Marlon Sexton exists in a state of perpetual motion.
The Shooks singer, clad in leather boots, a red suede jacket, and a hastily acquired USSR officer hat sits planted on the velvet loveseat of a downtown Russian tea house. He’s composed and confident, but gesticulates like a madman when talking about music… or anything, really.
It’s the kind of thing where you’d like to put him in a strait jacket – or it feels like he is about to scamper away.
In May 2020, the Shooks released their debut EP, Pet, boasting a modern electro-rock sound, graced the stage at ACL Fest in 2021, and recently concluded a residency at the historic Continental Club. Though just 22, Sexton has been in the fast lane while thrashing behind a mic and hopping atop bass drums. Determination? Luck? Or some otherworldly force propelling this wiry Nick Cave of the internet age?
Austin Chronicle: You can either let the devil take the wheel or let Jesus take the wheel, which are you going to let take the wheel?
Marlon Sexton: I prefer to let neither take the wheel! I’d rather drive myself. I get nervous when other people drive – metaphorically and literally. I’m a very distracted driver, but I’m a very good driver. I’ve never been in a wreck… knock on wood.
AC: What flipped the switch for your love of music?
MS: My mom had this massive crate of CDs and I had this really shitty CD player. I would go through all of the CDs and pick out the ones with the coolest covers. I would listen to them, and there were a few that I thought were amazing and the guitar didn’t sound that complicated. I thought I could play it if I tried.
AC: Did you get your musical inclination from your mom then?
MS: I liked music a lot because both of my parents were into it, but I did drop it for a while until I was a little bit older.
AC: Did you drop it for any particular reason?
MS: No. I think I was just a little kid that wanted to do whatever, because I was into a bunch of stuff. I was super into knitting for a while when I was in second grade. It only lasted a few months, but I remember thinking that knitting was what I was going to do for the rest of my life.
AC: So, could you comfortably knit a sweater if you wanted to?
MS: Hell no! There is no way I could do that.
AC: Well, we all have those niche interests.
MS: I’m pretty good at backgammon. I like monopoly. I feel like I’d like UNO, but I’ve never played UNO. I like dice games.
AC: I love playing dice. I try to land double, sixes, or snake eyes.
I want my music to be well known, but my goal is not to become personally famous. I always try to put out the whole Shooks image and divert the attention away from me individually. – Marlon Sexton
MS: I’m always trying to get people in bars to play dice. I lost 20 bucks, which means I lost 20 games of dice to this guy named Beef at a bar a few months ago. He was so drunk, and he taught me this dice game called Cee-lo that I had never heard of. I thought that I could win because he was really drunk— 20 bucks gone. I was sucked in, but you aren’t going to decline playing a game of dice with a guy named Beef. I’m going to find that dice hustler named Beef one day and get my money back.
AC: There seems to be some kind of incestuous music scene with your friends. How did that come about?
MS: Most of the people I know, like 90 percent of my friends, are musicians to a certain extent. I don’t even think it’s about seeking other musicians out, it’s just that everyone plays music. It’s like Shooks, Dice House, Sad Cell, Party Van, and Telecom all have a through line. There could be a chart that would have everyone from those bands – a family tree or whatever you want to call it.
Although there’s a lot of overlap, I don’t necessarily think that all those bands sound the same at all. Each one is pretty different in its own way, definitely some more than others, but I think most of those bands operate very differently, too.
AC: How do you piece the songs together? Do you hear it in your head?
MS: Sometimes it’s immediate and you just hum something out, and you know how it’s supposed to sound or what you want the guitar to sound like. Sometimes you are aimlessly recording stuff over and over again until something magical happens.
AC: Magical?
MS: Yeah, sometimes it feels like that. Sometimes you’re like: ‘How did this happen? This is good and I was terrible five minutes ago!’
AC: Is that how you feel about your work?
MS: I don’t think a person should worry about someone else not liking something to the point that it discourages them from putting it out, but I do worry about impressing myself, and sometimes I’m not doing that.
AC: What’s the hype around your dad?
MS: He’s a very good guitar player. He’s the best guitar player I’ve ever seen for sure. I’m not just saying that, but he was really good, and he’s just a really good person. People like him alot. He’s a very cool guy, to tell you that, but he’s a very good dad. He’s done it all. He’s been that guy for a long time. THAT guy.
AC: Are you ever concerned that you are going to be THAT guy’s son?
MS: I don’t really worry about it. In Austin, it’s kind of a thing and some people know about it, but it’s not like he’s Adam Sandler. I’m not Jaden Smith. There’s a big difference. It can definitely be a bit obnoxious. If you listen to the music, which is why any of this fucking matters, it has so little to do with his camp.
AC: Do you think that you’ve gotten advantages because you have that connection?
MS: I’m sure at times there’s been things that have helped, but it’s never been super apparent things. If that was the case, things would be so easy and it is not easy at all to get anywhere in music. The band would be rich and famous by now if that was the case, right? Who would want that? You want to make something for yourself.
AC: If I were in your position, I would be swinging my name around town, but that doesn’t sound like the route you want to go down, and that’s very honorable.
MS: It’s about why you actually want to do this. If I just wanted to be famous I would be a TikTok star. It’s a lot easier to do that, but I don’t really want to. I just really like making music and playing shows.
AC: Your hot air balloon crashes and you go into a coma. You wake up and can instantly play any singular instrument perfectly. What instrument would it be?
MS: Something crazy, like didgeridoo, something that I could never learn how to play otherwise.
AC: I haven’t disappointed my dad in a lot of ways, however his one dream for me was to learn how to play the accordion.
MS: I know some accordion players. Those guys are fucking cool. I don’t know what it is, but there’s a swagger with being like that – a real San Antonio accordion player vibe.
AC: On that note, if you could add one unique instrument to the next Shooks album what would it be?
MS: There’s a little bit of saxophone on this record, which I was not expecting, but I did play a kind of poor saxophone! I was really into jazz when I was in sixth grade – I was obsessed with classic Coltrane and Miles.
That’s the whole point of Shooks. I was in so many bands where we would be in the studio and they would say we couldn’t do something. So I decided that I was going to start my own band and we are going to do whatever the fuck we want, becuase that’s way more fun than worrying if something is too ‘this’ or ‘that.’
AC: Do you think you’ve got the chops?
MS: I’m confident in my abilities, but sometimes I’m very harsh on the music itself. I’m always trying to make sure that I’m impressing myself. As time goes on, you get better at things so it’s harder and harder to do that. When you first start out, you’re just impressed that you wrote a song, but the longer time goes on the better songs I write for myself. That’s what it all comes down to. That’s why I do this.I want my music to be well known, but my goal is not to become personally famous. I always try to put out the whole Shooks image and divert the attention away from me individually. Someone came up to me at Mohawk and asked if I was “Mr. Shooks” and I was like… ‘What the fuck?’ The older I get and the more attention we get, the more I don’t want people paying attention to my personal life. I want people to be invested in the band and the music. That’s what I care about.
Shooks performs Friday at the Continental Club with Dewey Ivy.
This article appears in January 21 • 2022.