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Round Magazine Feature - Bravo, Max!"Bravo, Max! are about to release one of the best albums of the year... Combining Telegraph Canyon-like instrumentation with an endearing, heartfelt sensibility, the band's rocking folk-influenced fare should set the band up as one of the most adored acts in the region." - Pete Freedman, DALLAS OBSERVER ---------- "A fantastic performance from an extremely promising local act!" - Preston Jones, FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM (On B,M! @ 35 Conferette, 2011) ---------- "Bravo Max!, is one of the most impressive up-and-coming acts to keep your eyes on in 2011." - Daniel Hopkins, DALLAS OBSERVER ---------- "Don't wait until next year to see them. If you see them now, you can claim that you were a fan before everyone else caught on." -Chris Mueller, GHOST OF BLIND LEMON |
"As I stepped into Andy's a few minutes after 8 p.m., the first thing I laid eyes upon was two men simultaneously lighting one another's cigarette. As their collective smoke billowed towards the ceiling, passing through the green stage lights on its journey upward, Dallas-based rock band "Bravo, Max!" took to the stage.
To say that Johnny Beauford, guitarist and vocalist of "Bravo, Max!." looked enthusiastic to perform would be a tremendous understatement -- along with Ellie Stevens, accordionist and clarinetists for the group, the two looked radiant as they, along with the rest of the band, dove headfirst into a whirlwind set of folk-infused rock-pop.
Their music is infectious -- there wasn't a soul at Andy's not tapping their foot or nodding their head in giddy approval. Stevens' white accordion, splashed with green color from the overhead lights, played off the tunes provided by Beauford and Co. very organically, serving as a perfect contrast to the mandolins, glockenspiel and other instruments present throughout the performance.
Things really got turned up to 11 when the band announced they, or rather, someone on behalf of them was buying free drinks for everyone at the bar. People cheered."Seriously, man?," a concertgoer asked.
"Yeah, go get a drink!," Beauford said before starting their final few songs.
Maybe it was the splash of green lights and the smoky haze, maybe it was the hum of the accordion, and maybe it was the man in front of me with a large hoop earring, but at the end of their set, I felt as if I had just experienced a rousing nautical adventure -- as if Andy's was a wooden ship sailing across an ocean, and "Bravo, Max!" was the ragtag bunch of eye-patched musicians keeping everyone's peg legs a-tapping."
- Seth Cohn, DENTON RECORD CHRONICLE
