Max Schneider Talks Touring, Musical Influences, and Grooming

MAX performing on stage. (Photo: Getty Images)

MAX (aka Max Schneider) just wrapped his tour, had a big year, opening for acts like Fall Out Boy, Wiz Khalifa, and Hoodie Allen, but the 23-year-old singer actually got his start as a teenage understudy on Broadway. With a passion for performing since he was just four years old, MAX has gone from the stage to the small screen (Disney’s Shake It Up and Nickelodeon’s How to Rock), and back to the stage as a singer. He’s making waves with his hit single, “Gibberish,” and has an EP and full-length album on the way. We caught up with the star to talk performing, life on the road, and grooming on and off-stage.

Yahoo Beauty: You just wrapped your tour! Was it completely exhausting or is it always exhilarating once you get onstage?

MAX: It’s both, always. I’ve done a lot of opening this year, so much smaller sets. With an hour long set, I don’t do a lot of songs. The single is called “Gibberish,” and we go to a lot of radio stations and perform for them. It’s definitely the most exhaustion I’ve had, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What’s your routine like when you’re on tour?

We sometimes do these morning shows, which are the worst for me because I’m not a morning person. So we wake up at like 6 am and do like an eight o’clock performance or something. Ideally I like to sleep as late as possible, and eat breakfast. Even if it’s 2 pm, I’ve got to eat a breakfast sandwich somewhere.

Are you going for the sausage, egg, and cheese?

I’m going for that every time. If there’s a Starbucks nearby, and they’ve got it, I’m set. But sometimes, they don’t and I just go to a diner or whatever. I always need that, and then I usually just chill out for a bit, explore the city we’re in, and then I take a while to stretch and warm up and everything.

What is the best part of being on tour?

The energy from every audience — and figuring out how you really connect with that person in the front row. It was interesting in Montreal; so many people speak English, but it was the first time for me performing when it wasn’t really the main language, and we had to speak French and figure out how to connect with these people.

You spoke French?

I spoke a little bit of French.

Impressive!

Bonjour! Montreal! There’s no “t,” I learned that up there. No one tells you that in the US.

How do you wind down after the adrenalin rush of performing?

I try to do a cool down thing now. For a while, I was losing my voice, so I try to cool down after every show and do vocal warmup things, and I will rest my voice a lot. I’ve learned to be a decent mime, which is fun. I try to get a lot of sleep, I eat a lot, at night especially. Right after a show, I just crash. Probably the worst thing, you’re not supposed to do that, but I always just want to eat everything after the show.

Do you have any go-to products you’ve been using on the road?

I love Burt’s Bees products a lot. I use their lip balm all the time. It’s one of those things that when I forget it it’s like, I need it. I mess with all their face stuff. I just like natural products for the most part. I just started messing with dry shampoo and stuff. I’ve always had very curly hair, because of my Jewish roots. I used to just have long hair. And then I started just chopping off the sides. I feel like everyone does, I chopped off the sides, and I had the full pouf in the front. That’s when I started doing the pouf, and that’s felt the best. I feel like my hair routine wasn’t very good for a while, I used to wash it every day. Now I’m doing it every four days or something like that.

How do you groom your facial hair?

I have a trimmer and every few days I use that, but I’m not very organized. I’m just like, “Oh, that looks a little long, maybe I should trim it.”

Do you wear a fragrance?

Sometimes I’ll relive my high school years and I want some Axe. It’s so funny, my guitar player hates Axe, he always says, “Don’t spray that around me! Please I hate it.” I like that, I like Dolce and Gabbana.

What do you always bring with you when you’re traveling?

I always bring a couple of pieces of jewelry, which are from different family and friends, so I always try to have that to be connected. So those things and my jeans.

Max Schneider Talks Touring, Musical Influences, and Grooming

I like Acne, they’re good. I like Rag & Bone a lot, that’s one of my favorite brands.

You’re from New York — is it really special when you play here?

Yeah, we always have at least like 60 people on our guest list for New York. New York is so amazing. Being from here, I feel so much love, but it’s also a challenge, because it’s a city where people are so used to seeing shows, so they’re not necessarily going crazy right away. I feel like I need to give them even more of a show.

You went to performing arts school. What was the moment you knew you wanted to be on stage?

I knew from a pretty young age. I grew up here, and I went to a lot of shows as a kid. I would go to shows like Beauty and the Beast and go home and reenact it in my underwear in my living room. I kept seeing shows and I started doing youth theater, and I didn’t want to stop. And I think if you find something like that in your life, just no Plan B, just go for it.

Max Schneider starring on NBC’s Crisis. (Photo: Getty Images)

When would you say was your first big break?

First big break, my first true gig was a show on Broadway called Thirteen. I was a swing understudy, which means you cover multiple roles. So, I covered four people in the show, and I went on thirteen times, which was very ironic. That was the hardest thing I had dealt with up until that time. My first show, I went on mid-show, somebody lost their voice, and I went on and it was insane. It was one of those things that it taught me that it’s always about the work. Nobody really knew I was an understudy, no one knew who I was, nobody cared. But, we were working our butts off downstairs every night, and that’s something I treasure every day, having that experience.

You worked with Disney when you were younger. A lot of times people get stuck in that teen role thing, so how did you navigate that transition?

It’s important to not limit yourself, to accept your past and not pretend it didn’t happen. I think there’s a lot of people with Disney or Nickelodeon, they leave that network and think they have to lash out and the only way they can be something is if they do that. And personally, I think the people I look up to, even Bryan Cranston on Breaking Bad, he didn’t let being the dad on Malcolm in the Middle stop him from performing in a role that has changed his life. And I think a lot of people might have hindered him and said you can’t play that because you did this. You should never limit yourself. That’s something I’ve always tried to stay strong with.

Do you want to still pursue acting? I know you’re having a music moment right now.

A lot of times you see musicians and singers who do some acting roles and are cool with that, and I think vice versa. For me, I’d like to be always a singer who maybe you see in an acting role. I’m not trying to win an Oscar. I’m not trying to be that person. But, Justin Timberlake is someone I always talk about. He’s a singer. He’s an artist. But then you see him in a role, and you are like, “Wow, he killed that.” So I mean, him, Lenny Kravitz, that would be my ideal to play small roles in films.

What other artists inspire you?

I love Justin Timberlake and Miguel, and Stevie Wonder. I’ve always been especially inspired by James Brown. I’ve always been attracted to performers that you can tell are giving it everything they have. And that’s something I felt like James Brown always did. You could tell that he left every ounce of energy onstage.

Related:

Sara Bareilles: Feeling Ugly As a Teen Was Actually A Beautiful Thing

Selena Gomez: ‘I Need To Learn To Love Myself First’ (Video)