When he graduated from Vanderbilt in 2005, Max Beizer felt he had fallen into a tailspin as the real world slowly began to catch up with him. He graduated with a psychology degree and was simply not going to continue with school.
What to do? Searching desperately for room and board, he realized he had everything he needed at his fingertips (in a very teen-movie kind of way, in fact). He landed a job and regular gig at Demonbreun's popular Christopher Pizza (if you haven't been, put this down and go now. Seriously.) and continued to write songs and break into Nashville's music scene.
Max is definitely a different kind of dude, and his music reflects his laidback attitude and razor-sharp sense of humor. He got set up in Nashville's music scene through some opportune contacts he made during his last semester at Vandy while interning at a local publisher. He was accepted with open arms and has only grown and learned since becoming a name on the legendary list of Nashville musicians. While at Vanderbilt, he played gigs simply with his talent and an acoustic guitar as accompaniment. After networking and finding his way through the myriad musical talent in Nashville, Max has finally assembled his own rag-tag band that is really starting to pick up steam and turn heads.
When asked what made the difference, Max said he realized he was very limited in the Vanderbubble. He could only see what Vanderbilt students were writing and playing and couldn't grow out of his shell like he did after graduation. When he received his diploma, his number of opportunities and influences exploded as he saw acts all around town, which ended up continuing to influence and teach him to become a better songwriter.
But if you asked him, he'd say the question of "influences" is a precarious one. He would say most musicians fall into two categories: They either name their favorite bands or just the short list of rock gods they can think of at the time (e.g., Jimi, Zeppelin, The Beatles, etc.), they'll sometimes give the cliche, "Well, everything influences me!"
After some pressure, Max categorized himself in the latter group ("I guess") with a twist. He avoids the aforementioned glib response but instead describes how most musical influence happens subconsciously. To clarify, he related how he recently found an album from middle school by The Refreshments (I only replied with a blank stare, but he continued as if everyone knew who they were). After playing the record again, he found it spooky how much his own sound reflected this obscure album he may have listened to for a couple months from the previous decade.
He elaborated by adding that songwriting isn't some divine process where one is struck by lightning and inspired to pen "Stairway to Heaven." Rather, it's a reflection of how the songwriter feels in that moment (whether it's one minute or one month). Songwriting isn't a mysterious channeling of celestial wisdom, but something that can be done by anyone as long as it truly reflects how they feel in the moment.
Where is Max going next? Only to bigger and better places. He's attempting to record a full-length album with his band within the year but has plenty of songs available on his Web site (www.maxbeizer.com) for your personal enjoyment. Max also plays regular gigs at Christopher Pizza and Cafe Coco and may be reprising his legendary Pub shows in Sarratt at some point this spring.
When asked what advice he would give aspiring songwriters on campus, Max simply offered that they shouldn't get discouraged and emphasized that (like his career), "everything is a process."
