AXEL BROOKS

Interview by Steven Logan | Photos by Shea Petersen

Axel Brooks only started releasing music last year, but has already made a splash in their short career. Three singles in with a fourth on the way, I caught up with Axel on the verge of taking their stories and songs to bigger crowds and higher heights.

Tell me about your song that's about to come out.
It's called “After the Tears”. I wrote this song like a year ago. I always try to think of a story lyrically. There’s a ton of lyrics in the chorus that are like, eyes shut, mouth open wide, or eyes wide shut. I guess I was thinking about how contradictory that phrase “eyes wide shut” is, how it’s like going into a relationship that you almost know is wrong, but you go in anyways. So you can see it for what it is, your eyes are open, but you're shutting them to the reality of what's actually there. 

But then I think it's also a really hopeful song. It's a lot of like, I don't know, maybe we've gone through so much and we've seen each other in such dark spaces that now we can go through anything. Like if you've already seen the worst, then like maybe there's hope for something better after that. 

It’s a tragic romance.
I love to write about that. 

What about that appeals to you and what other common themes or images do you feel like you come back to, lyrically?
Well, this might just be because I grew up in the heart of the Tumblr era and I was like, rabid on Tumblr, consuming Lana del Rey and Sky Ferreira and all the nonsense that was Tumblr. So I think I keep coming back to that idea of just like, a bad relationship.

It’s something that I've been trying to move away from, not shedding entirely, but just trying to add a little bit more nuance to it. That's what I was going for with “After the Tears”, was a little more nuance. Because “Sympathy” was straight up like, my God, horrible man, he's the devil, but I can't resist. 

In “Sympathy”, you’re being tempted, and then in “When a Siren Calls”, you’re the temptation.
Yeah. There always has to be like a sexy danger element, and it doesn't necessarily feel like a character. It feels like accurate from where I'm from, like small town. I don't know, I was in eighth grade and I was smoking cigarettes and selling cigarettes to kids in my school and listening to Lana Del Rey and then writing these weird, tragic songs, which is funny because I feel like I hadn't even experienced any of it yet. 

It was like fantasy. 
Yes. And I think a lot of that has just stuck with me as I have kept writing as I've gotten older. I find tragedy really compelling.

So where did you grow up?
I'm from Minnesota.

Small town Minnesota?
Well, I grew up in the city and then we moved to the country, well, like a small town. It's called Red Wing, where the shoes are from. 

And we moved there when I was in like eighth grade. And that was horrible. Things got really dark. 

That's almost even worse than growing up there from the start. Because you are thrown into it, at the peak time of like figuring out who you are. 
Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes, exactly. You've nailed it. It was just like horrible. But I also think like I wouldn't have…I don't know, I feel like I'm like a more well-rounded artist because of all of that. It's something I'm gonna keep telling myself. 

How do you feel like that influenced your sound, like living in a more small town or semi-rural area or whatever? 
A lot of the songs that will be coming out have such a country feel to them. My mom loves country music and so does my dad, and I think that reflects a lot in how I sing and how I write, especially the storytelling aspect of it. I love country music because the story is always at the foreground, at the forefront. 

All the best country songs, at least.
Yes, and I love that. To me, even the best pop songs have a story that's driving it forward.

That country element kind of comes through in “Everyone Wants” a little bit, with the I guess not country, but more of the folky guitar line.
Yeah, definitely. 

So tell me about that song, how did it get made?
I wrote it on the bus, on the way to go see Kirk. I was just humming something in my head, and was like “Everyone wants, na na na, I'm just like everyone.” And it was making me laugh, because I was like, “Oh wow, I feel like Hannah Montana.” Like, I'm an ordinary girl. 

Real.
Yeah, then I just expanded on it. This one, “Everyone Wants” is sort of like me making fun of myself. Like the lyrics, how it starts - “I fell too many times/I’ve caught myself wondering why/I'm so into the blue/Bad guys with weird tattoos”. So I'm really just like poking fun at everything I just said in the first two songs. Being like, God, I can see how silly I sound sometimes, like I'm aware of it. 

Do you remember the first time that you wanted to be a music artist? Or any moments in your life that led to this lifestyle of being a music artist? 
I think a lot of it comes back to my dad, honestly. He has just always been so supportive of me being a singer and has always encouraged me to sing, me and my siblings to sing. I remember he used to make us sing that one Michael Jackson song or Jackson 5 song that's like, “You and I have made a pact…” And I think there was one time I sang that for him when I was like eight or nine, and he was like, “That was amazing, like you've really got something.”

That's so sweet. Nurturing that talent early. 
Yeah, I think that has been the hallmark of our relationship. Like, he's one of the first people that I send songs to as soon as I have an idea for them. I sent him “After the Tears” yesterday because I wanted his thoughts on it.

