Harry: Harry is the boss, and he rules with an iron fist! No, no, we jest! He's a very calm and cool boss! (although he doesn’t see himself in that role). Harry is our fearless leader and principal songwriter, his intelligence and passion is very evident throughout the MaxxaM DNA. The band’s sound takes full advantage of Harry's musicality and creativity. If you've been around the Melbourne metal scene for some time, you may remember Harry's face (albeit with a little more hair on his head!). He has played in a number of bands over the journey in between being an Australian Army paratrooper, husband to Kell, father to their three children and when not working on new riffs, works as a degree qualified drug and alcohol counsellor - a turn of events no one could have predicted! Harry is a classic product of the 80’s with favourite bands being the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Exodus, Hallow's Eve, Venom, Bathory, Slayer, Destruction, Kreator etc…
Saundies: You know him! Its's Saundies! Our resident rock star! (We give him heaps about that!). Saundies brings a huge air of authenticity to MaxxaM. His quality playing, incredible riff sensibility and musical ear are massive assets to the band. He's been a mainstay in the Melbourne Metal scene forever; you’d have to be hiding under a rock to not know Him! A loveable larrikin, he's not afraid of a beer or three either. He's also a big Star Wars nerd, ask him, he'll tell you all about it, or he will show you his other band SITHLORD! (If you haven’t, check them out – classic thrash at its best!). You may have seen him in any number of past bands including Rancor, XXSEX, Persecution, Hobbs Angel of Death, Atomizer or Sarfaust! Saundies cites these bands as amongst his favourites; early Slayer, early Kreator, early Destruction, early Deathrow, early Iron Maiden, early Judas Priest.
Kell: Kell was the complete antithesis of a metal head until she succumbed to pressure from Harry & Saundies to give fronting the band a go. After being given the reigns writing lyrics for the first song, "I am War" she was hooked! (an affectionate song about a former work colleague😉) Vocally, Kell is a classically trained powerhouse, with a unique and beautiful voice that brings a whole different characteristic and timbre to the MaxxaM sound. A natural performer, Kell relishes fronting the band (and kicks arse at it!) and her energy and passion for the music and lyrics alike is something to behold! Being a busy mum of three with hubby Harry, Kell is a master of juggling her work as a Principle Agile Coach (translation: clean cut corporate lady - Shout out to her clients!), family life wrangling Harry and their three kids and her role of keeping the boys in line in the band! She is certainly not afraid of using her self-proclaimed veto power when writing songs or her famous ‘death stare’ when the lads are playing up!
Woody: Our illustrious man on the low end started playing music in the late 80s with Saundies in Rancor and the pair once again joined forces in the early 90s for XXseX. Harry convinced Woody to come out of musical retirement to join MaxxaM and he brings a great deal of excitment to our band, even going as far to say that he has never enjoyed playing music as much as he does right now. Woody's love for metal like a lot of us grew very organically, from the early days with KISS, to Maiden and Priest and eventually on to Thrash metal with Metallica, Slayer, Kreator and Destruction.
Adam: Adam is the new blood, our newest recruit. He's bought with him a heavy footed groove and a different feel to the MaxxaM camp. His playing is energetic and eclectic and adds a unique vibe and new found power to the music. He comes to us after a pretty long and storied history in death metal bands such as Monoliyth, Intercranial Tremors and Mount Bloodkill. Adam reports that favourite bands is a hard one to answer because he's always buried in a set of headphones and constantly finding new music... "In general I'd probably say, Iced Earth, Death, Mercyful Fate/King Diamond, Helloween, Maiden, Priest, Stratovarius, Hammerfall, Dio, Monstrosity etc, a pretty mixed bag of heavy metal genres, but I also love our local Aussie bands like, Firestorm, Puncture Wound, Galaxy, Mortal Sin, In Malice's Wake and Laceration Mantra amongst many others"
Don't be deceived!
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It's not Melodic, it's not Symphonic, it's straight up,
old school Heavy Metal!
A style 'heavily' influenced by the Heavy/Power/Thrash Metal bands
of the 80's.
Razor sharp classic metal riffing, roaring solos, deep rocking bass and thunderous drums set the pace for Kell's powerhouse unique and beautiful vocal to shine!
How?
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The band was formed after lifelong friends, Harry and Saundies, got together after playing a benefit gig. Even though they had been friends since childhood and played in various bands, they had never played together until then and wanted to continue the adventure. Woody, also a lifelong friend with Harry and Saundies, was approached to join in on bass. Now what to do for vocals?
Saundies quipped “what about Kell?" (Harry’s wife).
Much laughter was had as vocally classically trained Kell, was the complete antithesis of a metal head!
It took some convincing, but Kell decided she would give it a go
and after being given the reigns in writing lyrics for the band’s first song, I am War, Kell was hooked!
The last piece was setting the beat and the later addition of Adam, who's insane drumming has set an awesome pace for the band,
was the final key.
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A family affair:
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While MaxxaM pride themselves on being a tight and professional outfit, it couldn't happen without the support of partners and close friends that help to keep it real and most importantly, fun! Big shout out to Kerry, Casey, Cappy and Deb for the laughs, tireless support, hair, make up and catering! Of course, we can't forget Kell & Harry's kids for occasional backing vocals and modern relevance critique!
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What’s in a name?
MaxxaM is a purposeful misspelling of maxim.
A maxim is: “/ˈmaksɪm/ noun - a short, pithy statement expressing
a general truth or rule of conduct”. Some examples are: actions
speak louder than words, you don't have to be old to be wise and
the pen is mightier than the sword (we all know what Tom Araya said about the pen!).
When coming up with a name, Harry got thinking and felt songs, and each line therein, were “short statements of truth”. Maxim didn’t look aesthetically pleasing so the spelling was changed to Maxam. Kell piped up and the double x was added to represent the female fronted aspect of the band (xx chromosome = female).
Yay! We had a name! Add a bit of Harry’s artistic flare and woo hoo,
we had a logo!
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A bit more symbology:
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We sometimes use the solar eclipse in the logo. This again is representative of the female fronted aspect of the band. The moon (feminine energy) in front of, or eclipsing, the sun (masculine energy). (the clouds are there simply because we think it looks cool!)