A, B, C, trust me, is not as easy as 1,2,3, but it was for Michael Jackson. While he may have been naive and immature in other parts of his life, making historic pop records came easy for him. I can think of no other artist - with perhaps the exception of Elvis Presley - who so profoundly touched lives beyond the scope of the music world. Billie Jean would be one of my 8 Desert Island Discs - possibly one of the best singles ever recorded. His music will outlive all of us.

Hand on the mend - some new gigs on the gigs page, album on the way and the sun is out.

M

so it’s back to one handed typing for a couple of weeks (sorry no capital letters) i had a small operation on my right hand on friday so am out of action for a few weeks. sympathy and cake to the usual address please…

back to the good news - last weekend i played with lizzy parks at the spiegeltent during the brighton fringe. this was our first live show together and was a lot of fun. we are playing again in august (in croatia!) but if you cant get there i’m sure there will be more uk shows to follow….

x

It was a pleasure and a privilege to sit on the panel that chose ‘Papa do Plenty’ to open Sundays main stage at this years Isle of Wight festival. Wight Noize is an annual competition open to young bands from the Isle of Wight and alongside me on the panel were Andy Booth - drummer with ‘Go Audio’, Dan Swift (producer - Feeder, Ash, Snow Patrol etc), and Lindsay Weatherstone (Solo Promotions). Congratulations to all the bands and artists who took part, it was a great weekend of music and good luck to ‘PDP’.

This weekend i’ll be performing an acoustic set with singer Lizzy Parks (http://www.lizzyparks.com/) at the Spiegeltent during the Brighton Fringe festival. For tickets check the website http://www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk/ticketing.Lizzy has a new album available called ‘This and That’ which features me on acoustic guitar.

Work cotinues to go swimmingly on the debut MAX album - we are now looking at a September release to co-incide with tour dates which are currently being scheduled - watch this space for more details. I’ve also been recording more tracks for the ‘Ganda Boys’ project. This is a band formed from the musicians who came together to make the soundtrack for the BBC2 drama ‘Moses Jones’ set in the Ugandan ex-pat community in London. ‘The Ganda Boys’ features the fantastic vocal talents of Dennis and Dan from ‘Da Twinz’ and we have our debut live scheduled for August 1st at the Almeida Theatre, Islington. More details soon.

M

x

It’s been a frantic schedule in the last few weeks with recording for the album going on a pace - despite numerous obstacles (one day there will be a book…) we’ve managed to record  almost all of the rhythm tracks so I guess we’re about half way there. In amongst all this the Prince Fatty reggae band was the featured session on Mark Lemarr’s radio 2 show with the session being recorded on Tuesday at the BBC Maida Vale studios. This will be broadcast on Friday April 3rd at midnight on Radio2. I played rhythm guitar on the session and managed to distinguish myself by not saying hello when introduced…. Mark has apparantly already declared this session to be …“one of the best sessions in the last few years” - so either tune in or codpast or whatever the modern fashion is these days….

By the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

x

I’ll be performing at the Latest Music Bar (Joogleberry) in Brighton once more on Thursday the 5th March. Support comes from the lovely Joanne Louise Parker http://www.myspace.com/songsbyjoannelouiseparker and i’ll be joined by (most of) my band again for the evening. Tickets etc TBC. Will let you know asap.

How is the snow where you are….?

First - happy new year, although we are almost 1/12th of the way into it already…! Now for all you crime drama fanatics, Moses Jones starts on the telly on Monday night (2nd Feb) BBC2. I was fortunate enough to contribute to the soundtrack for this show playing bass and guitar on 5 tracks throughout the course of the drama. The score was written and produced by my friend Craig Pruess and the show also stars the new Doctor Who - Matt Smith no less! There are 3 hour long episodes for you to enjoy.

We are also currently in preparation for some new recording - scheduled to start in March and with a provisional release date for May of this year. More firm dates and details as I get them. This will be the debut album release for me with my band and naturally I’m very excited about it. It will be released on the Scarlet Records label and the working title is provisionally - ‘The Truth About Romance’.

