After completing the EP Crashing Gates with my friend and fellow producer Jon Smith, i decided to go in yet a different direction from an expected full length follow-up. Many of the trends in music seemed to be reaching back into club venues and dance music, and as a child of the 80’s, i remember very well the influence that dance music cast upon the world. Even though i was born in 1967, it wasn’t until my first Queen record, that i realized i wanted to be a rock artist. The LP was called The Game, and it was big, flamboyant and rhythmic. My fascination with David Bowie, New Order, duranduran and a slew of other eighties monsters followed. To say that the music of my teenage years did not leave an impression on me would be quite obviously a lie. ‘Stereotype Be’ was my first solo project after parting ways with dctalk, but it was to be a sonic exploration that i would come back to many years into the future. The implementing of rock and roll and programmed groove, layered with synth and world music tendencies. Many people related the first project to a ‘rough/green’ version of Peter Gabriel, and it was a compliment as well as a half truth. Much like Gabriel, my immediate instrumental talent stemmed from playing the keyboard, and my love of groove and the synth music of the eighties, blended together for what was my freshman foray. Now, some years later, actually a decade- i find myself interested in the same ideas…..Rock and roll, Synth, world music, and groove….so after the completion of Crashing Gates, i found myself trying to understand the next chapter. As i found myself lost in a Science Fiction Novel and graphic book, i needed to jump back into a musical project that would help define the next step in my evolution as an artist. With the help of dPulse records, i was convinced that letting a number of different types of dj’s around the country remix the selections from Crashing Gates-i would find a different path for these songs that were never completely finished in my mind. The DJ AJ Mora tracks of Traveler were the first to come in and they put a smile on my face as they reminded me of a club in Atlanta Georgia, The Tongue and Groove, which i would visit from time to time when it was a alternative dance club. Although Aj Mora’s take on the song was almost ‘Night at the Roxbury’ in its swinging trance vibe, it made way for other dj’s to work their magic. Being a music fan and buyer myself, i knew that i could not release a project of remix material only, as remix projects alone bug the shit out of me. So i dug into some of the songs we had not completely fleshed out from the Crashing Gates sessions and found 3 new tunes that i felt would fit the overall project. Specifically, ‘On Yer Bike’ was written off of a guitar riff that had been in my head for months, and was finally realized by Cary Barlowe during the months surrounding Crashing Gates. Cotes d’ Armor is not a rock project, it does not wear a alternative indie singer/songwriter serious face….it is meant to be fun and outrageous. I am excited to see what comes out of it, and if it get trashed by the critics in the process, well then, maybe i did accomplish what i wanted to accomplish and came full circle as an artist. For at the heart of what i do is a need to mix things up to the point of confusion. I am never completely happy unless i am changing and going full throttle for new ideas. So, Cotes d’ Armor will not be the first, strange side project in the pantheon of Kevin Max music.

tedd and i are into the thick of it with ‘On Yer Bike!’ the first track i have done since Blind off of Stereotype Be where there are more than 10 vocal tracks in one section….exciting stuff for a singer…… if you are just a bit more patient with me i promise you that the finished version of this song will be worth the wait alone! KM
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on yer bike.

retroactive packing lightning
yeah you keep em distracted
hands at your hips, with parted lips
as your walking that whippet

hotel hopping puddle jumping
yeah your full of bologne
mad max in highway gear
all french colonial

on yer bike
get on yer bike
get on yer bike
get on yer bike

sad as cancer on a cracker
but your as bold as a panther
you got the will of a sailor
and the color of danger

finger flipping trust fund hippie
yeah your growing your beard out
as you rocket through jonskoping
yeah making em scream and shout

on yer bike
get on yer bike
gotta ride yer bike
get on yer bike

silly rabbit don’t you know these trix are for kids?
and the more you look the more that you get tripped
pool hall, dive bar, fashion mall, 7 eleven
on my back, like a monkey as we tear past all the tenants

