This series of blogs is called IN PASSING, and in it I'll be interviewing bands/artists I love and trying to shed further light (in the small ways I can) on their music to give anyone who may come across this a reason to listen to them. I want to focus on smaller music that deserves more attention than it gets. All blogs in this series will include an unabridged (yet, slightly edited) interview with the artists and a small write-up from me. As always, send music, shows, suggestions for artist interviews, and anything ever that you want to talk about or see covered to [ fosterhildingmusic@gmail.com ] or DM me on Instagram.
Izzy is going to take this one!
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| photos courtesy of Makan. |
Where are you from?
I'm from Oahu. I was raised in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa (J-Bay) for about six years, raised in Puerto Rico for two years, and then back to the big island from third grade to high school. My dad liked to surf, so that’s why I was by the water every time I traveled. After that, I went to Colorado for college. I ended up here for a slower pace but that ended up being just a little too slow, you know what I'm saying? I've been all over and it's time to explore more.
I'm curious what's inciting you to move to Texas. I feel like Charlee kind of went the opposite direction. He really capitalized on the fact that Medford is a small town and you're more so feeling its restrictions.
Totally. I think the community for EDM is just a bit small. I love that you brought up Charlee, his music is incredible. It’s not EDM, maybe a bit instrumental… I don’t know what the genre would be, but it’s funky. I think a lot of people fuck with that, but not everyone fucks with house or bass. They’re thinking, “What is this?” and if I’m playing, they want bar music instead. It leaves me thinking, “Ehh… that’s not what I’m doing here.” But with that said, working at Guitar Center, I have learned so much I didn’t realize that I didn’t know. And then there are all these musicians here, so many incredible musicians… I just try to take advantage of the fact that there's not a lot of EDM, and I get to learn about all these other avenues of music. I’ll take that with me to Austin.
Do you know anybody who lives there?
No, not a single person. I have my little brother who’s going to travel with me, but once I’m there it’s like, "Alright, here we are." Sometimes you just gotta get your feet up. I’m looking to learn, really.
What do you want to learn?
Oh, just sound engineering. I’m like tripping out on sound, it’s insane. Phasing and timing, how everything works through stereo, the quality of the sound, sonics. I don’t know, I'm not even tripping just tripping out.
Has your relationship with music changed a lot in the past couple years?
Oh yeah, my perspective on my music has changed, too. I used to be very experimental, but I realized I don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just do what works and add my own swag, that’s what makes music music. It’s a lot more intuitive, easy to follow. It’s gotten better.
I rebranded to Makan because my middle name is Makana and Malik, my first name, means king. So, my logo ended up being a crown. Even with the monstera leaves. I’m an island boy, I’ve been around the water my whole life. I want to be authentic and as true as I can while maintaining that greatest-of-all-time mindset.
How did you start making music?
Every time I think about the start of music, I think about Dillon Francis and this plug-in I use called audio tool. I became fascinated by the idea that every sound was made intricately from nothing. And I remember this one time, I had a DJ buddy in middle school. He really liked the idea of DJing and he was doing it a bunch. Then I found this program where you can use deadmau5 loops and one shots of snares and kicks. I showed him all “dude, you can get these samples from deadmau5 and make your own beat from scratch!” and he was like, “I’d rather just play the song.” I replied, “But dude! You could make it from nothing!” and I was just tripping out that you could make anything.
Have you ever learned to play an instrument?
Yeah, I started playing piano when I was really young. I wanted to play the drums but my dad made my little brother play the drums. Ultimately being a piano player nowadays, you can play any instrument with sampling. I can kind of play the drums through the piano on the computer.
Does your brother still play the drums?
No, no, he doesn't play drums anymore. He had the brains for sure. He went and did data analytics, but when he comes over and we visit we definitely collaborate. Right now we have a four song EP together. We’ve been talking over what we’re going to do with that.
Do you have any ideas for future releases?
There's this aspect of, and you know, maybe it's excuses, but I don't want to disrespect the potential of my music. With all the content and “this and that” needed, it's kind of naive to think that without a team and lots of effort behind the release, it's going to be big.
I kind of have this ambition, I'm hoping to go to Austin and find even two people who have this passion and who like video work as much as they like drawing. I don't have any cover arts. I’m not great with storytelling, but I’d like to make a song come to life--to have a story behind the music with visuals. I just want it to be powerful and impactful.
When I look back at my releases and see what I did, it just seems so amateur. The cover art, the way it was released… it all seems so cringy.
Dude, to be cringe is to be free. I showed my band Body and they loved it!
Well, see now that's a different avenue because Body… you know, that one's with Catelynn. Catelynn and I moved here and then she passed away a handful of months ago. So, that whole thing is tough because people are saying, “Oh, you got to release your music,” but then there's people like “You’re confusing as a brand” because there are different genres.
I don't know how to navigate my music. I have so many different genres. I have different emotions. That album was an homage for Catelynn, but I don't like the way it sounds because it was sonically amateur.
What led you to make the decision to release that homage album on SoundCloud?
Easy. I felt like I didn't want to hide or keep her from anyone. You know, there's her singing, there's her playing, there's her emotion and all. I didn't want to keep that from her family or her friends. I felt like I owed putting it out there, so anyone who came across Catelynn could really experience what she was about. I remember her getting so stoked hearing that music, making it, singing it. It's all for her.
I also empathize more with everyone who has experienced loss because I haven't experienced loss until then. It's the delicate, delicate subject of life.
Is there any reason that you do your music solo? Have you ever thought about teaming up with one person and just going all in on an EDM projects?
There are a bunch of projects I’m working on. Preston and I have eight songs for an EDM punk album. I’m working with CQuake for an EDM bass hyphy album. I’m working with Jesse Kennemer for a guitar/EDM album. Gosh, he's just so crazy with the guitar, he does all these cool things. I have a couple of clients that come over and do pop stuff. Then my own projects of course, and the collaboration with my brother.
Do you have any influences or musical inspiration?
Honestly, recently, Rene Amesz. Mochakk, gosh, I've just been loving his music. Galimatias is so good. Oh, and then Zedd, actually. I used to be pretty prejudiced about Zedd. Maybe it's because of his pop era. There were some really cliché pop eras. Someone's gotta do it, you know, give the listener what they want. His new album, though, is so cool with its storytelling. It’s elaborate, yet danceable and deep.
What is your advice for aspiring musicians?
My biggest piece of advice is just to finish your music! Don’t keep making drafts, finish that shit. You learn so much and then you take those tools and apply them to your next songs. Also, an hour a day minimum to your work.
A good goal for me is to try and finish a song a week. If Bach could do a new song every single week after having 10 of his kids die, touring Europe on foot with a piano and still finding the time to write down his entire composure, on paper, for a whole orchestra. If Bach could do it without all the tools that we have now, I can finish a song. I’m not saying my song is going to be as good as his, but I can finish a song. Next thing you know, you have your workflow. Finish your songs and practice an hour a day.
Swag out. Shit, we’re all great. Be your greatest self.
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