Daily Hansard – Tuesday 23 March 2021 – Meeting No 14 industry. Max’s talents have earned him this accolade on two occasions: firstly in August 2001 when the band recorded one of the original songs, Is It Over? as part of a compilation album titled Why Don’t We Do It In Abbey Road?. Max has now done it twice in Abbey Road. The second time was in August 2003 when the band played and recorded a one hour live gig on the hallowed ground of studio two.
With the Beatals, Fab Four, Max has had the honour to perform alongside Melbourne’s pop orchestra and the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra in such influential venues as the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Concert Hall, Burswood Theatre in WA and the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
In 2003, Max entered Musicoz. As you are aware, this is one of the largest music industry awards competitions for unsigned artists. His song, Beautiful, earned him a place in the top 100, just missing out on the top 50 placement, reaching number 51. It was a tremendous, outstanding achievement for a first-time entrant—remembering there are over 6,000 entrants in the competition.
In 2005, Leaving Bloomfield Avenue and Max Arriving in Darwin were released, much to the pleasure of most of Mitchell Street and all those interested in live music. The album sold extremely well. Songs like, Happy, Coffee Club, You Are the One for Me and Make Love Like You Are Being Filmed featured regularly at solo gigs. You would even hear the audience singing most of the words.
Max was also one of the support acts for the Violent Femmes in March 2021.
In 2006, Max was added to a wild ride line-up on a charity CD for Beatles and beyond with the song To All My Friends. The album ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ has sold tremendously and continues to support landmine victims.
In the past few years, Max has gigged, taught song-writing in the Territory, writing and recording. Max is about to launch his own album, which is fantastic. He has been a support band for:
• Violent Femmes, one of my favourites
• the Screaming Jets—the Member for Johnston is a big fan
• Sarah McLeod
• the ex-Superjesus
• 28 Days
• Peter Murray—who would think you would support him? He has supported him.
• The Audreys
• V8 supercars—he was up here for that gig
• in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, when Johnny Farnham was here he lined up alongside him—and the Living End the next year.
One of his greatest honours was when he was asked to sing the Australian national anthem at the Rugby World Cup. It was an amazing effort for a Territory boy. In 2018 he supported John Farnham again, and the Black Sorrows, Daryl Braithwaite and Taxi Ride. But the most important thing is the launch of his new album, One More Step. It will happen on 12 May at the Playhouse in Darwin.
Darwin’s favourite Max is well known for his solo and band performances. He will perform all of his songs from the new album and entertain us. He is a religious Beatles fan with an infectious personality whether he is performing at the Mathew Street Festival in Liverpool—known as the Liverpool music Festival, which he has done—or supporting the heavy hitters I spoke about. Max is an amazing Territory talent and we are proud of him. We look forward to the launch of his new album in May.
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