Max Graham

Max Graham (/ˈɡreɪəm/; born April 17, 1971) is a British-Canadian DJ, composer, and producer of dance music. Known for fusing progressive house, trance, and techno, he is most famous for his open-to-close DJ Sets (where he typically plays 5 to 8 hours), his Cycles CD series/radio show, and his remix of the classic song "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (by Yes) in 2005. He is also the founder of record labels Re*Brand and Cycles. Graham was born in London, England, and lived in Spain, New York City and Los Angeles before settling in Ottawa, Canada, in 1989. At age 15, in 1986, he began as a hip-hop DJ before discovering dance music in the 1990s. He was a resident DJ at the famed Atomic Nightclub in Ottawa from 1997 to 2001. He has been touring globally as a DJ and producing melodic dance music since 2000. During his residency at Atomic Nightclub, Graham was discovered by label executives and signed to Hope Recordings; one of his first productions, “Airtight”, was noticed by Nick Warren and Paul Oakenfold in 2000. Oakenfold subsequently put two of Graham's tracks on his album Another World. Tiesto also put “Airtight” on his In Search of Sunrise 2 album. That same year, “Airtight” was nominated for a Juno Award. He gained immediate acclaim and was voted #23 in the DJMag top 100 DJs for 2001 and was chosen to mix the famous Tranceport CD Series (Tranceport 4) that year. Graham created the "Shine" concept in 2002, which included a mix CD, a label (Shinemusic), and club nights. In 2004, Graham signed two singles to Sander Kleinenberg's Little Mountain label, entitled "Does She Know Yet?" and "Automatic Weapon". His remixes at the time went by the name "Max Graham's Sidechain Mix", named after the bass-pad sound that was heavily sidechained in his tracks. Included in these remixes was Guy Gerber's “Stoppage Time”, released on John Digweed's Bedrock Label. Graham produced a bootleg remix of Yes track "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which was played on BBC Radio 1 and signed by Ministry of Sound and released globally. It reached #9 in the UK, giving Graham his first Top-10 UK Hit. During this same period, Graham was signed to the Bullitt agency and released music on Deep Dish's Yoshitoshi Recordings, including the single "Crank". 2006 saw him invited for his first Essential Mix. In 2008, Graham shifted to a more melodic sound and signed with Armada Music. He began his CD series Cycles, which featured 8 compilations throughout the series, including a selection of progressive and trance songs. In 2010, he release his first artist album, Radio, which included collaborations with Jessica Riddle, Neev Kennedy, Ana Criado and Protoculture. From 2008 to 2017, Graham released a new Cycles CD almost every year as a self-proclaimed "snapshot" of his current DJ sound. He also began touring exclusively playing open-to-close shows, where he focused on a wide variety of genres and a true journey of music. Producing under his own name, he made singles "Sun In The Winter", "Nothing Else Matters", and the hit "The Evil ID", which was championed by Armin Van Buuren at Tomorrowland. Graham also performed regularly at A State Of Trance shows. During that period, Graham teamed up with Protoculture to release a string of singles and remixes, including a remake of Grace's "Not Over Yet". In 2015, Graham began to move away from trance (due to the changing sound that no longer appealed to him) and left Armada, closing down his Rebrand label in the process. His sound changed, and he started the label Cycles with Black Hole Recordings. This period saw more underground releases, like "Redemption" and "One Hundred", and showcased deeper sounds such as the tracks "Argentina" and "Sunrise in Flight". He also collaborated with Estiva on the track "Generation". In late 2017, Graham announced via Facebook that he was ending the weekly Cycles Radio episodes and taking an extended break from touring and making music. In 2019, Graham returned to the scene and announced via social media in August that he was in the studio working on his second artist album as well as relaunching Cycles Radio with a new monthly format. In March 2021, however, Graham announced that he would be taking another indefinite hiatus. Graham is known mostly these days as a DJ for his open-to-close sets, where he typically plays 6–8 hours. He has performed on Above and Beyond's Group Therapy Radio (multiple times), Pete Tong's Essential Mix, John Digweed's Transitions, and Armin van Buuren's A State of Trance. He has toured to over 75 countries and performed at such festivals as Ultra, Tomorrowland and Dance Valley as well as performed at some of the most famed venues in the world, including Pacha, Ibiza; Ushuaia, Ibiza; Twilo, New York; Space Terrace, Miami; and open-to-close sets at Cielo, New York, and Output, New York. Graham's production varies in genre and has been at times hard to classify. Under his name, he makes predominantly progressive house and progressive trance, while he also makes techno under the alias Shelter. He has owned three record labels: ShineMusic, Rebrand Records and Cycles Music. In total, he hosted Cycles Radio for 337 episodes from 2010: Radio – Armada Music 1996: A Delicate Sound of Many – Unknown 2000: Cream CD2 – Yul Records 2001: Transport 4 – Kinetic Records 2004: Shine – System Recordings 2005: Mixmag Live – DMC 2007: Bal En Blanc – Bal En Blanc 2008: Re*Brand, The Story so Far – Armada Music 2008: Max Graham Presents Cycles – Armada Music 2010: Max Graham Presents Cycles2 – Armada Music 2011: Max Graham Presents Cycles3 – Armada Music 2013: Max Graham Presents Cycles4 – Armada Music 2014: Max Graham Presents Cycles5 – Armada Music 2015: Cycles6 Mixed by Max Graham – Armada Music 2016: Cycles7 Mixed by Max Graham – Black Hole Recordings 2017: Cycles8 Mixed by Max Graham – Black Hole Recordings 2000: Love the Bomb – Teknology 2000: Backdraft – Hope Recordings 2001: Shoreline – Hope Recordings 2001: Bar None – Hope Recordings 2001: Airtight – Hope Recordings 2001: Yaletown – Hope Recordings 2001: Skyline – Hope Recordings 2001: Falling Together – Hope Recordings 2001: Sepia – Hope Recordings 2001: Dying to Survive – Hope Recordings 2002: Tell You – Hope Recordings 2004: Coastline – Shinemusic 2004: Does She Know Yet – Little Mountain Recordings 2004: Automatic Weapon – Little Mountain Recordings 2005: Gone Feat Jessica Riddle – Shinemusic 2005: Owner of a Lonely Heart vs Yes – Ministry of Sound Record Label 2005: Crank – Yoshitoshi Recordings 2006: Space Disco – Re*Brand Records 2006: Cosmic Funk – Re*Brand Records 2007: Smack – Re*Brand Records 2008: Carbine – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2008: Turkish Delight – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2008: Frozen – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2008: The Power of One – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2008: Clear View Feat Jessica Riddle – Tell me – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2010: Sun in the Winter Feat Neev Kennedy – Coldharbour Recordings 2010: Dusky 2010 (Does She Know Yet) – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2010: Nothing Else Matters Feat Ana Criado – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2011: F.Y.C. – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2011: So Caught Up feat Neev Kennedy Armada Music 2012: Still There's You Feat Jeza – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2012: Sona – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2013: Where You Are Feat Alana Aldea – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2013: Diamonds with Tania Zygar – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2013: The Evil ID – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2014: Lekker with Maarten de Jong – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2014: Axiom with Protoculture – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2014: Purple – Re*Brand Records w/ Armada Music 2015: Rock Steady (as Shelter) – Yin Yang 2015: Redemption – Cycles w/ Black Hole Recordings 2015: Pinned (as Shelter) – Yin Yang 2015: One Hundred (Late Night Mix; Raw Mix) – Cycles w/ Black Hole Recordings 2015: Sunrise in Flight / Argentina – Cycles Blackhole Recordings 2016: End