Kieran Webber
Director and Founder of CLUNK Magazine, CLUNK Events, and other CLUNK affiliate businesses. You’ll probably find me tucked away somewhere sending emails, listening to music, and creating content.
American artist Max Norton, who now resides in London, talks to us about his decision to move to London, new music, and more!
Max Norton has graced some of the biggest stages in the world as a drummer for artists Slow Dancer and Olivia Jean, now he takes the leap as a solo artist. His latest single ‘Comets’ starts his new journey strong with an anthemic, guitar driven number that boasts his gruff vocals. After wrapping our ears around the latest single we wanted to know more about the man behind the music, so we set up a quick chat!
Kieran: So, you recently moved from Nashville (TN) to London, UK, what prompted this decision, and how are you finding it so far?
Max: I was looking for some change and to start a new life after living in Nashville. I enjoy energy and diversity in a place, London checked all the boxes for a new life and to start over. I also love cafe culture and old history, which is everywhere here!
Kieran: How do you think the location change will influence your music (if at all)?
Max: I’ve already started writing differently. I’ve definitely found my voice just making the move here I’m discovering. I’ve been able to focus and finish song ideas faster too. Being able to walk everywhere has helped me get into the right mindset and I’m constantly writing down ideas every time I step outside.
Kieran: You’ve played with some pretty big names as a session musician and graced some of the largest stages in the world, including Glastonbury, so at what point did you know you wanted to go solo and create your own music?
Max: I’m grateful to have been part of those tours and records as a drummer, but I realized one day while performing at a festival in San Francisco that I can do this too as a frontman and that I have something to say. It’s like starting your own business and stepping out on your own. I started writing songs for myself during downtime in between those tours and realized how much joy comes from writing. Drums will always be the anchor to my songs, but I also love singing and writing just as much. I love singing as well, it’s an instrument that takes a lot of mastery.
Kieran: Do you hope to take your solo career to the same stages in the near future?
Max: That has been my goal since day one. When I recorded these songs I’ve been putting out, I kept picturing myself on all the festival stages and jets flying overhead like in Top Gun. The more epic the better. Flames. Jets. People singing your choruses. It’s what I envision daily.
“When I recorded these songs I’ve been putting out, I kept picturing myself on all the festival stages and jets flying overhead like in Top Gun.“
Max Norton
Kieran: Who or what have been the influences behind your own music?
Max: I grew up with Steve Earle and John Prine type troubadours always on in my house. I started gravitating more towards heavy drum influenced records from the 60s and 70s, because they pioneered what rock drumming is today and they were incredibly dynamic and melodic. Levon Helm, Ginger Baker, to name a couple. I love British troubadours like Nick Drake and Marc Bolan. I’m a huge soul music fan, so the heavy hitters like James Brown and Otis Redding. I love Courtney Barnett, I think she’s the perfect example of someone doing their own thing. I think George Jones has my favorite voice in country music. I’ve recently been listening to the Replacements, I can’t stop playing “Left of the Dial”.
Listen/watch ‘Comets’ here:
Kieran: How would you describe your music to somebody?
Max: Rock and roll meets pop hooks meets americana.
Kieran: What can you tell us about your forthcoming debut EP ‘Each one Is A Movie’?
Max: I have been releasing singles from it since November. “Nothing In This World” is coming out next month, it’s a love song with a fun drum breakdown. Someone told me each one of the songs on it are literal movies, hence the naming for it. I wrote one of the songs about my grandparents who met during WWII after my grandpa was shot down piloting a B-17 over Switzerland, I wrote another about seeing comets in the sky.
Kieran: Can you talk us through the writing and recording process?
Max: I come up with the main guitar riff/hook and chorus lyrics first. From there, I start to fill in what are the verses and those melodies. The choruses always come first, I work off those hooks when writing. I have notebooks scattered all over that I’ve written bits of ideas in. I scan them over for verses and usually can pick something I wrote last year or earlier that now fits in the song. It’s kinda magic when that happens and the notebooks scattered everywhere looks a bit crazy, like a scene from A Beautiful Mind. I’m glad I can tap into that and just go with it. I play all the instruments myself, so I lay down a scratch vocal and rhythm guitar first. I start layering the rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, mandolin, and then drums last. I sit with the song for a day or two and then sing the final vocals.
Kieran: Lastly, as someone that has toured the world extensively, what’s one piece of equipment you ALWAYS take with you?
Max: It’s not exactly equipment but my books…and I love finding new ones to read in different bookshops while on the road. I’d be lost without them.
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