Q&A: EXPLORING THE ART OF LIVE MUSIC, VULNERABILITY, AND CONNECTION WITH NOSHOWS
August 14, 2026
Written by Bryna Ross
Photos by Tori Angier
WITH THE UPCOMING RELEASE OF THEIR DEBUT ALBUM MADHOUSE, NOSHOWS IS HITTING THE ROAD. Fronted and founded by Max Satow, who we got the opportunity to speak with as he prepares for a tour supporting Black Pontiac across the East Coast. This run of shows is just a prelude of what is to come with Noshows new music. Madhouse is an album that is meant to feel as alive in your headphones as it does on the stage, while also hitting the deeper and darker realities of what it's like to be human.
PETTY: You’re having an exciting year with an upcoming tour supporting Black Pontiac and your debut album Madhouse coming out in October. What has been the highlight of your year so far?
SATOW: Last month we got to perform in Times Square, that was one of the most fun shows ever. As a New Yorker playing there was a pretty unreal experience, going from playing to five people to all of Times Square was pretty nuts. To be able to play a lot of my new music there as well as get some new fans and see some current ones was great.
PETTY: How has your New York identity influenced your music the most? Is it the mix of cultures and genres that exist here or your personal experiences?
SATOW: I would say it's a mix of both. There's so much cool music happening in the city, all sorts of genres, cultures, little niche scenes. Seeing that just kind of empowers you as an artist when you live here. The mixture of that, being around me, as well as the general energy and craziness of the city. It's just a place that's super high energy and always on the go, so I think that influences my music a lot and my writing process when I'm out here.
PETTY: Did you become inspired to make music growing up going to shows in the city?
SATOW: I always loved going to concerts. I started out really just getting into playing guitar, and learning songs that I love. Eventually I was like, why not just start to write my own stuff? Then I had a band and I was already playing live shows before I was writing music, just playing covers, and I was like, let's just play these songs that I've written live and then that turned to Noshows. There's so many things I've experienced that it's just in my blood at this point, like playing and going to live shows, it's an essential thing for me.
PETTY: Would you say that creating music or performing it has a bigger impact on you and your connection to your own music and your fans?
SATOW: I would say that they kind of feed into each other. With these new songs I've been releasing: “Fall Apart”, “I Don't Want It”, “The Loop”— I was really focusing on just trying to bring the energy of the live performance into the record. A lot of times I'd make the record and then think, how do I turn this into a live song? But I really went into these songs thinking, how are we going to make them a live performance in the studio, and make it feel like you're really in a crowded, sweaty room in the Lower East Side.
PETTY: I totally heard that when I listened to them, I thought that you captured that feeling very well. That leads me to my next question about your upcoming debut album Madhouse, what sets this work apart from your previous?
SATOW: It's making it feel like the band is just playing in your ear and you're being transported to the room. The whole album flows like that. I've done a lot of music that is different in the past. With my older songs like “Portrait” it was a little more poppy, a little more produced. I still love that kind of stuff, but with this record, I wanted to go into a different direction and really just hone in on that while keeping the same type of vulnerability and honesty that ends up in the music but just with amplified energy. Still hooky, still kind of poppy, but with that New York grit and drive.
PETTY: What are you most looking forward to with these upcoming shows with Black Pontiac? Are there any songs in particular from the album that you're really looking forward to performing live?
SATOW: There's a lot of songs on the album that I'm excited to play, but In particular, our newest single “The Loop”. We’ve played it a couple of times already and that feeling of playing that song live is very natural, we didn't have to change anything. When me and the band were rehearsing it, it felt one and the same with the record experience. It has a really fun guitar solo too.
Honestly all of the new songs,”I Don't Want It” and “Fall Apart” as well as some unreleased ones. There’s a lot more guitar-centric stuff, I grew up playing guitar before anything else, so. It feels like getting back to my roots.
I'm looking forward to playing with Black Pontiac, I’m so happy this is happening with them. It's cool to have a hometown New York show in the middle of the other east coast locations that we're hitting. It's gonna be fun to hopefully get some new fans and build more community as well.
PETTY: When you’re writing songs like “The Loop”, songs with a more vulnerable feeling, how do you find that balance between being genuine and creating a song that you're proud of and want to perform live?
SATOW: Especially with that track in particular, I try not to think too much. When I wrote that song, I was just speaking 100% my truth and how I was feeling in that moment, and with every new song I write, I've been really trying to lean more into just expressing unfiltered truth. I have no issues being completely vulnerable on the track, and I try not to even think about balance, just let it be 100% TMI.
PETTY: Do you find it rewarding to talk about these personal topics in your songs?
SATOW: Totally. I don't even fully understand a lot of feelings that I have until I write a song about it. It's really just a stream of consciousness when I write lyrics, and then I'll look back at it and be like, oh wow that's what that meant. It's kind of like reverse engineering your understanding of yourself. It just feels good to just keep projecting it and to see others relate to it as well.
PETTY: Your family is the founder of mental health nonprofit The Jed Foundation. How has growing up around this shaped your music?
SATOW: Growing up around my family that has a history of suicide, and the foundation as well, I was always in an environment that fostered being 100% open and honest. I see what I do as a reflection of that. I'm always open to being vulnerable and honest with my music, and I think that upbringing and continuing to be around it just continues to influence me. It makes me want to connect to people and maybe even help people through my music that can relate to dark themes that I present, like in ‘The Loop’ which is about addiction. My music is really meant to just connect to people who experience all sorts of addictions. People with addictions to life and all sorts of things, people who just want to get a kind of thrill from something.
PETTY: If you had to pitch your music with three words to new fans, what would they be?
NOSHOWS: Loud, vulnerable, unpredictable. I’d throw addiction under vulnerability as well, just really connecting with the people.