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[Kickshufle Exclusive] A Conversation with Solo Artist and Founder of MAXIMUM Booking Jeff Aug | KickShuffle

Jeff Aug is Founder of MAXIMUM Booking as well as an accomplished solo artist. In 2009, Aug set the world record for “Most Concerts Performed in Different Countries in 24 Hours,” and is out to take his record back.  MAXIMUM Booking’s  artist roster includes Anne Clark, Allan Holdsworth, moe., Chumbawumba, Floating Stone, and many others.  Jeff’s latest album, Wedding Song, comes out March 2, 2012. By Brian Weidy
When did you start playing guitar?

I started playing guitar at 12 and a half when my Uncle Arthur gave me an electric guitar he had laying around his room in Queens, New York.  My grandparents were moving to Florida, so my uncle had to move out of his room there when they sold the house.  It was a one-pickup, “Winston” electric guitar.  I learned the ending power chords of “Freebird” from one of the kids in the neighbourhood and learned Jimi Hendrix´s version of “The Star Spangled Banner” from a Jimi Hendrix songbook (I had taken piano lessons for many years, so I could read music already).

What was the impetus to you starting to play?

When I strapped on that electric, plugged it in, and turned the amp up, the feeling was simply too cool to deny.  I was hooked!  After that, it was all about learning and figuring out how to work this thing and create a tone with my fingers.

Who are your biggest influences?

Steve Morse, Salvador Dalí, and Groucho Marx.

When did you first start booking bands and how did that begin?

I started booking myself when I landed a show opening up for a group called Friends at Food For Thought in Washington, D.C. in December 1991.  The bill was “Jeff Aug & Friends.”  Ha!  After that, I was booking myself up through my move to Germany back in 1998.  Around 2002, I brought my punk band back from the dead.  Banana Peel Buzz was born and I was hustling shows.  I started my booking agency MAXIMUM Booking on February 1, 2003; and my first job was to book a tour of Germany for the BMG metal act Crosscut.  During that time, I was also booking punk bands in the local youth houses.  At that same time, two other acts landed in my lap: Anne Clark and Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba was finishing their electric career and starting their acoustic career.  I still work with them and have put together shows for them in North America, Russia and all over Europe.  Anne Clark is still my biggest artist selling out 1,000 capacity venues in Europe.  I am also the guitarist in the band and take care of her management.

What was the first band you booked?

The first band I ever booked would have to be my own Banana Peel Buzz.  Crosscut would be the first band for whom I ever booked a full on tour.  The first “double-bill” I ever booked was Chumbawamba acoustic and Anne Clark together in Hamburg, Germany in November 2003. What a show!  The first band I ever booked who had 20,000 people rush the stage for their surprise show at Fusion Festival in Germany would be Atari Teenage Riot as well. Unbelievable!

By glancing at the list of bands you book, I can see that you work with independent artists as well as major acts. Can you speak to the differences in working with both types of artists, and maybe the challenges involved with each?

Wow, what a question.  Every artist is different.  Some artists have bigger draws in some territories and lower draws in others. It´s really a careful process of pairing the right artist with the right promoter to make sure each show is as successful as it can be.  With a well-known artist, one has a bit more of a selection of promoters to choose from, so that can make things a bit easier.  Really, it comes down to if I dig the music.  If I do, then it´s all good.  I don´t book bands whose music I don´t enjoy.

Digital and social media have made it easier for bands to book their own gigs. That said, how are you adapting in the new digital space?

It is easier and faster, but I have open communication channels with many promoters throughout the entire year.  When these promoters get an e-mail from me, they answer because they know me.  They deal with me, because we have dealt success in the past.  A band may perform in a city or at a club once a year (or less), so their communication with these promoters is sporadic. Do you go to the farmer´s house to buy the honey or do you go to the market to buy the honey, cheese, and milk at the same time?  Dig?

Tell me about your world record attempt?

Well, there was no record before I set it in 2009.  I had proposed this idea to Guinness many times starting in 1997.  In November 1997, I performed 30 shows in 30 days.  I used to gig a LOT.  I asked Guinness about doing “the most concerts in 24 hours” and they turned down that idea.  They have since created a category for this.  With regards to “most concerts in different countries in 24 hours,” it wasn´t until I asked them again in 2008 that they finally put together rules for it after I badgered them about it again.  I was interested in creating an event to promote the release of my last album Living Room Sessions.

So, at the end of the day, social media had nothing to do with it, but social media platforms are a great way to promote the world record and my new album Wedding Song!

The original record for the most concerts performed in different countries in 24 hours was set by me in 2009 with six.  It was beaten in 2010, so now I´m coming back to do nine concerts in nine different countries in one 24-hour period:

03.03.2012, 12:15 AM, LU-Heinerscheid, Centre culturel à Heinerscheid
03.03.2012, 01:45 AM, BE-Sankt Vith, Triangel
03.03.2012, 03:40 AM, NL-Maastricht, Sociëteit SV KoKo
03.03.2012, 05:40 AM, DE-Düsseldorf, O´Reilly´s
03.03.2012, 10:00 AM, FR-Paris, Les Bus Palladium
03.03.2012, 03:30 PM, IT-Milan, Land Of Live
03.03.2012, 05:15 PM, CH-Mendrisio, La Birraria in Mendirsio
03.03.2012, 08:45 PM, FL-Vaduz, Tattoo-Convention Liechtenstein
03.03.2012, 10:45 PM, AT-Hohenems, Löwensaal

When do we get to see you live stateside?

I´ll be on touch in June in the U.S.  June 1st is confirmed in Laurel, Maryland at the Montpelier Cultural Arts Center.  More dates coming soon!

On a final note, where do you see the music industry and MAXIMUM Booking in 5 years? 10 years?

Music industry in 5 years:  more artists will be producing and distributing music independently of labels.  Labels will be more and more focused on 360 deals.  The live market will become more and more saturated.

10 years…wow, could be anything.  CDs were here 25 (?) years ago and now they´re out. Perhaps we will have gone through two more popular media by then!

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