(smooth as a greyhound)

politics be damned
cause we’re the children of 80’s
saki to me saki to me
so overrated

gym peddling, busted meddling
yeah you sleep at 4 seasons
as you smoke that marijuana
with your thirty diseases

on yer bike
get on yer bike
get on yer bike
get away on a bike

south of france, Amsterdam
whirly gig there by the roadside
Budpapest, Prague, London
riding on the wildside

we’ll take a train to transylvania
and overnight become catholic
til we’re caught by interpol
and were back at the racetrack

on yer bike
get on yer bike.

your legs hold me tight
as i slip through the night
your legs hold me tight

Nashville, frozen,  but not with the depth of the winter blast that i had been used to,  growing up in Grand Rapids Michigan….I remember pulling out the snowmobile from the barn, the smell of gasoline and frozen ground……racing over twisted hayfields underneath mounds of white glory…..as a child, we would bundle up in these NASA looking space suits just to wait on the curb for the bus for 10 minutes……getting undressed once inside buildings was quite a hassle…..do you remember the boots with the teeth and tongs?- i do…….do you remember hearing U2 through a live radio program, playing out ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ in its entirety and knowing the actual emotion of winter?…..my 1979 muscle car plowing through slushy country roads, kissing the girl in the backseat all bundled up in North Face, the smell of makeup and strawberry lips….the thrill of watching the new wave scene burn out like a glam candle…..standing in line at Top Of The Rock to dance in our swooping hair and chess king suits…Christmas all done up like a time machine from 1950’s Germany…..now jump with me up to the present day,  living in Nashville…… i have lost the concept to a degree……yesterday came the first snow flurries in this southern outpost for quite some time…..drivers are nervous, peoples heart rates speed up……my nose becomes plugged….’Every Snowflake is Sacred in its own Array’ as i stumbled out of Ugly Mugs coffee shop in East Nashville TN, spinning the tires on the icy ground and waving goodbye to an old friend……just a taste of winter, but with it the promise of resurrecting ideas from the past, and breaking through the ice of loneliness, dissolution and frustration……the new year is here and with it comes the sense of mystery and untold desires……we move forward towards new people, new ideas and a bright tommorow….filled with new concepts and different angles…..waking up from the past like a hybernating monster to walk the earth in constant revelation.

happy 2010 to everyone!- it is the year of the imaginative individual, and we are going to ransack the depths….thank you for being patient with me and my endeavors…Cotes d’ Armor is currently back up and in the cue, with several notable dj’s going to work on 5 tunes from Crashing Gates…the new songs were written last year and are being produced by Tedd T in the next week…..listen to the latest remixes on myspace, and stay tuned as we will be adding more once they come in…..Cotes will be available on itunes and across the internet, but will also get a physical release sometime during the year….Late February, Early March sees me taking on another recorded project with my good friend Jonathan Macintosh of Listening Records, we are foraging material for a VOCAL ONLY project, which if it goes as planned, might be experimentally fresh enough to win some anti-award-awards…..;) End of March i am touring in Europe for a few shows and then on to more shows in the states this summer in support of Cotes d’ Armor…..The Book is finally in the hands of an editor and is being worked as we speak- my gut is that it will be ready to go to publishers around the month of May- because we have put the priority interest in the novel, the Graphic Novel of Fiefdom Of Angels will not see the light of day until we reach a publishing agreement with the masterwork……but i will keep it all updated on the twitter and facebook Fiefdom pages……..tally ho. KM

Kevin Max has paired up with DJ/producer AJ Mora for five new remixes of “Traveler.” While studio work progresses with Tedd T and Lynn Nichols of Lyntt on Cotes d’ Armor (True Rebels), dPulse is offering “Traveler” as a free download now through the end of January. Watch for news and updates on Cotes d’ Armor and be sure to grab the cool Kevin Max widget (to the right, under the music player) to post on your social sites.

Go here to download “Traveler” remixes.