We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Max Devereaux. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Max below.

Max, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Back in 2021 I was in between apartments, moving from city to city, trying to find a place to call home. During that period I briefly lived with my brother Nelson and his then fiancee (now wife) in their cozy, Northeast Minneapolis home. It was the first time he and I had been living under the same roof in a few years and so we took the opportunity to sit down and write a few songs for an album. We had been playing gigs as a trio around Minneapolis with Japanese drummer, Yoji Sera in a group called Bird Of Paradise, so we figured we would just release this new album under this moniker. We wrote a few songs and then as fate would have it, I ended up moving from the Twin Cities to Los Angeles with my girlfriend and two cats. This put the Bird Of Paradise album into a sort of limbo for several months and eventually it was a year later and the songs still laid dormant.

Until one day in 2022, in a sort of spirit of cleaning out the cupboard to make room for more ideas and projects, I dusted off the songs and began laying them down one by one. All in all we had about 7 songs that we co-wrote back in Minneapolis and so I just needed to add a few more to get us to an even 10 for the album. I sent the tracks off to Nelson who was still back in Minneapolis and these initial stems of lead vocals and rhythm guitar became the foundation of the album. Over the next year, Nelson went to work filling in the gaps adding bass and drums here, keys and horns there, until we had an almost finished record. The mixing and mastering phase of the album took a long time because Nelson and I were experimenting with a bunch of new methods, trying to get the best sound possible out of these very lo-fi, low budget home recordings.

The last thing to do once the music was complete was to find a way to package this new material. We did some research and to our disappointment, realized that Bird Of Paradise was an oft-used name for bands across the internet and so we ultimately decided to just use this as the title of the record itself. We decided to keep the ball rolling in our respective solo careers by releasing the new material with an artist name featuring our names and an “&” to show how this album reflects us as separate entertainers joining together to present something entirely new. I think in a perfect world we would be able to work together in the same city, uninterrupted, in a studio-like setting. Then perhaps the work could really reflect where we are as musicians but I think “Bird Of Paradise” as a whole shows people at least a partial glimpse of what we are capable of. Creating “Bird Of Paradise” in this remote way over the course of years was a major hindrance to the creative continuity of the project and I think this approach was not ideal, but sometimes with some projects you really have to will them across the finish line otherwise they can just fizzle out.

For the album rollout we decided to feature a parade of 4 separate singles all featuring unique music videos. The first video for the first single, “Fame?”, which I directed, features a dressed-up me walking around Hollywood Boulevard like a lost puppy. I am looking for Hollywood, a made up dream, a nightmare, ultimately, an illusion. The video for the second single, “Blue” which I also directed, employs the heavy use of AI and video effects to create a psychedelic surge of color, but only in the background. It was shot on location in Redondo Beach, CA nearby to where I live. The third single, “Way On My Way”, has a very retro-looking video while still being shot on an iPhone like the other two videos. Again I directed this video and it’s unique quality relied heavily on the location scouting talents of the video’s director of photography, Spencer Stevens, who found great locations in Torrance, CA and Harbor City, CA. The music video for the fourth single, “Hearts Like Ours” was Nelson’s responsibility and was shot in LaCrosse, WI with the help of Chris Egan III. Together they created a beautiful and lonely, black and white snapshot fitting of that particular song. It’s too early to tell if having all this promotional content for this project will pay off, but at least we did our due diligence attempting to draw attention to the upcoming release.

The full album, “Bird Of Paradise” by Max Devereaux & Nelson Devereaux releases on July 7th, 2023 on all streaming platforms.

Max, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born and raised on the north side of Milwaukee, WI. I got interested in art at an early age, frequently taking the bus to the Milwaukee Art Museum, collecting and reading as many books on art as I could find, watching films and going to the movie theatre every chance I got, and collecting vinyl records and going to concerts all in an effort to expose myself to as much art as possible. I did very poorly in school either due to a lack of interest or a turbulent life at home and as a result my prospects were not good after graduating high school. I enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in their film school but dropped out after one miserable week, I knew college was not a good fit for me. From then on I became a full-time artist, living where I could, working odd jobs to have a little bit of money, and moving from town to town. All the while, I was recording albums of original music, directing short films and videos and creating a mountain of paintings and visual art works. This period, of which I also currently find myself in (and may not be a ‘period’ after all, rather a permanent predicament) of intensely dedicated creation with very little return in the way of financial, social and socio-economic gain has been counter-balanced and instead rewarded by means of extreme spiritual growth. So at this current juncture I am very poor, very unknown and very precariously positioned but ever determined to forge ahead with my art.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I have always believed from day one that art is not a job and that a true artist doesn’t seek a reward for their efforts. They give unconditionally, uninhibitedly, and this of course is to the extreme detriment of the artist living in a world imprisoned by constantly trying to possess the material. It is sacrifice, it is endless suffering in the name of beauty and truth. If you operate from this perspective however, you will be rewarded in ways no other lifestyle can manifest.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have been forced to interface with social media from the very outset of my artistic voyage and I believe it has done more harm than good. I have not garnered a respectable following by social media standards and this has caused a sort of body-of-work dysmorphia as I foolishly hold my output and return on investment of time up to my contemporaries. I think this comparison game, which we are all guilty of playing precisely because these algorithms and platforms are designed to function as such, is a losing one. My advice for those starting to build an audience would be steer clear of these platforms for the sake of your mental well being and find a grassroots way to grow your audience in your community. My inability to reach out organically to my community (sometimes through no fault of my own) has been among my greatest failures as an artist-cum-businessman in this age where this forced wearing of multiple hats is a regrettable prerequisite.  

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/maxdevereaux
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxdevereauxart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maxdevereauxart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVfHnOU_Us15qZToV9qDV7w
• EXPERIMENTAL FILMS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH-_HgzQp_ztt6szJxw8eZQ
• SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6wdcwwgnazAzwHOg1HOhp3
• BANDCAMP: https://maxdevereauxarchive.bandcamp.com/
• PRINTS: https://society6.com/maxdevereaux63c6df6433ed1/designs
• MERCH: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/max+devereaux