ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
Season Four runs from September 2024 to December 2024
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S04E11 • Maria Maita-Keppeler of MAITA
Join us as Maria Maita-Keppeler of MAITA takes us on her remarkable journey of musical evolution and personal growth. Discover how she transitioned from playing complex violin pieces to crafting heartfelt songs with guitar and lyrics that cut straight to the heart. Learn how Maria's songwriting style has evolved over the years, moving toward a balance of figurative language and concise impact that resonates with her growing fanbase.
Maria offers a behind-the-scenes look at maintaining creative control during the production of her album "Want," especially in the midst of a global pandemic. Experience the emotional depth and introspection that shaped this collection of songs, each standing strong as a single while together forming a cohesive narrative. From discussing the aesthetics of music video production to the artistic decisions that keep her work authentic, Maria shares insights into navigating the modern music landscape with creativity and vision.
She opens up about the shift from inviting friends to her gigs to witnessing the growth of a dedicated audience eager to attend her shows. Listen as Maria explores the nuanced dynamics of relationships, emphasizing the power of clear communication and understanding each other's unspoken desires. Whether you’re a musician, music lover, or someone intrigued by the art of storytelling, Maria's journey offers a rich tapestry of insights and inspiration.
here we are, another episode of if it be a real podcast um, I have maria fromaita coming in to talk to us about her amazing music. A new record, want, just came out in July and we're going to touch on that. And she's usually from Portland but is in Nashville right now, which is cool because we just had a friend on from Nashville Phones with Chords who shared some Nashville stories. Maria, no Nashville stories. We're just gonna talk about your music and where you're from, um, but could you tell us? You're coming in from Nashville? You kind of tell me, but what are you doing there?
Speaker 2:because it's kind of cool yeah, uh, I'm just here for Americana Fest and my the label that I'm on, fluff and Gravy um, has a lot of more like what is thought of as like traditional Americana music um, which I think is a broad genre, but we I was invited to come out and play one of the um sets at the Fluff and Gravy showcase, so I'm gonna do that and hang out and see some music and hang out with some friends excellent, sounds like a good time.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for carving out a little window here for us to kind of um connect with you and talk with you a little bit. Um, I I always love asking these kind of foundation questions at the start because it it lays it. It lays a nice path forward. Where was your music journey? Where did it start, maria? Like I know that you come from a, like your mom is japanese yeah my mom's japanese my dad's just from.
Speaker 2:he grew up in colorado and he's just like a standard white mutt of the kind we have, and we and yeah, I grew up in Eugene Oregon, played a little bit of music.
Speaker 2:growing up I was. I learned violin as a young age. That was my instrument and eventually I fell in love with songwriting and switched to guitar because that was just so much easier for being able to play and sing at the same time, and started listening to a lot of indie folk bands around the time that I was in high school. That inspired me to write songs of my own and I just started in the open mic circuit, started playing little shows, started doing little tours.
Speaker 1:yeah, yes, and then got together with a band and like your last record I mean most of your records have full bands, right like. I found something, though from way back uh, 2017 was it which was very acoustic, very singer songwriting, as you were saying yeah, yeah, um, that is our first ep.
Speaker 2:I'm guessing you're I'm guessing you're thinking of the water bearer ep yes which does have a band on it. But that you're, you're absolutely right. That was way more of a situation where, like, I had these songs that I played on my acoustic guitar and we tracked that and then we kind of put a band to what I did, which is like there are drums and you know other instruments on that record. But you're right in that it is like a singer songwriter record.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's really beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really beautiful. I listened to it about two times through and it's just.
Speaker 1:it hits all those beautiful notes of the singer, songwriter, indie folk like it's just there um your songwriting is really powerful like, and I've really enjoyed how I kind of started at your first stuff and kind of worked my way through up until want, which came out, you know, just this year, um, and what do you find, like, if you look at that catalog and your kind of journey and you have all these archives now what? What is it that you find that you've learned the most about songwriting and yourself over that trajectory, of all these records that you've been putting out since you know, 2017, 16, etc oh yeah, I guess.
