UC High Senior Max Meeder possess a vast and growing love for music, one that will surely remain throughout his life.

   At age seven, Meeder discovered that his dearest passions in life were playing guitar, singing, and song writing, and has cherished these skills ever since. Meeder claims his biggest influences are his music-centered parents, who introduced him to the acoustic world. “I was also inspired by the popular game Guitar Hero. I thought to myself, ‘hey this feels very natural. I might as well do the real thing,’” explained Meeder.

   Meeder started taking lessons shortly after he discovered he had a special kind of love for guitar. “An instructor would come to my house and teach me the basics, and here I am today,” said Meeder. After practicing for a few years and changing music teachers a few times, Meeder started up his own band at the shockingly young age of nine. Meeder has been five bands since: Victims of Authority, Fake Coyotes, Poppy Roscoe, The Water Stealers, and currently, Red Rosemary.

   Red Rosemary is a three piece band Meeder plays in alongside Bandmates Isaac Pacheco and Ian Atwell, who aren’t students here at UC High. “Ian is the drummer in the band and Isaac is our bass player. Isaac and Ian are both ridiculously good. I’m the guitar player as well the singer/songwriter when I need to be,” mentioned Meeder. “Red Rosemary is a blues rock band at heart, but we really like to experiment with different genres. We’re heavily influenced by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, and The Velvet Underground. We have a show coming up on Saint Patrick’s Day and we’re thinking of recording a demo,” added Meeder.

   “The band I’m in now started from my original band Victims of Authority. Shortly after the band broke up, I took the bass player and drummer and created a blues rock project out of it. I decided to name the band Red Rosemary, because I wanted something that started with the same letters, kind of like my name. It has a nice ring to it,” explained Meeder.

   “If I could pick one person in the music world that I idolize and look up to as a musician I would have to pick Jimmy Paige. I think he strikes the perfect balance between feeling and skill. When you listen to his 25-minute songs he would perform live, he’s completely off in another universe just shredding. He’s extremely skillful but he also doesn’t care if he misses notes as long as his feeling gets across, and I really admire that,” explained Meeder. “Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Duane Allman all do the same thing. I just think Jimmy Paige does it best,” he continued.

   Meeder doesn’t view this as just a hobby, but as something he wants to carry on for the rest of his life. “I guess at this point music is just part of who I am. Writing and playing music is the absolute perfect way for me to get my creativity out. I can take all the dumb stuff I have to deal with in a day and pour all of it out into my guitar or into my lyrics. Not having that would make every day unbearable. If I could do that every single day as my job then life would be literally perfect. All I’d have to focus on is doing what I love,” added Meeder.

  Meeder’s main goal is to get signed and to put out an album. “Once that happens I can really start playing festivals, touring, gaining recognition, and just all the other awesome stuff that comes along with being a musician,” said Meeder.

   Passion can be sparked from something quite small… and can lead to a lifetime of joy. Something as small as Guitar Hero even.