Harry Max: From Silly Love Songs to Sick Of Summer
Harry Kuzewicz (stage name Harry Max) is a journalism and music student, community radio host, and independent musician based in Magandjin (Brisbane). In 2023, we talked to Harry about his story, the industry, and the future of music.
Q: Tell me a bit about why you started making music?
Harry: Well, since 2018, I really wanted to be a musician after listening to the Beatles. I saw Paul McCartney and that kind of opened my mind up. [The classical stuff is] so easy to make, so I kind of got into that. During school, I started making songs in GarageBand. They were terrible. I just wanted to be like the Beatles, really. In 2021, I started uni, and I had the opportunity to delve into music production. I went to the studio and I learned Ableton, then I started getting into all these bedroom pop artists that make all their music from home.
Q: How did you get into learning music and were there any instruments you learned to play growing up?
Harry: I started with piano lessons. I didn’t really enjoy it, and then my parents forced me to play guitar. I started that around grade seven. I wasn’t that good. I didn’t really enjoy it. Once I got into music, I really started to learn guitar properly. I play guitar and sing, play a little bit of bass, a little bit of keyboard, a little bit of everything. I’m obsessed with music. It’s all I think about all the time.
Q: How did you get into learning music and were there any instruments you learned to play growing up?
Harry: I’d say my parents, definitely. They really got me into music. They’re not musos – they don’t know how to play music, but they’re really just fans of music. I remember Mum putting on Silly Love Songs by Wings. That’s embedded in my mind. Dad’s really into Led Zeppelin. They have all the vinyls and stuff. I’ve latched on to what they listen to, and then I kind of expanded and found my own music taste.
Q: Are there any challenges you’ve faced as a musician in Meanjin? Do you find it challenging to put yourself out there?
Harry: Finding an audience. I’m still starting out. I make music for myself, firstly. I want to make stuff that I enjoy, and then hopefully, if people like that, then that’s good. When I started out, figuring out how to put my ideas into music was my main problem. That’s what I learned through uni – how to record songs. Then, I could transfer what I had in my head into music. That’s the main challenge I overcame.
Q: What are the themes this EP explores?
Harry: Definitely what I want to go for is summer vibes. I want to put out a song, ‘Does It Matter?’ That song’s about, like, does it matter? Is this what it’s about? It’s about not overthinking stuff because I’m an overthinker. I’m trying to learn how to not worry too much about things. I just made a new song the other day. It’s called ‘Sick of Summer.’ It’s really inspired by DOPE LEMON, Angus Stone – that indie, chill summer sound.
Q: How do you respond to people blowing up online when you’re working hard to make it out there but it seems like ‘going viral’ is a way people get ‘big’ quickly?
Harry: I have friends, and we talk to each other like... ‘What can we do to put ourselves in the algorithm?’ I’ve heard record labels look for artists who are already established, rather than investing in artists with nothing and building it into something. It used to be, ‘I like the sound of this artist, I can pitch on them having an audience.’ These days, it’s kind of like, ‘This person has 200,000 followers on TikTok, I’m going to sign them.’ That’s what insiders in the record labels have said. You’ve got to adapt to it because it’s changing. Lots of people say it’s changing for the worse, but I think everything changes and it’s just a natural progression. I think it’s always existed within music to write something that’s going to go off. That’s how pop music works, really.
Q: One last question. I know you’re still starting out, but would you have any advice for anyone that’s reading this wanting to start pursuing music?
Harry: Just put your music out because you’ll never know if you don’t do it. Don’t regret it. Just put stuff out, just go for it.
Connect with Harry at @harrymaxmusic on Instagram.
Interview transcribed by Joshua McIntosh