| Roots and shoots will make you happy: Max Sedgley |
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| "If a track doesn’t happen quickly after you’ve had that initial idea, then it’s probably not going to happen – and you should start something else" |
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CMU ALBUMS OF 2006: 'From The Roots To The Shoots'
released 17 Jul on Sunday Best Recordings
The dance music genre probably gives us more one hit wonders than any other (I've not done the maths on this, but let's assume it does) which means that when a brilliant dance track by a new name comes along you don't necessarily start anticipating the debut album. Said albums sometimes never materialise and, if they do, can be a bit of a disappointment. But for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, ever since I first heard the modern club classic that is 'Happy' by one Max Sedgley, I was hotly anticipating his debut album. As I say, I don't know why - my love for all things Sunday Best came after my discovery of 'Happy', and I didn't experience Sedgley's fabulous live show until the Bestival pre-Christmas bash at the end of last year - yet somehow I knew this was a dance music producer who wouldn't disappoint when it came to following up his hugely acclaimed debut. Of course I didn't know I'd have to wait three years for said album to finally land in my hands. Actually, technically I didn't, a rough cut CDR found its way onto my desk at the end of last year, but it wasn't until this Spring that the completely finished goods were on my CD player. Max admits much of the delay was down to his own perfectionism, but it was perfectionism that paid off. 'From The Roots To The Shoots' is a hugely imaginative, very accessible and wonderfully funky long player, full of the kind of infectious beats that give away Max's passion for the drums. Featuring the aforementioned 'Happy' and the subsequent single release (and still my personal favourite) 'Devil Inside', it's a great album which, while mostly programmed, translates brilliantly to the stage when Max teams up with his band and proves once and all that live music and dance music can be one and the same thing. Max promises that album number two will be ready more quickly, but for the time being I am happy to continue enjoying 'From The Roots To The Shoots', another CMU favourite album of the year. |
It seemed like we’d been waiting forever for the debut album from Mr Max Sedgley, and while it probably wasn’t quite as long as it seemed, a combination of label delays and Max’s perfectionism meant there was quite a time period between the original acclaimed release of modern club classic ‘Happy’ and the arrival of ‘From The Roots To The Shoots’, and an even longer period between the original creation of that track and the completion of the debut long player. Not that it wasn’t worth the wait. And the extra good news is that Max promises we won’t have to wait so long second time round. Well, he almost promises.
“I never really made a decision that I was going to make music,” Max says, starting back there at the start, “but it was always going to happen. I was brought up in a house full of music, and I was always hitting things as a kid, so some kind of drumming was probably always on the cards. And I did some proper music too – firstly violin, then piano, working my way through the grades before heading to Edinburgh to do a music degree. But my interests always went further than that. The drumming became a real passion, and I seem to remember playing around with tape recorders and sounds and things from around the age of ten”.
Edinburgh, being the vibrant student city it is, ensured that Max didn’t confine his music making to the classroom of his music degree, and he started to form and play in various bands in both the Scottish capital and neighbouring Glasgow, working with an array of like minded musicians, some of whom now form Sedgley’s live band (pictured with Max above). Such collaborations continued once he relocated in London in 1996, working with the likes of Noel McKoy, King Kooba and Roni Size. More importantly for us, it was around about this time that Sedgley began working on his own material, creating early versions of some of the tracks that would appear on his debut album some years later.
“It all started to come together about 1999/2000. I’d being doing my own stuff at home, but it took a lot of trial and error, about four years worth, before I started to be happy with what I was making”.
One of the tracks he created at that time was the aforementioned ‘Happy’, which was one of three songs signed up by Irma Recordings, though for label type reasons Max never really concerned himself with, it was 2003 before ‘Happy’ was unleashed, quickly becoming a favourite of many a DJ, who could rely on the uplifting dance tune to do what it said on the label – make club goers very happy indeed. “It was a surprise when it suddenly became so popular,” Max remembers, “especially because for me it was actually quite an old song. I hadn’t been sitting around for two years waiting for it to be release – which is just as well because that would have been a nightmare. I had been working on a load of other stuff, so it was quite odd for something I’d done three years ago to suddenly be doing so well”.
Of course the popularity of ‘Happy’ in the dance fraternity, coupled with the more mainstream exposure the track received when used by ITV as its theme for its Euro 2004 coverage, piled on the pressure for Max as he started to work on some follow up material. “The original deal with Irma was for three tracks, but there was always some interest in an album, so I did always have that in mind. The success of ‘Happy’ put the pressure on, I had lots of ideas but wanted to make sure I got it right. To be honest I was probably a little too precious with hindsight – things took quite a lot longer than they should have done”.
During this time Rob da Bank’s Sunday Best label had shown an interest in Max’s music, licencing ‘Happy’ from Irma and giving it a wider release in 2004. “Sunday Best approached us, and said they wanted to give ‘Happy’ a real push. I met Rob and the guys down there and really liked the way they talked, and their genuine interest in the music, so I was more than happy to work with them on the second release of ‘Happy’ and subsequently ‘Devil Inside’ and the album”.
Which just about brings us up to the 2006 release of ‘From The Roots To The Shoots’, a wonderfully accessible yet musically interesting long player proving Max has skills and ideas way beyond his crowd pleasing debut single. “Each tune comes together in a slightly different way,” Max explains, “some start with a hook, others bass line, some a bit of vocal. And then you play. What I have learned for the first album is if a track doesn’t happen quickly after you’ve had that initial idea, then it’s probably not going to happen – and you should start something else”.
While Max’s recorded music is mostly programmed work, given his genuine musical background it is unsurprising that as interest grew he was keen to create a properly live show. “A band was always part of the plan,” he admits, “the idea was to make music that could be heard in a club, but which could also be played live. Obviously there’s a huge market for bands at the moment, but I don’t think that means there isn’t an appetite for dance music. I’ve always liked dance bands, bands who play dance music live – and that’s what I wanted to create”.
Having collaborated with other bands for years getting together a bunch of musicians to reinvent his recorded music on stage wasn’t difficult. “Although the album is mostly programmed, I think the live thing is always there in the back of my mind when I’m making tracks, so it isn’t too hard to translate them into live songs. And I have worked with the guys so much – some of them had worked on the album itself – so it wasn’t easy to get the live show together”.
“The creative process took far too long last time” he admits again when we start to discuss album number two, “but since we’ve been doing the band thing more regularly it has become easier to develop new stuff, because there’s an environment where you can bounce around ideas. There’s still a lot of me sitting at a computer, but it does seem to be happening a bit quicker. I’d say about a half of a second album is done, and in quarter the time it took to do the last album. So there could be something ready by the middle of next year. Though now I’ve said that I’ll probably get all perfectionist again and it will take longer”.
Let’s hope not. Though at least with a whole album's worth of brilliant songs and regular uplifting live shows, us Max Sedgley fans no longer have to rely on ‘Happy’ to keep us happy, and after all that time, that’s a very good thing.
Max Sedgley’s favourite artists of 2006:
“I saw Man Like Me the other day, they were excellent, very good delivery, very amusing lyrics, and music that’s fun and dancey, watching them was great. Otherwise, the usual suspects I guess. Bugz In The Attic and Gnarls Barkley in particular.
Max Sedgley’s New Year’s resolutions:
“Giving up smoking ... as usual”.
chris@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - published dec 2006
