You know what’s weird about going to parties in my thirties? DJs are still playing songs that I was dancing to in my teens. And don’t get me wrong. I love those classic jams. I love “Hypnotize,” “No Diggity,” “Fantasy (O.D.B. Remix)” and “Love Like This” etc. as much as the next Nineties Kid. And on the rare chance I DJ, I will likely even play one of these songs—because they bring us joy.
But sometimes, hearing these songs make me feel like I’m in a timewarp on the dance floor, as though I never grew up and will always be seeking pleasure from the past. I worry that despite aging, my preferences are ultimately rooted in nostalgia.
Maybe this is why when a DJ plays the occasional ~hot track~ I haven’t heard before, it is so memorable. Maybe this is why, every time I think of Max Mohenu, I think of this song.
The first time I met Max Mohenu was at Anni Spadafora’s epic TO party Get It Got It Good. I was on the dance floor when the above song came on, and when I looked up, behind the DJ booth, was this beautiful, towering man I had never seen before. I went over to shyly introduce myself, and to see if I could sneak a read of the track title off his laptop.
Since then, Max has become someone I crush on (I MEAN), have collaborated with and have so much respect for, for many of the reasons discussed below.
Is there a connection between your love for music and how you dress?
Now that I’m older, I can definitely see how all my different music phases growing up influenced my clothing. When I was a baby, my dad either had me in suits or something out of an old school 90’s video. It’s funny going through old photos and seeing all the different things I used to wear. My earliest memory of really embracing my love for fashion and music was in Grade 10 Career Studies class when I did my final assignment on wanting to be a hip hop stylist. I had a bristol board, a business plan, names of designers. It was really cute and embarrassing. To be honest, I never really considered myself a stylish guy. I’ve always liked style, but I didn’t realize I had it until about 4-5 years ago haha! One time I was just wearing a pair of slacks and a shirt to go to the corner store and get an Arizona Green Tea and this street style dude would not leave me alone.
I remember thinking to myself after that experience that either these people are absolutely insane or I’m just really good at dressing without giving a fuck.
After 8 years in the city, I’m guessing it’s probably the latter.
How long have you been DJing? How did you learn?
My first DJ set was in 2009 with my friend Brendan Arnot at a party called “Down Low” at 751. It was an “R. Kelly-themed” dance party, which I guess is kind of cheesy, but we had fun and people seem to enjoy it for the most part. I DJed off my iTunes when I first started out, but after a few gigs I got a proper DJ program and started messing around with that. I never really learned how to DJ. I just sort of went for it and hoped for the best. I pride myself on knowing a fair bit about different types of music, which I think is really important if you want to be a DJ, regardless of your skills or experience. If you can do some basic beat matching and a smooth mix, having good selections is often enough to get you through a night. No fancy tricks needed! Just have fun.
You have introduced me to songs and artists I have never heard of before (as I frantically SHAZAM on the dance floor). Where do you find new music?
After high school, I really got into checking out blogs on a regular basis. I’m always in record stores, scrolling through Soundcloud and Bandcamp looking for new artists. I love finding shit that people have never heard or that one B-side nobody paid attention too. People love classics and guilty pleasures, but the real dance floor gold are those tracks that people don’t know at all because it sparks conversation, which I’m game for most of the time.
What are your ultimate top 5 favourite jams to play?
Really tough call! There’s so many songs and I’ve DJed so many different parties and styles of music. Some of my favorite parties to DJ are Cub Camp, TRADE, and HER. When I play those parties, I spin a lot of house, disco, re-edits, and electronic music. Fave tracks at those parties are:
- In Flagranti – She Bend Each Leg Alternately
- Fort Romeau – Jack Rollin
- Bondax – Baby I Got That (Justin Martin’s Endless Summer Remix)
- Alexander Robotnik – Problems D’Amour
- Hercules & Love Affair – My House
How/why did you get into music PR?
When I moved back to Toronto, I started working as a writer/editor for a bunch of different online publications and eventually started my own music blog Diamond Atlas, which really helped me tap into more of the DIY/Grassroots music communities. As I started to cover more of these artists and interact with them, I would always hear things like “what’s PR?” or “how do I get press?” I really wanted to help these artists and I was at a point where I was looking to transition into the next phase of my career, so four years ago I made the move. My first client was a folk artist named Jessica Minshew who played under the stage named Dreamed. Till this day I’m still so grateful to her. At the time, she was releasing a bunch of material and had just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help buy new gear for her upcoming performance at the 1st Gorilla Vs Bear showcase. Working that campaign taught me so much early on and Jessica was such a pleasure to work it. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with clients, especially in 2014, but one thing I’ve learned about being a publicist is that the key to a solid album campaign is communication, persistence, having a good working relationship with the artists and just being the biggest fan of what they do. I’m working with a Baltimore group called Soft Cat right now and I’m so excited for them! The new record is called “All Energy Will Rise” and it drops in April.
