.
Speaker 1:Did you all do lives at that time.
Speaker 3:We eventually did. Yes, we had our first one. I think capacity was like it was small, there wasn't a lot of people in the bar. We did the Celtic Pub and Smyrna let us use their stage. Yeah, we went Facebook Live and it was great. It was a great time because we all kind of it was our first time playing again. Yeah, that was a tough time for indie artists and Joe and I did a couple of acoustic things together. Venues didn't want to have full bands. They just couldn't with the small capacity. They didn't want to add two more players. That loses two seats at a table.
Speaker 1:That was a crazy time, so when were you finally able to come back all together?
Speaker 3:I don't remember when that.
Speaker 4:I mean that summer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was in 2020 yeah one, yeah, yeah, but you had to wear a mat anytime you weren't on stage. You had to put your mask on and walk around. And one venue, remember, they wanted me to wear a mask to sing. And then they're like never mind, I need to wear a mask yeah yeah, let me play other venues where nobody wore masks yeah yeah it was different, but we made it work.
Speaker 1:We got through it great yeah that was great, crazy with the masks, you know, during that whole time. So what were you all doing prior to the project alicia maxwell project? Were you all doing your own thing and what was it?
Speaker 3:I was in a band with, uh, joe geiger and bill db, another band and we were doing all. We didn't have any originals, we were just doing some cover tunes and a lot of, I guess, rock and some blues and yeah, a little bit of everything I was in another band.
Speaker 2:Uh, there's another band called dirty deal. That was a like a blues uh trio. We were kind of playing and it just kind of worked out that I think I was on the verge of looking for something different and then they asked me to fill in for a couple dates and then, uh, we liked playing with each other a lot and we got along really well and that was kind of wanting to keep it going. And then it just kind of steamrolled into kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker 4:So that's probably a world and a hundred other bands.
Speaker 1:But this one is working well for all of you. We all recognize that.
Speaker 3:There was just good chemistry when the band got together. It was just bad.
Speaker 4:I don't know, it just balanced well. What amazes me a lot with this band is it's almost five years, four and a half, almost five years. We've never had an argument with anybody. We just get along very well, and that's just so hard for a band man hey, I'm talking here.
Speaker 4:But usually there's always something, always something going on in a band where you know it can drag you down a little bit. But we don't seem to have that and we just really enjoy each other. It's good to see everyone when we see each other and we play and have a good time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, which is?
Speaker 4:really what music should be? Just enjoy, Just to have fun.
Speaker 1:Absolutely right and actually one of the questions I was going to ask is that you know if things are going left with the band, which one of you pulls it back together, but you don't have to worry about that part.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we don't really have that we kind of all do it ourselves, we all do it together. I got a couple of bruises from uh, from Bill, but I'm okay, I'll kiss you afterwards, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's so nice that you know you all can banter together and keep it all together and you know it all works and that's, that's, you know, half the battle right there. So you have been nominated for four hometown heroes homie awards. For those who don't know what the hometown heroes awards are, the homie awards celebrate outstanding achievements in local and original music here in Delaware. So what's this experience like for you? Four times you've been nominated.
Speaker 3:It was exciting. It was the first time I've ever been nominated for anything. It was, I guess, the first time our album got any. That's a band.
Speaker 4:It was nice being them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was nice to have people recognize the music that we created and I think people had to vote in you know what I mean to get the nomination. So that was a good feeling that there were people out there that liked kind of what we were doing, and so that definitely felt good.
Speaker 1:It's such a great opportunity for the indie artist to be recognized that way. So I'm a transplant. I'm originally from Connecticut. I wasn't aware of the Homey Awards I shouldn't laugh at other people but so I originally. So I've been down here two and a half years. When I originally came down here two and a half years ago, I had gone to an event, outdoor event, and I first heard lowercase blues. You guys have been with them before.
Speaker 3:Oh, we've done a couple of shows with them. Yeah, they're awesome.
Speaker 1:I've known them for half of my life have you really, oh my gosh more than that they got me hooked on one blues and then they got me hooked on the indie artists here in delaware, and that's really how this is all snowballed to um having the indie artists on the r2rb network. So, but back to the homey award. So you performed last year. Was that the 17th year for the homey awards?
Speaker 3:last year. Yeah, I was at the queen.
Speaker 1:It was a great night, a lot of musicians oh my gosh, so many musicians, um, and all of you are so great. I don't know how. So, with people nominating because I would, I could not be sitting on the panel picking and choosing because everybody would be getting nominations from me. But you were there and your first album is Alicia Maxwell Project, correct? And so you were performing at the 17th Annual Hometown Heroes Homey Awards and Joey Fockerson joined you on stage. He did.
Speaker 3:He did. Joe Casamento was out of the country and Joey Fockerson he's. He's built me out a lot in past bands too, Like if I had lost my voice or something. Joey always on standby it was. It just always worked out. But he was able to um do a song with us at the homey awards, which was pretty cool that had to be such a great evening all around being up on stage and and being recognized as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there was a lot of musicians I didn't I've in a different, I guess, circuit than what I'm familiar with, so it was neat to see and hear musicians that I've heard of but I've never actually heard or seen before it was pretty neat.
