Maxdmyz is a London based 5-piece band well established on the UK scene having built its reputation over the years with stunning live performances and recording some of the most innovative and original alternative metal ever to come out of the UK music scene.
Interview by Jane Howkins.
You’re currently in the middle of a mini European tour, with dates in London, Lille, Gravesend and Dublin. Do you have any plans to extend the tour at all? Those places seem rather random!
Twister (singer):
Well, they are. I remember an eighties crooner who’s a household name wondering why his booker was getting consecutive gigs in Aberdeen, Brighton and Canterbury – he eventually worked out that he was doling them out in alphabetical order. The truth is you get what you can, and just do the dates. As for extending the tour, it’s tempting but we really want to get on with mixing the songs for our new E.P. Alchemical Metal and continuing to write the album scheduled for next year – or we’ll be slowing down all the tunes so we can fill up the plastic.
Is there anywhere you would particularly like to play, and why is that?
Jay (drummer): Yeah, Mumbai – I’ve heard there’s a fantastic scene out there, and that India in general is full of metalheads. Bruce Dickinson says that they’re the most enthusiastic fans of anywhere in the world, and I guess he should know.
You’re based in London – how did you guys get together?
Roger (guitarist): Just friends of friends, an ad or two maybe – I myself had seen the band many times, and loved them – so when they parted company with their last guy, I was happy to step in to the breach.
What is the music scene like in the capital at the moment, especially in terms of the alternative genres? There has been some criticism recently about the deterioration of night-life in the city, would you say that has affected your gigs at all?
Vortex (keys): Well, I heard on the news the other day that night club attendance in general is down a huge amount in the UK – venues want too much cash from promoters, and drink prices are getting crazy. I think that London now is getting too corporate and samey and the people who traditionally turned up to gigs are getting priced out of the capital – most of our fans are breadless at the best of times sadly.
You collaborated with Eminem in the past – can you tell us more about that and about how that came about?
Twister: Well, we did a demo for some label and got a call a few weeks later from our producer saying that Eminem and one of his homies Royce Da Five Nine wanted to take the music from our tune No Control to use for a ‘rock mix’ for one of their tracks Nuttin’ To Do. I don’t really know the details of who did what or how it actually happened.
Can you tell us what the name of the band means, and where it came from? Is there a correct pronunciation?
Jay: I don’t think it means anything – anyway, it’s lost in the mists of time, boss. The bloke who started the band with Twister came up with it – he didn’t know what it meant either. We guessed that he might have intended the word ‘maxdimized’, which isn’t actually a word, of course – as far as how to pronounce it’s concerned – search me! Most people go for ‘maxdimize’ without the ‘d’.
You’ve been working on your latest record Alchemical Metal, set to be released in October. How is that coming along?
A’Zedd (bass): Swimmingly – we’re a couple of days from having the thing mixed – then we’ll be mastering and then it’s done. There’s a lot of fucking around when you do this – but it’s all cool – it’s already sounding absolutely amazing owing to the Midas touch of producer Ays Kura – he’s a genius, man!
How do you go about the writing and recording process? Do you do much of the writing in the studio?
Vortex: Carefully is the answer. Seriously – it just happens – ideas come to you, you record them at home or put them past the guys at rehearsal – and we jam them, and if we’re still playing with the same idea 20 minutes later it’s probably a keeper – we just develop it over days, weeks or even months and trial them live where they develop further. When we feel the time is right, we record. That process is much less spontaneous, but fulfilling nonetheless.
Who/what would you say you are most influenced by, and are there any bands/artists that you recommend our readers check out?
Roger: I don’t know about influences – we’ve been compared to Pearl Jam and Audioslave, but there’s some death in there and thrash – and classic rock and even some Goth. I think we have all been influenced by heavy music (Sabbath, Slayer et al) and then also great music – from The Beatles to Bauhaus.