A secret revealed...

Dispatches from recording an album in Melbourne and Los Angeles.

Apr 08, 2025

There was a psychopath on the roof for most of the three weeks I was recording in a reclaimed Porno Theatre in east Los Angeles

The psychopath had a heavy footfall which rattled the roof, dislodging dust which rained down upon us.

Footfall is not the right word. It sounded more like the heavy man above us was doing rolly pollies on the thin tin roof, and what’s more was enjoying doing it.

There was a tinge of insane glee in the noises above us that went beyond the usual thud of a tradesmans boot.

The noise was troublesome because less than three metres below I was attempting to record my second album.

Surprise, surprise, the secret has been revealed!! Over the past few months I have been recording the follow up to Lone Rider - what will become my second album as D.C. Maxwell.

I have been keeping this a secret because I applied for funding from the NZ Government to record and promote the album.

But despite a lengthy application process in which I was forced to string out my past achievements like a travelling salesman laying out vacuum cleaner parts on the dusty carpet - I unfortunately did not get the funding.

So I will now need to deplete my savings to fund this album, yet again. Haha.

I do not say this with bitterness, but with a kind of manic glee.

It is always a gamble being a musician, but now my gambling on myself and my songs is getting serious. To record your songs to the standard of a really bloody good Los Angeles rock n roll record, is to put your chips on the table in a way that makes my knees quiver and tremble with fear and ecstasy.

Without funding, making this album will be difficult and insane - but I kind of love it when things are difficult and insane.

Thankfully I will not be doing it alone.

My partner in this album is the wonderfully talented and amazing Bonnie Knight. They are a rock record producing beast that has worked with a bunch of big dog Aussie acts (Amyl and the Sniffers, Body Type, Angie McMahon, ENOLA and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers - to name a few), and won a bunch of awards (AIR Best Independent Producer award and nominated for MPEG Breakthrough Producer of the Year and Music Victoria Best Producer). That someone of their calibre listened to my shoddily recorded phone demos and wanted to work with me was the moment I started really believing in this record.

But far more than this Bonnie is very funny, insightful, kind and very fun to be around in small airless rooms for long periods of time - which may be the single best thing to say about someone you are making an album with.

They have pushed me to sing better, to honour the songs, and in general to be a better musician. I am very grateful to them.

Bonnie and I outside the former ‘Tijuana’ Porno Theatre.

Joining Bonnie and I in crafting this album have been a bunch of amazing musicians from NZ, Australia and the USA.

Some people I have looked up to my whole musical life have played on this album.

Some people whose songs have made me cry have lent their voices to this album.

Some people whose songs have shaken Australia have played and sung on my record.

It is very wild and invigorating that so many amazing people have backed my songs and it makes me very excited to share it with you all.

My core band of friends that laid down the foundations of most tracks (L to R): Mitch Thomas (drums), Keely Lawson (Bass), Chase Wallace (guitar), C’est Moi.

So as I now listen back to the final mixes of the album - I am just filled with a kind of insane furore that I want to share this all with you IMMEDIATELY.

There are songs that wail, that sing, that pop, dance, groove, jive, scream, and bash their head gently against the chest of meaning.

Songs about love, lust and desire, what it means to even bother to sing a song in a dying world.

God damn I want to share it with you all. Soon. Soon. Soon. I continue to tell myself.

I have come to realise that a big part of being a musician is enduring long moments of sitting around doing not a lot.

Whether you are in a smoky backroom waiting for the show to start, driving long highways at night, or waiting for someone to tell you that you can release your album - there is a lot of waiting around.

So for now I continue to wait.

But at least I no longer wait in secret.

Those on this substack that are ‘in the know’ now know. Being able to tell everyone on here who cares about my songs that there are more songs coming soon makes this waiting much easier to bear. So thanks for that.

When I told my friend Alex Cameron - a songwriter and performer I look up to very much - that I was about to embark on making my second album he gave me some good advice: “ride that wave and get it done no matter what.”

So I’m riding the wave, and I’m getting it done, and by god people I have got to say that the record I have made is pretty bloody good.

Whether this turns out to be the truth or ego-driven bluster, you will just have to wait and see.

Lots of love,

D.C.

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