Jen G: I know you’re into British humor. Have you heard of As Time Goes By or Keeping Up Appearances?

Kevin Max: (Laughs.) No, I haven’t.

Jen G: Oh my gosh! You have to check those out. They’re great. I watch them, and they’re really funny.

Kevin Max: We’re talking about a TV show?

Jen G: Yes! There are two of them. They’re British humor, and they’re hilarious.

Kevin Max: See, I haven’t been able to watch much TV because I’ve been so busy. But there’s a TV show called Extras. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Extras.

Jen G: Extras? I’ve never heard of that.

Kevin Max: But that’s a British comedy, and it’s made its way over here to America. And then, you know, Fawlty Towers was like an original old British kind of sitcom humor thing that I love. Yeah, you’ll have to look into those. You have to look into both of those.

Jen G: Who were some of your musical influences growing up?

Kevin Max: Stevie Wonder, Elvis, and later on in high school, rock scene music like David Bowie and The Smiths. Then, as I got into college and kind of went on the road with DC Talk, music really opened itself up to me in lots of different ways and different forms.

But I think the first rock band that really influenced me beyond The Beatles was Queen. When I first heard Freddie Mercury singing, I was just like, “Wow, I’d like to do that.” So music…there have been a lot of influences.

“I loved Paul McCartney’s voice too, but I mean John Lennon always kind of was my favorite, and I’ve always liked ‘Strawberry Fields.'”

Jen G: If you could perform with anyone—past, present, or future—who would it be and why?

Kevin Max: Oh my gosh, well, the why would be obvious once I give you who. I would probably say, if I could perform with anybody, it would be The Beatles.

I mean, in the studio, out of the studio…to me, they were the most creative force in modern music.

Jen G: What’s your favorite song by them?

Kevin Max: My favorite song? I don’t have a favorite song by them. People always ask me that. Man, there are just so many. There are so many songs, and that’s the point. That’s why The Beatles were so great. They could constantly create and put stuff down that kind of changed music culture.

One of my favorites, I would say, was…I was a big fan of John Lennon’s voice. I loved Paul McCartney’s voice too, but John Lennon always kind of was my favorite. I’ve always liked “Strawberry Fields.” But I also liked “Tomorrow Never Knows,” and I loved “Julia,” and I loved McCartney’s “Yesterday.” I mean, there are just so many songs.

Jen G: I heard a couple of years ago there was a big concert where you, Michael Tait, and Toby were all there, but you weren’t performing together. Did that happen, and how did it feel being together and performing on that stage?

Kevin Max: It did happen. I mean, it was…what was that, maybe a couple of years back? Maybe a year and a half ago? Yeah, more like two years ago, I think.

It was in Washington, and somebody contracted all of us to come and play solo. Then we performed, I think, like three songs together. But it felt really disjointed because we had not really performed together for a while. We hadn’t practiced, and we just kind of jumped up on stage and did a couple of songs, you know what I mean?

It always feels great being on stage together because we’ve been on stage together for a massive amount of time. I mean, I just did a show with Toby in England about five months back, and it was very natural. Singing in the studio yesterday with Michael was very natural, and we’re going to get Toby in the studio on Monday to sing on the same track for The Blood.

We’ve been friends for so long that it’s just a natural feeling. But that particular show felt disjointed because we were all doing our own music, and it was just kind of like, “Okay, as an afterthought, let’s jump on stage together.”

I think with a big group like DC Talk, it takes time to kind of get that back together and make it feel in sync, you know? It takes a little bit of work.