Interview with Max Davis
Check out part one of the article in the FCS Fall 2020 issue here!
Ashley: Your knowledge and interest in music began at a very young age. Would you mind describing what it was like to grow up in a household saturated with music? How did the people around you help expand your music taste and eventually inspire you to create some of your own?
Max: “My dad gave us [Davis and his brother] this iPod when we were ten years old. Any artist who's ever been in any band that is anyone was on that iPod. Prior to that, music was always played throughout the house. When I got the iPod, I really gained more knowledge about all these other bands and artists. There was so much music on it that I hadn’t heard before that I was exposed to. My dad was a musician, so he had this studio in his office with all of his guitars and amps. From a young age, I was infatuated with that room. I’d always want to be in that room a lot of times. I’ve always loved instruments. Even though I couldn’t play them, there’s a video of me when I was two years old smacking a piano, just hitting all the low notes and shit. Growing up, the people you look up to, having that in your face, you just develop a love for it naturally. It’s instilled in you in a little bit.”
Ashley: Are there any specific tracks that you feel truly define or encapsulate your upbringing? What do the songs, its lyrics, and instrumentals mean to you?
Max: “A song I have to put is ‘Heart of Gold’ by Neil Young. That song is sort of the mascot song of my family. My dad was the biggest Neil Young fan, and that was one of the big artists he put us on at a young age. A year after my dad had passed, my brother had done this ‘Heart of Gold’ performance for him as acapella at his school. One of my best friends growing up, his mom’s ex-husband, was best friends with Neil Young. She got the video to him and he sent my brother a handwritten letter. That song is definitely one of the most important songs to my family.”
Ashley: How would you describe your typical music-making process, and what do you hope to achieve from it?
Max: “I write all my songs. It’s kind of a crazy process. I really don’t have a real specific way of doing it. I’ll pick up a guitar and just mess around until I get something. You know really fast, even with something very small. Whether it’s a chord or a cool melody you think of, you can see a long way with just a little bit. That’s kind of where I find myself with the early stages of it. You get a version of the finished project in your head, and in a way, it’s my favorite feeling and why I do music. I don’t premeditate what I talk about, I just find myself talking about similar things all the time. Whatever is on my mind, I’ll build off of. I’ll write ten songs in a row that are like the same exact thing, but I’ll reshape it in a different way. Naturally, it turns into a similar aesthetic because I’m going off the same inspiration… From the second I started releasing music, I was trying to make my favorite song. It’s kind of your goal; you hear your favorite song, and you wanna make that. You wanna have this contagious effect. When you listen to music you hear something and you want to give another listener that same feeling you just got, whether that’s through lyric choice, their melodies, or just the whole vibe of their song. You feel captivated by who your favorite artists are, what they do, their methods, and it syncs into you.”
Ashley: In your opinion, what is the most complicated part of making music?
Max: “I played basketball my whole life, and it’s been a driving force for me. With basketball, you know you’re sort of on the right path; there’s a consistency to it. With music, there’s not a lot of structure to it. It’s easy to lose sight of your way a little bit. You kind of second guess yourself, like: ‘Damn, am I being efficient as possible? Am I doing the right thing?’ It’s very easy to lose sight of direction when you do it [make music]. It’s on you as an artist to almost coach and teach yourself what your mistakes are and how to learn from them. You have to direct yourself, which is definitely a stress factor. Music is a completely different change-up from sports, and that’s sort of why I love it. It’s so unstructured that it can be overwhelming, but it can also be amazing. The only person that is going to affect you, both negatively and positively, is yourself. That can drive you crazy, but it can also be very beneficial. That’s definitely a thrill you get from it.”
Ashley: Being an artist can be physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing. Is there anything that you’ve personally struggled with that relates directly to your music?
Max: “I took about a year-long distance away from it [March 2017 through December 2017]. During that time, making music fell off for me. Obviously, I was still listening to everything and I loved it, but it wasn’t really what I felt like I should’ve been focusing on. I kind of stood away from it. Oddly enough, what brought me right back into it was this long-distance relationship with a girl I was talking to. That ended, but that situation definitely reintroduced me into it. After that, I knew it was real that time. I haven’t looked back since. It almost reunited me with that feeling I was talking about earlier. My life was in such a different place, a better place, where I felt like I really could go after music. I had a better sense of what I was doing and how to do it. That year, that transition taught me a lot. It gave me a push.”
Ashley: You explained a big factor in your decision to come to Emerson stemmed from the school’s creative energy and intimate environment. Since arriving, how has this setting impacted you as an artist? Have you adopted any new experimental tactics that affect your writing and performing process?
Max: “I’m around a lot of different people than I was in Oakland. Back home, people’s music interest is a lot less diverse. It’s really cool because I’ve met and talked to a lot of people who are really passionate about artistic things that I have a huge interest in. It’s kind of my first time being in an environment with people who are similar to me, creatively speaking. It’s definitely influenced me to be a little bit less caring and second-guessing. Being out here kind of opened me up more. I’m really happy with my setup here; it’s really all I need. It’s honestly a little bit more of an efficient setup just because things are right in front of me [in a confined space]. I find myself [making music] alone in the common room, which I like the vibe of. I didn’t bring my acoustic guitar out here, which I find is without a doubt the most useful tool when I’m songwriting. You hear the song completely different— it’s louder, you just get a good tone right off the gate and it's easy to scope things out. I have my electric, and when my roommates don’t want to kill me, I’ll be playing it really loud. I play during the day and jot down as much stuff from that. It makes me more smart about my use of time. I know I don’t really have much of a window, but it’s beneficial because it keeps me focused. Also being around people, not being isolated during quarantine, definitely helped put a positive flip on my mind and the creative process.”