Five For Five With Jay Maas of Defeater & Jay Maas Recording

Before being one of the 'go to' producers for the punk/hardcore/emo genres, Jay Maas was a founding member of melodic hardcore band 'Defeater'. He split with them in 2015, but since finding his feet in production, he's produced, mixed, engineered or played on albums from Title Fight, Counterparts, Bane, The Carrier, No Trigger and a lot more. And of course, Defeater. He now owns and operates Jay Maas Recording, so if you want your new record to sound killer, hit him up!

If you were to introduce extraterrestrials to music with only five records, what do you choose?

 Anyone who knows me will find this list completely not surprising however:

 Fugazi "Repeater"

Jawbreaker "Dear You"

The Get Up Kids "Four Minute Mile"

The Felix Culpa "Sever Your Roots"

Radiohead "In Rainbows" 

 Have you got a favourite album you've either played on or produced, and why?

I have way too many favorites to list but I really love: "Wind Instrument" by a band called Kali Masi. If you haven't checked them out be sure to do that, I'm doing another LP for them this year!

Are there any bands or artists past or present, you wish received more attention?

There is a band of 3 sisters I love called Circus Trees. I think the oldest member of that band is like 17 maybe and the youngest around 13. They play slow, brooding, melodic, heavy music that you'd expect to hear from a 29-year-old hipster with a beard and plaid shirt. They are waaaaay ahead of the curve.

 Playing live vs Producing?

 I think producing? Playing live is a blast but I really love composing and creating.

 What's 2020 got in store for you?

Oh man, so much! We are moving, I'm going to build a new studio most likely, tons more videos and educating, and I might even write a new record. Should be a good one!