MAX – Darling

Interview By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) You have been working on a new YouTube video of “Blank Space.” Is it similar to Taylor Swift’s original? How did you decide on the song?

A) Any time I do a video, I like the spontaneity. When I threw up the video, I just loved the song. I always like going off of what I’m feeling or how hot the song is. I heard it and I thought I should do a cover of it. I am working it out and with any cover I think it is important to completely make it your own. That’s their work and the song is already their work. I’m definitely going to mess around with it and try to make it my own. When you cover someone else’s work, it is always to pay respect and never to try to make better. This is some awesome artist’s work and I want to give it my take.

Q) In October, you released the song “Darling.” Talk about the inspiration of the song and how the video connects with it.

A) That is the oldest song on the EP. I wrote it at a camp I went to with a friend like five years ago. I was with my exgirlfriend at the time and I kind of wrote it inspired by the first time that we met. It’s interesting because any song that you write that is inspired by an experience, it becomes its own thing after you sing it hundreds of times. Making the video years later, I really wanted it to be more about the message behind the song and less about the actual experience of where the song came from. I had my current girlfriend, Laura Quinn, dance with me in the video and I really wanted to make the story to be more of a fantasy and feel if it is real or not real. Anything that happens with love, it is a memory for yourself. I wanted to portray if this memory was a fantasy. That’s why she disappears a ton in the video because it is so real at one time and then it seems like it never happened. I really wanted to portray that in the video.

Q) With releasing your covers and this new EP, will there be a full album coming?

A) My own music always comes first for me. I always want to share that music. I’ve been working on a full album for a couple years now. I’m looking to release it in the new year. I’ve been fortunate to work with Pharrell Williams on a couple songs on the album and Hoodie Allen, who I am on tour with now. There are a lot of great producers and special guests on it. It’s been a long process, but I want it to be right. I think I originally started on YouTube with covering other people’s work with my friend Kurt and I think when people start watching a channel they came there for a reason. I hope to still do covers even when my full album is out and whatever else. There are many artists that have beautiful bodies of work on their own, they still pay respect to other peoples’ songs and make them their own. I want to continue to do the same thing. There is some strategy behind it, but there is an organic feel to it that whatever I feel at the moment is coming out. I hope the style stays consistent, whether it is something I have written or somebody else’s so that people always feel like they are coming to my channel and watching the videos that they are getting the sound that they originally subscribed for or watched for.

Q) What have you been learning being on tour with Hoodie Allen?

A) I love it! I always say it is so wonderful to have an experience where you are truly friends with the people you are performing with and you really have chemistry. Hoodie and I have been friends for a bit now and all the music we have done together has come from a personal place. We hit each other up directly. It was all personal. Being on tour with him has been amazing. Getting to travel with him and his crew made me feel part of the family. Every city is amazing! We are playing Madison Square Gardens, which has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. It has been an amazing tour so far. It’s an amazing experience and I love being able to come out during his set and perform with him every night. It’s one of my favorite tours that I have ever done. I’m excited for the rest of the tour and seeing these upcoming cities.

Q) In November you’ll be featured on two songs by alternative rocker Tim Armstrong. How did this collaboration come about?

A) I am really excited. I love Tim. Whenever I tell people that I have this project I’m working on with Tim Armstrong from Rancid they’re like, “No way!” I love him and we’ve been working together for about a year now. It originally started working towards my full album and kind of became something in itself. We have been working on it for a while and shooting videos. it’s becoming something that i didn’t expect and I think we are going to make our own duo and release the music under a certain name. It’s been so organic and I love all the music we made together. We are both inspired by old film music and the Jimmy Cliff album that won a Grammy last year we drew inspiration from that world and somehow met in the middle that we found this sound that I think represents us both really well. He is such a legend and he is so kind. I’ve been so inspired just in our short time working together. I’m excited for people to see the new videos and hear the new songs.

Q) Are there any other upcoming collaborations that you can tease?

A) It all happened with MKTO very spontaneously. My friend, Savannah, hit me up and asked me if I wanted to do this MKTO thing. It all happened in like a week! Right now, it is mostly stuff with Hoodie, Tim and Pharrell. There is nothing in the pipeline, video-wise, with those people. I’m excited for people to get all of those things that I mentioned before. We’ll see if something else spontaneous happens. I’d love to work with Prince! That would be so cool!

Q) You balance your music career with acting. Are there any acting projects on the horizon or even something else you would like to try your hand at?

A) I have a movie coming up called Love & Mercy about The Beach Boys. It just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and got picked up by Lionsgate. I think it is going to be released in theaters in the new year. It’s about the life of Brian Wilson. It jumps from like the beginning of The Beach Boys and the very rough time he had later on. I got to mostly work with Paul Dano who plays Brian Wilson as a younger man and then John Cusack plays him as an older man. Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti star in it as well. It is such a cool story and I’ve always loved The Beach Boys. I played Van Dyke Parks who is a wonderful producer. That was my first time playing a person who is still alive. It was an amazing experience to research him and watch videos of him. I hope I get to meet him soon to see what he is like in person. It’s a trippy thing to know you are portraying someone who is still out there living their life still. I’m pretty sure it will be released in early 2015.

Q) You are a part of social media, what is it like getting instant fan feedback when you share a new song?

A) It’s really wonderful. I think the fans are everything and it is so important to me that they are enjoying the work. I appreciate their opinions, always. I am always going to do what I believe and stay true to that. It is really wonderful to see what fans want to hear next or who they would like me to collaborate with. It’s so cool to see what they think. The beautiful thing about this day and age is direct fan interaction. I’ve learned a lot about that from Hoodie as well. He is so dedicated to his fans. So many of them come out to his shows and support him. He’s really dedicated to them and I love that social media has brought us into an age where you can connect with the people who support you so much.

Q) Is there anything else you would like to share with fans?

A) Hoodie and I and the band have been working on a video we are going to throw up soon. I’m just so excited for people to hear the full album I have been working on for a while. I appreciate every single fan’s support and patience with me. I just want to give them the best that I can give. Keep watching and listening. Thank you!