MAX talks ‘Ms. Anonymous’ EP, new music, touring and more

MAX takes time during the last leg of his Sounds Like Gibberish Tour to talk about his song writing process, his top 5 playlist for the road and how much of an impact his fans have on his music career.

 

GroundSounds: This is GroundSounds and we are talking to MAX before his show in Austin. Thanks so much for speaking with us MAX. How are you liking Texas so far?

MAX: I love Texas. Texas always shows us love which is awesome. They got great food, great people. I love doing shows here.

GS: For people new to your music, can you tell us a little bit about your music and how you would describe your sound?

MAX: Sure, yeah! You know, I’ve always loved soul music a lot and some big influences have been Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Etta James. But obviously I love pop music too. I’m a big Justin Timberlake fan and Bruno Mars. So I’d say, it’s ideally a mix of those two different genres. I just love putting everything I’ve got into every time I sing something and I love that people connect to that. So, if people haven’t heard the music it’s usually a lot of energy and as much soul that I can bring to the table.

GS: My favorite song off the new EP Ms. Anonymous is, “You’re Not That Girl” and it is that mix of soulful edge with underlying pop-y beats. Can you tell us what or who rather was the inspiration behind that song?

MAX: Oh, wow, well thank you. I’m glad you liked that one. I actually talked about it, in my last show. It’s about an ex-girlfriend of mine, who I was very in love with at one point and then at some point I woke up one day and I wasn’t anymore. And I had never felt that before, where you really fall out of love with someone and you can’t understand why, but you still care about that person so much. You never want to hurt them because you love them, but you just don’t feel the same way that you did. And you know it was hard, this person cheated on me and that was sort of the catalyst for our breakup and you know, I realized after a month of not knowing if I made a mistake of breaking up with her and not giving it another chance that I realized she wasn’t the person that I had originally fell in love with. And that was the first instinct that I had to get back with her but I knew I had to stay strong with it and the second that I was really honest with myself and vulnerable knowing that this person wasn’t right and I needed to move on. So, that song is really about moving on from a relationship that you know wasn’t right, but so hard to let go.

GS: It’s always interesting being an artist, in that the things that can cause you the most tragedy can inspire some of the best songs.

MAX: Yeah, I mean Adele! I hate the fact that those things happened to her but the music is so beautiful that I’m glad that she’s going through stuff, because every song she puts out makes you wanna cry a little bit, but also feel good that you’re not the only one who went through that. So, with that song, {“You’re Not That Girl”} I had never really written a song exactly in that way before. Writing it was very therapeutic too because, you know, any time I write a song it sort of encapsulates this moment in my life and makes it something to look back on. But at the same time I can see little bits of where that song came from but it’s in this safe place to where it cant hurt you anymore and that’s what I love about songwriting.

GS: That’s awesome. So you’re on the Sounds Like Gibberish Tour right now. What’s on your Top 5 playlist; either Top Songs or Top Artists that you’re listening to on those long road trips between shows?

MAX: Oh man I got a bunch {laughs}. I’ve been listening to a ton of Frank Ocean. I love Channel Orange, it’s one of my favorite albums. I love the new J. Cole record I think it’s so great. I’m always jamming to that too. Of course there’s always Prince. Anytime I need some inspiration for some soul I listen to Prince and he’s just the best. James Brown, always brings me energy when I feel like I don’t have any left in me. And I’d say the fifth… let me look in my playlist right now. You know I really love this guy. He’s a newer artist, well not newer but not as big in the scene, but I love him. His name is Erik Hassle and he has a song called, “Talk About It” featuring Vic Mensa and man I love that song, I love that dude, it’s great.

GS: Awesome, all good stuff. You know, we’ve also been hearing that on your tour you’ve been asking for fan requests for different mash-ups. What’s been the best mash-up that you’ve had to do spontaneously so far?

MAX: Oh, that’s a good question. Hmm, I gotta remember. It’s just cool because like, honestly some of them, they get weird {laughs} because we just ask for anything. Our policy is sort of like, we’ll do like, if everybody suggests it, so like, if there are 10 suggestions we can’t turn any down. We have to figure out how to incorporate all the titles. We did one the other day though. I used to play this medley and I still play it sometimes, it’s the Baby Medley. You know ‘cause I say, “what’s up baby” a lot and I call a lot of people baby and so we do that medley. So, someone asked us to do the, “Nae Nae”, from the “Watch Me” song. So, we figured out how to do the different parts, because the whole Baby medley had like, “Come on Over Baby”, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, “Ice, Ice Baby”. So, we did all these parts with all the Baby songs and then of course, “Nae Nae”, which is perfect for rhyme scheme. So, we would just switch out Baby for “Nae Nae”. So, it was like, “Ice, Ice Nae Nae” or whatever it was. That was a really fun one, ‘cause like, literally in the moment, we’re looking at each other like, {starts singing} “Ice, Ice Nae Nae” and just very excited that we were figuring out this spontaneous thing, which you know is the most fun thing about doing these medleys {laughs}.