And what’s his favorite Axel Brooks song?
Oh, that's tough. I think he loves this song that hasn't come out yet called “Bittersweet, Kissing Me”. And then I have this song “Dust to Dust” that's one of his favorites too. 

But yeah, he likes it when I like really really sing, and in the first two songs I’m not really singing, I’m more like crooning, you know what I mean? So he really liked “Everyone Wants” for that reason.

What's usually your creative process - is it always lyric first, always melody first? How does it come about when you think back on the stuff you've been working on recently? 
I would really say they go hand-in-hand with each other, like I'm usually playing a chord on my guitar and then I'm thinking of words that keep coming back to me…but I would say mostly story first. 

Theme first. Or some turn of phrase. 
Yes, definitely. I think the lyrics are the most important part for me. And then everything that comes after is like icing. Usually the process is like, I write it on my guitar or a piano or something like that. And then I bring it to Kirk and we expand on it from there together. 

And how did you start working with Kirk, and what has that collaboration been like?
He is really like the Finneas to my Billie. We've gotten so close and it was really unexpected. He was DJing at Scarlet, and we had just crossed paths because I was going there. And then we really first started talking because he put out an EP - which, if anyone hasn’t heard it, I highly recommend. It's actually fantastic. 

And I remember I listened to it randomly, and I was shocked because he's a DJ so I was expecting it to be some horrible beeps and boops on a computer or something, and then it's him with a guitar making like 2000s rock music, like Beck meets U2, and I love U2. That was so unexpected. And when I put out my song “two shadows”, I think he also thought that I was gonna make some horrible pop song or something. Nothing wrong with that, I love pop music, but…

You both were surprised that your influences lined up. 
Yeah. And so we really bonded over our love of this rock, 2000s band sound. And putting an ethereal spin on that has been like our whole thing. 

So that collaboration is gonna continue to go strong. 
Definitely. No matter where I go, I hope Kirk will be my producer for everything. I just feel like I can't imagine working with anyone else. 

Who are your main influences and has it changed as you’ve been getting more into putting out your own music?
Definitely one of my first inspirations, and probably still my biggest when it comes to writing, is Bob Dylan. He's just such a great storyteller and so formative to me in so many ways. Yeah, so whenever I think of writing, I think of him and I think of Lana Del Rey. To me, she's like the girl Bob Dylan. For both of them, I love how much they create like a narrative and like a world behind each album and each project. And that's something that I really try to do for like every single drop. I'm like, what's like the world around this? Like, why this song? Why now? 

But then now, going forward into like making music right now, definitely Caroline Polachek. I love how creative she is. It's just cool to hear how many different sounds she uses. I think I'm such a guitar, drum, bass, like, band mindset. And I love that she is like the exact opposite, with so many different textures and sounds in the production.

And then, Madonna. She is top tier, I can't get enough. I think something that has changed so much with my music recently is I think there's just like a lack of fear. I don't know. And as I've started to like really listen to Madonna, because I'm a pretty new Madonna fan, embarrassingly so. But as I've started to listen, I love how fearless she is, and in tandem how fearless the music is. And I've tried to embrace that into my own, especially with “After the Tears”. I wanted it to feel like just so expansive and like anything could happen and it yeah I love how her music always has a surprise too. 

You talked about creating a world for each release, which I've definitely noticed with your stuff and I think is very cool. Your release process is very deliberate. Like, it doesn't seem like you're someone that's throwing out half-finished demos or teaser stuff. So how do you know when something's ready and how do you plan out like your process of like releasing stuff? 
So I think we really just figured this out. We released “Sirens” a year ago, and after that came out, we were like, “Oh, we don't have any other songs ready. Why did we do that?” We were just so focused on like making “Sirens” absolutely perfect that once it came out we were like “Oh, we're not going to have another song for a year.”

Going into the second song “Sympathy” - that one was so different than “Sirens” because it went through so many variations. And that was probably the only song that we were banging our heads against the wall making it - like “What's the key to cracking this song?” But I think going through that was actually like perfect, because it showed us the feeling of when a song is done. For “Sirens”, it was so natural. The first draft of “Sirens” was the entire song. Like we really didn't change anything. We just added stuff to it. But “Sympathy” was change after change after change after change. 

So now how we're doing it is like - we have about twelve to fifteen songs that are 50% to 90% done, and we meet up like twice a week and just keep chipping away at them until we get them to that 90% point. And then we leave them alone for like a month, stepping back and letting it rest, and almost letting it leave our brains entirely. 

