Bottom line: if you ever have a chance to see Maxima - the band, then do so. Do not even think of hesitating, just go.

It is very hard tot give an indication of what kind of music they play; to simply call it “rock” just doesn’t do it. It is, however, the only description I can come up with.

But with a line up of Paul Thissen (of Vengeance) on drums, Edwin van de Ven on keyboards, Barend Courbois (also of Venceance) on bass and to top it all off John Hayes - formerly with no less than Mother’s Finest and, more recently, the john Hayes Project - on Guitar and vocals, you should get the idea.

Not only is John Hayes a very scary man to look at, his music is equally nasty. Awesome, that is. Never before have I come across a musician who has become music as much as this guy. He really is something to be seen. Most people who are in bands actually are normal, nice people.

So is John, but everything about him, his whole personality just screams “rock”, all the time. This man really is larger than life. No offence to the other members of Maxima, but even from our brief encounter I can write an entire book.

You don’t want to read about this though; you want to know what they were like. As I wrote earlier, I can say no more than: Amazing.

You really have to go see for yourself. This band is a major act, and if they play their cards right, they may become huge.

(Review: Vincent Burger
Pics: Sebastien Sam)