GS: So, with the “Ice, Ice Nae Nae” were you mixing some 80’s dance moves with the “Nae Nae” dance move as well?

MAX: Oh yeah, totally! We’re always trying to get some 80’s moves in there with the “Nae Nae”.

GS: That’s awesome. I know that these mash-ups aren’t new for you. Like you said, you’ve done the Baby medley before. Can you tell us a little bit about the evolution of you as an artist? From starting off on YouTube to now going more mainstream.

MAX: Sure, so I grew up in New York City, Hell’s Kitchen, New York where I was surrounded by a bunch of different cultures, it was really diverse. There was always so much music around me. So, at a young age I started doing shows and would dance on the living room table in my underwear for my family at home and just really started loving performing. I started writing when I was maybe 12 or 14 and I just kept writing and eventually made a YouTube channel and made videos in my bedroom. And I just kept doing it and started covering other people’s work as well. And I always wanted to make it a tribute and never something like… I always hate it when people are like, “this is better than the original”. You can never be better than the original artist’s work. So, for me it was always just about how can we make this a completely different style? How can we flip this song? So, I started doing those on YouTube and I met a really good friend of mine Kurt Schneider and we became close and started doing videos together and he really changed my life in the YouTube sphere. And we started doing a bunch of videos of other people’s work and covering songs and then eventually I started putting out more EPs of my own and more of my own stuff.

In the last year and a half it’s been a whirlwind of getting signed with Pete Wentz’s label DCD2 and going on the Boys of Summer Tour with Fall Out Boy, Whiz Khalifa and Hoodie Allen. Then putting out the single, “Gibberish” featuring my dude Hoodie Allen has really been an incredible journey just to see different radio stations playing the song and seeing the video on T.V. and stuff. It’s been amazing! And honestly, it’s always come from the place of, I just love doing this and I’m really happy that you know, people are fans of it and allow me to continue doing it.

GS: I know your fans are a big part of your journey and they’ve been with you from the beginning. Are there any stories from this tour, whether it’s a fan traveling from really far away, or a crazy present, that made you realize, “wow, I have really dedicated fans”?

MAX: Oh my gosh, yeah. I told this story earlier. We were in Orlando the other day and when people bring gifts and stuff it’s always lovely. Like, we go to Starbucks a lot and get Starbuck’s breakfast sandwiches at 2pm, because Starbucks always has breakfast. So, there’s people that always bring that kind of stuff.

But, the other day, we were in Orlando and we were meeting a bunch of people after the show and this girl came up to me and she was like, “Can I tell you a story really quick?” And I was like, “Of course”. And, she told me this story of how. Well, my first Orlando show was like 4 years ago and how she was going to be coming to the show. But, two days before the show she had a stroke. So, she couldn’t come to the show, she was in the hospital. But, that next week while she was in the hospital this woman, her nurse was telling her a story about how her daughter had gone to a show and she had a great time. It happened to be my show. And I guess it really upset her and she broke down. And a week later this nurse’s daughter, I had signed a poster for her and she gave it to the girl. She was like, “Yo, you should have this. Sorry you couldn’t go to the show”. And she said that really helped her and that made her really happy.

Now, four years later, she came to the show and here I am meeting her. She said, “I’ve been waiting to meet you for four years and it’s just really wonderful that, that nurse’s daughter really helped me get through and get back to a healthy place”. And I was like, wow, I never would have known you had a stroke and it’s just crazy. And then seeing her break down in tears, then we hugged and I cried. Honestly, it was the greatest gift I’ve gotten on tour. Just hearing this story from this girl, just really knowing that this connection is a real thing because of the music and just being able to perform for her.

GS: Wow, that’s such an amazing story! I know that the end of your Sounds Like Gibberish Tour you’re doing a lot of holiday season shows. You’ll be at “Santa Jam”, “Not So Silent Night” and “Jingle Jam”. So, obviously at the smaller shows you’re able to meet more fans and you can have those close connections. But why don’t you tell me the difference for you in playing smaller venues to then playing the larger arenas. How is the energy different and do you prefer one or the other?

MAX: They’re so different. It’s hard, ‘cause I love, that in this tour we’ve been performing for various different crowds. But I can see everybody’s faces. I can connect with them. I can call them out and say they got great hair or whatever it is. And with that, there’s a beautiful energy that you can’t really replicate in any other venue environment. And I love that! But then you know, of course, walking out in front of 20,000 people and hearing people cheer for something or sing a song with you, there’s nothing like that either. For me I love to meet everybody that we can and really be able to say thank you to every single person. Because, these big numbers, they’re all just individual people that decide to support you.

