Come 6 p.m. this Saturday during the Revelry Music and Arts Festival, the Terrace Stage will be filled with positive energy, head-nodding instrumentals, good vibes and killer flows.
Germantown, Wisconsin-native Max Meridius will bring all of these things and more in his second Revelry appearance. But this time around, he is more confident and mature in his sound delivery. The Terrace Stage will be bumping to Meridius’ modern production combined with his “gladiator and Greco-Roman” inspired lyrics and style.
Meridius has always been a perfectionist. The desire to achieve the unachievable is apparent in his debut mixtape, Elysium, which was released last April. The album took over two years to make as Meridius worked completely alone. His song making process was dependent on his emotions and thoughts and the certain beat those would provoke. Meridius didn’t want to rush the process to just get his sound out there, but rather take time to insure pride in each track.
“I hear a beat. It has to catch me. Music is the first thing. If it’s just a good song, a good instrumental, people are going to listen to it,” Meridius said. “What emotion does the beat elicit? How does that make me feel? What theme I can maybe talk about? I’ll write my verses and I’ll write my choruses, even though I’m awful at writing choruses.”
His choruses, verses, name and style all draw from his childhood love of the movie, Gladiator. He remembers it was his father’s favorite movie, and he naturally followed suit. In Gladiator, the main character goes by the name Maximus Decimus Meridius and wields a wooden sword as his weapon. Meridius actually owns his own wooden sword and sees it as a symbol of his artistry.
“I like the wooden sword because when you see it in Gladiator, he’s in training and everyone underestimates him, but he’s still really good with it,” Meridius said. “He just uses what he has. This symbolizes me starting out, a little rough, but ready to go.”
However Meridius’ name doesn’t define his music. Listeners might think that just because his music is centered on these characters and themes of competition and power that his music is overbearingly heavy. In reality, the opposite is true.
“I think my style is very chill, but can also hit hard. It’s versatile enough that you can pair it with anything and it will sound very good. I like melodic rap music and songs that have a good flow to it,” Meridius said.
Meridius’ positive demeanor and style is refreshing for a rapper. He hopes his character and identity will be perceived as genuine in his music Saturday.
“I’m a very … inspirational and aspirational person. That’s how I’d describe my music. I want to inspire others to work hard. I’m very much an optimist but also a realist,” Meridius said. “You should want to be the best you can be, but you also have to recognize that it does take a little bit of work.”
