It’s always important for a band to gain momentum and move forward in their quest to make their dreams a reality. Yet, there are unexpected hurdles that present themselves along the journey. One of the biggest is to lose a key band member, especially the lead singer; the LA based band Malaki experienced that not too long ago. Instead of taking two steps forward and three steps back, the band hit that bump in the road and kept right on moving forward. Enter a new singer, a new EP, new live dates and things are looking extremely busy in the Malaki camp. I sat down with founder Josh Buma and new lead singer Shauna Lisse recently and they brought me up to speed on things.
I’m a music nerd and I love finding out about band names. Is there a story behind yours?
Josh Buma: When I initially started this project, it was after the downfall of my previous band. When we would write, we would go into a room and just jam out and come up with ideas very organically. I think if you’re a really strong-headed musician, sometimes your ideas get shelved or you don’t necessarily like what someone else is doing but you just have to bite your tongue. So, when that band broke up, I started getting into recording for the sole purpose of getting my message delivered the way that I wanted it to be. So, the origin of the name Malaki, which is Hebrew, is basically messenger or more literally, MY message. I chose that name because it represented fully what I was trying to do musically. I was in a place, both mentally and as a musician, where I could get my ideas on the table without having any outside interference. I needed to build a project from the ground up and it was exactly what I wanted to say musically.
When did the building begin?
Josh: I started writing the first, initial demos in late 2008 with a few completed songs by 2009 and then started doing some really serious demos in 2010. The project was really a bit of a slow burn and we didn’t even play our first live show until 2012. That was really just me playing with different musicians and seeing what worked best in a live setting. We really didn’t become a known quantity in L.A. until 2013 when I had more of a solidified lineup in place which has been with me since then with the exception of Shauna.
You recently released your EP Blue, but when was your first release as Malaki?
Josh: We released the White EP in 2013 and that was with our previous vocalist who decided to go back home to the Philippines where he is from. We still believe in those songs and we still play them live with Shauna singing them. We’ve actually just finished re-recording her vocals for those and we’re going to re-release it because we feel it’s a better representation of who we are as a band, especially with her vocals on top of those songs.
Ok, you’ve had the White EP and now the Blue EP. Is there a method to the madness here or a color scheme plan that you’re laying out?
Josh: If we had been smart, I think we would have started with the Red then the White and then the Blue EP (laughs). When I hear a certain collection of songs, I sort of hear a color scheme around them, especially with the way the songs are produced. When I listen to the Alice in Chains Dirt album, I get a feel of red and orange and the colors go along with the soundscape. There’s nothing really deeper than that, just sort of a sonic representation with a visual representation as well. Our next release will be appropriately titled the Red EP, which we’re about half way finished with that, and one of the songs on it called “Red Letter Day.”
Were you already working on the Blue EP before Shauna entered the picture?
Josh: We were and it’s kind of a sad story, but it’s both good and bad at the same time. We had initially finished the tracks in late 2013 for both the Blue and Red EPs when we had a tragedy befall our hard drive and taught us a valuable lesson to basically triple back-up our stuff. We had to go back in the spring of 2014 and re-record everything while we were still searching for an appropriate replacement for our last singer. We had started re-recording both EPs and when Shauna came into the picture, we were just about done with everything and the timing couldn’t have worked out better. All she had to do was learn the songs and she was a really quick learner, so basically we released our first EP with her just a few months after she joined the band.
I’m not sure how the whole replacement process went as far as auditioning people, but did Shauna find you guys or did you guys find Shauna?
Josh: She actually found us. The traditional method of finding people is usually through referrals or through a service like Craigslist. There are a lot of people out there who can sing really well and a lot of people who think they can sing really well, but they can’t. We would put ads out on Craigslist and we would be hit up by all sorts of very interesting, difficult and weird people that hadthe wrong idea on where their level of talent truly was. If the band was all in agreement that we liked the sound of someone who hit us up on Craigslist, we would have them come down for a tryout, but we really didn’t have much success. We put ads throughout the country on places like Bandmix, Craigslist and such in hopes of finding someone who might be willing to move here and take the next step in their musical careers by joining an already established band and that’s basically what happened with Shauna. She hit us up in May of last year and I asked her if she’d do a cover of one of our songs and she did. I was in Budapest for two days without a reliable internet connection and when she sent it over, my band really wanted me to hear it. I finally got to hear it and it felt really good.
