February Digital Cover: Get to Know Max Schneider
/Max Schneider poses for RRU staff (Mike Zahar/Roman's Rap-Up).
You may remember him from the world of Nickelodeon or Youtube, but his current work is at the forefront of a new phase. Max Schneider’s grounded nature and raw relationship with music allows him to explore different facets of his artistic capability that have not yet been shared. While drawing inspiration from singers such as Etta James, Stevie Wonder, and James brown, his soulful voice and musical stylings contribute a richness to his pop sound. He has been very hard at work, promoting himself as MAX, an independent artist, with his latest single, “Lights Down Low” featuring Gnash, while working on a new project, “Party Pupils” which takes a more anonymous approach.
Max Schneider poses for RRU staff (Mike Zahar/Roman's Rap-Up).
“It’s been so cool because I think, on a solo thing with ‘MAX’ it’s like the least googleable thing ever which it was it is. On the other hand, when it’s your solo thing you want to be able to brand yourself but at the same time it’s like, the only thing you can really do is be yourself… so with this, it’s been so natural… from the name, to the artwork, to the visuals to like the whole concept of the whole project wanting it to all be animated. People sometimes won’t know what I go by or what I sing but they may know me but with this world, they fuck with the name party pupils and they don’t even know who we are, which is kind of fucking awesome.”
“Lights Down Low,” is a stripped down love song written for his wife of one year. With a very raw and simple sound, Max’s sentimental lyrics work with a carefully placed melody that demonstrates his innate vocal inclination and undeniable musicianship. “Lyrics are everything to me,” Max said, “in that it allows you to realize there are so many songs being written, and there’s only so many ways you can write certain songs with certain words in a certain language and of course that brings into melody and how melody is obviously the most universal language in music.” Max approaches his projects as a genuine, mature and seasoned musician as shown in the material he releases.
“There’s a part in the bridge of Lights Down Low where I kept thinking to myself, what am I giving this person I want to spend the rest of my life with?... It’s this energy that travels throughout time that somehow finds itself again and in that line, it’s a simple thing I’m like ‘can you feel this energy, take it.’ That’s where the lyric comes into play in being so important, in finding what’s the way to convey the melodic emotion and to find exactly what you want to say to that person.”
Max continues to discuss his relationship with his wife, and how it has molded his perspective on love and life. He talks about the word “urge” tattooed on his finger: “I just got this in Hawaii with my wife it’s a matching tattoo,” Max said. He said they knew they loved each other only a matter of weeks in, but they felt it was too early to say it. “So we would say ‘the urge’ and we would say it all the time… It’s important to remember why you started being with this person,” he said. His entertainment and life experience provides a solid foundation for his upcoming projects and exploration of his own music. In the true sense of the term, Max is a renaissance man, exploring a new stage of his career with the same undying passion.
Check out more photos from Digital Cover shoot below:
