Interview with guitarist Maxwell Hughes
by Hannah Lintner
Fort Collins native Maxwell Hughes is an incredibly talented guitarist. His music, which features a slap-picking style, is unique and beautiful. Hughes took time out of his busy schedule to answer questions about traveling, FoCoMX, and his hometown.
CMB: What is your favorite aspect of FoCoMX?
MH: My favorite aspect of FoCOMX has to be to be the people behind the scenes that make it all possible: the organizers, the volunteers, the sponsors, etc. Without them, there would be 300+ bands with nothing to do. They also take extra steps to ensure that bands are taken care of. We get a sweet green room, and color matching wristbands! It is [because of] them that we, the bands, and we, the audience, enjoy such a great weekend every year.
CMB: How did your set go?
MH: I feel like my set went well. Crankenstein is a cool venue, and the sound engineer did a great job. There was a good turn out as wel,l but the sound system was set up in a weird way. Sort of dissected the room and forced everyone to get real cozy together. It was fun all in all though.
CMB: What other bands did you see at the festival this weekend?
MH: Otem Rellik is a hip-hop artist that I see every year, and didn’t fail this year. In addition to seeing him, I also saw Sour Boy Bitter Girl and Jordan Twiggs. Fort Collins music is pretty boss!
CMB: You were in Thailand earlier this year; did you participate in any shows in Asia?
MH: Sort of, I got asked to play a show in Chiang Mai Thailand after noodling around the hostel that I was staying at. Apparently, the owner knew some venue owner around town and got me up to play some music. I loved Thailand and would love to figure out a way to have my music take me there again some day!
CMB: What differences have you noticed in the music scenes between the different places you’ve visited and Fort Collins?
MH: The one thing that I found that was way different was, people are music starved down there. They aren’t here. Music venues tend to capitalize on this here in the states, and musicians have to work incredibly hard in order to get compensated for their talents. I consistently made $20 a night playing in Panama and I joked around that it was more than I made in the states–which is sort of true. You could play somewhere as background music there and at least make $20. Not really the case here. I met a lot of gringo players in Central America and only met two Ticos (locals) throughout my trip. It was definitely due to my travel destinations and not the music scene, however.
Category: Noco Music Scene
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