Last Friday, Nashville-based Nettwerk singer/songwriter Madds Buckley released her latest full-length, A Simple Binary and a Complex Phrase, a collection of indie-pop songs that explore the impact of technology on our existential lives. And next week Buckley kicks off her most extensive headlining tour yet, which will include her first-ever show in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection when she headlines The Foundry at The Fillmore on November 4th. Way back in August I got a chance to chat with Madds Buckley via Zoom about participating in fandom for the first time, having the most polite fans in music, and catching up on video games… and, of course, the album and the tour…
*Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Izzy Cihak: I don’t normally start with a question this big, but I’m just realizing that you’ve been doing this for almost an official decade, with Too Afraid To Say It dropping in 2017…
Madds Buckley: I haven’t even thought about it like that and that hurts my head [laughs]. Because here’s the thing, those first two albums were part of a high school class. I was super fortunate to go to a high school where a teacher was like, “Hey! I wanna set up a music production class!” And our high school administration went, “Okay, you figure it out…” And he did! Shoutout Mr. Gemkow! He won some massive award a while ago for teacher innovation. That’s how awesome he is! Those first albums were me basically doing a school project, so there’s a massive disconnect in my head. Like, “Oh! That is how long my name has been on the internet!” [laughs]. ‘Cause the final was to take what you made and release it on DSPs.
Izzy: In the time that you’ve been doing this, starting in high school and transitioning into being professional and all that, what are some of the most significant things you’ve learned?
Madds: Umm, that is a tricky one… I mean, do we start with the positive or the negative [laughs]?
Izzy: Any way you wanna go!
Madds: One of the biggest lessons I have had to learn is that sometimes you cannot keep going at 100% nonstop. I got my start online, doing little fan songs for kicks. And that ended up being so stressful for me that I had to graduate early. Looking back on that, I’m like, “Girl, you didn’t need to be working that hard! What are you doing?” I had a lot of fun with that, but I have had to learn over the years that there are better ways to do things that don’t involve having every video take four hours [laughs]. It’s not sustainable!
On more positive ends… I love making music, but I think even more than that, I love fostering a community of a bunch of nerds who can get together and geek out over a TV show we like or a book series we like or even, most recently, characters that I have made, which has been the highest honor. When I was younger, I spent most of my life as a lurker online, and I wish I could go back to those days in a lot of ways. I’ve never really been a participant in fandom, and now that I am technically, it’s like, “What?!?!?!” [laughs].
If I had to say something that’s more professional, you cannot do everything alone. I spent a long time trying to do that, and these past few years I have never been more grateful to have a manager and a team to fall back on. I cannot do it all! I tried for a long time and now I know what burnout feels like to an extreme degree.
Izzy: You were touching on this a minute ago, but have you noticed patterns amongst your biggest fans?
Madds: To put it in a very funny way, and I mean this with love, in the same way that the promoter that told me this meant it with love, I have been told at several venues that my fans are some of the most polite crowds they’ve ever had. And then one person took that a step further and went, “Oh my god, your fans are so nice, they’re like the kind of people that don’t go outside much!” And I was like, “Okay! Wait! Hold On! I think the term you mean is ‘respect other people’s space!’” [laughs hysterically]. That was still very funny! I think because I am an artist who grew their fanbase online, I am more likely to have fans that are more online and more into these nerdy spaces… I’ve forgotten the question at this point [laughs]. I apologize, what was it?
Izzy: It was about commonalities between your biggest fans, so you were actually right on track!
Madds: Also, a lot of queer people, and I think that comes of course with me being gay. Also, it has been wonderful knowing how many little neurodivergent people are in my fanbase! That’s very fun! There’s a running joke in my Twitch streams that is still ongoing to this day that if I’m ever talking about something that has a particular connotation or sounds like symptoms of something, one of my friends will literally drop the RAADS-R self-assessment link [laughs]. My community is one of the reasons I now have a diagnosis for ADHD, I’m not gonna lie! I like to make the joke that neurodivergent people are a lot like Stand Users in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, there’s just some invisible force that brings us all together.
If I had to go for another commonality, I think luckily I have fostered a very welcoming and open fanbase. That has meant that occasionally someone wants to leave for various, usually not cool, reasons. I’ve had a few comments before, and it is very funny, where they’re like, “Oh my god, wait, you’re gay?” Like, “Sorry, if the haircut didn’t cue you in, I’m curious what else you missed?” But I think with the occasional person who would not be good for fostering a community anyway leaving, I’m just incredible grateful to have such a kind and nerdy and I guess excited fanbase… I can always be like, “Guys, I’m into this one thing now!” and it’s always a bunch of people going, “Ahhh!!!”
