‘In My Room’, said everyone right about now
AN INTERVIEW WITH MAX REUBEN
Image: Chris Frape So, we’re here today to talk a bit about your new single ‘In My Room’ ft. Oliver Lojek could you tell us a bit about the song and how it came to be?
Yeah, so one night I was at Uni with a bunch of mates finishing off an assessment and I found a sample of this keyboard hook which I instantly fell in love with. I thought yeah, I’m going to turn this into a song, so, turned it into a quick beat and spent a few days just working on it. Eventually it turned into something I was really happy with and that’s when I got Oliver on board. We came together and riffed off a few ideas and we had a song.
What would you say are some of your greatest influences or inspirations behind your current work at the moment?
Number one would have to be Tame Impala, yeah, I’m a bit of a fanatic about him. Then we’ve got, Mac Demarco and Gang of Youths. I’m just kind of going for that soft indie kind of psych sound, I guess that combination has a place in a lot of my songs.
You released an album last year. How was that experience?
Yeah, the album I released in December last year I guess was my transition from a full rock environment to this more colourful sound. ‘Abstraction’ (title name of album) is a synth pop album which is something I’d never done before. But I was super happy with the songs that came out of that one.
And how did you cope with recent lockdown? Were you still creating, or did you have a bit of a break?
Yeah of course, the silver lining to last year’s lockdown for me was coming out with my first album and I was able to spend the best part of 6 months just fine tuning my work, learning more about production, and recording and doing all that properly. So, it was the same for this lockdown really, I sat down and thought, I want to record a bunch of songs, learnt how to sample and started making some cool sample beats. But yeah, I do have a second album coming out sometime in the future but definitely still working on it, I would say it’s about sixty percent done.
After about 3 months in lockdown, we’re finally starting to open! Do you have any plans for gigs or projects now that restrictions are easing?
I do actually! Event details haven’t been posted just yet but on Saturday 16th October I’m playing at Ryan’s Thirroul. I don’t get too many gigs anymore as a solo artist so come along. And 4th December I’m playing at The Servo in Port Kembla, which should be a fun one.
On Wollongong music and local venues, what do you think about the music coming out of Wollongong at the moment?
When I made the decision to leave my band and become a solo artist, I sat down, and I was thinking to myself what type of music is coming out of Wollongong and what can I do that’s a bit different. You go the pub you’re going to hear pub rock, indie, alternative that’s what you’re hearing most weekends and that’s amazing. You’ve got great artists coming out of Wollongong and some of them I’ve looked up to and taken inspiration from, but I thought what do I like, I like alternative/indie and then started to look into psych rock and psych pop which not many people are doing down here. So, I kind of fell into the genre and making that kind of sound. But yeah, Wollongong is such a huge hub of music, I love living here and being so surrounded by this music community which I’ve never seen anywhere else.
In My room ft. Oliver Lojek is now available on all online streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music at Max Reuben. You can also find Max on Instagram @max_guitar.
You can also catch Max and friends live at The Servo, Port Kembla on 4th December. Secure your tix now! https://m.moshtix.com.au/v2/event/giraffehead-max-reuben-tarnish/131610