Through Disease and Despair, Max Reichert is Living His Best Life
Battles with cancer haven’t stopped the Clubhouse frontman from chasing his passion for music. Bryce Phillips talked with Max on his worldview, career, and subsequent move to the City of Angels
(Photo via Max Reichert / Photo Illustration by Nathan Graber-Lipperman)
Death is inevitable.
For me, simply writing that line scares the shit out of me. But for Max Reichert, contemplation became reality the moment he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his early 20s. While most college students were reading Emily Dickinson and having their first existential crisis thinking about when Death and His Carriage will ride into their life, he was wondering if each conversation would be his last opportunity to voice things unspoken. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Reichert met Death head-on and through his battle, established a refined perspective that has him attacking life with new vigor and purpose.
Days before his relocation to California to immerse himself in the music scene, Reichert was kind enough to talk with me about his life’s journey, his musical career, and that one time someone described his voice as “buttery smooth.” In a world where the genuine is often mocked as cliché, Max stands out as someone who has every reason to be pissed at the world, but chooses to gain strength through his struggles.
Max is a 24-year-old musician from Pataskala, Ohio, a small city that is mostly invisible to the pop culture world, save its connection to former porn star and murder suspect John Holmes.
He has been a mainstay in the local Ohio band Clubhouse since their inception five years ago. During that time, Clubhouse has become one of the strongest bands on the local scene, grinding out shows and gaining experience on the same stages with the likes of The Revivalists, 21 Pilots, Chance the Rapper, and Young the Giant. They’ve also earned numerous festival credits, including Firefly Festival, Bunbury, and Wonderbus.
Their proclivity for crafting songs that make people dance and revel in the moment makes them as primed a candidate as any for a future breakout. It is easy to envision a world where songs like “To The Ocean,” “Kyra,” and “Lucky Soul,” are populating the algorithm-driven playlists of your preferred streaming platform.
Recently though, Reichert decided to dip his toes into the solo pool and release “Shaking.” In “Shaking,” the artist steps out of his comfort zone and lets the listener into his mental state during a chemotherapy treatment. For someone who is used to creating within a group environment, “Shaking” was not only an exercise in catharsis, but one of self-confidence. Reichert discusses the rush of a completed creation when he states, “It was cool to see the song come to life. It was the first time I fully imagined something inside my own head and it came out.”
Most people have trouble showing a single moment of authenticity, but in “Shaking,” Reichert lets people see him in his most vulnerable state, and we are better for it. You can feel the trepidation of the moment he is experiencing when he sings:
Hang on to the words that we don’t wanna say
Feel my body aching, changing all my tastes
Ooooooooooo
No I don’t wanna go
So hold me baby til my hands stop shaking– Max Reichert in “Shaking”
The song is easily one of the strongest of the year (Editor’s Note: all opinions of this piece are of the author’s own, as ‘Middle Child’ did come out in 2019) and deserves to be right next to the DaBabys of your playlists. The chillingly-realistic lyrics are what initially garner your attention. But the slow-rising instrumental and smooth crooning of Reichert blend together perfectly, leaving listeners not only bobbing their heads but also reflecting on their own life. Although his lyrics pertain to his personal experiences, they can easily be applied to anyone who is fighting a battle of their own.
The strength of a song is not in its shock value, but in its staying power. In that sense, Reichert has hit a home run his first time up to the plate. It is easy to become infatuated with the newest DJ Khaled beat of the week, but eventually, the sizzle fades. When it does, you’re left contemplating deleting it off your device or leaving it there on the off-chance your buddies want to reminisce years later. The beauty in “Shaking” is that each listen leaves you with a new realization about how in-tune you are to the world around you. A new reflection on how impactful the people around you are. A new appreciation for the tangible that you are lucky enough to have in your life.
One single does not a person make, and if “Shaking” is an amazing song, Reichert is an even more impressive human. It would cheapen his character to write this off as simply being a case of his condition. His collective life experience, family upbringing, and tenacity prepared him for his fight with osteosarcoma. Just as people can rise to the occasion when faced with tragedy, they could just as easily fall into despair. Max chose the former, and in doing so, unintentionally became someone that those around him can look up to.
If his own mental fortitude was the metaphorical legs he stood on during his fight with cancer, his family was the foundation on which he stood. In reference to what kept him strong through one of life’s harshest trials, Reichert credits them as his “rocks” when he states, “My mom was literally with me every single day for like a year. Just the most amazing woman in the world. I owe everything to my family and friends. They were the most supportive people in the world.” The appreciation for those who helped him in any way, no matter how big or small, is an ode to the humble nature that shines through in everything Reichert does.
Through the strength of those around him, Max was able to come to grips with his own mortality and come out the other end better for it. When he states, “Most people don’t have to confront death like that until they’re in their 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s. Having that perspective at 24, that kind of sobering thought of ‘you might not be here.’ It makes the meaning of life so much bigger. It makes it a much simpler math equation,” the man he has become is clear. The trivial stressors of life no longer weigh him down like they used to. This is a lesson that many could benefit from in today’s instant gratification culture.
“I think before being diagnosed I definitely had an issue getting stressed out about little things and being pessimistic about the anxiety,” Reichert later states. “That was something I struggled with. I think going through the cancer, it made me a better person.” Through his honest and relatable nature, Reichert is setting an example for anyone going through a valley in their journey. When asked about the effect he wants his solo projects to have on people, Reichert states, “ Life is incredibly short and unpredictable and I want people to go after what they want. I think that’s kind of the motif that I’m going to try to do with my solo projects.”
For most people, moving away from your friends, family, and entire life you have built to chase your dream would be a daunting task, but as Max talks about his forthcoming move West, a chilled excitement oozes from his voice. Although Clubhouse is still a priority, Max’s move is spurred by his desire to engross himself in the business and production side of the music business. While his initial year at Ohio University saw him bounce between majors, he decided that “I’m going to stick with my true passion, which is music.” Through his experiences, he and his bandmates went through while self-managing Clubhouse, Reichert gained a passion and appreciation for music beyond the playing and creating of songs.
He is aiming to use his instincts and communication skills to help other young musicians grow and become the artists they strive to be. Years of trial and error, local shows, and experiencing the musician’s struggle personally has given him a passion for the business side of music and has further cemented what he wants to spend his precious time pursuing.
Moving away from his support system and creative cohorts will definitely offer Reichert a new slate of adversity to overcome. He knows better than most that life has no guarantees and nothing comes easy. This knowledge makes him even more justified in pulling the trigger on this life-altering move. Hell, if all goes well, Max might take over John Holmes’ throne as the most famous Pataskalian.
“If I can be inspiring, hell yeah. But I really just want everyone to go after what they want. I guess that’s the goal,” Reichert states towards the end of our conversation.
At a young age, Reichert boasts a grasp of the world that most people twice his age are still struggling to find. Throughout our conversation, I frequently was thinking of my students and athletes who could learn so much from someone like Reichert. Someone who is open about his weaknesses, but constantly seeking self-improvement. Someone who genuinely wants the best for those around him, even though the world around him grows more vitriolic and divided. Someone who took the shittiest hand you could ever be dealt, and still took the pot.
Many of us go through our own struggles, and it’s hard to be up when we feel so down. Just know that Max is out there on the West Coast, fighting his battles, chasing his passion, inspiring the world.
You can follow Bryce Phillips on Twitter here, as well as Max Reichert here.
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