Jouvay.com: Interview with Maximus Dan

MAXIMUS DAN INTERVIEW

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Sex is a thing you can't get away from. It's all over the place. Sex is a type of thing that will reach out and grab you when you passing it. Don't pass me straight. We need to stress that if you having sex have safe sex. Wear a condom. Stick to one partner. So many youths are being tested and finding out they are HIV positive. When they get a pamphlet and they see HIV/AIDS they put it down. We are going to try and get a more clever and creative way to get them to read the material and after we perform we will send out a message because people remember what you say last. I am trying to bring something more positive with the youth because when you look at what people say about the youth these days, some of it is true, but some of it is just exaggeration. I am just trying to represent my peers and trying to make us look good in whatever way I can.

Maximus Dan, Trinidad and Tobago.

Jouvay.com: This is Maximus Dan of the big Too Much Jumping Up on The Soca Train...

Maximus Dan: It was a wonderful experience again in Toronto from carnival 2K4 in Trinidad up to now with the song Soca Train. I just want to say thanks to the fans for supporting Maximus Dan and trying to understand what Maximus Dan represents which is positivity, upliftment and I am trying to bring something more positive with the youth because when you look at what people say about the youth these days, some of it is true, but some of it is just exaggeration. I am just trying to represent my peers and trying to make us look good in whatever way I can.

JC: How old are your peers?

MD: Within the 25 to 30 age bracket.

JC: What kind of positive messages are you taking to the youth?

MD: What I try to do is I try to keep it real. I also try to not condemn anyone because in this life anybody can do something wrong. Even a priest or pastor or pundit can do something wrong. I want to let them know that they are not perfect, but everyday every second try to be a better person. Don't let anybody keep you down. You alone can defend yourself. You have to make sure you are a positive individual for when that man comes down you have to answer for your sins.

JC: You have been involved with Westindian .com with their HIV/AIDS concert in the Bahamas and I think they are now going to launch it next year.

MD: Yes, and I think they were to do it last month and they cancelled it again. I did a song recently with a guy by the name Keegan Taylor. He wrote this song about HIV/AIDS awareness about two years ago. He came to me and said Maximus you are my friend and I like what you doing amongst the youth and I respect you. If you want to you could collaborate with me. Well, from the minute I heard it I fell in love with it and I said rather than try to sing anything in it I did an Ad Lib track. You are hearing me in the background. It was a song that was so cleverly put together that only when you reached the chorus did you know it was HIV/AIDS he was talking about. It's playing in Trinidad right now. The name of the song is called Deadly Killer.

JC: How does it go?

MD: "I am a deadly deadly killer. The AIDS virus and if you test me test me brother, you skull a go bust." He put it in such a way that a gangster could listen to it. A pastor could listen to it no matter your race or ethnicity you could get something from it.

JC: What's the message? To abstain or be responsible and wear a condom?

MD: Sex is a thing you can't get away from. It's all over the place. Sex is a type of thing that will reach out and grab you when you passing it. Don't pass me straight. We need to stress that if you having sex have safe sex. Wear a condom. Stick to one partner.

JC: I think that is very important because alot of the Caribbean organizations are trying to push the abstain thing which is not our reality. We need to recognize that people are having sex and will have sex and may have more than one partner.

MD: As we say prevention is better than cure.

JC: Definitely. So do you actually go in and work with the youth?

Maximus Dan: We are starting an initiative for the carnival season. We are sitting down with the NACC in Trinidad and they are trying to find a better way to speak about it. They give out condoms in parties. Yeah, they do that, but what we are also trying to do is give them flyers with the artists. Things that are attractive because the youth is our focus. So many youths are being tested and finding out they are HIV positive. When they get a pamphlet and they see HIV/AIDS they put it down. We are going to try and get a more clever and creative way to get them to read the material and after we perform we will send out a message because people remember what you say last.

JC: Exactly and if you bring it into the music it's important. It's really important the power that you guys have when you are up on stage. It's nice that you are bringing alot of positive messages to the music. Where you come from?

Maximus Dan: I'm from Trinidad as everyone knows. I am from a place called Caranage. The northwestern part of the island with all of the beaches. I am the last of four kids and I am the only boy in the family. And no I am not spoiled as that is the first question that everyone asks me, but I had to fend for myself. My parents were separated from when I was about six or seven so I had to assume the role of being the man of the house. I had to be responsible and be the man of the house. I had to wash my own clothes and iron. I am not a good cook I could say that, but the teaching that I received from my mom helped me reach the stage that I am at now. My father was real supportive. The first time he heard I was going into the industry he said, "I know you are a star and you have to believe that you are a star so when you go on that stage you have to put out 150%." I just want to say props to my parents for the support.

JC: When did you start singing?

MD: Around six or seven in the school choir so I had a little bit of musical knowledge. When I left primary school I went to high school and lay off the music for a little to do some sports, basketball and soccer. I came back to music when I was 15 years old just a year before I left school. At 16/17 I went to the Caribbean Sound Basin and the rest was history.

JC: What was the Caribbean Sound Basin?

MD: It was a big studio and at that time it was ranked fourth or fifth in the world in terms of studios. I went there and did an audition with Shell Shok who everybody knows in Trinidad and he was the first person who heard me.

JC: What song was that?

MD: I did a conscious song. I always know that how you start is how you have to finish because God is the first and the last. I started off conscious and then strayed a little and went through the wilderness.

JC: To what?

MD: I started to sing alot of things. I can be honest, I was not too sure of myself. I did not know what was my mission or goal. Finally, I decided to sing just conscious music about God, and life and upliftment and success and positivity.

Jouvay.com: And that's the kind of music that will live long. Thanks alot.

Maximus Dan: Definitely. Season's Greetings. Everybody Getting down on Jouvay.com, Jouvay.com.

This mini interview with Maximus Dan was done at the Toronto Fall Fete in November 2004. Much thanks to the promoters for access to the event.

www.maximusdan.com