Press Reviews
Ashcan Magazine
Interview by Sean Logic Photography by Matt Polito
While it’ d be easy enough to play it safe and fall in line with the rest of the world of indie music, eager to follow the trend of predictable melodies and kitschy lyrics, Make Me emerges as a group willing to go much farther than that. Falling somewhere in between the finer elements of indie-rock, post-hardcore, and riot grrrl, what they put across is a sound much larger than their seemingly tight knit unit, doing it all with an energy large enough to fill a room three times the size you’re reading this in. So what exactly does that all mean? For starters it means you need to go out and listen to their music this minute, and then once you’re done with that ask yourself why it took so damn long to finally do it.
A lot of bands have interesting back histories, but I know Wes had a pretty unique experience joining the group, anybody care to share that story?
Claire: We had just finished our third song at the Knockout when our drummer, Jesse, jumped out of the drum seat and ran out the front door. We kept playing for maybe a minute and when he didn’t come back Jeremy ran out to see where he went, he came back with no Jesse and no idea where he had gone. So we asked the crowd if there were any drummers. Lo and behold Wes climbs on stage, Zola gives him a basic drum beat for the next song.
Wes: I played a couple of songs that I’ve never heard before off-the-cuff. I almost felt as if I was back in high school band and doing some sort of sight reading contest.
Even before House Of Brakes came out you guys would still open shows with “Black Ants.” Was that one of those songs that you played and just ended up on the record?
Jeremy: We try to be pretty conscious of our set length and order. We tried starting the set with a few different songs, build-ups, jams, and there was something really clean and energizing about that song. Just four hi-hats and Bam!; the audience is with us. It buys us a lot of credibility early on that we then punish the audience for giving us for the rest of the set.
Claire: It also ended up being one of my favorite songs that we play too.I noticed a definite progression from your first album, It Only Hurts The First Time, to this one. Are slower songs like “Youth Without Youth” a direction you’re looking to head towards?
Jeremy: Yeah, I think we’d like to just expand into everything. Slower songs, faster songs. That’s a good one in particular because we kind of just blazed it onto the record. It was kinda kicking around for a while with some other songs and we decided to just do it. It turned out different than we expected, but surprising, and interesting.
I’m just curious, was the song ru486 at all a reference to the East Bay band RU36?
Jeremy: I’ve never heard them but I’ve seen the sticker though. Ru486 is kind of about the rise and fall of a fucked up drunken night, and the effect and feeling of it from two sides. Ru486 is inspired by a Cursive song call A Gentleman Caller. Also, our ru486 it is sort of a combination of two songs, and that seemed to work well. Plus, ru486 is the prescription for the morning after pill. It’s just referencing the things you do that you can’t take back, the things you do that you know are wrong but do anyway.
What’s the story behind the “Whatever You Like” Cover? When? Why?
Claire: C. Jeremy had this idea and we all went along with it, well because it included Ranon. Make Me has love for Ranon.
Jeremy: For WYL I just thought the song was so perfect in so many ways, just a perfect pop song, and it had very few instrumental elements. Ranon’s a great friend of mine and is s fucking superstar and just needs a spotlight on him, I’ll introduce you two sometime and you’ll get it. He’s Bay-famous. I just envisioned him doing it with us and it happened.
http://ashcanmagazine.com/?p=42
The Noise (Flagstaff Az alternative weekly)
Bobby Carlson
The amount of solicitation emails I get from publicists, promoters and bands each month is beyond staggering. I've never signed up for any lists that I can remember. My editor signed me up for Sonicbids, but I quickly abandoned it, as there was literally nothing I was interested in coming to me on there. I also continue to receive promos from the Alternative Tentacles and Epitaph's family tree (Anti being the only label with any decent releases), some of which are great, but of course the bands are never coming through Northern Arizona, so there's very little to say about these albums. "Hey check out these albums you have already heard of and already have set opinions about"
Meanwhile, I do however read (almost) every e-mail and always regret the amount of stuff I don't have the space, time or interest to write up.
All that said, I always receive some random golden tidbit by some band i get very excited about.
Behold Oakland's MakeMe.
You'd think that in the dos double aught nine, the amount of great simple pop bands would be as equally staggering as the amount of prog bluegrass bands putting their first album together in NY. (I'm not kidding about that.) But hearing MakeMe's indy pop sparkly gems was that cliche breath of fresh air every commenter of music is looking for. I shot them some e-mails and they sent me some responses:
So you've been a band since 2005 or...
