Max Fry at the El Cid theater – Photos by Ava DeGrinis
Max Fry is the internet’s new favorite charismatic, post-punk sadboi. From bedroom EDM producer to punk mosh pit orchestrater, Max recently committed to a (successful) full-blown rebrand, accumulating an impressive 400k monthly Spotify listeners in just nine months. His complex, reverb-heavy bops paired with the visceral chantings of a broken heart make for the perfect ‘it’s not me, it’s you’ breakup soundtrack (meant to be screamed at full volume into a hairbrush). I kept hearing bits and pieces of his earworm tracks on TikTok and found myself humming the chorus lines to myself on repeat throughout the day. Once his song ‘Lungs’ became permanently lodged between my cerebellum and prefrontal cortex, it was clear that I needed to learn more about Mr. Fry.
It just so happened that the Orlando-based artist was about to headline the historic El Cid theater in LA, coming fresh off the adrenaline rush of his debut live performance in NYC the week prior – obviously I hastily secured tickets. On stage, Max’s explosive energy was palpable and his fans reciprocated with equal frenetic fervor, prominently displayed by the permanent mosh pit in the middle of the room. His stage presence was as vibrant as his flame-colored hair, jumping and flailing about, leaning into the mob, screaming into the mic. Members of the crowd passionately cried out his name, one fan even going as far as throwing their phone on stage for a chance at getting a closer interaction with Max. In the final moments of his performance, Max debuted a new song and changed up the pace a bit by prompting the crowd to pull out their phones and lighters, poetically saying “this that flashlight typa sh*t.” The show came to a close in an illuminated room (Max’s grill glowing in all its glory) with fans swaying to the slower tempo, basking in the exclusive sensation of hearing an unreleased Max Fry track.
I got the chance to sit down with Max before the wall-shaking LA performance to talk about his history in music, creative process and reflection on the past nine profoundly disruptive months. Shortly following an ear-ringing soundcheck, Max and I slid into a margarita-encrusted booth to find a brief moment of calm to catch up before the eager, angsty, 20-something year old fans began flooding in.
You played your first show ever at Zone 1, in NYC last week right? How was it?
It was amazing. It felt like heroin – I don’t think there’s a better high than that.
You started out as a producer, right? What’s your story, how’d you get here?
Yeah, I started producing when I was 19. Back then I was big into electronic music, going to festivals like EDC and Ultra in Florida, and then my taste went from that high brow, festival banger music to more niche and jazzy hip-hoppy kind of stuff. Then probably like five or six years into doing that, I started learning guitar and wanted to do more indie stuff with a blend of electronic elements, but with physical instruments and instrumentation. And then about two years ago, I was like, I want to start singing; I’m tired of being the behind-the-scenes producer guy, I want to have the recognition and be in the spotlight for a bit to see what that’s like. I was super into this kind of post-punk music and I was like, well, punk is a genre that’s kind of forgiving to my vocal performance, haha.
So, yeah, I started that way. And I made some really bad music for about a year and then I made ‘Rotten’ and it was the first song where I was like, oh my gosh, I really like this now. Then I was like, I have to make an EP.
And you’ve only been releasing under this project since June of last year?
Yeah.
That’s insane, you’ve gained so much traction in that amount of time.
Yeah, so all my old music was on Spotify and I think I had maybe like 60,000 monthly listeners where it was no vocals or anything, and then right when we dropped ‘Dark Out’ we just wiped like my entire Spotify page that had probably like 30 songs on it. It was a full, shifted rebrand.
Edit by Will Knight
And then ‘Zombie’ came out soon after which really put you on the map?
Yeah. The way that we’ve been working this model, not really anymore, but when it first started, I was posting on TikTok and Instagram, just funneling my music through these channels. I didn’t know if anyone was going to like it or listen to it, so I posted different songs from the EP that were done to just feel people out. Then ‘Dark Out’ had like a little spark on TikTok and we just rode with it and immediately dropped it like the next day.
We rode that little mini virality bump and then the day that ‘Dark Out’ came out, I was like, let me just tease ‘Zombie.’ So I tease ‘Zombie’ and then that one went stupid and we’re like, now we got to drop that one. So that one came out like four or five days after ‘Dark Out.’
Really, that quickly?
Yeah, just because that was the model we were running. We were like f*ck queuing sh*t up a month in advance. Like it’s popping right now on TikTok, let’s get it out there. Let everyone hear it.
Fans at the show
What’s the story behind ‘Lungs’? That one is a personal fav of mine.
