Max Graham

It’s a cold and wet morning in Chilliwack, nestled in the Canadian Rockies east of Vancouver B.C. Max Graham is feeding aural nourishment to the flock of partiers present at the Summerlove rave of 1998. “Kittens” by Underworld is being sprayed through the speakers into the early morning mist, and the crowd greets it with outstretched arms and upturned smiles. Graham clasps his hands and shakes his head during the song’s breakdown, visibly overcome. His passion and energy spill out through his music, working the crowd into a frenzy. This is the man they’ve waited all night to hear – Canada’s dance music ambassador – and Max easily takes the party to a new level.

Now two years later, Max has inked a European record deal with Hope Recordings (home of hard tech house maestro Timo Maas, and epic breakbeat techies Starecase), done a world tour with Paul Oakenfold, mixed a CD for 514 Productions/Yul Records in Montreal… His own productions and remixes are gracing the charts and filling dancefloors at home and overseas… His name is receiving praise from the likes of Nick Warren and Dave Ralph… He holds residencies in clubs all over Canada and Europe. And through all this he’s stayed true to his sound, himself and his home.

Having traveled since he was born, living in London, Spain, Los Angeles and New York before settling in Ottawa, Max speaks through his music as an attentive and insightful observer. He started DJing in1986, when he first touched a pair of turntables at the tender age of fifteen. Over the fourteen years of his career, Max has dabbled in many kinds of dance music. Originally a scratch DJ, Max met house music in the early nineties, at the beginning what would become a renaissance period for dance music across the globe. In these landmark years between 1992 and 1995 the world would witness the birth of progressive house, and with it such artists as BT and Underworld, and such DJs as Sasha and Paul Oakenfold. Max was one of the first DJs in Canada to pick up on this distinctive sound, and he went to work interpreting it for himself.

Max has built a foundation for a brilliant future – as Dave Ralph recently noted, Max is the future. He is being booked to play all over the world, and has been signed to mix such luminous projects as the Cream compilation on Yul records and the upcoming Transport 4. In less than a year of serious producing, working with a next-to-bare studio and a full schedule of traveling and playing, Max has displayed the makings of a gifted producer. Of his three releases to date, Backdraft and Airtight have gone one and two on the Balance chart, with Airtight making an impact in the UK with a top ten on the Buzz Chart, top three on Cool Cuts, airtime on Pete Tong’s Essential Mix on Radio One, and licensing offers from such compilations as Oakenfold’s latest release Another World. Max has completed remixes for Virgin, Platipus and Nettwerk, and is constantly building his own studio so he can continue to produce and release his own work.

Max Graham is indeed the future, and is destined to become a worldwide success. His name is already known to just about anyone who appreciates good music composed with passion and talent, and his style and creativity are setting a solid example in the global dance music culture.