Exclusive video premiere of ‘Suffer Sister’ by Max Boogie Overdrive, taken from the newest album, ‘Stoned Again,’ available on CD and download on March 29, 2024.

Hailing from greater Los Angeles, Max Boogie Overdrive was originally conceived in 2022, as a recording project between guitarist Max Boogie a.k.a. Jim Bacchi (Hittman, Fuzzbubble, The Tikiyaki Orchestra) and Drop Dee a.k.a. Daren Ford (Red Square Black, Ravine, The Generals) as a way to pursue their passion for all things Stoner and Boogie… mammoth guitar riffs, bellowing vocals, and the swagger of early ’70s Detroit rock ‘n’ roll — dirty, fuzzy, with just a dusting of doom, and whole lotta boogie (not Disco… Heavy Boogie Rock.) The cyclonic drumming of Tom ʻKnucklesʼ Hernandez (Lords of Altamont, Superbeez) propels the band past the sludge and doom pace, and guitarist Richard “RC” Clarkʼs guitar adds the necessary beef to the mix, fattening up the tone, and added vocal duties. In March the band will play the following shows:
03/21 Eugene, OR – Sam Bond’s Garage
03/22 Portland, OR – High Water Mark
03/23 Richland, OR – Ray’s Golden Lion
03/28 Los Angeles, CA – Resident – album release show

“Its vibe conjures bands such as Wolfmother and Motörhead”

Would love it if you could tell our readers a bit about your background. Are you coming from other bands and projects?

Jim (Max Boogie): I started out my music career in the NY Metal scene in the 80’s, with a band called Hittman, who released two albums (1988 and 1993) and recently a third album in 2020, and have been performing in bands ever since. In 1995 I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a “real” career in music, as an engineer/producer.

My power pop band Fuzzbubble, which started as a studio project in NY, right before I moved to LA, ended up being the first and only band signed to P Diddy’s label Bad Boy in the mid 90’s, eventually ending up on the multi-platinum soundtrack album for the 1998 Godzilla film, and guesting in the P Diddy (then known as Puff Daddy) rock remix of ‘It’s All About the Benjamins,’ which won the 1998 MTV Viewer’s Choice award for best video, and a platinum single award. The band left the label in 2000, and ended up releasing three albums, and still perform today.

For the past 20 years, I’ve been composing and producing music for film and TV, with countless placements on network television, trailers, commercials and films, and also have led The Tikiyaki Orchestra, a modern day 7-piece Exotica/Lounge orchestra with five albums, and are currently the most popular Exotica band in the Tiki Scene, which is growing more popular every year… So, I’ve had my hands in all kinds of stuff!

Drop Dee: Yes, living in Portland, Oregon where we have a very thriving music scene, I was working on quite a few projects. I was singing and playing bass for a band called The Generals (not to be confused with the European band). It was more of a hard rock band in the spirit of Electric Frankenstein, Zeke, and MC5. We had members of Haunted Garage, Hellbilly Hayride and Wolflaut. The band is still up and going without me with a new singer as well as bass player. They sound amazing and cannot wait to see where they go.

What led to the formation of Max Boogie Overdrive?

Jim: Max Boogie Overdrive is a moniker I used for my TV music library for all of my hard rock tracks. Any time I submitted any heavy tracks I recorded for a film or tv placement, that was the “band” name I used. So, one day me and Drop Dee were hanging out, and I played him a few of the songs, we decided to build a band around the Max Boogie Overdrive concept, which is a heavy psyche/stoner, classic 70’s sounding heavy rock band….The songs and ideas flowed pretty easily from there. Dee knew RC (guitarist) , and Tom (drummer) was a friend of mine whom I shared a rehearsal space with….It came together pretty effortlessly from there.

So, I come from a more song oriented side of things, and though the stoner/heavy psych genre is more based on a vibe and a sound, I like to make the songs memorable, yet retain the heaviness of the genre…just with a little more melody and memorability.

Drop Dee: I’m friends with Max Boogie who originally formed the Max Boogie Overdrive as a soundtrack project for TV shows and films. Max Boogie is a full time working musician with several projects and bands such as Fuzzbubble, Tikiyaki Orchestra, and Hittman. I was a fan before a friend. We got to know each other through some mutual friends and our bands even did a show together. I was hanging out at Max Boogies place one day and he showed me some of the music from Max Boogie Overdrive. I was blown away and suggested that we work on making it a full blown band. I knew another great guitarist named RC and Max Boogie had worked with a drummer from past projects named Knuckles. That’s how Max Boogie Overdrive was born.

How much time and effort went into your latest album?

JIM: The album was recorded fairly quickly… We didn’t labor over the songs too much… Myself and Dee demoed songs in my studio, brought them in to the band, and went into the studio fairly quickly. We did all the vocal and guitar overdubs in my studio, and a studio in Portland. So, on and off for about six months.

Drop Dee: This album was not made in the traditional sense of jamming in and out in a rehearsal room. I live in Portland, Oregon and did a lot of my song writing and pre-production with a good friend in the Pacific Northwest named Mike Christie. Mike had a studio in his home where I would come in and bang out demos with his help. Jim and I would share demos and ideas, collaborate together and then take a day to rehearse with our drummer. From there we would lay down the drum tracks in a studio and do the rest of the production at Max Boogie of Mike’s place. Since everyone in the band has a lot of studio and production experience, the album came pretty quick with a lot of spontaneity. If you were to put the amount of time all together as a band, it would be under a month. The most challenging piece has been getting together for actual rehearsal for upcoming shows.

<a href="https://maxboogieoverdrive1.bandcamp.com/album/stoned-again">Stoned Again by Max Boogie Overdrive</a>

What’s next for you? Are you planning to play some gigs in support of the release?

Jim: We have shows booked in The Pacific Northwest, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (supporting Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and the Zig Zags) and are booking more.

Drop Dee: Yes, we have a mini-tour in early spring in the Pacific Northwest as well as an upcoming record release show in Los Angeles with Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and Zig Zags on March 28th at Resident. We also have some other shows lining up in the Southwest as well.

Tell us more about today’s premiering track.

Jim: ‘Suffer Sister’ is the first song I introduced Dee to when the idea of a band came up… I had recorded a version of it with me doing all the instruments and singing, but thought his voice would be a great fit for it…So this and ‘Van Boogie,’ which is another rack I had recorded, were the first two songs that we worked on, and were basically the template for the Max Boogie Overdrive sound. Dee had songs, and we started in on those, and before you know it, we had an album’s worth of material.

So, ‘Suffer Sister’ is the first of the bunch, and the only song mixed by Bob St John, who is best known for his work producing the band Extreme all throughout the 80’s and 90’s, but also has mixed songs for Collective Soul, Duran Duran and many Latin Music artists, winning a few Grammys along the way. I wish we could’ve had him mix the entire album, but we self financed the recordings, so we could only afford to have him do the one track. He is truly a wizard of his craft, and look forward to having him work on future tracks with us.

Drop Dee: ‘Suffer Sister’ was the first song I heard when collaborating with Max Boogie. It was actually written over ten years ago by Max Boogie. Its vibe conjures bands such as Wolfmother and Motörhead. It’s very straightforward with a heavy boogie/shuffle driven by a simple single string riff. The lyrics reference a lot of our influences as lovers of stoner rock and metal.

Klemen Breznikar

Max Boogie Overdrive Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube