Max Crowley

Like the ocean, Cape May holds much more substance below the surface. The deeper you dive, the more there is to discover in this town’s pool of creatives. You’ll also find that they are all interconnected one way or another. While some were born and bred here, others chose to claim Cape May as their space to create. What is it about this town that people find so inspiring?

As put by Rick Rubin in his 2023 book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, “Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It’s our birthright. And it’s for all of us.” This is to say that it is accessible to everyone given the right conditions and openness. When it comes to tapping into your inner reservoir of creativity, sometimes it is beckoned by a person, a place, a surge of passion. Cape May is a place that can pull art out of someone and promote the continuation of creation.

Max Crowley is a local musician that felt drawn to Cape May to explore his creative potential. From years of summering here he acquired friends and skills that connected him to the area. “Once I started surfing, I was here as much as I could be”, says Max. This, coupled with his fondness for playing music, specifically with his good friend Dylan O’Donnell, resulted in moving here full time.

The acoustic guitar is Max’s primary creative tool of choice. The singer/songwriter’s inspirations during his early teen years consisted of tunes on a surfer/beachy frequency: funky reggae like Pepper and sweet acoustic like Jack Johnson. With time, folk music became a prominent influence—classics like Bob Dylan, The Band, and Van Morrison, then more modern melancholy and indie-folk like Gregory Alan Isakov, Ben Howard, and Nathaniel Rateliff. 

The Bastard Sons Were Born

The pleasures of playing music in private tend to progress to sharing it with the public. Max and Dylan eventually branched out of their one-on-one jam sessions to hitting some open mics around town back in 2013-2014. At the time, popular small-scale open mics at Big Wave Burritos and Backstreet Cafe were adored by locals. They were comfortable hangouts and allowed for newer musicians to navigate their flow with live performance.  

The Max and Dylan dynamic would then collide with Chris Gillin-Schwartz—local lawyer, host of the Howard Street Ramble, and former Sound Waves subject—at a party Chris was playing. “We hit it off and started playing together all the time,” remembers Max. This complementary combination began to frequent the Mad Batter open mic, and in that creatively conducive environment they formed their band.

The host of the Mad Batter open mic, MQ Murphy, gave the guys their original band name, The Bastard Sons of Levon Helm. The Helm family caught drift of this title and requested they change it because of the implications the title suggests of the famed and late drummer of The Band. So, respectfully, they adjusted their group’s name to the Bastard Sons of Captain Mey, which remains today. 

Max, Dylan, and Chris are the core group of The Bastard Sons of Captain Mey, but others have joined them on stage from time to time, as is the lenient and welcoming nature of the local music scene.

The Bastard Sons not only perform covers of American folk classics, but they play originals as well. The three of them regularly rotate who plays and sings what. This even distribution of contribution also applies to their songwriting. Their ability to alternate instruments—mandolin, banjo, and guitar—while individually providing original writing adds dimension to their sound.

The Bastard Sons recorded music for the first time in almost 10 years this past fall at Submergent Recording in Middletown,  NJ. Their previous EP, released in 2015, had six tracks, two songs written by each of them, originally recorded and mixed with local musician Don Shough. Max describes what they’re working on now as “bigger than anything we’ve done before.”

The Ramble and Empress Ephemeral

When Chris first strung together the Howard Street Ramble, originally in The Chalfonte’s King Edward Bar, he rang up his boys Max and Dylan immediately to be involved in this local open jam session. Since the Ramble began in 2016, it has expanded to be the summer’s most sought-after weekly event, perhaps second to the farmer’s market, with an eight-man bluegrass ensemble on the porch of The Chalfonte every Thursday evening. 

A newer project Max puts his energy toward is playing bass in local “doomy post-rock” band Empress Ephemeral—previously mentioned in the last spring Sound Waves in reference to Daisy Castro, who Max replaced as bass player. Daisy will continue to play strings and possibly explore vocals in the band as they approach the recording process, also at Submergent Recording, in the near future. Their unique and heavier sound adds range to Max’s scope of musical style. 

Oh! I’m Dying

Max released his independent album on June 23 titled Oh! I’m Dying. He returned to Submergent Recording, owned and operated by audio engineer and producer Pete Andrews whose smooth and pleasant teamwork Max regards as a highlight of the recording process. 

Max recorded the entirety of this album over the span of three days in the studio, while the edits and production occurred with correspondence between Max and Pete over the phone: the convenient world of modern mixing. Max does not suffer from the common musician’s plight of perfectionism—during the recording process, he embraced the quirks and oddities that occurred naturally. 

Max wrote and sang all eight original tracks on the record. Melody is at the foreground of his songwriting process, and the lyrics come after. Max mentions that he does not apply too much pressure to a word’s definition; he focuses on phonics and implementing literary devices, so it vocally pairs with the melody and just feels good to sing.

While the instrumental parts of the album had been in the works for years, the lyrics came together within a shorter time frame, as for many artists, during a swell of inspiration. This album takes the listener on a conceptual journey of self-rediscovery from start to finish. The album’s first track properly sets the tone of the soft-rock and folk-alternative style consistent throughout.

His acoustic guitar feels like the vehicle that drives you through this album, cruising by soothing soul songs like “Fire Song,” the delightfully rhythmic and memorable title track “Oh! I’m Dying,” then slowing down with an intimate and vulnerable track like “Weave” to grant the listener goosebumps and perhaps a teary eye. This album accomplishes courageous transparency into the artist’s emotions with sincerity and vivid imagery.

The therapeutic expression of creativity is captured in this record. The kind of catharsis that is not only tapped into by the artist but provoked within the listener. “This whole creating stuff thing is good. It keeps you out of trouble and it keeps my head on straight, makes me less upset that I have to go to work in the morning” says Max. “The process of this album gave me a new perspective on what my priorities are and to do more writing.”

Collaborating and Keeping On

This past November Marnie Lengel produced a phenomenal musical performance at the Cape May Convention Hall with a slew of local talents. This was a tribute concert to The Band, called The Last Waltz, and it seemed like every musician in town was on that stage, including Max. By the sounds of its success, there will be more shows like this one in the near future. 

The chemistry on stage was likely so strong due to the familiarity among performers. “We’re in that perfect sized little community where you’ve played with everyone or are familiar with them but there are enough people to keep it fresh and interesting” says Max.

It’s pretty obvious that Max is ambitious and active with his musical pursuits; he keeps busy juggling multiple projects all while doing carpentry and working toward a certificate in massage therapy. When it comes to balancing the multifarious life factors at play, Max says the best way to approach it is staying present for whatever he is working on in the moment and switching gears when the next thing is in front of him. Max and his acoustic have already come a long way, and it’s safe to say that at this rate only abundance awaits.