Maxx Scian [mak-s sahy-uhn]
“Maxx Scian is constantly innovating the sonic spectrum with sounds that move your mind and heart in a beautiful beat driven marriage.Peep him, or miss out!”
– Mike Kaabe- NYC session artist/drummer, Emmure
Born in Queens and raised on the stages of Broadway and Jones Beach Amphitheater, the twenty-three years wise New York native musician/producer/multi-media junkie Maxx Scian (Max Frankel) has had little to take his focus of the arts.Well, except maybe for some juvenile political activism.
At the age 18, he took his passion for social justice, bold artistic statement, and youthful patriotism and spray painted the front half of a NYPD police vehicle with phrases including “we want our rights back” “revolution” and “stop the NYPD.”Why may you ask?Because his best friend was arrested for spray painting an old sign warning citizens that if their dog makes a poopie they better pick it up or face the dire consequence of a… ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR FINE.Maxx figured if barely anyone gets ticketed for said offence, what value to our society does it have, and since we are all law abiding tax paying citizens, that piece of aluminum or steel is practically ours anyways.Ah, the flawless logic of teenagers.
Seven thousand two hundred dollars later, Maxx later focused his angst designing apparel, calculating it is far more economical hiring printers than criminal lawyers.Photography became another passion of his. Traveling around NYC shooting abstract photographs, artists, and music events, many at the location Fat Beats New York (R.I.P).Here, Maxx shares some insight into the significance of the legendary record store in his life.
“Fat Beats became a really important place for me.I have met so many great people there.Two of the employees there, J57 and the Audible Doctor (both of the Hip-hop group the Brown Bag AllStars) taught me all the basics about making beats, finding sounds, isolating them, and generally set me on the right path to where I wanted to take my music.Before kickin’ it there, most of my music was guitar driven funk-rock, and I was just learning my ways around computer software, but since being there to get the criticism and positive feedback that feeds an artist’s progression, my sound has kept transforming into what it is today.”
Today that sound has evolved out from his 2009 debut album Come Wander With Me.His staple of capturing real life comedy, madness, and tragedy through the use of field recording his daily experiences in New York, has carried on.As he works on his sophomore release, he will be taking after his heroes J Dilla and John Frusciante (Guitarist/Red Hot Chili Peppers) exploring the less is more method.
“Jay Dee would so something on a beat once, and never again, and I’d bug out because the fact it only occurred once made it so beautiful.Frusciante would sometimes put my favorite part in the outro, and start fading as it started getting really good!The bastards!I figure if I get the get the same type of emotional response out of my listeners, why not.”