‘Lungs’ was cool because we didn’t start teasing that one until like a month after ‘Zombie’ came out and it kind of went ‘mini viral’ right away. We decided to take a gamble and use all the hype to push the actual EP and have that be the focus track. So we held off on that and it made a lot of people angry, but that’s kind of how it is, you know.
So you developed a system where you test out each song on social media to see how it’s received before you decide to release?
Yeah. But now we have a more traditional system; like with my most recent song ‘Away,’ we developed the song, queued it up for a month in advance and then just started spamming it on social media. Something that we’ve learned is that you don’t need to have this hype of it being unreleased, like a song can just be out. A bunch of artists have done this where a song is out and they make it go viral after.
The way that ‘Zombie’ worked was we had to go ‘mini viral’ and I was freaking out because it was doing like 10,000 streams a day and I was like, this is so amazing, I’ve never had anything like this. But then when my EP dropped, we did the whole ‘Skate 3’ thing with it and it went mega viral, doing like 100,000-120,000 a day after it had been out for three months already. It just shows that any song can go viral again if it’s the right timing and the right avenue for it.
In terms of process and output, do you have a favorite song? Or do you love all your children equally?
When I think of what’s out right now, I really like ‘Away,’ my newest one. But I will say there’s some unreleased songs that I like even more, so… more to come. There’s one particular unreleased song that I think is my best song and I’m actually going to play it at the show tonight.
But yeah, I’m so down to just be like, no, this one is better than this one. Personally, for me, it’s subjective, but I definitely have favorites. And when I dropped ‘Stain,’ that was my favorite. I feel like I’m always just making my best sh*t. Like all my new stuff, I feel like it’s my best stuff.
You’re constantly outdoing yourself
Yeah. Because I just started this, you know? So my vocals have matured a lot and I’ve taken tips and tricks from the music industry… and practice makes perfect – working out the muscle for vocals and songwriting. I wasn’t always a songwriter, so now I have to write lyrics and I’m not used to doing that. So it helps when you do it a lot.
Is that the most challenging part of the song development process? The lyrics?
Yeah. So, I’ll produce the song first because that’s the easiest part for me; I’ll kind of hum out the flow of a melody and then the last piece is puzzle-piecing it together with lyrics. Like okay, what can I say here? And a lot of times it’s just whatever; it sounds really close to whatever jargon I was spewing out over the mic to get in the flow, I’m just putting lyrics there that mean something now. So I’m very much lyrics last, I just want it to feel cool first. It’s most important that the flow be right, I’ll even sacrifice the meaning of the lyrics. Like I could probably say something more meaningful, but if it doesn’t sound as cool, like maybe it ends on a weird vowel or something, I’ll pick something that sounds cooler. That’s how I like it; sound first.
So, do the lyrics come from a place of truth? Are they influenced by your own stories?
I think a lot of people are like, oh my gosh, are you okay? My family is, like, checking in on me all the time when they see me, haha. But I think that the thing that I love about the project is I try to be as brutally honest as possible because it serves as this relatability opportunity for people. So you have this whole thing where someone’s like, oh, this artist is going through real human shit like me.
So, no, I’m not feeling the pain of, like, ‘Stain’ or whatever song all day – I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life right now. But I can channel these brief moments that have happened in my life over the past 10 years, where for that day it was like, oh my god, tearing my hair out, like what is happening. I just tap back into that alter ego whenever I’m performing and writing music, because you can be happy and still write really sad and angry music. It’s just remembering what you went through.
Max jumping on the balcony, prepping to go on stage
I know you’ve only played one show, but do you have any rituals or routines before going on stage?
Yeah, my friend got me on some like vocal warm-up stuff that I’ve been doing. I definitely like to jump around a lot to get the nerves going. Push-ups are good; I was doing so many push-ups in the green room last week, I was just ripping it out, haha. But yeah, drinking a lot of water, push-ups, jumping and shaking around.
And what has been the most memorable moment of your musical career? Was it the last show (just to be outdone by this show)?
Honestly, yeah… it’s a lot to think about the actual peak of my career though.
What about when you first went viral?
Yeah. I will say the virality is weird because it’s like… people always chase numbers and you really can’t do that, you have to enjoy the journey. So I think my little mini-peaks are like, when I make a new song and I’m dancing around in my room, and I’m like, this is amazing, I think I just made a hit.
But then the show was so overwhelming in New York that I’m like, yeah, I would have to choose that. It was amazing seeing people sing your sh*t back to you. That was so real.
Last Q – describe your musical style in three words.
Mean. Horror. Ethereal.
Listen to Max Fry on Spotify // Follow him on Instagram and TikTok