Izzy: Your latest full-length, A Simple Binary and a Complex Phrase, is out soon. How do you feel like the album compares to previous releases? I know it’s a concept album of sorts.
Madds: Because of how this album started, it is simultaneously one of my weirder releases and one of my poppier releases. The concept album was originally a concept EP, then I started working with a label and they were like, “Why don’t you make it an album?” So, I wrote a bunch of extra songs, I pulled some out of the vault… Minus my high school stuff, every time I’ve wanted to make an album, I like having a consistent theme or concept.
We have the weirder side of the album, where I use a lot more synthesizers, less band-setup than I’m used to having. And the other half leans towards my regular more folk rock, or some of them I would probably consider just straight pop, which has been strange, ‘cause there’s a part of me, in the back of my head, that’s like, “I never thought I would be doing that.” It’s not a bad thing, I just wouldn’t expect it. I think I’m excited and also nervous that a lot of the weirder tracks are coming out with the album and were not singles. I hope I don’t blindside anybody like, “You got used to all the stuff that the label said was better for singles… There! Songs about fuckin’ AI! Have fun!” [laughs].
Izzy: On that note, because a bunch have already dropped as singles, have you had any favorite reactions to that music so far?
Madds: I think it is still “Sitting Pretty,” mostly because I had written My Love is Sick, which is about the same two characters that are in “Sitting Pretty,” like three years ago now, and I was like, “Yeah, that was super cool. It’s a shame I can’t do much with them again, but there’s this thing that I wrote a few months after the album came out, and now I can release it!” And seeing how many people were actually like, “We wanted more from these two little sad lesbians! Awesome!” It also comes with its own funny slew of comments where occasionally it’s someone being like, “Hey! Why is the guy sad?” And I’m like, “I’ve got great news, actually! That’s not a guy!” [laughs].
Izzy: This fall, and then January and February of next year, you’re embarking on your biggest-ever headlining tour. Are there any dates you’re especially excited about?
Madds: Philadelphia’s definitely one of them! I’ve driven past Philly, I’ve driven through Pennsylvania, usually back and forth to college, but I’ve never been properly in the city of Philadelphia, and I have family in Pennsylvania, so I am excited to see the city. I’m also really excited for Toronto! My producer is Canadian and from the Toronto area, who has worked in tandem with me, and I can fully say he is the person that developed the sound that I have. Now I finally get to play in his country of origin!
Izzy: What can be expected of the live show on this headlining run?
Madds: It’s gonna be my longest setlist yet. I have pretty permanent vocal nodules, so I’m very careful with my vocal health, but still going for a longer setlist. There is one song that I haven’t played live before from My Love is Sick that I’m very excited to play. I’m very excited that I was able to sneak that on the setlist and no one was like, “That’s not a big enough song!” We’re still working out how some of the songs from the newest album are gonna play live, especially because one of them has no real instruments in it period, so we’re still working out whether we want to do something super weird with that or if we want to rearrange the entire thing to fit a live setting. Either way, sounds pretty cool to me!
Izzy: I know that a lot of artists use their time on the road to catch up on or check out music that they haven’t had much time with yet, so I’m curious if there’s anything that you’re hoping and planning to be listening to while you’re on the road?
Madds: I listen to a lot of new music day-to-day. I’m very lucky right now that a lot of acts that I’m following are releasing new music, so it’s like, “Okay! Let’s go!” I usually use tours to catch up on video games I don’t have time to play, actually [laughs].
Izzy: Well, any video games that you’re particularly excited about catching up on?
Madds: Hades! I still haven’t beaten the game, and I’m not great at it, so I will have to catch up. I still have to beat my hikikomori run of one of my favorite games, Omori. I also use it to catch up on audio books I’ve been wanting to read or a C-drama I’ve been trying to get through. If there is new music I’m trying to catch up on… I haven’t fully listened to Le Sserafim’s new album… I’ll have listened to all of Adéla’s album the second it drops… I’m caught up on Frank Turner… Sorry, I’m so bad at this [laughs].
Izzy: No! I think a lot of people are, actually [laughs]. But the album drop and tour kickoff will be fairly well into the fall, so I’m curious if you have any thoughts or feelings about the fall, or any fall things that you’re especially a fan of or excited about?
Madds: I miss it; we don’t really get much fall in Nashville [laughs]. We get weather that needs jackets, but I miss having an entire season when I need to wear sweaters going outside. I haven’t had that in a while and I miss it. I love all the leaves falling, I love getting to wear jean jackets and boots that are more practical and you won’t sweat in them to high hell. I’m also a huge fan of apple cider, not the alcoholic one, surprisingly, I just really like the juice [laughs], so that being available at places is always very fun for me!
*Get your tickets here.
