<img class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual" src="https://display.blogto.com/articles/20250417-Arkells-7.jpg?w=1200&amp;cmd=resize_then_crop&amp;height=630&amp;quality=70&amp;format=jpeg" width="100%" /><p>Arkells frontman, Max Kerman, is a total try-hard. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's the entire crux of his new book, '<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/744570/try-hard-by-max-kerman/9780735248854">Try Hard: Creative Work in Progress</a>,'&nbsp;which is dropping in book stores across Canada on April 22.</p><p>A fixture on the Canadian music scene for the better part of the last two decades, it's safe to say that Max knows a thing or two about making it as a creative, an issue that he tackles through a series of essays and advice in the new book.</p><p>Standing on the cusp of the book's release, Max finds himself in a particularly triumphant position because, while plenty of people over the years have suggested that he should try his hand at writing a book, it didn't always feel like a real possibility.</p><p>"I never thought I'd have the patience or the willpower to finish a book because so a lot of my life is a short spurt of creative ideas," Max tells me.</p><p>"It's like, I get an idea for melody,&nbsp;I'm going into the phone. Someone says something interesting, I write it down in my notes that it&nbsp;might be an interesting lyric. I love my job, because I get to really hop around,&nbsp;and I can usually pack many things into a day."</p><p>The prospect of writing a book, though, is decidedly not like that. It's days, weeks, months of effort distilled towards a singular goal. It actually makes a neat little allegory for what pursuing a creative career is like. Go figure!</p><p><img alt="max kerman" id="content-image-116374" src="https://display.blogto.com/uploads/2025/04/17/1744917137-20250417-Arkells-6.jpg?w=1400&amp;cmd=resize&amp;quality=70" /></p><p class="caption">"So much of the book is about finding ways to make creativity enjoyable and fulfilling," Max says.</p><p>The title, Try Hard, comes from Max's own feelings about&nbsp;the way he approaches the music scene. While plenty of rock stars adopt the 'cool-and-resigned' approach to stardom, for Max's part, he was always just happy to be there.</p><p>"I think especially early on, I felt I didn't always feel very cool, because I'd see other people in bands that just presented in such a cool manner," he tells me. "I always felt I'm a little too smiley. I'm just&nbsp;a little too eager, I really show my cards really quickly."</p><p>As his tenure on the Canadian music scene only drew out, though, Max realized that those peers who managed similar longevity (he mentions Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy as an example)&nbsp;are try-hards just like him.</p><p>"I realized that the people who kind of managed to stick around are the ones who aren't afraid to earnestly pursue their passion," he tells me.</p><p>To celebrate the book's release, Max is hitting the road to make a series of appearances across Canada, and it all kicks off on April 22 at 7 p.m.&nbsp;in his very own high school auditorium at 286 Harbord Street, which holds a particularly tender spot in his heart, not only because it's where he cut his performance teeth, but because he's an emphatic lover of Toronto's public school system.</p><p>"I think a public school is a place where people of all backgrounds can be together," he tells me.&nbsp;"And I think being together is really important."</p><p>From there, he's got stops&nbsp;in Calgary, Winnipeg and Hamilton, everywhere from independent book stores to local bars;&nbsp;anywhere that Max felt aligned with the book's themes and teachings.</p><p>With such a whirlwind just on the horizon, it's easy to opine over simpler times in Toronto, which Max takes full advantage of when he can, and he took the time to tell me all about how he plans to spend his first day off after the book tour.</p><p><img alt="max kerman" id="content-image-116371" src="https://display.blogto.com/uploads/2025/04/17/1744916760-20250417-Arkells-13.jpg?w=1400&amp;cmd=resize&amp;quality=70" /></p><p class="caption">Max Kerman.