Street music from across Europe during the Corona pandemic helped Max Goedecke, a musician from Mechernich in the Cologne region, draw a sizable international following on Instagram. His account, tas_phania, which he uses to upload videos from cities like London, Paris, Rome, and Lisbon, is currently one of Germany’s most popular street music channels with over 30000 subscribers. When his debut album “Newspeak” was released in 2018, the international indie rock press gushed about it on the whole and even compared his voice to Jack White’s. His new “Tas Phania(The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1)” EP, which includes five original songs and one cover, is now knocking on your door after nonstop busking. This might be for you if you enjoy a crazy mashup of Hendrix-driven guitars and a Bob Dylan-like ego served in a homemade digital recording style. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
MAX GOEDECKE: I grew up in a small town called Mechernich in the countryside of Cologne, Germany. Back in MTV’s heydays I was watching and celebrating music since my first childhood memories. As many of my classmates, I was dreaming America – or at least the picture you’ve got from Hollywood, fame and the romanticized feeling of freedom and touring the world as a band of best friends. Everyone wanted to play “Drive” (Incubus), “Paradise City” (Guns N’ Roses) or the new hits by Staind or Limp Bizkit: those were the guitar-heydays of a generation, where boarders seemed to play no role, and everyone was self-assured of getting famous. I saw how Slash throw his Les Paul guitar after an exploding car in Hollywood canyons in the “Don’t Cry” video on MTV in 2004 when Guns N’ Roses released their Greatest Hits album and directly knew “This is what I want to do with my life!”.
2. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as FOLK ROCK?
MAX GOEDECKE: I think I always wanted to be able to perform independently at any time, and so I already did street music with 18 years – and I enjoyed it. Exchanging emotions when performing to an audience was always the key for me. So, it was natural that I decided for a style of music which works with just a guitar and a voice, but also keeping my roots of classic rock with me. When there were real shows in venues possible, I also tried out playing in bands and had good and bad experiences. The key for me is that making music is a pillar of my life and I want to be able to do it completely on my own – like a programmer can also finish his/her program without a helping hand.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘MAX GOEDECKE’?
MAX GOEDECKE: My first and strongest musical influences were Neil Young’s “WELD” live album with Crazy Horse and Guns N’ Roses “Use Your Illusion I”. I still can remember listening to “Coma” and pulling off my headphones when the heartbeat became too intense. The “WELD” live album we had on video cassette: I was watching it over and over and loved the mega-sized fake amp towers and rock performance Neil was delivering with Crazy Horse. In my school, there was the very talented guitar player and songwriter Mario Nyeky three classes over me, who taught me some chords and especially the feeling that also as a German I can become the next big thing! I got myself into Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix and realized I also want to pursue a solo career and picked my birthname for it. I played at Convent Garden in London and realized I was right: no one was like “Hey you must be German!”, some people at a session in Cambridge thought I was American – bloody English, but okayish haha!
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
MAX GOEDECKE: I think the key elements are my voice and guitar playing in unison – like a classic blues-guitar player! I want that my song touches the listener and not a 1000 overdubs. I don’t like over-compression and love real performances: I think a mistake is forgiving, feeling is the key. My sound is usually on the softer side and bluesy melodic.
5. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
MAX GOEDECKE: After the “Don’t Cry” video incident, I bought myself the cheapest Yamaha metal guitar and taught myself the lead lick of “Paradise City”. I was always computer affine and taught the most myself via ears and GuitarPro 5 back then. I joined bands and had my first gig after one year of learning guitar and played the “Let it be” solo at my schoolteacher’s farewell ceremony. After never finding a reliable singer for my bands, I started singing and became soon interested in playing acoustic guitars too. I joined my school’s big band as a bass player, and soon developed an understanding of the ingredients and spices a modern song was made of.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
MAX GOEDECKE: Nowadays I see music mostly as a personal narrative and entertainment for me and others. I loved Bob Dylan’s early work like “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” or “Masters of War” as a protest singer, but I also think there that it is a personal narrative of Bob inventing himself as a protest singer. It might inspire a generation in its thoughts and even way to live, but every way of living is chained to its socio-economic surroundings it is dwelling in.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
MAX GOEDECKE: It is giving more back than I’m putting into it! The last 4 years I could see so many countries like Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France with my street-music. You really get to know local people and win friends and fellow musicians by it. I gathered lovely memories and don’t want to miss them. Music is perfect to get out of your comfort zone and being able to meet people from completely different origins than yourself. You get out of your funnel view of the world. Music unites people!
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
MAX GOEDECKE: I always start with an idea on the guitar: maybe a riff or a picking chord progression. Once the guitar part is finished, I sing in subconscious mood Dadaistic phrases over it and record myself to find a singing melody which feels true. I pick up some of the words and write a song I feel now for this music. The song writing is always a personal narrative, some longings, or stories which lie deep inside me and sometimes I haven’t even thought about until the music was there. It’s like a well of my soul which I can only reach via the music I create.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
MAX GOEDECKE: No money haha. Joke aside, nowadays it is hard to make a living of it. Street-music is nice, but doing it amplified means you are in the grey zone of law, and sometimes officers in charge do not allow it and that always feels like a disappointment and setback to me.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
MAX GOEDECKE: I think all the recordings I did! When someone from Sao Paulo sends you via Instagram a picture of how he listens to your music in his car, you feel like you did something right! Or a teacher in Brazil teaches your lyrics of “Good Damn Girl” in English classes to her kids, that makes you proud! Or you receive wonderful NAIDOC t-shirts from Down Under from a fan as a gift, it makes me feel just wow! Music is a blessing that needs to be shared and sent into this world!
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