Max Frost at the Bowery Ballroom

Max Frost was born and raised in Austin, Texas, where he learned to play drums at age four and guitar at age eight. At age 12, he started performing in bands, including Joy Ride (a rock group) and Blues Mafia; typically, he was the youngest member of all the bands he joined. In his late teens, Frost began combining modern hip-hop rhythms with the classic blues and rock he had been performing, and recorded his music onto his computer. Just before a performance at the 2013 South by Southwest festival, someone stole his guitar and his backpack containing his laptop and the hard drive which contained all the music he had worked on for two years. Three days later, by coincidence, a popular music blog found his website and starting streaming his falsetto-strewn song "White Lies," effectively boosting Frost's professional music career to a national level. Re-working several older songs from memory, he re-recorded songs for his debut EP, and some of these songs were licensed for commercial use. After two EPs and tour dates opening for Twenty One Pilots, Panic! at the Disco, Fitz and the Tantrums, and Gary Clark Jr., Max Frost released his debut album, Gold Rush, on October 5, 2018. Frost now resides in Los Angeles, California.

Max Frost performed a one-man show tonight at the Bowery Ballroom, darting around the stage to station himself at his guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. Often he would start a song on one instrument and loop whatever he played and do the same at the next instrument and the next, building the song as he added layers. Frost crooned and swooned his vocals, even when some of his lyrics dwelled on unconventional Topics ("High All Day", "Adderall"). On the surface, a casual listener could have  dismissed his music simply as commercial Top 40 pop, but digging a bit deeper, one would find that even his contemporary electro-soul songs showed retro roots, channeling cohesive influences from vintage blues, funk, and rhythm and blues. The multi-instrumentalist's pop songs and dynamic live show will find favor with the 20-something crowd.