The Kitchen Dwellers are one of Bozeman’s most well-known and loved bands, selling out shows and delighting audiences throughout the Northwest for close to four years, and they have no plans on slowing down anytime soon.



Last summer the group spent most of their time on the road, and placed in the finals of multiple band competitions, including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Northwest String Summit, and played to audiences as far away as Oregon to Maryland.

Recently Bozeman Magazine music writer Brook Gardner-Durbin was able to sit down with their guitarist, Max Davies, to catch up on the Kitchen Dwellers’ past accomplishments, as well as their plans for this summer.

BGD: First of all, thanks much for taking the time to meet with me. Why don’t we just start with you — how did you get involved with music?

MD: Well, I started playing guitar when I was around 10. I grew up listening to music, pretty much all through the house. So I started playing guitar, and then played in a bunch of bands in High School, and then moved out here and met a bunch of really great people to play music with. I didn’t actually start playing Bluegrass until I moved out here.

BGD: Where did you move from?

MD: Outside Chicago. So I grew up playing electric guitar, and I was really into playing rock and funk, and then I moved here and met a bunch of people that played Bluegrass.

BGD: Right on. Had you been
exposed to it at all in Chicago?

MD: A little bit. I remember in class one day telling somebody that I would never listen to or play acoustic music.

BGD: How long did that last?

MD: Well, once I moved out here, not very long.

BGD: So how did you get into the Kitchen Dwellers? Did they exist and you joined, or did you form it with some friends?

MD: I’ve only been playing with them since July. I’ve had multiple friends in the band.

BGD: So they have a pretty good rotating cast?

MD: Well yeah, I mean, kind of. My roommate, who I used to be in a band with, was their fiddle player. That’s kind of how I met them. Another band I play with [The Hollowtops], we opened for them over the summer, and then they asked if I wanted to join in July.

BGD: Do you ever have a conflict, with being in both at once? When one has a show, and the other wants to have a show at the same time?

MD: Its funny you should ask that — that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. Trying to figure out summer plans.

BGD: And there’s been a lot of conflict there?

MD: Actually, surprisingly not. The coolest thing is that Shawn Swain, the mandolin player for the Kitchen Dwellers, he could have easily been like “No, we’re doing a show this night and you guys can’t do it.”
He’s worked super hard at making it work. We played a week of shows in March, and he did the best he could. He actually got both bands a bunch of nights.

BGD: That makes it easy. Just have them tour together.

MD: We all got along great. It was really fun.



BGD: I hear you’re doing a big show for graduation night, at the Eagles? Tell me a bit about that.

MD: Its going to be in the Eagles ballroom, and its going to be the [Kitchen] Dwellers, Lil’ Smokies, from Missoula, and that should be a really really fun night. The only other time we played the Eagles was for New Years.

BGD: And that was a good show?

MD: Yeah. We did that with Cure for the Common.

BGD: Are you familiar with Lil’ Smokeys? Have you met them before?

MD: Yeah, they’re really nice guys. We’ve done a few shows with them.

BGD: Have you guys received any awards?

MD: The Dwellers got second place at last year’s Telluride Bluegrass Competition. Every year they do a competition. It’s two days, and I think they allow ten to twelve bands.

BGD: Do you remember who you lost to?

MD: The Trout Steak Revival. I think they’re playing Bozeman sometime soon.

BGD: Planning on entering again, try and beat ‘em this time?

MD: Nope. Actually, The Hollowtops are entering this year’s competition, but not the Dwellers. They did it a few years. We’ll actually be playing a couple of the shows at night. They have the festival during the day, and then shows at night.
Second place is … I don’t think it warrants going back for a win. Being part of the competition is probably just great enough.

BGD: So you said you were just starting summer plans. Have anything nailed down yet? Going on tour?

MD: Yup. The Dwellers, pretty much straight from Telluride, we’re going to be heading out to Vermont. And we’re playing a festival called Frendly Gathering. F-R-E … because there’s no I in “friend.” Its a festival put on by a couple of the guys that ride for Burton. I know Danny Davis is one of them.

