Known by his fans as MAX, Max Schneider is no stranger to performing and has been doing so since 3 years old. Max has since starred in modelling campaigns alongside Madonna, had roles on Disney shows and he is now signed to Pete Wentz’s label DCD2. We recently spoke to MAX ahead of him taking to the stage at Manchester Arena whilst supporting Fall Out Boy on their MANIA Tour.
Hi, How are you? How has the tour gone so far?
MAX: It’s magnificent, there has just been this incredible energy. UK fans are so receptive to music in general but in the US we do more crowd control stuff but here is great to see the fans being so free and engaged and it just makes it more fun for us! I try and leave all my energy on stage and make sure my little Jewish knees don’t get too damaged.
You’ve just recently released ‘Lonely’ a track with Matoma. How did that come about?
MAX: We were just together in the states and before we went on the tour we just kind of sat there and I was like I don’t know if you have any tracks you want to work on together? And immediately he was like yeah, we need to do this, lets try and get it done before our first show. So we did it in about two weeks before the first shows began and it was so great to play it because its kind of a special one in kind of a moment in time for what I’ve been going through most recently so I’m glad people are connecting to it.
If you could collaborate with anyone else who would it be?
MAX: I’d have to go with Stevie Wonder, just to sing with him and be a part of something. I got to see him recording in a studio once when I was working with Pharrell on a track and he was working with snoop dog and Pharrell and i kind of just sat in the corner and just watched Stevie Wonder just singing in the booth and with his harmonica. It was like it was his first time in the studio and everything had to be perfect. He is so inspiring and such a legend.
We obviously have to talk about the incredible track ‘Lights down low’ and the video that actually has your wife Emily in it! The track was written for her and is an important song in your lives but why did you decided to have her in the music video?
MAX: For a while the song started getting a big reaction from in the Netherlands so all the music powers that be thought it would be a good idea to have a famous girl from the Netherlands play my wife. This song in general was in my learning experience to say no to things because I’ve always been a bit of a yes guy, a people pleaser. I wanted everyone to know that this is about her and that she is my wife rather than pretend its about somebody else or that I’m single, so I kind of spent 3 months saying no, that I’m not going to do the video until I can do this video with my actual wife and I think that was important because the story is so transparent so I wanted the video to be.
We wore the actual wedding outfits and the actual outfits that I proposed to her in. I think you can either be really mysterious or if you choose to make things honest then you should go all the way with it and that is what I wanted to show.
You also released your wedding video with the track, why did you decide to share that?
MAX: That was another thing, before that a lot of the music powers that be were like you can’t reveal that you’re married, you’re a male solo artist in your 20s nobody will listen to your music. And that’s all well and good I know there are sometimes where that is the case, but is was important to me and I can’t lie anyway! I really wanted to make sure that if we were going to reveal that we were together and married, I couldn’t think of a more perfect way to reveal it than our marriage, our day. I wanted to treat the fans like our family in this way to make them really feel like they can connect to it. Some people think it’s a fake wedding video but no all my family are in it, its 100% real.
There is no denying that you’re a romantic, what is the most romantic thing you’ve done for Emily?
MAX: I still cant really live up to more than the proposal with the harp player, but for our last anniversary we went on a hot air balloon ride which was pretty cool. However, I am also in the dog house a lot and I do a lot of stupid stuff! She loves the show Bob’s Burgers, so I got her a Bob’s Burgers backpack for her birthday last year and she was like did you really get me a Bob’s Burgers backpack for my birthday? I had her pick it up because I thought that she would love it, but she gives me shit still to this day. So to anyone listening, see you can still screw up!
All your tracks are very raw and honest, do you think its important to be that way with songwriting?
MAX: Its always important for me to do that, it is so therapeutic for me. I would definitely have a therapist if I wasn’t a song writer because you basically get into a room and you share your most intimate secrets and life with songwriters, most of whom you’ve never met before. There was a song on my last record called ‘Home’ that I wrote the day after I thought Emily could be pregnant and it was me documenting how I would feel as a father at the age of 23, am I ready for it and what life is going to look like and all the raw moments of that. I got home and told Emily and it took her a while to realise that it’s a normal thing of songwriting. For a while some songs weren’t as raw and they were more me going in and listening to people telling me to write about this because of what people will be into right now. I had to make a lot of mistakes before I realised it didn’t matter. I did a lot of stupid stuff before and I will do a lot of stupid stuff again, but at least now I’ve learnt my lesson on always putting out music thats real to you.
Finally what can we expect from you in the future?
MAX: My second album is almost done, I’m starting to put out songs now! I have a duet with Noah Cyrus that is set to come out that is super special to us. I’ll also be back in the UK in January I think and Europe with all the new music that I am releasing.
