Photos by Tammy Hua
Up & coming Indie band from Southern California Malk talks with Off Record Blog about all things music.
Based in Southern California, indie-band Malk met with Off Record Blog for a photoshoot and a short interview, during which they talked about their band’s origins, music making process, new music, and their future goals.
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ORB: Can you guys introduce yourselves and each member?
Marie (M): Hi my name is Marie Igano. I’m the lead singer and songwriter of Malk.
Siah (S): I’m Siah, I’m the producer and I play guitar and I sing sometimes.
Andrew (A): My name is Andrew Maddela! I’m the bassist of the band.
Joshua (J): Hi I’m Joshua Labata. I’m the drummer of the band and that’s it. (band laughs)
ORB: How did you guys come up with your band name?
M: I did!
A: We were watching a video where these guys were calling milk “malk.” And then I thought that’d be a funny band name.
J: I realized that it’s kind of an acronym for all of our names which included a past member.
ORB: Tell me a bit about your music making process. How do you approach crafting a single?
M: When we first met as a band, we immediately started with “Easy Way.” They had their own instruments, they had a bass line, guitar line. Afterwards, I put my own melody line on there. When it started, I was kind of just mumbling lines, and then eventually we got lyrics in.
S: It’s not always the same process. Sometimes Marie has melody lines and I go off of that and make a riff. Then I add fake drums, then Josh says “these drums suck so I’m gonna put in real drums” and then Andrew says “I’m gonna put in a bass line cuz the bass line sounds empty as heck” then he puts in a bass line. (band laughs)
ORB: What’s your favorite part about making music?
S: The friends we make along the way. (band laughs)
M: I feel like my favorite part is when we have our different ideas and when we come together and make one idea.
S: My favorite part of making music is realizing we don’t sound like “Easy Way” anymore. Like we used chairs as drums before and we used like drums on a phone, we don’t sound like that anymore.
A: My favorite part is when we’re playing and then we’re like “hey wait a second, this actually sounds good now” and then we get excited to play live.
M: Mine is when people come up to us and say they like our music, they love to listen to it and put it in their playlist.
That – I think is worth everything when we make music.
ORB: What have been some highlights of your journey as a band so far?
M: Keno’s!
A: The pool party!
M: That was our first gig.
S: The Haven was also really nice. At one point, we reached 1k monthly listeners on Spotify.
J: A pivotal moment was when we got playlisted by a popular Youtuber.
A: Also, just getting our songs on Spotify.
M: When people talked about our music on Reddit and Twitter.
J: When we finally pumped out our music, and people could actually listen to it.
ORB: What are some short and long term goals of yours at the moment?
M: Getting this next EP out!
S: Long term goal? Getting a better drum kit, better recording equipment, funding for that stuff.
M: We really wanna go on tour.
S: I want to get popular and possibly go viral!
ORB: How would you describe your music style and sound? Do you have any significant influences?
J: The elevator pitch I always give to people is that it’s indie surf rock. And kinda like milkshake music. And for influences? We have a LOT.
M: (at band) You guys showed me Her’s.
J: Alvvays.
S: Mac Demarco.
M: I know I was listening to The Marias when we first started.
ORB: What are some projects coming up that we can look forward to?
M: We have our EP soon.
J: We’re releasing a single in anticipation for the EP.
A: And we have a gig.
S: Yeah Viva! Pomona in December. It’s super big apparently so I’m really excited.
J: Yeah Goldenvoice are the one’s organizing it so it’s a big deal.
Now a random question for fun. Favorite food spots in SoCal?
M: Bom Bom Grill.
A: Go to Go Chicken.
M: Noypitz.
You can listen to Pink Box by Malk on all digital streaming platforms today.
FOLLOW MALK: instagram // spotify // bandcamp
(NOTE: ALL OF OFF RECORD BLOG INTERVIEWS ARE MINIMALLY EDITED FOR LENGTH)
I am currently a student at Cal State Fullerton studying Cinema and Television Arts as well as Photocommunications and have lived in SoCal all my life! I have many creative and artistic hobbies and love expressing them through different visual art forms. I have always loved music and hope to become a creative director in the entertainment industry.
