The Times

Maxim from the Prodigy: ‘I love a John Lewis cushion’

• 15th December 2023
• Nick McGrath

The MC and artist took out a £1,200 loan to make his first record while he was earning £300 a month in a carpet shop

Maxim wrote poetry as a teenager and began MC-ing aged 14. He joined the Prodigy in 1991 and contributed to several of the most successful albums made by the band that sold 25 million records, including Music for the Jilted Generation and The Fat of the Land, and also had a solo career. He moved into art in 2004, sometimes using the alias MM, and has exhibited in London and Los Angeles. He was born in Peterborough in 1967 and now lives in Essex with his wife, Lindz, and his children.

How much is in your wallet?
I don’t actually have a wallet. If I have any cash, it’ll be in my pocket. I went out with a friend for breakfast the other day, pulled out about £150 in cash to pay the bill and the bloke said, “Your market stall’s doing well then?” because it’s so strange for people to have cash nowadays. People think you’ve robbed a bank if you’ve got a bit of cash, but I think it’s integral to life in general. If we have a cashless society, it cuts out people in jobs who survive on cash, like cleaners and gardeners or those who do little errands for people.

What credit cards do you use?
I do have a credit card but I don’t know where it is. I always lose credit cards and have to go to the bank and cancel them. I’m not really a credit card person. I don’t run up bills on them — I’m not an impulsive buyer and I don’t like debt. When I was 17 I worked in a carpet shop, but my dream was to make a record, so I took out a £1,200 loan — which was a big deal when I was only earning £300 a month and it took forever to pay off. The APR was 42 per cent so the interest racked up and I ended up paying back three times the original amount. From then my motto has been: if I can’t afford it, I won’t buy it.

Are you a saver or a spender?
I save it and then I spend it. I’m a bit of both really. That experience of the loan sticks in my head so much. People I know might have £100 and they’ll spend £100. Here today, gone tomorrow. I’m not really like that: if I have £100, I’ll spend £20. I’m sensible. Every conversation I have with my dad ends with: “Make sure you put your money away.” I’ve always been like that. He instilled the right attitude.

How much did you earn last year?
It fluctuates. In terms of the Prodigy, I’d say more than a band in a pub but less than Beyoncé. In the first six months of the band — this was before the euro existed — we had a show in Italy and we were paid a million lira, and I was like, “Woooah … a million!” But it was worth about £400, which doesn’t go a long way between five people. But it’s never been about money with the Prodigy, or about the record sales. Everything we’ve done has come from the heart. We perform for people who are really into music, not for rich people’s birthday parties. The reason we’ve had longevity is because we write music for the people. We write music from our hearts because we feel it. Nothing more.

On the art front, I earn more than the guy in the village hall selling his art but less than Banksy. I did a few different variations on one of my sculpture pieces, Rebel With The Paws. I’ve done a metre-high aluminium one which sells for £18,000 and the smaller resin ones are £2,500, but they’re sold out. I just love creating art. If money comes from people buying your art, it just means that they’re on the same wavelength. I don’t do art to make money. I do art to create.

Have you ever been really hard up?
I was never what you’d call hard up. My parents are West Indian and they had their struggles growing up, but they put food on the table and a roof over my head. I’m blessed with what my mum and dad have done for me, but I didn’t have what all the other kids had at school. They’d all have BMX bikes and the latest branded football boots, but we used to upcycle things even then. I had these £3.99 boots — everybody else was wearing £15.99 boots — bought from the local equivalent of Tesco, called Hillards. So I then bought some aluminium studs with my pocket money and painted them black and I got away with it. They worked.

Do you own a property?
My house in Essex, which I designed the interior of. It was a barn and we converted it. I love interiors and soft furnishings. I like design. Most people want to go to the pub, but I’d rather go to the John Lewis soft furnishing department and look at cushions and throws. My favourite? I love a velvet cushion.

Are you better off than your parents?
Yes. My parents worked hard and have given me the freedom to do what I do now and I’m grateful to them for that, especially when I hear the stories my dad tells me of being invited to come to England and then the racism he went through.

Do you invest in shares?
I have invested in shares, but it’s not really my thing. The stock market fluctuates, obviously, and you’ve got to know what you’re doing. People in the City know what they’re doing — although even some of them don’t, because it’s a gamble isn’t it? I’d rather invest in something a bit more tangible, like a painting. At least you can put a painting on your wall and look at it.

What’s better for retirement — property or pension?
I don’t have a pension and I don’t believe in pensions. I think properties are a better investment. My vision for the future is that I’m still just painting in Essex. I’ve been round the world 20 times and there’s no place like home.

What’s been your best investment?
The biggest thing I invest in is myself. My health is the most important thing. If you don’t look after your health, no amount of money can buy it back.

And the worst?
I can’t think of my worst investment because whatever it is, I’ve written it out of my head. I’m just not someone who makes rash decisions, financial or otherwise. I’m too chill for that.

What’s the most extravagant thing you’ve bought?
People reading this will probably think I’m a bit boring, but extravagant spending doesn’t excite me. It never has. I’m not the kind of guy with ten Ferraris. It’s just not me.

What’s your money weakness?
Apart from soft furnishings, it’s art and design books and green tea. I went to Selfridges and they have this tea called Fuji-yama and I bought every single box in the store. I don’t come off stage asking for a glass of champagne, I’ll ask for a green tea.

What is your financial priority?
My family. It’s always my family. Keeping a roof over my kids’ and my wife’s heads.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
There are lot of people out there who would benefit more than me if I won the lottery. There are so many people in other countries without food or shelter, but we forget that there are probably people a quarter of a mile away without food and shelter. Virtually on your doorstep. So, I’d take the money and give food and shelter to all the people around me.

Do you support any charities?
I’ve donated quite a few bits of artwork to Arms Around the Child, the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, the NHS and YoungMinds.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learnt about money?
People use the quote “Money is the root of all evil”, but for me money is a tool, like fire. Fire can burn and cause destruction but it can also create heat and warmth, and money is the same. It can be used to pay for good things, or it can be used to pay for bad things. It’s a tool. What matters is how you use it.

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• Art
• Maxim

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