Kevin Max

Let’s set that record straight right now. Here is a man of so many different talents and facets—including but not limited to four full-length albums and three EPs, so stylistically different that it hardly seems possible that they could have poured out of the same person; five studio albums with his former band DC Talk; four books of poetry; a memoir; a children’s book; stage and film performances; live shows and spoken word collaborations—that it is often difficult not to view him as some sort of Frankenstein monster of various talents and abilities, all thrown together by some brilliantly mad scientist in an effort to create a perfect patchwork of wild talents.

But make no mistake—Kevin Max is not the creation, but the creator: a passionate musician constantly toiling away in his workshop, always pushing his music and his lyrics into new directions and higher heights. He has been heralded with titles that range from “the bad boy of Christian music” to “the next Peter Gabriel,” but Kevin eschews any such stereotypes by constantly recreating himself from album to album and refusing to be pigeonholed.

Born Kevin Max Smith (he later dropped “Smith”) in 1967 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Max started singing when he was young. The adopted son of Max and Elaine Smith, he grew up on a farm where he rode horses and motorcycles and often sang for his family’s church. It was in high school, where he sang in theatrical productions, that he began to develop his dream of singing professionally.

Influenced by the voices of Bryan Ferry and Freddy Mercury, and by the lyrics of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, Kevin began writing music and poetry of his own, and his passion for the art was solidified.

While attending Liberty University (from where he was eventually kicked out), Kevin met Toby McKeehan and Michael Tait, and they began performing music together. In 1987, they formed the Christian rap/hip-hop group DC Talk, which eventually made a deal with Forefront Records. By the time of the group’s break-up in 2001, they had become a Contemporary Christian music sensation with three platinum records and four Grammys. Their 1995 album Jesus Freak is still considered one of the most groundbreaking Christian rock albums of all time.


In 2001, when DC Talk went on a permanent hiatus, Kevin decided to create music of his own that reinvented his legacy and established his personal mission as a musician. “My music is for a Christian and a Buddhist to pick up and still enjoy, for an atheist,” he said of his work. “It is there to prod and ask some questions: What's my worldview? What do I believe in, and why do I believe it?” Like John Lennon, Peter Gabriel, and Nick Cave before him, Kevin desired to create music for the world stage that stood apart from his former band’s legacy, not limited to a single message or idea but rather a collage of thoughts and life lessons that reflected the entire human experience.

His first album, 2001’s Stereotype Be, confirmed this new artistic vision. Legendary artists Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Larry Norman all contributed to the album.

Critically praised for its ethereal blend of world styles and probing, self-revealing lyrics, the album was met with puzzlement by casual DC Talk fans, who were not expecting such an eclectic mixture of world music, old fashioned rock-and-roll, spoken word, and a healthy sample of world philosophies and viewpoints. For the rest of the world, Kevin’s clear talent became apparent, and the album went on to become a cherished cult classic, both in and outsid

Max went on to further collaborate with Adrian Belew for the dPulse-released spoken-word album Ravensongs 101, for which Belew provided the music for Kevin’s poetry. The next year, Kevin produced the EP Between the Fence & the Universe.

Subsequent dPulse releases include the straight-ahead rock EP Crashing Gates, and the follow-up release Cotes d' Armor. A radical take on core tracks comprising Crashing Gates, Cotes d' Armor saw Max collaborating again with Belew, as well as labelmates 3kStatic and Graham Crabb of Pop Will Eat Itself.

The result produced notable tracks 'Unholy Triad' and 'Even When It Hurts, each with prominent turns from Belew and 3kStatic.

Meanwhile, acclaimed producers Lynn Nichols and Tedd Tjornhom of LYNTT Productions took the helm for the singles 'On Yer Bike!' and 'Walking Through Walls (Just To Get To You)'.

In addition to his musical career, Kevin has authored several books, including four volumes of poetry—At the Foot of Heaven (1994; a companion spoken-word EP was also released from Starsong Publishing), The Detritus of Dorian Gray (2002), Divine Erotica (2004), and PO/ET/RY (2005)—and a memoir—Unfinished Work (2001).

Whatever comes next from this endlessly creative sprit, one truth remains abundantly clear—Kevin Max’s enigmatic music has tapped into our collective consciousness and has established him as an artist for the ages.

step out in the light and you feel the pain
spread your wings of danger and you will not feel again
is it really worth it?
i stayed up overnight reading everything
looking for a hidden verse to make some sense of this
why'd you disconnect?
and i watch through eyes of steel
safety net breaking down

you and me were caught up in this scene
one and one and one always makes three
you and me and someone in between
makes an unholy triad
here we are just swimming on the floor
as my soul is crawling out the door
i will not share you anymore
cause its an inverted triad

lets rendezvous some place where none can see
in a cage of my design through bars of velveteen
secret captivity
and i have abducted you
knowing all the time you wanted me to....

you and me we're caught up in this scene
on the edge and baring all our teeth
some say common sense is for the weak
in this our unholy triad
here we are just spinning on the floor
all the world's a stage and we want more
one and one and the other feels like four
and its an unholy triad.

© 2008-2010 Blind Thief Publishing (BMI)

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