Max interview in Billboard Part 1

[georg_e]

          Hey, bought a copy of Billboard Dr. Luke cover issue today, and there's a surprise inside...an interview with Max :-)
Since might not be so easy for some of you to get a copy in next week, I'll copy it out here, cuz it's great. (Interview is by the writer Iza told us about, Chris Willman). The photo of Max with it is that same ancient one from the Cheiron days, lol   I'll post in a couple parts, as its long and I'm afraid it might 'time out' on me or something while I'm typing it..........

                     I, Max

                     In a rare interview, writer/producer Max Martin discusses his partnership with Dr. Luke, his favorite collaborations, and who's the better guitarist

                     Max Martin has been the most press-shy writer/producer this side of Robert "Mutt' Lange. But he'll make an exception. "As you know, I don't really talk to you guys so much, and I really don't know how to do this," Martin, 39, said when he got on the phone, by way of apologizing for his Swedish accent. But he agreed to talk to Billboard about close friend and collaborator Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, whose fortunes have frequently tied with his mentor's since they first struck gold in 2005 with Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes".  Martin credits "Since U been Gone"-- and Gottwald's assist -- for his re-emergence as a star producer.  After learning at the feet of Ace of Base producer Denniz Pop, Martin became the biggest behind-the-scenes name brand in pop in the late 90's with ineffable hits for Britney Spears (".....Baby One More Time") and Backstreet Boys ("I Want It That Way").  Martin had a few professionally quiet years in the early 200's, before the fateful resurgence that made it seem like he'd never been gone. He and protoge-turned-equal Gottwald have worked apart more often than not, with Martin going it alone  on recent hits like Spears'  "3" and Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love."  But it's seeing the two names in tandem that really whets pop enthusiasts' appetites -- as with Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You", Pink's "U + Ur Hand" and Katy Perry's  "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot 'n Cold" -- plus five songs on Perry's sophomore album, including its first two smash singles, "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream."

                               Interview in next post.........

[georg_e]

                                         The Interview.......

   Do you remember the first eureka moment you experienced with Gottwald?

    I remember when we comped vocals for Kelly on "Since U Been Gone".  We listened back to it and it started sounding like a record.  I remember that was a big moment, like, "Holy shit! I think we did it!" There was a lot of jumping around and laughing.

    Can you think of anything he did in particular on one of your hits that provided a turning point in the making of the song?

   There's a bunch of those. The thing is that when we work together, its very dynamic. It's rare that I come up with an idea and it ends up the same in the end. I do remember for the Katy Perry song that's out now, "Teenage Dream", where Benny Blanco did a track, and then Luke just started singing, and he had this flow, where everything that came out was great, including the chorus.  He was just standing there and screaming, and it just wrote itself. And I picked up my Dictaphone and started recording -- like, "We can't miss one second of this."  That was a big moment.

      Since "sINCE u Been Gone", you and Gottwald have been associated with pop songs for females that have a little bit of a rock'n'roll edge to them.  Why are you drawn to that sound?

     Well, I have a rock background, too. [ Martin started his career playing guitar in a Swedish glam-metal band called It's Alive].  For some reason we're  stuck a little bit with the girls. [laughs] For both of us, the most important thing is that it has to be a fun project. I think we're very alike in that sense. Music has to be fun. And right now, it seems like girls are fun. Which, you know, makes sense.

       Do you have a favorite of the stuff you've done together?

The last session, the Katy stuff, was amazing. I think recording Snoop on "California Gurls" was one of the highlights of my career, because he's really cool. Working with Katy and Pink and all these artists makes it really easy to be good.  But the last Katy sessions were really fun because it was fast. We did five or six songs in [a short time}. It has to be fast and fun.
              "Since U bEEN gONE"  is very special to me, because first of all, I think it's a great song, I have to say, and she's a great singer. And it was my comeback, and it was his starting point.

                    Last part in next post.........

                   

           

[georg_e]

             Last interview part........

Is there anything you could identify that's unique to your collaboration with Gottwald?

If he wanted to, I could do anything with him, really.  He can travel in many worlds -- in hip-hop and pop music and urban and rock and whatever. With his background as a guitar player, it seems within pop or rock, there's nothing he's not capable of. I'd follow him anywhere. [laughs] I think he's more versatile than me, actually.

You really believe that?

Um, he's a better guitar player than me. [laughs]  No, he's got really deep roots in hip-hop. And that's something that's further away from me. Having that in your arsenal makes it cool.

Do you fall along the same lines on the scale of perfectionism to spontaneity?

Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons he is where he is today. He's always very particular about stuff, and he sticks with it. He doesn't say, "Oh, that's great, that's fine." We both rewrite. He always says "You should never leave a stone unturned." You might end up in the same place you started, but you want to try anything before you settle. A lot of people hire people to do their stuff, to do what made you go there. But Luke is still a studio nerd, which is really important.

                                                                                           

[Raul_esp]

Woww great , thanks so much Georg_e , it was great!

[Feelgoodlies]

Thatnks for the effort George!

"California Gurls" is his best song? Max are you serious?

I like his down-to-earth personality!

[Raul_esp]

Thatnks for the effort George!

"California Gurls" is his best song? Max are you serious?

I like his down-to-earth personality!

I think he means the moment of the recording with Snoop dogg.

[Izalightblue]

Thank you for the interview, George. Very cool. Max unassuming as always. Great.

[JackSnr]

Thanks George! Awesome interview - he seems really nice. I like that he still carries around a little Dictaphone like he mentioned in that tonos interview in 2001.

[Rebecca]

wow, thanks George! what a great read, such a pleasure to read an interview with Max, he says such nice things about Luke, they seem like great friends. Really cool!!

[Chris Kleiner]

thank you for that... really nice... Max ist great.. THE GREATEST!!!!

[turnaround]

Thanks for this!

[klukan]

Thanks a lot George for takin' the time to type this in for us!

Great interview but I wish he would talk more about himself! 

[georg_e]

Thanks a lot George for takin' the time to type this in for us!

Great interview but I wish he would talk more about himself! 

It was a pleasure -- I was so happy to see it in Billboard!!   Yeah, I know --every Max interview it's more about somebody else  (Carolina Liar in PopJustice too), although of course this speaks well of Max.  Maybe though he'll see from Luke's example that it's not so bad to get a little press, and give a full blown interview about himself.  I mean. even Luke a year ago had given exactly one interview, the short audio clip to Joe Bermudez,  so maybe this will inspire him -- we do need a big interview with him -- so much ground to cover ;-)

[klukan]

Yeah hopefully he'll speak out later in his career when he's about to retire.

I think he's aware of the benefits of press but - as he says in the interview - I think he's not confident in talking to journalists.