Speaker 1:So just talk a little bit about your first album. Well, let me ask a question on the Tap and Z song. I'm connected to the Tap and Z so when I first was when I was going through your music and I heard the song, it's like wait a minute. How do you guys all get connected to the tap and z?
Speaker 3:so we were at rehearsal one night and I was talking about driving to maine to see my best friend, and then I don't know anything about driving north. Joe, casamento is from what part of new york, joe, syracuse, syracuse oh, okay, I'm from maine, so I know all about the taxi. And then Joe Geiger is from. Where are you from, joe?
Speaker 2:Long.
Speaker 3:Island, long Island.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 3:So they started telling me about the Tappan Zee Bridge and next thing I know Joe Casamento is like listen to this song. I wrote. And that's our most popular song and it got played on BB King's Bluesville on Sirius XM, oh, which is really cool. So but that's that's probably our most requested song.
Speaker 1:It's a great song and it connects me because that's how I get back to Connecticut, cause I unless I'm really, you know, I, I've taken a wrong turn.
Speaker 3:I will not go over the George Washington to save my life, and that's what they were telling me about my trip. They said don't go over the George Washington, go over the Tappan Zee bridge, you have to go over the Tapp z and that's it might take you out of your way by 10 minutes, but it's worth it, yeah right, oh my gosh yeah, are you all here in delaware or pennsylvania?
Speaker 1:where are you all located? Where are you from? I? I live on eastern shore, maryland. Oh, you're maryland, okay, yeah, I'm in, but not too far into cecil county.
Speaker 3:I mean not too. And then the rest of us are from delaware reside we reside in delaware.
Speaker 1:Yes yeah, it's a great. That's a great album, and I can't wait for your second one, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Do you all collaborate on the writing, or two of you, or how does that work?
Speaker 2:Seems to be mostly Joe and Alicia Usually usually I'll come up with something, or Alicia will come up with like a lyric, and we'll go back and forth and then when we got something together that we think is pretty good, we'll bring it to the band and then we'll try to play it as a team and see if it works.
Speaker 4:you know, in the band situation and what kind of life it takes, everybody adds to it, and then we just create the whole. It's a yeah, it's a group effort.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you do it to just pick time, to do it together, or does one do? One of you have an idea and you just go with it, yeah.
Speaker 3:So typically, either joe will come up with a riff on guitar that he's been working on, or he gets. He keeps wanting to play it, and then he'll send it to me, and or sometimes he'll have some words for it, sometimes he won't, and then I'll see what I can do with the lyrics. And or vice versa, I'll have a couple lines of something that I, or a poem even, and and say see what you can do with this, or here's my idea. And then, once he does his part, then we will have a rehearsal and he and I will do what we can with to show the guys joe, bill and joe what we've done so far, and then they'll start adding the drums and the bass to it and see what we can create yeah, one of the cool parts about writing in this band is that everybody's so open to ideas that you can kind of be free.
Speaker 2:We really don't have like any genre that we try to write for. We just kind of write what we feel, and you know what we're feeling. If and it sounds good, we and we like it, we just do it. And it's nice to have that freedom and to be with like people that you can feel comfortable showing creations to, and then they're open to ideas and then you can take it and morph it into cool songs that people like. I think that's the you know, one of the most the best part about writing songs, you know.
Speaker 1:So you aren't classified as any one genre either.
Speaker 3:No, people ask us all the time, what kind of music do you do?
Speaker 2:and it's really hard to say because we're all over the place four different genres we were like bluesy, rockish, jammyish, funkyish soul somewhere in that land that covers a lot of ground, but that's kind of how I think that's how we like it, yeah and I think that's why our fans seem to really like it too, because even places we play we don't know the people don't know us.
Speaker 3:Right, there's always. We do something for everybody we might do like, especially like if our cover tunes we might go from I don't know something jazzy or bluesy into led zeppelin. We're just kind of all over the place. Prince, we'll go from radiohead. We're all over the place but, our originals are that way too. They don't.
Speaker 2:They're not, they don't sound like one genre and we do it on purpose, because we we play out, uh, every weekend, pretty much every every week we're playing somewhere and the people that come to see us. I think one of the things I like about the band is that we're always kind of changing it up and doing different things, so it's not the same show and we add a new song and they didn't expect it, or we just decide to cover something on a whim, or we go into a long jam, or the show is always changing and it's not a set regimen, and I think that attracts some people to continuously come, come back, and that's what I like too, because it keeps it fresh for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's fun learning new songs, yeah and I think that's one of the things I like about indie artists is that you don't have to be in any certain genre. You know, and you can be as as unique as you all are yeah, everybody benefits from it the musicians, the listener. Who was on the Cecil TV?
Speaker 3:show. Joe and I were on there. How did that happen? I had known the guy that did an interview, box Fiddle Bob. I've known him for a long time. I haven't seen him in a long time, but he kind of reached out and said hey, do you guys want to? It was like the day before, a couple of days before. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as I was poking around and doing a little research, that came up on one of my searches. It's like, oh, that was pretty cool. And then I noticed when you had done it. It's like, oh, that's even better for you guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a good time. We were doing a couple of big shows in the area, so that was nice promotion too.
