I’d love to – but the guy I started the band with came up with it – just never told me where it came from or what it meant – I’m still struggling to say it right to be honest – any ideas?
You have a unique metal sound, how would you best describe your music?
Unique? Praise indeed – thanks! An erstwhile manager once described it as tough lift music – that’ll probably do.
You have built up quite the reputation for your live shows, what makes them stand out and what can fans expect from them?
There’s that Cult song – Heart and Soul I think it’s called – the guy sings “You’ve gotta bleed while you sing” – ditto, drum, hit keys, play guitar and bass”. We give all we’ve got when we play – heart, spirit, soul, guts, brains – all worn on our collective sleeve. It can get messy!
What have been some of your personal highlights whilst touring?
Hitting high, powerful notes, feeling as if you’re almost physically and definitely metaphorically moving people – when you get it right, there’s no feeling like it apart from good sex. Seriously, it’s like becoming the conduit for what feels like some divine energy. Pretentious, moi?
So bizarrely a while back you done a collaboration with one of the biggest rappers of all time: Eminem, what was it like working with him in the early days and how did this come to happen?
I guess it was bizarre – we were recording with a guy called Greg Brimson, who’s worked with some pretty big bands in his time. I think we were doing a demo for Universal or Cleopatra or someone – anyway, we got a call a few weeks later from Greg, who said Eminem and one of his D12 homies, Royce da Five Nine, wanted to use the music from one of the songs, No Control, for a guitar version of one of their tunes – a rap called Nuttin’ to Do. It did come out as a single, under the name Bad Meets Evil, but it was all arranged through middle men. I never met Eminem – though I had some, shall we say, interesting conversations with his lawyers and Royce himself – heavy dudes.
Your 2010 EP, the critically acclaimed ‘Cosmic Hearse’ helped to define your sound as a band, how happy are you with the response it had?
Touched and overwhelmed, to be honest. The title track especially – in fact, all the songs on that EP, have really got that wow factor – singing them is a quasi-erotic experience. When people got it – yeah, it was tremendously satisfying and validating.
So you’re currently working on your upcoming new EP, how did you think this will compare to ‘Cosmic Hearse’ or is it too early to say?
The same but different. That’s to say, I think all the usual Maxdmyz elements will be in place – aggression, melody, catchiness, groove, moodiness, dark humour, an obsession with loss and death and mental illness – but the personalities of the band’s newer members, in terms of writing and performance, will be in evidence, I’m as intrigued as anyone to hear exactly what’s going to emerge. Perhaps it’s going to be more wistful and elegiac than before – and weirdly uplifting – because we’re all cheery chaps really – the music is the mantra which enables us to maintain some form of sanity.
How do you find the recording and writing process, what are the best and worst parts of this?
I love writing – it’s the essence of the creative process – when a line of lyrics comes to you, or a riff. I also really enjoy jamming – and suddenly a band member does something memorable or that really gets you and draws the heart and ear – in many ways it doesn’t get better than that. As for recording, well this is the perspiration bit – it’s more about craft and technicality – and it’s really cool getting down a definitive version of what you’re trying to get across in a song. The worse bits are the very rare occasions where I struggle for the right lyric – as for recording, interminable hours of mixing – it has to be done but it can be a real drag.
As a band you have an interesting mix of influences that help to create your signature music, what currently are your biggest influences both musically and creatively?
I tend not to be inspired by music per se – but by the emotions it produces in me. Then comes the urge to write something that communicates my own emotions to other people – these emotions can come in reaction to a particular person or event or experience, or reading something or even an artwork in some gallery – I’m a creative omnivore – anything can spur me on to write a song.
You recently joined with Pure Power Darkside Management, how is it going so far?
It’s going very well. Andy, our main contact there, is super nice and on it – it’s early days yet – but it’s already proving to be a productive relationship.
What are some of the proudest milestones for you as a band and what do you hope to achieve in the future?
I think our first release, Muthablud, and Cosmic Hearse. Also certain gigs stand out – at the Electric Ballroom in London where I nearly had my head lopped off with a chainsaw, playing Torture Garden New York, where I was attacked by a frenzied TV after accidentally chucking a TV at him, playing downstairs at the Garage, where I destroyed fifty computer monitors with a machete, pick axe, baseball hat and sledge hammer, and narrowly avoiding prosecution for public indecency at the Underworld after a torrid session of cunnilingus.
What other plans do Maxdymz have for 2016?
I’m looking forward to some great gigs coming up, and also to releasing the new EP of course (working title, Alchemical Metal). Highlights are an industrial night we’re playing in Lille, France, on 8 October and Club Antichrist on 11 November in London. We’re also down to play the Everyone United all-dayer at the Devonshire Arms in Camden later in July (details are yet to be finalised, and it’s still at the planning stage, but I sincerely hope it goes ahead). It’s to celebrate the contributions of EU citizens and foreigners in general without whom metal and alternative culture in the UK simply wouldn’t exist –as musicians, promoters, photographers or whatever, their input is phenomenal. It’s just something that people wanted to do in the wake of Brexit. Everyone is welcome regardless of how they voted or did not vote for that matter and it’s free. There were people who wanted to leave the EU who are clearly not xenophobes – I think they voted wrong, as I’m a supra-nationalist, believe in the free movement of people and can’t wait for the withering of the nation state, but I’m also a pragmatist and that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. That’s why the event is called what it’s called – together we have a chance of standing, divided we definitely fall.
Official website: www.maxdmyz.uk
Go to www.maxdmyz.bandcamp.com to buy our music
www.youtube.com/user/maxdmyzofficial
www.cdbaby.com/artist/maxdmyz
http://maxdmyz.bandcamp.com/
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