Max Bianco - Beneath a Harlot Moon
Part One
Max on Spotify
I met Max Bianco at a wedding. I remember thinking he looked like a Rock Star who’d time travelled in from the past for the day. Cool as fck, like a neo-Dickensian gypsy Brian Jones with an elfish smudge of a smile looking for mischief. I then heard he was going to be playing with the band. Please let him be good.
Class & Poetry
There’s nothing worse than a musician who looks the part but can’t play worth a toss. Any fear on that count was laid to rest the second he got up and played. One word. Rock n Roll. Pure class and poetry. I messaged him a few days after the wedding. We shared a few stories and he sent me a whole bunch of his music. Blew me away. Talk about getting what you hoped for.
The lyrics and the tunes spoke to me in a way I wasn’t expecting if I’m honest. and the consistency in the writing. Song after song after song was beautifully crafted. There are some people who just have a talent and a natural ability that can’t really be articulated though we might try. Max is one of those rare individuals.
The First Art Form
Music is the first art-form. It belongs to nobody. But I’m pretty sure that the musicians I like in the first instance are respected and revered by many. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Stone Roses, The Who, the Jam. With this in mind, I like to think I have a modicum of good taste.
Max for me, whilst having relative fame in certain circles, is an undiscovered Talent relative to how good he is. I listen to his music on the same playlists as the above-mentioned musicians and bands and every single one of his songs holds it’s own against those big guns.
I recently spent a few days with Max in Margate. We were at the Albion Rooms, where The Libertines hold court, and then on to a gig, he was playing in Ramsgate. It was at Keith Wilkinsons awesome Eats and Beats venue. Keith was a bass player for Squeeze. Max was enjoying himself a little bit too much before the gig and was basically four sheets to the Ramsgate wind 15 minutes before he was due to go on.
A Beautiful Synchronicity
I remember saying to Keith, “This little scoundrel ain’t gonna be able to play Keith is he?” “He’ll alright give him a coffee and a fag,” said Keith with a huge grin. When the time came for Max to get up and play an incredible thing happened. It was like magic. Max got to the stage and there was this transformation.
A little mystical happening in Ramsgate starring Max Bianco. It was as if the Guitar took over. Beautiful synchronicity. Indeed, for the next couple of hours, Max took the audience on a beautiful little journey. Wizardly. To Max, it was possibly just another gig. He did what he’d done a thousand times before.
To me, who’d never seen him perform more than one song before, I was blown away. Max and I are going to be working on several projects together in the near future including a documentary. I’m so fired up for what the future holds. Max is when all said and done a really special person with a huge heart.
Keep Em Peeled
I don’t say that lightly. Keep your eye on the charts and the London and Cambridge Music scene. Talent like this will ultimately soar. It has too. I feel very fortunate that I’m there at the start of it.
Portraits of Chloe (Tink) Harrington at the Dare Photography Experience in September 2023.