That’s something we learned doing “Sympathy” because we knew that we had to put out a song, it had been way too damn long and so we were just hammering away at it. We were like “We don't ever want to do that to ourselves again.” 

Are you working on an album?
Okay so, no, not yet. We were considering the idea of an EP for the end of the summer, but I think I’m going to wait. I want to put out maybe one or two, maybe three more songs. But it's like you said, I want everything to be so polished and I want the vision to really be so clear. I'm okay with things taking time. I'd really rather take the time. 

Especially since I feel like I've gone through such a renaissance within the last two-and-a-half months. For the “Sympathy” release, I wish it could have gone so differently because I was in a really dark headspace when that one came out that I just don't think I did it right. Going forward, I think I just know myself better now, like I really know my image. I know what I want going forward.

So what was it like shooting the video for “When the Siren Calls” at that spa?
Oh my god, it was so fun. Like seriously, we shot all of that in about an hour. It was crazy enough that they even let us shoot there at all. I have such a good team. My friend Chris does all my styling, and my friend Ina is probably going to start helping too. And both of them just have an amazing sense of fashion. Like, they've got it. 

And then my friend Logan, he does all my video stuff. And he's such a good editor and had such a clear vision for what he wanted. And I love that. I think I'm such a control freak, but I love when I trust people enough that I can let that go a bit. Especially when it comes to video stuff, I think it's almost better if I'm not the driving force behind it. I obviously have a vision, but I like when someone else can interpret it and give it a new meaning. Because it's been in my body for so long, it's kind of cooler when someone else can expand upon it.

Where do you see your musical journey going in the next five years? Thinking ahead, what do you want to do? What are some big items you want to check off the list? 
I want to perform more. I think this month I'm performing literally so much, but I want to get a festival. That's my big goal for this year is to book a festival for next year. Getting a festival, playing outside of Chicago would be awesome. I love Chicago, but I would love to leave. 

Like move out of Chicago eventually?
Maybe, I don't know. I’m very comfortable right now. I don't need to leave, but I just want to meet new people and play for people that I don't know. I love how scary that is. It's really fun. 

And then after that, hopefully be an opener on someone's tour. My lifelong dream, like the reason that I love making music so much, is because I want to go on tour. I don't care how it happens. I'm okay with like living in a bus or a shack or like a car, right? I just want to go on tour. 

Do you feel like you're in a scene in Chicago? Like a local scene, or do you feel like it's more an online thing?
I think I'm getting into it now. I think people are still just kind of finding out about me honestly. Like “Sirens” kind of felt like a splash, but then I genuinely disappeared for like six months. 

You were building mystique. 
Uh huh. Yeah, I really feel like I just started like six months ago. So everything just feels really new. So while I want things to happen really fast, I can't really expect too much. 

But I feel so positive about where things have been going, and how much support I've been getting, that has been awesome. So yeah, I definitely feel like I'm getting into the queer scene in Chicago.  

Have you been recognized on the street by anyone? 
Oh my gosh, you know what? It happened for the first time maybe two weeks ago. I was at that club Easy Does It. And someone was like, “Wait, you're Axel. You came up on my Spotify recommended.” 

You're in the algorithm.
Let's hope, let's hope. 

Put musical influences aside, what else inspires you when you're making like your songs? 
Definitely books. I'm a very avid reader. I've been reading my whole life, and I think that's what has made me so imaginative, or like, idealistic if we're being real about it. 

But I think that's why I love stories so much is because I consume them so much and I love that they can go anywhere. And I feel like -yes, I'm a musician, that's like the thing that I am the most - but I feel like I'm just a writer in general. Like, I like to write stories for myself in my own time. Maybe one day I'll write a novel. 

You're a storyteller.
Yes, definitely. I feel like my whole life has been centered around telling stories in some form. I grew up doing theater, I went to college for it. Maybe one day I'll do that again, who knows? But definitely telling a story is just a big part of it. 

What else inspires me? You know what? I have recently kind of gotten into drag. I know that I'm so late to the game. I'm like, viciously late to the game, honestly, but it's really awesome. And that has been so inspiring - the freedom and the embrace of sexuality. I think that's a very new thing for me. I don't know, embracing sexuality and incorporating that into my music. And drag queens are amazing at that. And I think performance-wise, drag queens in Chicago have been so supportive of me. I have gotten so many chances to perform because they have been like, “Do you want to like open for me?” And I feel like that's the community I want to be a part of, and I'm glad that I'm being embraced. That feels really sweet. 

Have any drag queens done any Axel songs? 
No, not yet. There is a drag queen named Siren, so when “Sirens” came out, she reached out to me, she was like, “Oh my god, I'm the siren.” And I hope one day she does perform it, that would be thrilling. That would be awesome.