And finally i’ll be touring again in May supporting the one and only Brian Kennedy. Still waiting for confirmation of some of the venues  but as soon as I have all the details they will be posted.

In other news…. I managed to get to the final of my squash clubs handicap cup at the end of last year! No-one was more surprised than me…

Looking forward to 2009 being a great year, already looking at a new album, another Prince Fatty release, national touring and lots of other fun and games along the way without doubt.

Mx

The new MAP EP ‘Four Stories’ is finally available after much deliberation… There are 4 tracks on the CD ‘Evensong’, ‘Carillon’, ‘Four Stories’ and ‘Reel for Eric’. You can get it through the shop page on this site using secure paypal and it’s just £3.50 (need I say it makes a perfect stocking filler?). There are some audio excerpts on the mp3 page too.

I’m working at making it available as a download too and will update with news as and when.

Thanks to all those involve, obviously Pete, Nils Edstrom, Jane Austin, Nicky and Pete at Think Digital Print in Oakham, and 1 Sonic in Brighton.

While i’m thanking people thanks to those who braved the cold to come to the Max and the Mexicans show at the Latest Music Bar in Brighton at the end of November, many thanks also to Prince Harry and the Laylanas.

Exciting news in the pipeline, it looks as if an album is finally scheduled to be recorded and there are new tour dates to be announced as soon as we have them for late spring/early summer.

Max

x

November the 25th i’ll be performing live with my band for the first time since May. We’ll be at the Joogleberry Theatre Brighton (now known as the Latest Music Bar) on Tuesday 25th Nov - I probably already said that. We will be billed (for the first time) as ‘Max and the Mexicans’ and there will be lots of new songs. So there! Also playing will be my friends the Laylanas plus support from Prince Harry. Admission is just £5. I’ll put more details on the gigs page when i’ve done this.

We are just tying up the last odds and ends before releasing a new MAP CD - handily just in time for Xmas! It is a 4 track EP entitled ‘Four Stories’ - the tracks being ‘Evensong’, ‘Carillion’, ‘Four Stories’ and ‘Reel for Eric’. The provisional release date is the 10th of November via the website only to begin with and then via downloads too.

Had another great gig with Bushwalla in London last week, he has another couple of dates before flying back to the States - try and catch one if you can, the show is a lot of fun. By the way congratulations to Dave and Celia on the marriage last weekend and good luck to do Harry and Lou for this weekend!

Max

x

So this week has had an international flavour - if you include the Isle of Wight… Work is nearing completion on Manu Larrouy’s debut album (to be released on Motown France) which i’ve been involved with over the last 3 months. Working with Manu has been a great experience and his album will be massive wherever French is spoken. On Tuesday we had a last minute session with me on the vibes, an instrument I never would have thought i’d have an album credit for!

On Thursday Bushwalla blew into town and after a quick coffee (and a rehearsal) we rocked the Komedia in Brighton opening for Two Spot Gobi. This was my first live show since injuring my hand so I was pleased to get back in the saddle once again. Bushwalla has another UK show - headlining in London on October 21 at the Enterprise in Camden and i’ll be playing bass for him once again. Check bushwalla.net for more info.

And then on Friday it was across the Solent to the IOW to spend some time with the future of the music industry in the company of the students from Platform One. It was a privilege to speak to you all and thankyou for the wonderful reception you gave me.

So to this week which sees the return of my lounge covers band “Gregorys Sofa” - we are playing at the Duke of Norfolk in Brighton on Thursday night from about 9ish, and as always it should be a lot of fun. And hopefully a return to the squash court in anger…

Max

So I can finally type at a relatively acceptable speed so here is the news… I managed to injure  my hand last Monday evening in a highly bizarre accident but very fortunately I have no long term damage. My hand is still pretty swollen and sore at the time of writing but the stitches are out and it’s very much on the mend. Unfortunatley I had to cancel both the Brighton show last week (many thanks to Baldy for stepping into the breach) and will not be able to perform this Sundays show at the Stables in Milton Keynes - both in support of Brian Kennedy. As soon as there are confirmed dates for subsequent shows I’ll let you know.

In the meantime i’m off for physio…

Max