Speaker 1:Doing interviews, and doing an interview like this and then with Cecil TV. Does that help to get your name out even more?
Speaker 3:I think so it gets to a different audience than what we typically see out at venues.
Speaker 2:I think it's what's really cool is that sometimes we try to play different places a bunch so that we can spread it out.
Speaker 2:You know, and and it's always cool when we're playing somewhere and they're like, hey, you know, we saw you out and you know, down on the beach, or we saw you, guys when you opened up for Papa Chubby or whatever it was right and it's nice to know that there's people out there that liked it and wanted to come back, and so we try to spread it out and then doing interviews and doing shows like that is a nice way to get get the name out there as much as possible.
Speaker 1:So it's definitely a cool thing. If you weren't a musician, what would you be?
Speaker 3:did you all have a plan b? I have. I have a day job which I'm not crazy about. I'm not crazy about that, but I would. I'm a paralegal, so that's what I would do if I wasn't. I would love to do this full-time, but here we are I don't have any.
Speaker 2:I. I have a full-time job as well in in staffing. But if I could pay the bills and keep everything together being a musician, that's what I would. That's what I would do, a hundred percent.
Speaker 4:I already did that. I already did that, and now I'm retired, so I'm doing it again.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go.
Speaker 4:You can't build myself a retired.
Speaker 1:Oh good, how do you, how do you balance your music life and your home and family time?
Speaker 2:I'll let you know if I figure it out.
Speaker 4:I don't have to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very carefully on my end. It's hard, but we make it work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've got people that are understanding enough that they can put up with all the things that you have to. When you're with a musician, it's always hard, because you book everything in advance and then something comes up and you can't do it, or you want to do it. You can't go because you're booked and it's definitely a challenge and it's not. It's not easy, it's probably. I don't sleep a lot, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I do. It's worth it. That's good. Well, you know it's something that you've been working at for a while, so you know you're balancing it as best as you, and you must have people in your lives that understand that as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we do. We're lucky that we were able to do this Good.
Speaker 4:I met my wife in a club years ago. Oh, there you go.
Speaker 3:I have to do this.
Speaker 4:There's no way I can stop Same with me too.
Speaker 3:This is my therapy. There's no way I could ever stop it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I'll probably be doing when you're 70.
Speaker 1:So I can't do it anymore. I'll be doing it, no, that's. You know. That is total passion, 100%. What advice would you give somebody else wanting to get into the music arena?
Speaker 4:As you know, the business is really over. It's to me. I feel sorry for anyone coming up, you up any young kids, teenagers or whatever. It's just not what it was decades ago. And it's a shame. The internet's a wonderful thing, but then that really kills a lot for bands that rely on it for money. You have all these older musicians that were big in the 70s and the 80s and they got to keep working because sales of albums. You make nothing. These days.
Speaker 4:So they have to go out and work, otherwise they're going to I don't know work at Burger King. You know you got to have some kind of money.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think you have to love it and just you have to be okay with whatever it is that you're doing, and money is not the end result of being successful, right? So I would just meet as many people as you can, be nice to as many people as you can, be a good, reliable person in the musical community and try to support others is probably the best advice you could have. And just keep doing it, you know, and be happy with the success that you have and being able to play, live and be able to play for people continuously.
Speaker 4:I think if you're happy with that, you know, then you're, then you're successful yeah, I think we're very lucky as a, as a group, just to be able to do the work that we're doing. You know have have that. You know it's important we could be working more. But you know, with lives, personal lives, families and stuff we kind of limit ourselves and you know, keep everybody lives, personal lives, families and stuff we kind of limit ourselves and you know, keep everybody happy, keep the whole situation flowing and happy.
Speaker 1:It is not for the faint of heart, because I know it can be a really you know tough industry to be in, like you said, these days it certainly is not like it was 70s, 80s and the 90s. So kudos to you to being able to do what you're still doing and balancing it with jobs and family all together. Thank you, you're welcome. So this interview is going to air June 19th. Would you like to share where you're booked after that date?
Speaker 3:Sure. So after the 19th we have a June 28th at Gustus Crab Shack, and then June 30th it's a Sunday we're at Unwind, which is in Elkton, Maryland. That's a great venue right on the water, and then Crabby Dick's July 6th in Delaware.
Speaker 1:City. Yes, I've heard of, I've heard of two out of those three which one.
Speaker 3:Haven't you heard of the one in Maryland, the Unwind? Yeah, yeah, it's at Triton Marina. It's really nice venue they've fixed up. We played there twice now and it's a nice place.
Speaker 1:I'm writing as you're speaking, Okay awesome. Is there anything else that you'd like to share that I?
Speaker 3:haven't touched on. I don't think so. We appreciate you having us.
Speaker 2:Do you guys have anything?
Speaker 4:No, thank you very much for letting us share. Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1:Thank you all. I really enjoyed this. I'm so happy that I get to speak with you all.