Speaker 2:Well, I've learned a lot about economy and like I don't know. In the first record there I use a lot of words and I say a lot and I kind of the gymnastics of lyricism were one of that was like one of my favorite exercises as a songwriter is to be like, how can I string together a bunch of poetic words to tell a big story? Like kind of with like quantity more than anything else? An elaborate dance almost. And as I've gotten older, I've recognized the value in being able to say more with less words and use, um, you know, play with using things that are more like direct and to the point, and then like balancing that with the figurative language, um, like metaphor and simile and and, um, things that aren't quite so easy to understand, like I love.
Speaker 2:I love kind of like a esoteric verse with like a straight to the heart chorus, and I like that. So I guess I've learned a lot. A lot has changed about the way I write songs, but a lot has stayed the same. My goal as a songwriter is the same. It's to like get through this like emotional art and create something that is intense. I think I really do like to create music that is in some way intense and hits hard um what, even if it's very soft.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know. Sometimes I listen to some of my old stuff. Do I? Could I even write like this anymore? Like I'm like, do I need to learn how to do this again? Like, am I going to like kind of I don't know teach myself how to, because you change as a person and it's not always like. It's not like a growth thing necessarily Like you change. And then there are there are things that I kind of miss about how I used to write songs as well.
Speaker 1:When you listen to an old song, does it bring you know? Like our sensories always get connected to points in time in our experience, in our lives. When you listen to your old songs, does it bring back things that you had forgotten about, or feelings or situations that you were like oh yeah, I remember this now. Like your songs trigger things in your sensories.
Speaker 2:Totally, especially if I get a break from them. I think what happens sometimes is when you listen to something over and over again, it ceases to like have a have a impact in a certain way, and then if I get space from it and I revisit it, then I'm like, oh yeah, which is probably what would happen with that EP that you mentioned. I have not listened to that in years and so if I was to put that on front to back, I would definitely be transported to like 2017 me, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. It's great to have these artifacts, um, I mean, your music lives beyond it. But to have something tangible, um, I was talking to an artist who had released his first LP ever and he was like holding it when we were talking and just that, that thing that he was holding kind of like brought it all to him, like the struggles, the accomplishments and then having something at the end. But in a way, what he said which stuck with me was that well, in the end it's a thing. I mean, the record could go, but what I've created is there, it will never go away.
Speaker 1:And I felt that that was such a beautiful way to kind of see one's trajectory of their careers in music and the music they make and write. And I wanted to ask you what is your process? How do you? How does a song become something that you would that you would say, okay, this, this has something to it. This one I want to explore more. Like, how does that process evolve? Is it you have a line or a verse that comes to your mind, or is it a melody that starts it?
Speaker 2:like, tell us a little bit about your, your songwriting process over over the years that you've been doing it uh, usually I can't really start writing a song until I feel like I know what the hook of the song, the emotional hook or core of the song is. And there's usually, when I'm writing a song, there's some kind of idea that I feel is unique, and it's just one idea. It's like I love this, um, and this is, like, I think, an idea that speaks to me, like, uh, I'm trying to think of a good example like um, like, oh, like breakup, breakup song, times three. It was like one one person that I had three breakups with, and I think it's. I was like I want to explore each, each of those three acts, um, as like different verses, and I was like that's the song and then I'll figure out what, what else happens in that song. And so, like, I kind of have like some kind of idea for a song and then, once I figure out that idea, then I can start filling it in.
Speaker 2:But unless the core is there, I really can't start. Like, it's like hard for me to just like sit down and be like let me just put some words together. And I think that, for that reason, like I find it really hard to write like like a throwaway song or like just like a fun, like I kind of every single song I write in some way I'm like this is like I'm writing a single, like I'm writing a song that could stand alone and is powerful on its own. That's my intention, whether or not that happens, but I do think that like it's um, yeah, I have a really hard time. Maybe it would be good for me, honestly, to have a little bit more freedom with, like allowing a song to begin and start writing itself.
