J Mau is the musical project of Justin Maurer, currently leading J Mau & the Kissoff, a Los Angeles band shaped by a mix of punk, country, and West Coast roots music. The group brings together musicians from across different corners of the L.A. scene, including members of Kontrol Inc., The Zinfandels, and Guantanamo Baywatch, and lands in the long tradition of bands where genre lines get blurred rather than enforced.

Their debut single, “Poison,” sets the tone with a cinematic, desert-tinged sound that nods to classic L.A. underground music while still feeling distinctly present tense. We spoke with Maurer about the project, songwriting, and how music functions as a way of making sense of experience rather than escaping it.

Who is answering the questions?

This is Justin Maurer, J Mau for short.

Tell us about your latest project

J Mau & the Kissoff is the name of our latest project. We play music influenced by 1960s and 1970s Los Angeles, including Masque-era punk, Palomino-era honky tonk, and the outsider troubadours. We have just released our debut single, a murder ballad or corrido called “Poison.”  Our band is Cynthia “Mickie” Herrera on bass, providing an elegant backbeat and lovely backing vocals, Jairo Gabriel, who plays a silky, suave lead guitar, and the incomparable Christopher “Crux” Michael on drums and magnificent backing vocals.  

What are you listening to now?

Neville Goddard, Charles Mingus, Warren Zevon, Townes Van Zandt, and The Repo Man Soundtrack.  At this exact moment, I’m listening to “The Tea Song” by Michael Hurley.  Right before that was “Keep It Warm,” by Flo & Eddie.  

How do you deal with anxiety?

Great question.  Music certainly helps.  Petting and walking my dogs, Batman and Lulu, helps too.

A few years ago, when I was working an incredibly stressful job, when it abruptly wrapped, I had something like a nervous breakdown. I was shaking uncontrollably, and my anxiety was through the roof. It really scared me, so I started weekly therapy.

When that wasn’t quite enough, about three years ago, I took a transcendental meditation course and have been practicing TM daily ever since. I also practice EFT Tapping, daily gratitude, and have been reading and listening to a lot of Neville Goddard. I also took the “High Vibrations” short class on the Spirio app and really enjoyed it.

There are so many great tools on YouTube.  Look up “Tapping With Brad Yates” for a whole bunch of short EFT videos which can help with whatever may be bothering you at the moment.  All of these tools combined have been a big help.  The book “The Tools,”  by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels, was very interesting too. I’d recommend it.

Rather than overthinking, obsessing, and analyzing what we lack, we need to learn to appreciate and desire what we already have. We all have this shadow, like an inner child who was deprived of something, abused, neglected, not listened to, not nurtured.  Whatever it may be, it comes out at such odd moments in our lives. These unresolved traumas can really hold our happiness hostage. It’s important to free ourselves from these self-imposed limitations.

For me, having a morning ritual, not a routine but a ritual of drinking coffee, reading, meditating, and getting the day started in the right way, is so beneficial to my mental health and well-being. 

Did you have a favorite music teacher?

My Uncle John. 

What is your songwriting process like?

The atmosphere has to be conducive for creativity. Songs usually come to me in my living room at night. Or some lyrics for a chorus might come to mind.  If I’m not at home, I sing them into my voice notes on my phone and save them immediately.  If I’m at home, I grab the acoustic guitar and start working out the choruses, the versus and making sure it has the right feeling. When David Lynch was in art school studying painting, his professor told his class that he needed four hours of doing nothing in order to have one good hour of painting.  I can completely relate to that. With four calm hours, I can definitely get one good hour of songwriting in if the mood strikes. 

What has been your favorite venue to perform at? 

I have been fortunate enough to tour Europe quite a bit, and The Vera in Groningen, Netherlands, was always one of my favorites. They respect musicians a lot more over there.  At The Vera, they have a small private garage for your tour van, and your hotel room is just up the stairs backstage, with clean bedsheets, towels, and a shower.  The Vera is mostly funded by the Dutch Government, and I believe it’s volunteer-run since the 1980s.  Nirvana, Dead Moon, and a lot of the Pacific Northwest bands from that era played there.

They have a team who silkscreens posters, another team who cooks dinner and breakfast for the bands, and bands meet their sound and lighting people at soundcheck – and they are actually friendly and open-minded to your suggestions.  Downstairs, they have a smaller bar where bands can also play. I heard they now have a backstage area dedicated to Dead Moon. I haven’t been in a while and would love to check it out.

Two of my other favorites, Bottom Of The Hill and Thee Parkside, both in San Francisco, look like they will be closing soon. What a shame.  Up with independent music venues, down with luxury apartment buildings.  The venue, Blackwater in Portland, Oregon, is fantastic. They recently moved to a larger space, and I had the opportunity to play there with Clorox Girls in January for JonnyFest.  Was a blast. 

Do you think that you would win a karaoke contest?

Yes.

What are your goals for your music career?

To continue writing music, releasing records, playing out live, and touring. I haven’t toured Japan and Australia yet, would love to make that happen.

What do you want people to know about your music?

Music is more about feeling than knowing.  We explore music because we’re trying to understand the tragedy of the human condition.  It’s the same reason we enjoy storytelling, movies, the theater, literature, and poetry. 

As humans, we attempt to understand who we are and why we are here, and cope when tragedy strikes.  I hope that people find solace in my music.  A few years back, I released a song called “Don’t Take Your Life,” with my band Clorox Girls.  I wrote it as an tongue in cheek ode to the main character in the Sofia Coppola movie, “The Virgin Suicides.” 

After the song was released, I had a couple of people approach me and thank me for the song, saying that it convinced them not to commit suicide.  So music does save lives. 

Someone else came up and told me that they played one of my songs when they walked down the aisle to get married. I’m content that my music has brought some people joy in an often cruel and unjust world.  I hope to continue bringing people music and joy, and, as Ferlinghetti said, “be the voice of collective joy in the face of collective gloom.” 

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