Mac Ayres on Making Music: 'It All Starts from Within'

Mac Ayres headlined a solo concert in Manila one Saturday evening in August. Produced by Insignia Concert Series, the 80-minute performance had everything: his band exuded soul and launched into extended interludes of bass solos and drum fills, and Ayres himself wasn’t just the man of the hour, he was the highlight of the entire evening.

The next day, Esquire Philippines sat down with the Long Island, New York native to chat about his music. We first asked him what it’s like to represent his hometown New York's music scene in other parts of the globe. 

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“New York is obviously a special place to me,” he said. “Growing up on Long Island, I didn't have a lot of people from where I was from, do what we do now. But luckily I met people like Chris, the drummer. Chris and I went to high school together. We’d always motivate each other. Funny enough, we actually grew up massive Lettuce fans. So we’d always listen to Deitch and Krasno, we’d always sort of said like,’“That’s us! That’s us one day! We’d be like Deitch and Krasno,’ you know, drummer and guitar player, singer-songwriter type of stuff. 

“It’s a dream come true to  connect with Krasno and like he’s a good friend of mine,” he added. “I didn’t even know he was from New York actually and it was a cool opportunity to connect.”

After getting to hang with his idols Krasno and Deitch, Ayres soon began to post covers on Instagram and demos on Soundcloud. He said he believes it’s important to fully develop someone's artistry by posting demos and drafts online. 

"I think the most important thing when you're starting is to make things," he said. "I know a lot of people that like to say, you know, ‘Oh I can't put out my first track, it's not right. I need to change this, I need to mix this.’ But I think if you want to improve and you want to develop yourself, I think it's really important to just create and create and create. Not every song is going to be a good song and not every song will be your favorite song. But I think that it's a big part of the growing process.” 

Ayres himself has released multiple tracks, many of which paying tribute to his favorite musicians, including the likes of Bruno Mars and James Fauntleroy. He even named a song after the latter because of how much he has been influenced by the music of the so-called "secret weapon" of R&B. 

"That's always what gravitated me towards him," Ayred said. “I'd be, like, listening to my favoirte music, specifically Bruno Mars' ‘24 Karat Magic.’ Something about that album had a profound effect on me. It just sort of sent me down the Fauntleroy rabbit hole, so to speak. I admire his ability to just be so multifaceted. He would collaborate with Bruno and Rihanna, he was so vast in his catalog, but it's still quintessentially…you could hear that Fauntleroy sauce. It's a really cool talent to be able to touch so many artists and genres and still be able to be yourself.”

Ayres, of course, also mentioned the creativity flowing through his live performances, particularly when he “wings” it, or when he sprinkles some jazz improv in between his sets.

"It's important to me," he says about this practice. "I always admire live bands and live musicians, but i think it's a really important part of not only my music, but the band as well. I mean, they're some of my favorite musicians in the world but they're also obviously my best friends. It's just been important to us that live performances are sort of a departure of the studio versions of my songs. It just gives the fans and audiences a taste of something that some might already know. Getting to play with guys like that gives me the luxury to ‘wing it’ a little bit, and get to do songs a little bit different every night."

Mentioning variety, Ayres displayed more than just R&B at his concert at Samsung Hall; it had progressive elements and a bossa nova groove inserted in the setlist. Ayres had some things to say about putting so much effort in melodies regardless of genre.

"For me, just being multi-instrumentalists, that helps me sometimes maybe get out of the box. For some certain melody-making, you can just sing along to it all day and maybe something sticks. If I'm not thinking of something cool on the piano, I'll try it on the guitar. If it's not cool in guitar, I'll try to sing it a little bit. I think it's important to note that creativity is weird like that. It comes in waves. As hard as you may try, some days I can't write a melody at all. I think it's important to keep that in mind so that it's all right to not work on some days. Go through something else, in a while, come back to it.”

Ayres then went on to mention finding inspiration in different places like Boston and his own hometown of Long Island. 

"I think it's a really important part of creativity," he said about drawing inspiration from other places. “I used to think that you could just make every song in the world just locking yourself in the studio and not see anything. But in the past couple years, I’ve been going out trying to find inspiration by just living life rather than hashing it out.”

As for his Filipino fans looking to find inspiration when it comes to making music, Ayres had this to say: "We live in a world where not a lot of people are going to believe in you before you believe in yourself. It's important, obviously. I've had a great support system like my parents and friends but, to a certain extent, not everybody has the luxury. And I think that if you don't believe in yourself then there's really not a whole lot you can do. Before you are great in anything, it starts within. I think we want to look for things on the outside so we take bits and pieces and seek reassurance, but it all starts from within. Believing in yourself is the most important thing.”

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