Cooper-Young Porchfest 2022 was the catalyst for Macrophonics, which features lead singer Lawson Day, lead guitarist Justin Weirich, and drummer Margo Araoz.
“It was the first Porchfest I’d been to,” Day says. He told Weirich, “We need to play this.”
The two met when they were in the seventh grade at DeSoto Central Middle School in Southaven, Mississippi.
“I think when we really started hanging out more was in 10th grade,” Weirich says. “Physical science class.”
They would “talk about music and movies for an hour,” Day says.
“I wouldn’t really pay much attention in school. I was more focused on learning music and listening to different stuff,” Weirich says.
Weirich was 11 when he bought his Fender Starcaster with leftover birthday money and $300 winnings from a family golf tournament.
Day began singing six years ago. He originally was “too lost in video games and things.” Also, he says, “I was terrified to hear my voice for a long time.”
He didn’t sing in front of an audience until he sang karaoke on a cruise. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to sing karaoke.’ And I did it every night on the cruise.”
“Get Down Tonight” by KC & the Sunshine Band was his first song. “I can remember being pretty nervous the first night. And then, I think, from every night onward, I didn’t really care.”
Araoz, who is from Birmingham, Alabama, joined the drumline in high school when she was about 10 years old. “Half the people in my school were in the band,” she says. “That was what the school was known for. I got to see a drumline play live. It was the first time I got to do this. I remember as a 9-year-old feeling the vibrations in my body. I said, ‘I need to do that. I’m put on this Earth to do that.’”
Araoz stopped playing drums and percussion when she was 14 to focus on her high school studies.
She majored in environmental science at North Carolina State University before moving to Memphis in 2021. She met Weirich when they worked together at Otherlands Coffee Bar. “I didn’t have a drum set when I moved here. I hadn’t played since I was 14. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s behind me. I’m no longer a drummer.’”
But, she says, “Justin encouraged me to buy a drum set and he just got the ball rolling for me to retry it.”
The trio got a practice space at Off the Walls Arts, “all hanging out playing music and having fun with it,” Weirich says.
“It was such a cool experience,” Day says. “It felt like being in some kind of coming-of-age movie.”
The name “Macrophonics” was Weirich’s brainchild. “I like the imagery of ‘macro,’ being ‘big,’ and ‘phonics’ — ‘big sound,’” he says.
They’ve described their music as “punk rock,” he says. “More the attitude for us in terms of musicality. We try to make songs that sound aggressive, but still kind of catchy.”
“Some of our songs, while they all have a bit of pop structure, sonically can be different,” Day adds. “They don’t fit what people think of as ’80s punk.’”
Their songs are “just do-it-yourself” with “a little absurdist humor,” Weirich says. “Because humor helps the reality go down smoother.”
They only had two originals when they signed up for their first Porchfest in 2023. Day describes their show as “overwhelming. It was me and Margo’s first show.”
“I remember being very, very nervous. At that point I was kind of yelling instead of singing. I felt it was a controlled yell. But I was nervous as hell. Freaked out.”
Because it was hot, Day took off his shirt while he sang. He now sings shirtless most shows. “I didn’t want it to be a trademark, but I feel it kind of is.”
Their Porchfest experience was a success. “We wanted to keep doing it: ‘Okay. We’re pretty good at this. We can actually do this. Let’s keep it chugging along.’”
They played shows at Growlers, Hi Tone, Black Lodge, and “a lot of Lamplighter shows,” Weirich says.
Macrophonics is about to have its first EP mastered. They hope to release it “within the next month or so,” Weirich says.
Weirich doesn’t like to define their music genre. “I think we like keeping it vague like that. Who wants to be just a punk band? I feel like we have a lot more musical influences to branch into, more things we want to do with the band. For now, it’s more about the ethos of punk than necessarily the direct sound.”
Araoz also makes the band shirts. “I thrift the material for the T-shirts,” she says. “And I carve out my rubber stamps myself. Me and a friend.
“Environmental science shapes how I move through the world in every aspect. I did find a wholesale T-shirt company that uses a closed loop system for fabrics. There’s no waste being produced from any part of the company. They make new T-shirts out of old fibers.
“I wanted to make sure I was producing a product that can be broken down and reused again, not end up in a landfill in Ghana.”
Macrophonics played their second Cooper-Young Porchfest this April with “a lot more confidence going into it,” Day says. “I had a whole year of experience kind of flowing through my body.”
And, Weirich says, “We actually got our first encore. When they asked us, all we had to add on was ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ by the Ramones. We played it double time. We played it faster than the Ramones played it.”
