Graham was born in London, England, and lived in Spain, New York City and Los Angeles before settling in Ottawa, Canada, in 1989. At age 15, in 1986, he began as a hip-hop DJ before discovering dance music in the 1990s.[4] He was a resident DJ at the famed Atomic Nightclub in Ottawa from 1997–2001. He has been touring globally as a DJ and producing melodic dance music since 2000.
Career
1997–2001: Atomic Nightclub, Hope Recordings
During his residency at Atomic Nightclub, Graham was discovered by label executives and signed to Hope Recordings;[5] one of his first productions, “Airtight”, was noticed by Nick Warren and Paul Oakenfold in 2000. Oakenfold subsequently put two of Graham's tracks on his album Another World.[6]Tiesto also put “Airtight” on his In Search of Sunrise 2 album. That same year, “Airtight” was nominated for a Juno Award.[7] He gained immediate acclaim and was voted #23 in the DJMag top 100 DJs for 2001[8] and was chosen to mix the famous Tranceport CD Series (Tranceport 4) that year.[9]
2002–2004: ShineMusic and the "sidechain" mixes
Graham created the "Shine" concept in 2002, which included a mix CD,[10] a label (Shinemusic),[11] and club nights.
In 2004, Graham signed two singles to Sander Kleinenberg's Little Mountain label, entitled "Does She Know Yet?" and "Automatic Weapon".[12] His remixes at the time went by the name "Max Graham's Sidechain Mix", named after the bass-pad sound that was heavily sidechained in his tracks. Included in these remixes was Guy Gerber's “Stoppage Time”, released on John Digweed's Bedrock Label.[13]
2005–2006: "Owner of a Lonely Heart", Essential Mix
Graham produced a bootleg remix of Yes track "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which was played on BBC Radio 1 and signed by Ministry of Sound and released globally. It reached #9 in the UK, giving Graham his first Top-10 UK Hit.[14] During this same period, Graham was signed to the Bullitt agency and released music on Deep Dish's Yoshitoshi Recordings, including the single "Crank".[15] 2006 saw him invited for his first Essential Mix.[16]
2008–2010: Armada, Cycles and Radio (Artist album)
In 2008, Graham shifted to a more melodic sound and signed with Armada Music. He began his CD series Cycles, which featured 8 compilations throughout the series, including a selection of progressive and trance songs.[17]
In 2010, he release his first artist album, Radio,[18] which included collaborations with Jessica Riddle, Neev Kennedy, Ana Criado and Protoculture.
2011–2014: open-to-close sets, trance, and "The Evil ID"
From 2008 to 2017, Graham released a new Cycles CD almost every year as a self-proclaimed "snapshot" of his current DJ sound.[19] He also began touring exclusively playing open-to-close shows, where he focused on a wide variety of genres and a true journey of music.[20][2] Producing under his own name, he made singles "Sun In The Winter",[21] "Nothing Else Matters",[22] and the hit "The Evil ID",[23] which was championed by Armin Van Buuren at Tomorrowland.[24] Graham also performed regularly at A State Of Trance shows.[25] During that period, Graham teamed up with Protoculture to release a string of singles and remixes, including a remake of Grace’s "Not Over Yet".[26]
2015–2017: Leaving Armada, moving away from trance, changing sound
In 2015, Graham began to move away from trance (due to the changing sound that no longer appealed to him)[2] and left Armada, closing down his Rebrand label in the process.[27] His sound changed, and he started the label Cycles with Black Hole Recordings.[28] This period saw more underground releases, like "Redemption"[29] and "One Hundred",[30] and showcased deeper sounds such as the tracks "Argentina" [31] and "Sunrise in Flight".[32] He also collaborated with Estiva on the track "Generation".[33]
2017: The End of Cycles
In late 2017, Graham announced via Facebook that he was ending the weekly Cycles Radio episodes and taking an extended break from touring and making music.[34]
2019: The Return
In 2019, Graham returned to the scene and announced via social media in August that he was in the studio working on his second artist album as well as relaunching Cycles Radio with a new monthly format.[35][36] In March 2021, however, Graham announced that he would be taking another indefinite hiatus.[37]
Graham's production varies in genre and has been at times hard to classify.[48] Under his name, he makes predominantly progressive house and progressive trance, while he also makes techno under the alias Shelter.[49]
Label Ownership
He has owned three record labels: ShineMusic, Rebrand Records and Cycles Music.[27] In total, he hosted Cycles Radio for 337 episodes from [50]