Speaker 1:But I've never been very good at that and how did the collection of want come together, the those songs, how did those? How did you congregate those? Were those songs written over a period of time or were they again, like you said, that does the album have like a single point or is it each of the songs that have, or you know, like, how did you manifest those songs together?
Speaker 2:these songs were all written like back to back. I um, I tend to like just write a bunch of songs until I have a song, a collection of songs, that feels like an album, and then I'm like this is, this represents this period of my life. I'm going to put it out and I think what was cool about want, which feels unique to it, is that it feels extremely cohesive to me. Um, you know, the first few records, like if I describe the different songs like you kind of jump around like, oh, this one's about it's like a murder ballad, about the Dust Bowl, and this song is about emotional baggage and this song is about a childhood friend, you know.
Speaker 2:But want really felt like, I think because there wasn't a lot of external stimuli at the time, it was during COVID. I really just like the kind of things that like circle through your brain when you're like bored, I guess tend to be like deep, like for me it's like deep emotions about like relationships and the past and like this and there was so much desire happening during COVID because we were so removed from all the things that we previously loved, because we were so removed from all the things that we previously loved, and so I ended up feeling like all these songs kind of like pushed and wanted something and they all circle this idea of desire and because I was in a relationship during that time, it like made everything within that relationship very intense, which then also brings up ideas in the past about relationships and, um, all the songs, yeah, I felt like they came together in that way yeah, no, I, I can, I can, I can hear that when I listen through it.
Speaker 1:um, and I do agree with you. I think it's a really cohesive set of songs that one helps the other and then helps the other, like you couldn't remove one of them. I love the logic of how you put them together. And the last two songs too, very almost back to your roots, a little bit of, a little bit more stripped down and and um, much more you at the forefront, um, I mean, you're always at the forefront, but I found that those two in particular, as I was listening through um, I really enjoyed those last two because they felt like something that you're revisiting, almost um from a time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know that the I think it is it's is it the second to the last one? That's the acoustic one without any drums? Yeah, yeah, that one was definitely like a we we tracked that one with the band and kind of just I I like realized that I liked my voice memo on my phone better than what we did with the band and that's just how it was written. And um, I guess when we were tracking this album and mixing it, we were fearing, like this is a really intense record, like sonically, I just feel like the audience is going to need a little bit of a break or they might get tired and um, and so it was a very conscious decision to be like this song, I think, should just stay as it is and allow people to get a moment to like feel grounded. And you're right, it does kind of um harken back to this time when I wrote songs that were just in my bedroom and yeah, yeah, absolutely open mic yeah.
Speaker 1:Maria, have you always kind of had like a lot of control over your music? I know that you were with kill rock stars for signing in, and this latest record is on another label, a um yeah what's the label?
Speaker 2:you said it before fluff and gravy fluff and gravy, right, yeah, do you?
Speaker 1:do you still maintain like the end word into your art form, in your craft, like? Have you always kept that kind of like I, you know, and even your video making like I was looking at some of your videos and it looks like your voice is heard in there anyway of like what gets seen and how you present yourself Like? What does that mean to you? Keeping, keeping that kind of creative control over what you produce?
Speaker 2:I mean, I think it's at times.
Speaker 2:It's like there are definitely times when I especially for music videos, where I just wish someone would take over and that that part is base is definitely more of like a a means to an end.
Speaker 2:I mean, I I'm grateful and I do like making videos.
