Origins
Bulkington aka Max Lemanowicz was born in Cleveland, Ohio, raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, spent many a youthful summer in Morgantown, West Virginia and currently lives in San Diego, California.
When the music aficionados of his elementary school came looking for talent, he failed his recorder audition. After whining to his parents about this abysmal performance, his mother made sure that they opened a seat for him in the school band. His first instrument? The Clarinet. All that whining and he only played for 6 months, seldom practicing. he didn't play another instrument for nearly a decade…
But all throughout his adolescence he maintained an artistic & passionate inclination. he was a voracious music listener-particularly rock n' roll-usually playing the family DJ & Mixtape creator. He also became obsessed with movies-often he was so engrossed with a film, that he'd repeatedly watch it (he still practices this habit today).
Near the midpoint of high school, a good friend of his began sending him his guitar recordings. Soon after, His parents bought him a Mexican Fender Stratocaster, a B52 All Tube Amp & a Wah-Wah Pedal. This, with the combination of high school drama class, marked his shift from a passive listener/observer to an active participant in the arts.
Still most of his attention during this time was on sports. he initially dreamed of being a professional athlete. A Baseball Player. A Designated hitter. A Pitcher. A First Baseman. But he suddenly stopped playing after 10th grade. He didn't know how to process emotions through this sport.
Football took over most of his existence. Baseball was his first passion but football was a profound outlet for all of his emotions. He wasn't yet aware of the ability to use guitar and acting as an outlet for Emotional sensitivity. These were only seen as fun throughout high school.
When his senior year of football ended, he was devastated. A thing he'd worked hard at for 5 years was now over. A constructive place for all of his emotions was now gone. He knew he didn't want to make a career out of it, but he could not process the end of it all at the time.
He became even more lost in college. He studied english & partied at the “Harvard on the tar.” East Carolina University. That's the summary for that period of his life.
Then when he graduated, his parents gifted him a Gibson Les Paul. That was the single most important moment in his life.
But Being a musician for a career had not yet entered his mind.
Being a novelist or a professor seemed more fitting. After a year of living at home, He applied for graduate schools in English Literature & Creative Writing. He got into multiple schools, in both disciplines. On a whim, he applied to a creative writing program @ University of San Francisco on the deadline day, got in for novel writing & Moved out there a few months later.
He immediately fell in love with san francisco. He joined a rock 'n' roll band of middle-aged rockers and rehearsed and gigged with them for nearly 2 years. His desire for a life in music began to preoccupy his mind. This new focus replaced the void that the end of football had created.
half-way through his program he wanted to switch to poetry to become a songwriter.. Unfortunately, the administrative authoritarians @ his university didn't approve of his choice. With the angst of being invalidated, he grueled through the remainder of his program and finished a 160ish page novel manuscript.
For close to a decade after graduating, he worked in restaurants, bars & Breweries, Taught music & Guided Beer Tours. Before arriving in san diego, he Lived in Austin, TX (where he found his love for beer), Los Angeles & Wilmington, NC.. He knew he wanted to be a musician first and foremost but how to do it and what that meant confused him.
One day after teaching @ Rick Rossi's studio in burbank, CA, he received some of the best advice of his life. He asked rick what he should do as a musician if he wasn't interested in touring and spent most of his time in his room. Rick immediately said, “Music Producer.”
It took a few years for it to sink in, but now he's on that path and he's grateful for the journey that led him there.
"My artistic birth occurred near the end of my graduate creative writing studies in San Francisco. I emerged from my training as a novelist wanting more than anything to be a Musician. As an ode to my newfound path, I selected Bulkington, a rarely-mentioned micro-character in herman melville's novel Moby Dick, as my Artistic & Intellectual masque. although he's mentioned only twice--and briefly--his courageous willingness to trek unabatedly into the unknown deserves my enduring admiration." -Bulking ton
