Superchick has been a prominent band in the Christian music scene for the last decade, releasing four full studio albums and charting five No. 1 hits. Their last album was Rock What You Got (2008) but released a final greatest hits album including five new songs entitled Recollection on Oct 29th. 

We would like to thank Max (DJ/keyboards/principle songwriter) for taking the time to speak with BreatheCast. 

BreatheCast: What are your first emotions when thinking that the final Superchick album Recollection done and released?

MH: It's a bit scary to box up something that's become a part of you, but like all change, it's good to keep moving forward.  For me Superchick was supposed to be a one record side project but it became something much bigger that sucked my life into it.  Sometimes when you've been doing something for awhile it's easy to lose track of the really good things about it.  Bringing it to a close lets you see how much of a gift you were given.

BreatheCast: Tell us the story behind your single, "Sunshine"?

MH: It's a really happy song but it's rooted in tragedy.  When things are stressful, I let the stress become my whole life.  At one point it seemed like everything in my career was falling apart and I thought, "well it's pretty much all gone now, I'm a total failure and I have no idea what to do next."  I've been there several times when you have nothing and you have to start over...and then you get the call and you're off to the hospital and your friend has cancer or her baby dies or is born prematurely and when you come home, you realize that having to come up with $55,000 because the IRS disagrees with your management is actually not a problem, it's a logistic and it can be solved.  I've been in the room when a friend's baby was dying and when I was exposed to true tragedy I could see how much I had made fake tragedy out of being broke and having to start over.  

Chase died at the age of 26 and I wish that I could have given him the remaining years of my life.  I have already been blessed to live so well in the time I've had.  I imagine that if I could have given him my years, it would be as if every day was Christmas and he would live it with more joy and more fully than I am now.  Because I cannot trade places with him, it falls on me to live the days with joy and courage and purpose.  I strive for a life of mindfulness, a kind of prayer without ceasing, a focus on what is important.  I used to go rock climbing and what's great about rock climbing is that whatever problems you had when you started the climb are suddenly unimportant because you are very focused on not dying on the rock face.  When you get to the top you're just so happy to be alive that whatever issue you had seems like something that can be tackled tomorrow.  The song is about living like that.  Life is awesome. 

BreatheCast: How did your new song "This is the Time" go about being on the God's Not Dead movie soundtrack? 

MH: Dean Diehl (InPop Records) is one of those visionary guys who likes to Voltron his friends together so they become creative super projects.  It was his idea to use the music.   I started out wanting to be a filmmaker so visuals are part of my creative process.  I know a song is coming together when I can see the scene in the movie in my head.  I probably wear the musicians out explaining that "this is the part of the movie where something very big is coming out of the ground..."  I'm not sure if that's why we've had so much film and TV licensing, but I would like to think so.  It's a little uncanny sometimes, I wrote "Get Up" after reading about girl snowboarders.  It never actually mentions snowboarding in the lyrics but the first license we had for that song was for the X-Games and it was set over girl's snowboarding.

BreatheCast: How difficult was it to stay positive during the creative process when your drummer Chase was battling cancer at the same time?

MH: Well, we stayed positive all the way up until the end because Chase stayed positive.  He was upbeat and for awhile he seemed to be beating the odds.  He called me and said "Don't finish the record without me, I'm coming back in the fall."  He was planning on taking a public speaking class so he could go around and tell people about how he was miraculously healed.  When someone close to you has cancer it's easy to slip into a kind of denial.  Even after he died I just felt numb about it.  It wasn't until the "Rock Out" (Chase's funeral) when I walked on stage and saw his image projected on the screen that it become real to me and I wandered around stage with tears running down my face.  After that, it became more about honoring him by finishing up what he had worked on with us.  Because of deadlines, we weren't able to do new photography for the previous album and so he wasn't actually in the pictures of any album.  He always gave me a hard time about not being in the pictures.  Because I've been in many photoshoots it wasn't important to me and I figured we'd get him in next time, but one day there wasn't a next time.  I took over packaging for Recollection because I wanted to make it a tribute to Chase.  I'm deeply regretful he never got to see it.  We always think we have plenty of time until one day we don't.  I'm sorry Chase.  

BreatheCast: How do you want the band Superchick to be remembered?

MH: I want people to look back and see what is possible if you try.  We're not the most talented people but we stepped out in faith with an idea and it took us all over the world and we had the most amazing adventures.  At the same time I want people to remember Superchick as the people's band.  We got up the mountain carried by everyone who loved us.  We know we didn't deserve what we had and it was a gift to be made 'Velveteen Rabbit' real by our fans.  We made music not because we thought we were amazing but because we thought our fans were amazing.

BreatheCast: What advice would you have to up and coming, unsigned bands?

MH: Signing is not the end goal.  Don't wait for someone to legitimize what you do.  Legitimize it yourself.  Practice your craft.  Become the best artist you can be.  Write 10 songs for every song you keep.  Make your show as entertaining as possible.  Do not wait for someone to give you permission.  Play shows, practice relentlessly, broaden yourself, learn from everyone and everywhere.  Always keep moving forward.  Do not wait for someone to tell you to move forward, move forward limping with whoever or whatever you have.  It is a lot like competing in the Olympics.  If you don't start practicing till you are picked for the Olympic team, you will never be picked for the team.  If your dreams are held back by this statement: 'Well I would do it, if only I had...,' then your dreams are being held back by you.  Find a way.  Every day, claw your way up the mountain.  If you've got 100 steps to go, make it 99 tonight.  Success is not your goal, learning to be the kind of person who does not lose hope in the valleys is your goal.  Success is a byproduct of relentlessly moving forward and you need faith to do that.  This applies to everyone in the band.  A band requires at least one person with this mindset to flourish and they typically drag everyone else along with them.  If more than one person can think and act like this, the band is on rocket fuel.

On a side note I would say, work on your communication with your bandmates.  They will be the closest thing to a family you have when you get on the road.  It's also good practice for being married.

BreatheCast: What good books are you reading right now?

MH: Since the movie was coming out, I recently reread "Ender's Game," which I would really recommend you read rather than seeing the movie.  On a personal note I've been reading "Falling Upward" by Richard Rohr.  The essential premise of that book is that failure is not only inevitable to the Christian life, but a necessary part of it.

BreatheCast: What is next on your plate now that the Superchick chapter is closing?

MH: We all have creative projects going on, Dave has some jazz Christmas records, Tricia has a solo project and I've got a big backlog of things to tackle if my schedule ever opens up a bit.  As a band we've always insisted on creative control and over the last few albums that's given me the opportunity to do our own photography, packaging and videos.  I look forward to exploring creative venues besides music, although I'm certainly not leaving that behind.