Speaker 2:I've always liked making videos, so it's a good outlet for me, not one that I always have the time and energy to necessarily do, but basically, like we have always been on small indie labels and we've never had like a very robust music video budget, and so you kind of need it's it's great to have a music video for every song, just in our day and age with advertisement, to have something visual, and so basically we would release it. So it's so funny how it works, because we're asked to release like three singles or four singles, and then every video is supposed to have, or every single is supposed to have, a video, but there's not actually the budget for that, and so then you have to make diy music videos, and so that responsibility just fell on me and I just had to make the most of it, which is why you see so much of me and just me in all those videos. It's just. It's not like because I need to have control, it's just because, like, nobody else was going to do it, you know.
Speaker 1:Do you like that, or would you like to have like? I know you were mentioning like offloading. That would be not a bad thing, I would not mind.
Speaker 2:I would not mind.
Speaker 2:I mean the one. A good example is like the last round, for I just want to be wild for you. We had a music video for um, where do you go? That was like the one where, like, I'm barely in it there's like other actors, there's like monsters, puppets and like.
Speaker 2:That was like a friend of mine's vision and, uh, he was willing, he wanted it to be part of his like resume of music videos. So he was like pay me whatever you can, but I'm gonna go out of pocket and just do the best that I like make can, but I'm gonna go out of pocket and just do the best that I like make it, as I'm just gonna do whatever I want to do um with with the rest of it. And I was like, okay, that's very kind, let's try it. It was so cool to just have someone else, because I love creativity and, you know, I love the idea that someone else's creative brain has an opportunity to flourish and I love to see what other people are coming up with, because I kind of get sick with my own ideas, you know well, it's cool too.
Speaker 1:They get a beautiful prompt too, of a song and you're leaving it to them to interpret. Like what's your vision? How do you see this? Like did they always turn out? Like did they always surprise you?
Speaker 2:um, like what the end game becomes, the, the visual, um, when you kind of are able to let somebody else take that lead sometimes they do, yeah, and like, sometimes, when they're with that one, I really relinquished control and because I was just like you're, you're footing the bill, you're, it's your vision, let's, let's go for it. Um, at other like and it was a story that so didn't involve me that I was able to kind of like, let go on that one, like I don't even I'm not even lip syncing it, you know, I know I don't have to do any of that um, and it was so fun because he like gave me a call time and when I had to be there and he had a crew and it was just like whoa, there's a whole production happening and my music's about this song, but it's also just not about me at all, and that was awesome, um yeah but with with the album, obviously it's very different.
Speaker 2:I do have like, maintain my final word and I want that control and um, me and uh, myself and matthew zeltzer like co-produced, built these all these records and um, we've worked really well together to kind of craft the sound of these songs at the end of the day like they are my songs and I come in and I have an idea. But I love I do love to get other people's brains in on it, because I can't do everything, you know like our drummer's an incredible cooper trail I can't write those parts.
Speaker 2:And nevada soul, our bass player, and like he plays with so many other instruments and he has such great sensibilities like I, um, I trust everyone, and so, even though I I do want to maintain this control, I feel very comfortable with like letting other people explore their ideas too.
Speaker 3:That's really cool and.
Speaker 1:Maria, what have been some tipping points for you in this career that you've started Like, where things changed or amped up or were on pause, Like? Do you have some of those, those recollections of those tipping points in in your career so far?
Speaker 2:Totally. I think for me, one of the big tipping points is that, um, there was a time when you'd play these shows and you would beg, not beg. But you, you, you know you're expected to promote shows and like, every single person who came to your show was invited personally, like you have to text all your friends and say, please come to my show. I hope you could make it like it's happening, like individually, like try to like get that support from people and everyone has to do that at the beginning.
Speaker 2:And I think, for me, the big tipping point which I don't think if this hadn't happened I wouldn't have continued to do it, just because I hate asking for things and I hate pressuring people, and I like, I also feel like, at a certain point, this there has to be this change where you kind of stop asking people to come to your shows because they want to be there on their own, like they're like oh, I need, I can't miss that show. You know, that's like the change and that was a, that was a, for me, a really important switch that happened, where it's like you advertise your shows so that everyone knows about it and the people who want to be there are going to be there and there's. I think that that was really cool, that change.