"Technically Zola and Claire started the band in 2004 after the break up of thier previouse band "Them Apples," but MakeMe went on hiatus when Zola left the band that summer to join "Boyskout". The band reformed in the summer of 2005 adding Jeremy on guitar, and Jessie Rivkin (also former Boyskout ) on drums. The band played for a few months with this line up before Jessie's very public and confusing departure. Midway through a performance Jessie began having problems with his kick pedal and kept stopping and restarting the song. Jessie then leapt out from behind the drum kit and ran out the door. At first we thought he was just getting somthing to fix the pedal with, but sure enough he had run out on the band. Audience member Wes Chase climbed up on stage finishing the set and has been playing with the band ever since, thus our current line up was complete."
You have a new album out...
"House of Brakes" is a follow up to our debut record "It Only Hurts The First Time" We worked with Justin Weiss who is mostly known for his work on metal and underground rap albums like Hammers of Misfortune, Andre Nickatina, and B-Legit. The over arching theme of the record is the effort involved in halting something that is unstoppable thus the title House of Brakes. Our first record leaned a little more toward Indie Pop, and was Internationally naive.
And you are touring...
We have toured before but this will be our most extensive. We will be out for about a month and are cautiously optimistic."
The new record is simply really good. The show is at the Monte Vista Lounge on June 11th.
thenoise.us
WIDR Top 5
Jeremy Martin
My take: Looking back at your movie viewing habits of the 1980s, do you find that most of your choices in film revolved around how awesome the mid-show montage was? I thought so, that's why I recommend this. Every song is made for jump cuts of dudes running and fighting or groups of children coming together to finish a quilt in order to save the rec center. Who knows, maybe you'll be inspired to make your own montage based on these songs?
www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/08/widrs_top_5_39.html
The Deli Magazine
Nicole
Picking the brains of our recent Artist of the Month winners, MakeMe. Catch them at Bottom of the Hill tonight!
What food item best describes your music?
A bowl of count chocula with soy milk.
What instrument have you wanted to include but have yet to find a way to fit into your sound?
A full orchestra.
Embarrassing childhood memory?
Jeremy: peeing my pants in computer class three weeks in a row. It was a once a week class.
Zola: I was huge as a child, kids called me Godzola.
Claire: While I was watching my grandpa help a cow give birth I passed out. When I came to, all the farm kids were laughing at me.
Wes: My 2nd grade teacher (who had horrible breath from smoking) would kiss every kid on the cheek if it was your birthday. It was pretty embarrassing but mostly just gross. At the time, I was envious of the kids who had a birthday in the summer.
What musical artist would you like to grab a beer with?
Jeremy:Billy Corgan
Zola: Stevie Nicks circa Bella Donna
Claire: Lux Interior
Wes: Keith Moon
And finally, time travel or space travel?
This brought up much debate. Time seems like it would be a good idea but then you could end up like Sam from Quantum Leap and never get back to where you want to be. Space on the other hand can be crazy cold. We would have to combine the two with the comforts of the future for space travel.
You can catch MakeMe at Bottom of the Hill tonight, July 28th, or Friday July 31st playing at Amoeba Berkeley at 6pm!
http://www.thedelimagazine.com/sf/index.php?itemId=220014
Amoeba Records [- Hide]
Amoeba Records
Post Riot-Grrrl quartet returns with their new limited-to-500 edition, white vinyl album House of Brakes. The band worked with Justin Weiss (B-Legit, Andre Nickatina, Hammers of Misfortune) to deliver an album of clever lyrics, bombastic beats, and infectious melodies.
http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/performances/berkeley/2009-july-31/amoeba-home-grown-presents-makeme/artist.html
Their website includes live photo's of the event!
Bay Bridged
Ben Van Houten
Oakland’s MakeMe have a couple of upcoming shows to promote their brand new album House of Brakes. My current favorite song on the new record, “Matters”, features great vocal back-and-forth and some nice keyboard touches that build into an anthemic tidal wave of awesomeness.
The band’s official record release show is on Friday, July 31st at Amoeba Music in Berkeley. That free show starts at 6pm. They’ll also be opening for Future of the Left at Bottom of the Hill on Tuesday July 28th. If you head over to the MakeMeMakeYou.com, you can get four free songs from the album by signing up to their mailing list. Not a bad deal if you ask me.