So, when I can really say thank you to somebody’s face it’s the best feeling. And even when I do, do the big shows, I try to meet as many people as possible. I just try to say, you know like, after the set come to the merch table or just over here, wherever it is. I like to meet everybody I can. In reality you can’t meet 20,000 people but for me it’s awesome to even meet a percentage of people and hopefully they can let the others know that they can come out to the show anytime and I’d love to see them.

So, yeah, I’m excited about the December shows. I think there’s like 10 other shows that haven’t been announced yet. We’re going to be flying a lot and doing lots of Christmas songs and it’ll be great.

GS: It does sound exciting. I want to talk now about your videos. I know on your YouTube channel you create a lot of you own content. And you just released 2 new videos recently. One for “Gibberish” featuring Hoodie Allen and most recently a video for your new song, “Ms. Anonymous”. How much input do you have conceptually for those videos as opposed to the ones you create on your own?

MAX: Oh, I’m always extremely involved. I love having the creative input on every video we ever do. Most recently a really good friend of mine Jade, who lives down the road, Jade Ehlers. He directed a video for a song of mine called, “Puppeteer” and we’re always brainstorming together, which is my favorite. And you know, when we get into these videos, with any director, I never want to not be involved. I always want to be right next to them, the whole process. Even if that means it takes a lot more time to do it. I just feel like people respond more so to a video they can really tell that you had a huge part in as an artist. Rather than a song or a video where you can just tell that the person just showed up and danced a little and whatever. So conceptually even for the “Gibberish” video the director for that was this guy, Greg Jardin and we spent about a month with the choreographer, this girl, Laura Edwards all together just meeting in coffee shops, figuring out moments, and what we were going to do in every section. It was definitely the most interesting process and the toughest process because there were so many small moments. But in the end I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was so worth it to spend all that time figuring out every step.

GS: I know that you are also working on a full-length album can you tell us a little bit about the style and direction you’re going to be taking? Can we expect any collaborations?

MAX: Oh yeah. I am so excited. I’ve been working on the full length for a while now. I got done working with one of my idols Pharrell Williams on a few songs on the record and I’m so excited for that and even working with him some more on it. There’s some other really great producers and I’d say, it’s like we talked about earlier, it’s definitely still in the soul vain with pop. I’m really diving in as much as I can even more, into that soul vain of music genre. I’d say Ms. Anonymous is a really good representation of a small taste of what the full-length album will sound like. There’s definitely a ton of features that I’m super stoked about. I love collaborating and having features on the record. When you collaborate and have features, they bring these things out of a song that you couldn’t bring out yourself. It’s always my favorite to work with people that are friends of mine and get to do that. There’s some people that I can’t say yet that I’m just over the moon about that we’ve been waiting on for a long time.

GS: Well we’ll definitely be looking out for those announcements. My last question that I have for you is, at GroundSounds we have this thing called Grind Time. This is where you are doing what you love, you’re doing what inspires you and what you are most passionate about. Other than music and acting what do you like to do on your Grind Time?

MAX: Oh my gosh, my Grind Time! I love, I’m sort of an adrenaline junkie. I love adventure stuff. I love sky diving, zip lining and white water rafting, anything that is outdoors and I can get my heart rate up; I love doing that. You know, because it just makes you feel so alive and appreciate life so much more. On the flip side, I love bowling. I have a bowling night every week with a bunch of my friends. It’s sort of our little community hang every week. Which is the best. To just have 30-40 people show up all from different walks of life and do this sort of hilarious sport that I’ve grown to love so much. I’m not that good at it, but I’m still into it. I’m also a big foodie, I love trying different foods and coffees in cities everywhere we go. It’s one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s something that like, when I find a meal or a coffee that I really dig that definitely inspires me as well. I like cooking and stuff and when you see someone, it’s amazing to see what people can do with food. I love that they can get creative. So, for me, when I see someone make a meal, in a place that I never thought it could be so delicious and look so beautiful it inspires me to work even harder on what I can do.

GS: Ok, so one more question. Do you have a go to Wine and Dine meal that you’ll make for a girl that you’re interested in? Since food inspires you so much and can bring out an intimate sort of connection.

MAX: Oooh okay, okay {laughs} I mean, I feel I do, I’m a pretty good balsamic chicken salad guy. And you know, whatever the lady likes to drink, get something nice there. And maybe make a dessert. Maybe make a nice chocolate brownie, some thing double fudge. If you like chocolate I’m all about that. And it depends on what time of day it is but of course we could have like a nice coffee or something. That and good conversation and I’m stoked.

GS: That sounds lovely. Thanks so much MAX for talking with us.

MAX: Of course, thank you.

Stay in touch with MAX: FACEBOOK | WEBSITE