“I eat reasonably healthy, but I smoke and drink way too much…”
JOE caught up with legendary musician and DJ, Maxi Jazz, the frontman from Faithless who made a DJ appearance in Halo nightlclub Saturday night in Galway.
JOE: You were in Galway this Saturday night to do a DJ set in Halo and obviously DJing has to be your first love seeing as you were one of the pioneers of it in London back in the 80s and 90s?
Maxi: I guess yeah, I mean, I’ve never really thought about it like that. Pretty much that has happened thus far came as a result of deciding to DJ and get a sound system together with my mates.
JOE: So when you are DJing now, do you throw in a few Faithless tracks into the set?
Maxi: Oh I am forced to! I wouldn’t leave the place alive if I didn’t drop some in.
JOE: So do they expect you to MC over it?
Maxi: I tend to anyway, can’t help myself!
JOE: How does it feel when you are the frontman for Faithless at one of these massive festival gigs such as Glastonbury and when the bassline drops, the hook kicks in from any one of Insomnia, God Is A DJ, We Too Are One etc.
Can you put into words how that feels when it all kicks off and the crowd explodes into a state of euphoria?
Clip via Andrea Villa
Maxi: I’ll try but it’s not easy.It gets harder and harder to explain the longer it’s been continuing. When our records first came out people were going absolutely barmy for them, I was thinking ‘What the hell is happening here?’
And the fact that 22 years later, people are still going barmy to it, I just don’t know, I’ve no idea, it’s incredible. Sister Bliss is clearly a genius.
JOE: You guys came back for the 20th anniversary of Reverence and then you released your greatest hits. Are there any plans for Faithless to record new material together?
Maxi: Not at the moment, no. I have a brand new band called Maxi Jazz and the E-Type Boys.
JOE: Is it true you’ve been supporting Faithless with your own band at various gigs?
Maxi: Yeah, we did a few things last year with Faithless, but if the truth be known it was essentially so I could get a little bit of a platform to get the E-Type Boys going. I’ve put about three years into this, I’ve got an amazing band and it’s all sort of fresh and new and exciting. I’m playing guitar on stage and singing rather than jumping around and rapping.
Clip via Maxi Jazz and the E-Type Boys
JOE: So there must be plans afoot to tour with your new band?
Maxi: Oh absolutely yes, we are gonna be playing a few shows in the coming months, but the real idea is to push on in 2017 so round about March we’ll be going out on the road with the band and hopefully coming to a town near you.
JOE: Getting away from the music for a bit, we know you are a massive car enthusiast so can you tell us what’s the best car you’ve ever driven?
Maxi: Oh wow, tough question, but it would probably be my Porsche 997 GT3 race-car.
JOE: And if there was a car out there that you would love to drive, what is it?
Maxi: There are several, but I always give the first one that comes into my mind. Even though I am not a big Ferrari fan, they built a car in the 80s called the F40 and if I could ever get my hands on one of those, I would drive it all day!
JOE: Some people may not know this, but you are an associate director at Crystal Palace football club so you’re obivously a massive fan.
Maxi: That’s absolutely right. I love Crystal Palace more than I love football.
JOE: Who is your all-time favourite Crystal Palace player?
Maxi: That’s a hard one, so I’d like to pick one of the current ones actually because I’m bad with backwards and reverse gear and stuff. So right now, Benteke is my man, him and James McArthur.
JOE: Before we let you go, it’s incredible to see a man of your age, 59 in such brilliant shape. What’s your secret? Do you have a strict fitness and healthy eating regime?
Maxi: I eat reasonably healthy, but I smoke and drink way too much. I do train quite hard however. Two to three times a week with my personal trainer and if I can’t manage to hook up with him, I train in my house.
I skip a lot and do a lot of core training, not just for the gigs, but because it’s better to be fit and healthy rather than not. It takes a bit of effort, in fact it takes a lot more effort than it did when I was 25!
JOE: Thanks for chatting to us Maxi and do get over to Ireland as soon as you can with the new band. You’ve an army of fans here who would be delighted to see you again.
Maxi: Oh thank you so much and it was an absolute pleasure talking to you, see you soon.
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