After nine years and almost 20 albums, The Poo Poo Platters look ahead
to their next adventure — finishing high school
by Chris Hislop
Talk to Max and Jake Grazier about their band, The Poo Poo Platters, and they’ll sound like a group at the end of the line, looking back on what seems like a lifetime of work — close to 20 albums and a sound that’s evolved from prog rock to punk and beyond.
But really, The Poo Poo Platters are just getting started. The Grazier brothers have been writing and recording albums each year since 2007, when they were in second and fourth grade. That year, their father, Russ Grazier, a saxophonist and executive director of Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC), asked if they’d participate with him in the RPM Challenge, which asks musicians to write and record 10 songs or 35 minutes of original music, during the month of February.
“RPM was my introduction to songwriting,” said Max. “I had never ever written a song prior to that first RPM Challenge. When I think back, it wasn’t so much that we knew about the challenge and what it meant per se, it was simply our dad who said, ‘I’m going to record some stuff myself, and I’d like to record you, if you want to participate.’ He was intrigued by what we were doing. So we answered, ‘Why not?’ It wasn’t like the logistics were hard. We all lived in the same house.”
“The early years — I’m a diehard Rush fan. They were the first band I listened to that ignited my desire to be in a band. So I started writing six-minute epic rock songs. A bunch of ‘Tom Sawyers,’” said Max, laughing. “Writing was cool because I had never done it myself, or together with Jake.”Now a high school sophomore and senior respectively, Jake and Max, along with bassist and fellow classmate August Tucker, are looking back on nine years of writing and producing records for the RPM Challenge. This year is the challenge’s 10th anniversary and the band’s 10th year together — they’ve literally grown up with RPM, and the band’s catalog documents their transition from children to teenagers to young adults.
“RPM was my introduction to songwriting. I had never written a song prior to that first RPM Challenge.” — Max Grazier of The Poo Poo Platters
As the brothers got older, they grew as musicians. Max was classically-trained as a pianist from a young age and started playing guitar in fourth grade. Their first album, he said, “was half piano, half guitar-focused.”
“Middle school came and I got into punk and that was the stuff I wanted to focus my energies on. It’s fast and really fun to play,” he said.
Jake’s had a similar evolution.
“I have changed so much as a musician,” he said. “In second grade, I thought drums were just a simple beat behind everyone else. Now I view the drums as their own melodic instrument. There’s a world of possibilities that exist when you sit behind the kit. My mind has opened up a lot.”
After four years of recording, Max decided to bring in a bass player to fill out the band’s sound. They started with Matt Shore (now the lead singer of his own band, Delightful Abode), and then pulled in Tucker, who they played with before in The Rats.
What excited Tucker about getting a call from The Poo Poo Platters?
“Nothing. I hate all these guys,” he said, laughing. “I wasn’t doing anything musically at that point. I played bass, but I wasn’t really taking it seriously. Joining The Poo Poo Platters gave me a bit more purpose, and I started practicing and taking the act of playing bass much more seriously.”
The band’s 2013 RPM album, “Midwest,” marked the end of an era — it was the last album their father recorded for them and the first that Max mixed. In 2014, Max picked up recording duties; he’s interested in audio engineering, which he’ll be studying next fall when he enters his freshman year at Berklee College of Music.
It’s another example of how RPM helped three kids grow, both musically and personally, and how it keeps pushing them further.
“The RPM Challenge taught me how to work with people,” said Max. “How not to piss people off, how to work through things, through the practice of conflict resolution, to achieve a fulfilling end goal. There aren’t a lot of experiences that can do that, in my opinion. How to come together and pull off something that is not only great, but is also fun, rewarding, and further bonds the relationship that exists between the three of us.”
Their output isn’t limited to RPM. They’ve also recorded a “summer” album each year, and Max released a solo album, “By Your Ocean,” in December.
They will record another RPM disc in February. But, with college on the horizon, does this mean The Poo Poo Platters are coming to an end?
“We’ll still be together,” said Max. “If anything, this will make us stronger and even more motivated when we get back together to work on projects. It’s so fun to play together. I don’t get this experience from other bands and projects I’m a part of. I’ll never let this go.”
And while Max and Jake may be unusually talented kids, they are, after all, still brothers.
Max: “Do you have anything to add, Jake? Because you’ve basically said nothing.”
Jake: “No.”
Max: “Classic.”
The Poo Poo Platters are online at thepoopooplatters.bandcamp.com.
At top of page: Max Grazier, Jake Grazier, and August Tucker of The Poo Poo Platters. (Photo by Charlie Weinmann.)