Helltown is Maxie Dean's first release. Maxie Dean began in an apartment complex in Los Angeles's Echo Park neighborhood. Songwriters Kevin M. Brennan and Andy Francis were neighbors who played their music too loud when they had a few too many beers on their porches. They quickly bonded over their shared love of punk bands such as Alkaline Trio, Hot Water Music, The Gaslight Anthem, and Against Me! We're talking about strong lead vocals, evocative lyrics, catchy hooks, but with just a touch of...weird. After honing their songs in acoustic fashion, bassist Matt Walsh and drummer Jeff Cohlman joined the lineup and Maxie Dean was born. The sound has since been fleshed out into an anthemic, fuzzy, hard-driving song machine. Songwriting is the name of the game for Maxie Dean. They whittle their tracks down to their pop music core, then build them back up, adding layers of noise and melody to create their own brand of rock and roll.