Kevin Max sits down for a One On One Session at City Winery New York on May 30th, 2018. For more info visit: http://kevinmax.com Audio & Video by: Ehud Lazin Audio mixing by: kieran kelly
Setlist:
Moonracer
Half Of The Better One
Prodigal (Run to You)
Perhaps to best understand the musical and lyrical vision of four-time Grammy winning singer Kevin Max, it is necessary to turn to the musings of Nick Cave, another great minstrel of the rock and roll scene: “In the end, I am not interested in that which I fully understand, songs I have written over the years are just a veneer. There are truths that lie beneath the surface of the words—truths that rise up without warning like the humps of a sea monster and then disappear. What writing is to me is finding a way to tempt the monster to the surface. To create a space where the creature can break through what is real and what is known to us. This shimmering space where imagination and reality intersect, this is where all love and tears and joy exist. This is where we live.” Kevin Max too lives in such an intersection of truth and mystery, creating spaces that ponder the wilderness that is the human condition. In his own words: “I challenge and test the spirits when I write, because we all have to go on that journey of understanding what we believe in over and over again.” For Kevin, like Nick Cave before him, the process of writing a song becomes a fusion of questions and observations, both from his own life and from those to whom he has born witness in his journey as a singer, a poet, an actor, a novelist. He remains a storyteller whose fountain of artistry never seems to run dry and always challenges his audience to search for meaning in their own journeys.
It is impossible to divorce Kevin Max from his beginnings in the enormously successful CCM band dcTalk, founded at Liberty University in 1987 alongside Toby McKeehan and Michael Tait. The trio caught the attention of Forefront Records in 1988, and later Virgin in 1996; five albums, four Grammy wins, and multiple Dove Awards later, the band remains one of the most important and successful Christian rock groups of all time. Their 1995 double-platinum album “Jesus Freak” became an anthem for a generation of believers trying shine their light to the world, and Kevin Max’s unique vocals and eclectic contribution to the band’s evolution from hip-hop to pop/rock stood out in both their albums and their legendary, packed-out live performances.
The trio went on hiatus in 2000, perhaps too talented to be confined to the boundaries of standard CCM fare. Kevin wanted to dig deeper: “My music is for Buddhists as well as Christians—for atheists,” he says. “It prods and asks questions—what do I believe, and why do I believe it?” This philosophy echoes one of Kevin’s musical heroes, Peter Gabriel, who once mused, “There has always been a strong relationship between music and religion. It is because they both plug directly into the heart and can have real power for good and evil.” While always an artist with an appreciation to the divine mystery, Kevin sought to break free of the traditional CCM mold. Instead, he wanted to channel Gabriel and his own muses, in order to create a more universal musical experience that would invite his listeners to challenge their ideas of the world around them—while he continued to simultaneously challenge his own artistry. “My heroes are people that took the conventional and made it unconventional,” he says. “[Musicians] should be stirring things up. We should be the ones progressing culture.”
The first entry in his solo career, 2001’s “Stereotype Be,” made this new agenda clear, as a bold hybrid of Sting’s smooth rhythms and Peter Gabriel’s world-music substance, with the lyrical qualities of John Lennon. Not a financial success at first, the album is now considered a cult classic for patrons of progressive rock with stirring lyrics. With contributions from legendary musicians like Adrian Belew (John Lennon and King Crimson), Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), and Matt Chamberlin (Tori Amos), “Stereotype Be” is now heralded as “stunningly beautiful… One of progressive rock’s most underrated gems, coming from one of progressive rock’s most unlikely purveyors” (sputnikmusic). Mixing world music with catchy pop, with influences ranging from Morrissey to George Harrison, Tom Waits to David Bowie (often within a single track), Kevin’s lyrical quality as a poet with a unique storytelling vision set him apart and established him as a singer who could stand on his own while harkening back to the musicians he clearly loved.
