Today we’d like to introduce you to Myles Maxwell
Hi Myles, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
First, I’d like to apologize if this is too long winded:
I grew up in a musical family, it was always around. My grandfather played a few horn instruments, my mother was (and still is) a beautiful singer, my older brother is a singer/songwriter/guitarist.
I don’t know if there was ever a time in my youth where music wasn’t a major part of nearly everything I did, I started singing in church at 3 or 4 years old. After that, I sang in chorus and school plays until 7th grade, when my family moved from New York to North Carolina. There was a very brief spell of violin too, but it’s barely worth this mention.
A few months prior to the move, I began learning how to play guitar, after an injury caused me to quit the football team, which provided a sudden ocean of free time in the afternoons. After the move, when I didn’t know anyone, I began learning and writing songs. It was an interest of mine, but also, the only legitimate way to pass the time in my mind at that age.
In the tenth grade, I was asked to join a band as the lead singer. They heard me singing to myself, as I often did/still do, and were impressed by my voice. That band never led to much, I don’t recall ever having a show.
In the eleventh grade, I was asked to join a different band, Whitehill (named for the street that the guitarist and drummer lived on) as the singer and sometimes guitarist, my guitar skills weren’t great at that point (more on that later), but I did what I could, and the rest of the guys were good enough to cover up for my errors and lack of ability.
That band played several shows throughout the Charlotte area, but as most high school bands do, ended pretty quickly. It was near the end of senior year that we just kind of fizzled out, due to jobs, sports, college prep, personality clashes, etc. I still consider some members of that band to be friends, even if we haven’t spoken in years. I look back on those days fondly,
On the last day of high school, I started a new band, which I eventually named “Slow Motion Riot”. The core group consisted of myself, my closest friend at the time, and my oldest brother. Other members would rotate in and out over the years, but the three of us fought through the constant changes and stuck together for about 6 years.
When we started Slow Motion Riot there were four members. All four members knew how to play the guitar, two knew drums, and no one knew the bass intricately. It worked out that the two best guitar players were my brother and my best friend, so they stayed on guitar, with my brother donning lead vocals. The other member was also a very good drummer, so he switched to that (drummers were an issue for us for a long time).
I, having been the second worst guitar player, decided to pick up the bass. Looking back on it now, it makes sense, most of the songs I had written to that point were heavy in the bass notes, and it felt like the natural progression for me. I was better on the bass than the guitar almost instantly.
As time moved on, and drummers vanished like Spinal Tap, we played a lot of shows around the Charlotte area, making a (little) name for ourselves in the music scene. Our self destructive tendencies, however, took center stage and got the better of us.
Egos, substance abuse, recklessness, and lack of growth led to a corrosive environment for us all. This repelled a lot of the members who would join and then quit over the years, and we would carry on with a chip on our shoulders. It was us against the world… against ourselves… against each other.
The band ended, mercifully, with multiple blow up arguments between myself and the other founding members. We were toxic to each other, but mostly too self-centered to really notice how it impacted anyone else.
After that, I put the guitar down for a few years. I would play the occasional open mic, but it was rare. I was more focused on my professional career at that point, and spent as much time as possible on that,
That all changed not long after I met my wife. When we started dating we made a deal: I’d teach her how to play guitar, if she (a lifelong dancer) would teach me how to dance.
Upon making this deal, it occurred to me that I didn’t even know the actual basics of playing guitar, having learned by teaching myself, from watching others and playing around with notes until I found the chords they belonged to. So, I finally learned how to actually play the guitar, after playing it for 14 years.
That got me back into guitar, and my wife (then girlfriend) suggested that I start playing shoes again, seeing the joy it brought me to sing and play around my house. So I did.
2 years later, I got a promotion at work that would move us across the country from North Carolina to California. After arriving here, it took time, but I integrated into the music scene, and have been a part of it for nearly 3 years now.
During my move across the country, my middle brother died, and as hard as it hit me, I think it honestly made my drive to do what I feel I was born to do, stronger. He wasn’t a musician, but he always had this attitude of “just do it”, which I used more sparingly in my younger years. At this age, this mentality is a massive part of my personality.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s not been a smooth road at all. I’ve struggled with physical and mental health issues my entire life, poverty at multiple points, a LOT of deaths of friends, family, romantic partners.
Being such an emotional person, it nearly always hits me like a truck whenever anything happens in these areas.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a singer, songwriter, bassist, guitarist, and fledgling producer.
My experiences of tragedy and loss, coupled with my lifelong passion for all genres of music (at varying points and degrees), has enabled me to create a wide variety of music.
One of my biggest pain points in my own music is having too many songs that sound similar to one another. That doesn’t reflect my eclectic music taste, and so I try to vary styles as much as possible.
A set list of mine typically varies from country to hip hop to soul to punk to singer songwriter to etc.
This is my biggest point of pride as an artist. The ability to stretch myself across multiple styles, while still effectively communicating my message(s).
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My biggest advice to give isn’t my own, but passed down to me:
-Don’t try to write the best song ever, every time you write a song. Just write.
The advice that I’ve earned through experience is:
-Be yourself, and try everything. Set your ego aside and understand that you will probably lose more than you win.
-The universe (or whatever deity you believe in) has chosen you, and trusts you to share its message. This may seem counterintuitive, but don’t let that pressure you, just open yourself to it. The more you tap in, the more these chances will come, and even if you don’t feel like you’re ready, just try it. What’s the worst that can happen?
-Just do the thing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockmillirock/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vs0IPMHnjJipE6u8LZugd?si=IITsSvXNTyKNWBGDwuwNPg
