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Max Gomez

General Info

  • Genre: Acoustic / Blues / Rock

    Location Taos, Un

    Profile Views: 72837

    Last Login: 3/27/2013

    Member Since 10/21/2006

    Website www.maxgomezmusic.com

    Record Label unsigned

    Type of Label Major

  • Bio

    New West Records is proud to introduce Max Gomez, whose label debut, Rule The World, drops January 22, 2013. The most northern of the New Mexico pueblos, the hamlet of Taos, sits approximately 7,000 feet above sea level. It is an hour and half drive north of Santa Fe, or rather, just remote enough to stave off the casually curious person. Fiercely independent, the town, steeped in natural beauty, has long attracted artists and freethinkers of every stripe. It is within this bouillabaisse of nature, art and spirituality that we encounter Max Gomez. A young singer-songwriter in the seasoned vein of Jackson Browne and John Prine, Gomez grew up splitting his time between the sloping mountains of Taos and, for a period, the rolling plains of Kansas. On his family's ranch in Kansas, Gomez still lends a hand with chores but relishes the time he can spend out on the lake practicing the art of fly-fishing. But it is in Taos, where he was ultimately inspired to explore his art and the ethos behind it. The son of an artisanal furniture craftsman, Gomez grew up watching his father, learning the tools of the trade while simultaneously learning his way around the frets of his guitar. The workmanlike quality of his songwriting carries over from his days spent in the woodshed through an economy of words, phrase and narrative. A blues enthusiast from an early age, the young Gomez immersed himself in the primordial Delta and traditional folk blues of Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy and, of course, Robert Johnson. Though 1,200 miles and decades removed from his Mississippi heroes, Gomez had his imagination to fill in the gaps. Having honed his chops on the blues, Max turned his interest to traditional American folk music; "I'm influenced by the old stuff," Max admits. "To me, that's the best music." As the Harry Smith anthology gave way to contemporary masters Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark and John Hiatt, so did Gomez's songwriting. "The songs I write are not real straightforward. You have to decode them. I like when the listener has to create their own story, rather than be told what's happening." In short, storytelling that oscillates between everyman poetics and enigma. In the span of its ten songs, the Jeff Trott (Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow) produced Rule The World traverses varying themes of heartbreak, regret, young love, desperation and, ultimately redemption. "Run From You", the album's first single and co-written with Trott, reveals Max's story telling skills. Gomez explains, "Sometimes I refer to this one as an antilove song. We all come across trouble and often take the wrong road even when we know we should turn back." With his smoky voice, Gomez sings of desperation for change on "Rule The World" and on "Never Say Never", young love is likened to a "cool kiss in the August summer heat," as the protagonist laments its fleeting nature. While the LP's pop instincts are evident, Rule The World is balanced by Gomez's love of roots music; see the blues-driven "Ball And Chain." While many young artists write songs with the mere intention of entertaining the masses, Max's songs are filled with the raw emotion and capture the spirit of those who came before him. In an age of ever increasing false fronts and posturing, it's rare to catch a glimpse of a soul bared. But that is exactly what Gomez has done.
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  • Influences

    Neil Young, Tom Petty, Townes Van Zandt, Shawn Mullins, Pretty Girls, Name Brand Cereal, Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, David Kahne, John Prine, and the clock ticking on the wall.
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Bio:

.. “I would drown out the cries/With redemption songs/I’d part the truth from the lies/And the right from the wrong.” “If I Could Rule the World” Max Gomez is a 23-year-old singer/songwriter from Taos, NM, with the soul of someone much older and the ability to tap the child-like wonder in all of us. “I feel the time has come/It’s underneath my thumb/Maybe I don’t stand a chance,” he sings in a Coldplay-like falsetto on “If I Could Rule the World,” his new single, produced by John Kurzweg [Creed, Puddle of Mudd], a song which takes us back to the fairy tales of our childhood, inspired by an evening in Nashville Gomez spent on his friends couch watching the animated Disney feature Aladdin. “The triumphant strings on the end credits gave me this idea to evoke the same feeling we got as kids watching those kinds of movies,” explains Max. “Still in that moment, I wrote the song in what seemed like 10 minutes.” Taking a page from his old-school Americana influences, the gravelly voiced baritone crooner got his start as a working musician singing Johnny Cash’s version of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” counting those two, as well as Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Neil Young and Tom Petty, along with roots like Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and B.B. King, among his favorites. “I’m influenced by the old stuff,” he admits, with songs like Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty” and the ‘30s standard “When Did You Leave Heaven?” in his live repertoire. “To me, that’s the best music. I just don’t find any of the new stuff that interesting.” You can hear that in the hushed strains of “Careless Love,” whose plaintive quality evokes Neil Young. “That song came about by accident,” he explains. “I was living in this house in Pasadena with plenty of other roommates. It was real late and everyone was sleeping, so I had to sing it in this real soft, quiet whisper, kind of straining my voice, which added a certain intimacy. It was about a girlfriend,” he says, pleased with lyrics like “A breath of smoke/And careless love/Makes me feel alright.” The impressionistic “Black and White,” named by the popular talent site OurStage.com as its Song of the Month, offers a search for life’s meaning (“I could fall into the light/Just to see with clarity/Cause this whole world’s so black and white/I swear it’s killing me”), highlighting the quest with a series of dream-like images (“The man upon the moon/Popped his last balloon”) and questions (“Why do we have to fight/To live with one another”). The song was also heard in the 2009 indie horror film The House That Jack Built, starring Joe Mategna. “I try to be more of a disguised lyricist,” says Gomez, who first picked up his brother’s electric guitar when he was 9, then began writing songs as a teenager. “The stuff I write is not real straightforward. You have to decode it. I like when the listener has to create their own story, rather than be told what’s happening.” The son of a Portuguese/Spanish father and an Irish/Scottish mom, Gomez grew up in Taos, a beautiful town which sits at 7,000 feet, surrounded by peaks twice as high, an artsy community whose culture is influenced by its Native American population and old world Spanish adobe buildings. After attending the Recording Artist Program in Hollywood, where he learned about recording, writing and the business side of the music industry, Gomez divided his time between his hometown, Nashville, L.A. and Atlanta, where he began collaborating with fellow singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins. The two have co-written four songs, three of which are slated to appear on Mullins’ next album. For now, the singer/songwriter is busy playing shows in the New Mexico area, while continuing to hone his craft. “I’m doing things the old-school way, not necessarily the L.A. record deal way,” says Max. “Not that I’m against it, but I’m just trying to stay true to who I am—a working musician.” But one with a talent that lives up to those who came before him. What you see is what you get with Max Gomez. His time has come.

Member Since:

October 21, 2006

Influences:

Neil Young, Tom Petty, Townes Van Zandt, Shawn Mullins, Pretty Girls, Big Houses, Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, John Prine, and the clock ticking on the wall.

Record Label:

unsigned

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