Metro

Prodigy frontman Maxim: ‘After Keith Flint’s death I burnt my artwork’

• 15th November 2023
• Emma Pryer

With his trademark snake eyes, fierce electro-punk performances, metallic teeth, and eclectic clothes, you’d be forgiven for thinking The Prodigy’s vocalist might be a wild, brash, unpredictable character.

In actual fact, the only time he’s lost control in recent years was after his bandmate Keith Flint took his own life – when he set light to a collection of paintings he’d created of dead icons, out of respect for a man he lovingly calls ‘my brother.’

Despite being part of the biggest electronic dance band in the world, selling over 25million records, and bringing rave into the mainstream, Maxim’s more at home creating art in his Essex barn conversion these days, than all-night partying.

At 56, even his most eccentric quirks can be explained away.

‘I sleep on a bed of nails,’ he smiles with a twinkle in his eye, before adding: ‘But they’re plastic nails.

‘Our manager gave it to me a few years ago. It hits all your pressure points and releases endorphins and it’s good for your back and relaxation.

‘I sleep on a bed of nails,’ he smiles with a twinkle in his eye, before adding: ‘But they’re plastic nails.

‘Our manager gave it to me a few years ago. It hits all your pressure points and releases endorphins and it’s good for your back and relaxation.

He admits: ‘I painted a lot of art then. It’s another form of expression for me, just like the band and like designing my own clothes.

Flint’s death is still a touchy subject. He says: ‘I can’t actually remember that time. I think I blocked it out.

‘When you’re in it you can’t imagine getting through it, but here I am four-and-a-half years later.

‘Of course, the dynamic has changed.

‘He’s not here. We go on. But his spirit is here.’

There was other work he’ll never show because he burnt it after Flint’s death.

Maxim says: ‘Over 10 years ago, I had this concept of doing some artwork with people who’d passed away at 27 and died from drug overdoses. The 27 Club – people like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.

‘I always just tried to push the boundaries of art and because it was drug overdoses, I did these paintings with pills. After that, quite a few people started using pills in their art too.

‘But it got to a point where I didn’t feel it was right – and it was probably because of Keith.

‘After he died I destroyed them. I burnt them like a bonfire in the back garden.

‘I saw people creating artwork after Keith… cashing in. I didn’t want to be any part of that and I vowed not to do musicians then.’

As he shows me around, he admits most of his art is about taking something negative, and turning it into a positive.

One painting, called Hope, depicts a grenade with a heart in it – a seemingly sinister image on the surface.

It was, in part, inspired by a trip Maxim made to Auschwitz when The Prodigy were touring Germany nine years ago.

‘In the gas chambers, they had cut out metal benches, in the shape of a human body, for them to lie down on to die.

‘I couldn’t get my head around the mentality of people to create such a thing.

‘When you think of the psychology behind the grenade design, this tool to kill to kill. That’s kind of what I can’t get my head around. You throw it in the direction of something you want to kill, maim, hurt. So I wanted to flip that and here, you throw it in a direction and it spreads love.

‘Obviously, there are elements of surrealism in my art but it’s all about creating positivity for me because there is so much negativity around us.’

The inspiration behind another – a striking woman – came from a trip to Ghana and a compulsion to take the traditional, tribal pictures of black women and make them more futuristic, more modern, and more empowered.

‘I wanted to see strong, positive images of black women – not just the traditional ones of a woman carrying a pot,’ he adds. ‘I’ve grown up surrounded by strong women.”

Flipping the traditional notions of things on their head has always been something the band has done so well.

The Prodigy was formed by producer Liam Howlett, now 52, 33 years ago in Braintree, Essex.

Maxim and Flint were two of the founding members of the band, together with Leeroy Thornhill, 55, and dancer Sharkey.

Flint’s wild stage performances helped catapult The Prodigy to a position as the biggest dance act in the world.

In 1997, The Fat of the Land went on to sell 10million copies, boosted by subsequent singles Breathe and the controversy-generating, Smack My Bitch Up. The same year they went on to headline Glastonbury.

But Flint later opened up about battling depression and a worrying dependence on prescription drugs.

He said: ‘I’d line up rows of pills and just take them and take them and I’d lose track of how many until I passed out.’

He also admitted: ‘The problem is, you’ve got s***loads of cash and s***loads of time and all you’re doing is looking for a buzz. I did f**k all, really, apart from being a jerk.’

Touring America with Moby, the health-conscious American would often have to put blankets across the cracks in his door to stop weed fumes from the band billowing in.

But Maxim is clearly very health-conscious himself.

He adds ‘I smoked weed back in the day but I’m not a drug head. I never was. I got into music because I liked MC’ing and then I got into the party scene. Some people got into the party scene because it was a party scene.

‘People think that’s strange but I’ve never been a follower and felt a pressure to do what others do.’

In his early days, he was used to late nights.

‘I used to bring a hip flask onto stage with brandy in it,’ he says. ‘Now I ask someone to bring me a green tea for when I come off stage.

‘I have about 10 cups a day.’ He drives a Porsche four-by-four, but jokes that green tea is still his ‘biggest indulgence’.

He doesn’t dwell on the future and insists he is content, so long as he’s being creative.

‘I have my two families. My tour family and my home family. When I’m on tour I miss my home. When I’m home I miss my crew on tour.

‘But I’m always content. I always want to be creative. You can’t switch creativity off. It’s not Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.

‘I can’t go on holiday and sit on a lounger. I’m always thinking about the next creative idea but at the same time, I don’t worry about the future.

‘Who knows what I’ll be doing next year? I might be a plasterer!

‘When we first started in The Prodigy, we didn’t expect to do more than three gigs. And when the ending is up, we’ll just know.

‘We’ll know when we get on the stage and it doesn’t feel right, that it’s done.’

Maxim’s new solo exhibition launches on November 15 at Clarendon Fine Art in London’s Covent Garden.

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• Art
• Drugs
• Maxim
• Keith Flint

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