From the business side, what differences have you noticed between musicians of colour and white musicians in Canada?
I’d say the one big thing is visibility. A lot of artists find themselves trying to edit their story just so they can stand out. If you’re an artist of color, even wanting to do indie rock, you go into it knowing those circles are predominantly white and that leads people into believing they have to negotiate things about their art or identity to fit in. It sounds weird, but anyone who’s really out here doing it knows exactly what I mean.
You can’t just be of colour and be at those shows or play in those spaces. It should be that simple, but it’s never that cut and dry. There’s a lot of weird race stuff I sometimes deal with even being on the business side interacting with artists, promoters, and label people. A lot of these situations vary and it’s never some blatantly racist shit, but it often feels like there’s some sort of divide coming into an established music community just “doing you.” What “you” are doesn’t always work for people. It makes them feel weird, it’s too much for them, it’s too “black.”
It can be hard trying to exist and create in that environment sometimes, especially when it feels like you’re the only one you thinks and creates the way you do. Regardless of all that, there’s definitely a lot of great artists of colour making their own way in music. Most of these artists are just paving their own lane, collaborating with like-minded artists, and just booking the shows and making the connections they want to make. Sometimes that’s really the only way to do it. From a business side, I’d say if you’re the weirdo black kid wanting to make music or art, do that and do it fucking well. Build your brand and keep a razor sharp focus on what’s important to you, not what’s important to Pitchfork or the other blogs because if it’s hot, they’re coming for you regardless. Aim for the stars, without getting lost in the clouds. Once you get delusional and start buying into things other than your vision, things get fucked up real quick.
As a queer person of colour who has experienced my own share of racism in the gay community, I have really appreciated how vocal you are about your own experiences and racism in general, especially via social media. Karen and I have often talked about how you can talk about anything on Facebook except for race because either race-related posts get completely ignored or inflaming white people. Have you been able to have productive dialogue about race on Facebook?
In the last few years, I’ve really seen how quickly things turn once the kitchen gets hot. Facebook is a place where I like to discuss politics, current events, but also post silly shit. The race stuff often leads to good debate and dialogue, but every so often someone will try some slick shit and all hell breaks loose.
Getting into heated debates online isn’t really my thing, but when it comes racial issues, I’m not the one to play with. Period. Come correct or don’t come at all. That’s just how I see it. Mike Brown and Eric Garner debates were some of the toughest ones I had in 2014. People I’ve respected for years were posting things that were so disgusting, I had to either unfollow or delete them all together. Facebook is funny because everyone wants to “network” until they know how you live your life, then they wanna jump ship.
I have a lot of good people in my life that respect where I’m coming from, so when debates lead to hard feelings, I don’t really let it get to me. People need to realize that you can be fun and silly, but also be passionate and opinionated. Online presence is very misleading though. Maybe I should cool it on the butt selfies and funny videos and just be super serious from now on.
You have been gearing up to record an album under the fantastic artist name “Refining Masc.” What was the inspiration behind the name? What does “Refining Masc” mean for you?
I’ve always been drawn to moments in pop music where male aesthetics pushed a very fine line. A lot of early 80’s and 90’s R&B, Pop, and Soul artists were sort of the opposite of masculine. From stage presence, to vocal textures and production style, there was always a fluidity between masculine and feminine, matched with high energy and drama. I feel like when I think about myself as a musician, all those things are very important to me.
Refining Masc is a name you’ll understand more once the story begins to unfold. There’s a lot of layers to who I am as a human being and a lot of crazy stuff is resurfacing as I spearhead this project and start writing a lot of these old feelings down and creating songs with them.
I’ve been taking my time with this one, reaching out to friends and different producers who understand how I write and can help me become better at bringing these ideas to life. Vocally, that R&B influence is prevalent in my music, but I’m really trying to delve into a bunch of different sounds. I know a lot of talented dudes with great ideas, so production-wise there’s a lot to play around with.
Above all, I’m just blessed to be working with people whose end goal is to help me become a more well rounded musician. Someone who can write, record, and produce all their own stuff. They all wanna help me get there and will take the extra time to work on certain things with me, which is really nice.
What can you tell us about the album in terms of inspirations, sounds, release date, etc. Your fans are thirsty!
EP sometime this year and the album will come out in 2016! Before the first two releases, I plan on testing the waters with some other collaborations, which should start to pop up in late spring. You’ll have to wait for everything else. Can’t give away any secrets yet.
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Interview & photos by Vivek Shraya.