Shauna Lisse: Yeah, they liked what they had heard, so they had me lay my vocals down on another recorded track and they really liked that
one as well. So, we set up a Skype date to get a virtual feel for each other’s personalities and we decided to meet. I flew out to LA with my dad and spent five days with them.
Josh: It was really like boot camp for her because the day after she got here, it was non-stop work. We rehearsed the following day and we went through the set twice and then we went over to the recording studio. I had her record a song that she had already recorded, but it was more to get a feel of what it would be like working with her in the studio. We did the same thing the following day as well. We worked her pretty damn hard because I wanted to see how much endurance she had and she passed the test with flying colors.
Was that a scary move to uproot and move like that Shauna?
Shauna: It’s always a little nerve racking to cross into unknown territory. I’ve never lived anywhere else except my home state of Wisconsin where I grew up. I have family friends out here, but they’re nine hours from where I am right now. It’s kind of funny because the only family that I did have in LA moved back to the mid-west the same week that I was moving out here. I’m making new friends and my band members have become my band family and my brothers. Yeah, it was tough, but I wouldn’t change it for the world because I’m really happy.
Josh: We put her to work pretty quickly because within a week after she moved here we were on tour. She really didn’t have time to find a job or an apartment.
Hi Shauna, we’re glad you’re here; now get in the van because we have a show tonight (laughs).
Shauna: Yeah, exactly! (laughs)
Shauna, do you think you interpret the songs off of White any differently, coming from a female perspective?
Shauna: Yeah, I think I interpret any song in a different with any artist that I listen to; I interpret them in a way that I can relate to. Josh has done a really good job with the lyrics on what he’s written because I feel that anybody can take his words and relate them into something that they’ve been through in their own life.
Josh: When I wrote those lyrics, it was coming from stuff that I was dealing with and had dealt with. It was interesting talking with Shauna when she first joined the band because some of the things that she got from the songs were completely different than my intentions behind writing the lyrics. To me, that doesn’t mean she missed the point, it just means that the lyrics are universal enough to appeal to everybody.
Malaki – Sunshine
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Can we talk about your plans for the DVD that you shot recently at the Troubadour?
Josh: I think what we’re going to do is release individual clips of it on YouTube as we edit it, but also do a limited edition release for people to purchase if they want to have a really good quality copy of the show. We have a lot of different people from around the world who have written to us and said that they really wanted to see us live. If we can’t quite get to them yet, this will be a great opportunity for them to see and get a feel for what we’re like live. It’s something that a lot of bands at our level aren’t doing, but I think it’s a really good way to promote the band.
Well, I see our time is about up. Do you have anything that you would like to close with?
Josh: With Malaki, we’re trying to make a distinction with the music that we’re putting out; it’s not this take-no-chances formulated approach that you hear on Sirius Octane. When I listen to that stuff, I think that a lot of the rock music that is popular now rings a bit hollow and is a bit shallow compared to some of the music that came before it. I think people are following a diagram of how to write a hit song without it actually having any meaning behind it and I’ve never really subscribed to that model. I think if people really like our music, it’s not because it’s gimmicky or there’s a pretense behind it. I think the music that we’re putting out is very genuine and I think that appeals to a lot of people. We work very hard at our craft and it’s not about being rock stars or any of that kind of stuff. We’re artists and I think that a lot of bands that I hear aren’t artists; they’re opportunists. I think it’s unfair to take advantage of people that way. If rock music isn’t real and doesn’t truly mean anything, then it’s going to die and we can’t let that happen.
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