In this interview spotlight, I chat with Zach Maxwell about the latest project (Music For Life), motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I was born and raised in New York City on the lower east side. Currently I live in Denver Colorado.
I create music that combines the best of contemporary pop, funk, gospel and soul, with the intention of exploring higher realms of consciousness through music.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Music was the only thing my mother had in her tool box to get me to calm down as a young child. When I was 2 years old, she would put headphones on me and play music and I would just zen out in a chair for hours. Without my headphones on me, I was a wild uncontrollable child.
I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to music though when I was 19. I was playing in a cover band my freshman year of college and I had a religious experience during one of our concerts.
I was 100% sober and up to that point in my life, it was the most magical and profound thing that had ever happened to me.
The short version of the story is that it was our last song and the party was packed wall to wall and people were FEELING it. We were supposed to end the song but because we could feel that the crowd wasn’t ready for us to stop…my keyboard player motioned that I should take a guitar solo. Problem was I was still relatively new to playing guitar solo’s and hadn’t practiced soloing over this song yet. Nor did I really know what key the song was in or what I would even play if I was going to solo over it. But none of that mattered because in an instant, I felt myself step back from my body…almost as if I was stepping outside of my body and watching everything unfold from a birds eye view. And then I felt something take over me and just start playing guitar for me…effortlessly…every note was perfect. I looked up and the whole room was jumping up and down together in unison to the solo I was literally watching be played…by me, without any conscious effort on my part at all…as if a spirit or force was doing it all for me and I was just watching it all unfold. It was the most powerful and magical experience of my life up until that point and after that show, I said to myself…if THIS is what music is…I have no choice but to spend the rest of my life pursuing this magic.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This is my first EP that I’ve ever put out.
The intention behind the EP was to put together something that was an offering to the listener…that would all fit together as one unit and be focused around a central theme. In the case of this EP, the theme was “exploring higher consciousness through music.” Beginning after that religious experience I had playing in my college band…this has been a theme I’ve come back to again and again in my songwriting, production and performing. This idea that music is a catalyst for the mystics path…that it can put us in touch with something far greater than ourselves and can give us an experience of the Divine.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
The biggest challenge I face as an indie artist these days is staying the course when things look dismal. Since I started doing this professionally well over 10 years ago, I have had record deals, publishing deals, “big breaks”…all come my way and then either not materialize or turn out to be the wrong fit for whatever reason. And in those times when things look really difficult I’ve had to remind myself why I decided to do this in the first place, which is that music is the thing that brings me closest to God.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
For unreleased tracks, show and tour updates etc., subscribe to my mailing list on the homepage of my website.
Anything else before we sign off?
I am without form
without limit
I am beyond space
beyond time
I am in everything
everything is in me
I am the bliss of the Universe
everywhere, I Am.
-Ram Tirtha