BGD: How long is that?

MD: It’s a three day festival. So we’ll start there, then we’ll be playing Sterling, New York over the fourth [of July] for a festival there, and then we’ll hit a few other festivals throughout the summer. Towards the end we’re playing the Northwest String Summit.

BGD: That’s a pretty good number of shows! Do you feel like you’re becoming known around, or … where do you see yourselves?

MD: It helps having friends in the Chicago area. I know in the past, when they’ve played Chicago, things have really gone well. That’s because mutual friends live in Chicago. And then another band that we just teamed up with in March, by the name of Twiddle — we played a bunch of shows with them, and they live in Vermont. Becoming friends with them has really helped. We’re expecting a lot of fun when we go on tour with them.

BGD: You said you still have a regular job at the Yellowstone Club — does everyone in the group have a full time job, and this is kind of a side project, or … ?

MD: Two of them are students, and then one of them, until recently was doing all the booking — very full time job-ish. I would say that none of [the Kitchen Dwellers] are taking it too seriously, but at the same time, its definitely not just a hobby. We’re trying to have fun with it, but at the same time, we’re trying to make it work.

BGD: Do you have any specific goals for the Kitchen Dwellers? Any show that’s really on the bucket list, or anything along those lines?

MD: There are a few. I would say that the Northwest String Summit, where we’re going in Oregon … I’ve never been there, but I’ve just heard about this place for so long, and how amazing it is, and I’ve seen pictures of it. To go there, and play there, is going to be really special. Just because I’ve been hearing about it for years, and I’ve never made it there to hear other bands play.

BGD: How many albums have the Dwellers put out so far?

MD: One studio album, and then some other live stuff. We released a live album of the New Years show that was half Kitchen Dwellers, half Cure for the Common.

BGD: Are you guys making any plans to start another one soon, or are you mostly just looking at shows?

MD: We’re mostly just trying to tour right now. We have a handful of new songs that we’ll play out on the road this summer.

BGD: I feel like most groups, when they feel like they have a bunch of new songs, just want to throw them on an album and get them out there. Why do you not feel that way? Do you see yourselves more as just, the live is what’s important and then the rest just doesn’t really matter?

MD: I would like to definitely do another album. But I think it helps a lot, especially if you have a bunch of new songs, and you play them a bunch live, you can kind of nail down all the little things that you want to be represented on them.

BGD: Tell me a bit about how writing songs goes. Are you involved in that? Do you have a lyricist who comes with finished songs?

MD: In the Dwellers, someone comes with a rough idea, or a chord progression, and then we don’t even know necessarily who’s going to sing it. Someone will come to the table with an idea, or some lyrics, and then we’ll try a song with everybody signing it, and then we’ll go from there. The process, I think, is really democratic.

BGD: Did you ever have a moment when you started getting into Bluegrass, where someone sat you down and they were like “We need to educate you. Here’s five albums, come back tomorrow” type thing?

MD: Yeah, there were a couple people. The first — my freshman year in the dorms, this guy taught me The G Run. Its the most classic, standard bit in Bluegrass music. He taught that to me. And then Gordon Sevee, who is in town and used to play in the local band Flatt Cheddar, he taught me a bunch about Bluegrass. He’s a really, really good local guy.

BGD: Do you ever miss some of your more electric roots? Do you ever bring out an electric guitar in your living room and just shred it, get that out of you?

MD: I used to. Not lately. If I had more time…

BGD: Would you ever like to get into another band that was more like that? More electric?

MD: Yeah, totally. I would love that. That’s why I like playing with the Dwellers — it’s acoustic music, but it has kind of an electric feel, in parts of the show.

BGD: That sounds interesting. I can’t wait to check it out at your next local show in a couple weeks.Thank you very much for your time, it was great talking with you!

MD: Thank you!

The Kitchen Dwellers can be found at facebook.com/Kitchen.dwellers or at kitchendwellers.com