</p><h5>Paper Route</h5><p>It's readily evident that Max is the type to make the most out of life, and that doesn't go away just because it's Sunday. He wakes up around 8:30 or 9 a.m., a subtle sleep-in, but not enough to let the day go to waste, and it's quickly time for one of his favourite parts of the day.</p><p>"I always got the newspaper growing up in my house," he tells me, "The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, [but] Sundays, though, you get the New York Times. And I've continued that tradition in my own life."</p><p>Then, it's all about coffee. Max's favourites are <a href="https://www.blogto.com/cafes/morning-parade-coffee-dundas-west-toronto/">Morning Parade</a> &mdash; where, as fate would have it, blogTO photographer Fareen Karim unknowingly snapped him while writing his book in 2023 &mdash; on Dundas West, as well as Ossington's <a href="https://www.blogto.com/cafes/jimmys-coffee-ossington-toronto/">Jimmy's Coffee&nbsp;</a>and <a href="https://www.blogto.com/cafes/pilot-coffee-ossington-toronto/">Pilot</a>.</p><p>"I peacefully read the newspaper after that," he adds.</p><p><img alt="max kerman" id="content-image-116373" src="https://display.blogto.com/uploads/2025/04/17/1744917042-20230606-MorningParadeCoffee-1.jpg?w=1400&amp;cmd=resize&amp;quality=70" /></p><p class="caption">Max in the throes of writing 'Try Hard,' at Morning Parade coffee in 2023.</p><h5>Bah Humbrunch</h5><p>"I am distinctly anti-brunch," Max tells me, a sentiment which I echo (sorry!).</p><p>"You're just going to stand in a line, and if you maybe do happen to get a table there's a good chance you'll wait a while, just because it's so busy," he explains.</p><p>His plan of attack is simple: place an advance order at <a href="https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/federal-reserve-toronto/">The Federal</a> for one of their Gold Standard breakfast sandwiches, which he argues are the best in the city (I rebut with <a href="https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/lazy-daisys-toronto/">Lazy Daisy</a>'s Son-of-a-Rise, which he promises to try the next time he's in the east end) and eat it al fresco. No table needed.</p><p>He'll then hop on a City Bike ("I don't own a car, and I don't even own my own bicycle anymore. I just own the Toronto Bike Share membership, and that is the best way to get around the city," Max says) to visit his parents in the Kensington Market area and grab a coffee at Pamanar, throw a baseball around in Trinity Bellwoods or hit the Clinton Street Public School track and jungle gym with his niece and nephew.</p><p><img alt="max kerman" id="content-image-116372" src="https://display.blogto.com/uploads/2025/04/17/1744916841-20250417-Arkells-5.jpg?w=1400&amp;cmd=resize&amp;quality=70" /></p><p class="caption">TYPE Books on Queen West is one of Max's go-to spots.</p><h5>Stooping Low</h5><p>Appetite sufficiently worked up, Brockton Village's <a href="https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/moonmilk-toronto/">Moonmilk</a> is a must-visit for their coffee rice crispie square.</p><p>Later, a visit to Queen West's <a href="https://www.blogto.com/bookstores/type/">Type Book</a>s is in order.&nbsp;</p><p>"I always love being in a bookstore," Max tells me, and that one is particularly peaceful.</p><p>Then, for the best part of the day. Weather-permitting, Max calls up his friends and asks them if they want to "stoop," which is exactly what it sounds like.</p><p>"The stoop is this, like, set of stairs on Ossington," Max informs me.&nbsp;"It's not really a stoop, it's just someone's front porch, [...]&nbsp;But we just sit on those stairs. That is our stoop. We just chat. And I love stoop culture."</p><p>Whenever I see a group of, like, old Portuguese guys stooping it up, I have only respect," he adds.</p><p>While Sunday nights are typically time to stay home and unwind with some HBO prestige television (<em>The White Lotus&nbsp;</em>is his most recent watch, and&nbsp;<em>Succession&nbsp;</em>before that), if he does find himself "feeling frisky," he'll head down to the <a href="https://www.blogto.com/bars/cameronhouse/">Cameron House</a> to watch Arkells trumpet player Tom Moffett play with<a href="https://doghouseorchestra.com/"> Doghouse Orchestra</a> to end things off on a high note.</p>