Speaker 1:Really and there's. I think that that was really cool. That changed Really really cool. I love that. That idea. I never thought about that. Um, yeah, really cool.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, and at a certain point it's like if you have to ask, if you have to beg people and chase them down to come, then it's like what are you? I don't know. I feel like at that point I would probably be like I should probably figure out something else that I can offer to the world that people need in their lives, cause they clearly don't need this or want this you know, Well, I'm glad that happened, Cause, um, the production that's coming out of you is just really, really sensational.
Speaker 1:You do some of the things that I love in a song and it's it's hard to describe, but it's like this tumbling a little bit in your verse and then the chorus comes in and kicks in and just like scoops you up and cradles you.
Speaker 1:Um. It's so hard to describe in words the feelings that it brings me through listening to it, but I absolutely love your lyrical play. Um, it, just, it, just. It's so cool, um, and I can tell that you that it's all very precise, like every word has been thought about. Um, because you have it has to fit right. It's like a puzzle almost, how it kind of comes out.
Speaker 2:Um totally yeah, and you're right, I, that is my favorite. I love a build like. I love like a build that ramps up in intensity and then breaks.
Speaker 2:And then there's this yeah, you're right, of course that's like my I won't say it's my signature, because I think a lot of songs like that, but I, I can't like not do that, I guess and I think a lot of that comes from playing and a lot of that comes from like playing solo for so long at the beginning and being slightly insecure, because I think I was, like I felt too insecure to just write a simple song without, uh, like a climactic moment that builds, because I'm like people aren't going to want to just listen to a simple song. I'm not good enough for that. I need to disguise it and make it sound really intense, and so I think naturally needed to inject that into every song just to kind of wrap things up again, maria, thanks so much.
Speaker 1:It's been like some of your words have been really fascinating to listen to and a lot of reflection thinking about the things you had said um. You've had a bit of distance since the record came out. Want um came out in july. What, what has been your impression of since the release? How do you feel people have taken the record? And having that distance as well, how do you feel about what you created and is it there in the world now?
Speaker 2:Well, we did something a little different on this round. Usually in the past, whenever I've released a record, I kind of go on tour right after the record is out, and so that is really when you get to kind of learn what the record's about. I think, like so much happens on social media but I don't really relate. Like that's not really where I connect with people, and it's really at live shows when I start to kind of understand what the song and the album really does for people and for myself.
Speaker 2:Um, and this time around we booked all of our album release shows, like partially because our album came out in the summer and we just didn't really want to like interrupt all the festival season and just because we were really busy. But I also really wanted to give audiences a chance to know the record before we played it for them, because I think it's so exciting to see a band and know the songs already and and just already have a relationship with the music. And so we haven't even done our album release touring yet. That's all happening in october and I think in that way I feel a little bit like almost like it was like anti-anti-climactic, like the release, because I'm like now what, but it's. I think it's all still about to come.
Speaker 1:My feelings about it and like what everyone's feelings are yeah, I love that, though, that you get to learn what the record is through performing it, forming it. Um, again, a really cool observation there. Um, maria, very cool, um. And so 2024 you guys are headed on the road in october, and what else can you share with us about what's coming down the road for, uh, my time?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah. So I think in 2024 like we have some october dates, some december dates, all kind of around the West coast, um, and then of of the U? S, cause you're in Canada, yeah, yeah, so, um. And then in 2025, I think we're just going to keep on doing a lot of um, little runs, like I want to, we're going to go down and get down to California, we want to get over to Colorado, um, um, and potentially just play festivals in the summer. Hopefully we'll keep.
Speaker 1:We'll make it up to canada sometime. That'd be awesome, cool, that'd be amazing. I'll be there, um, and I imagine you're still continuing writing and like that just never stops, right, it's yeah, it does not stop.
Speaker 2:I mean, I definitely go through dry spells. Often those spells happen after you release a record because you're like, okay, that chapter's closed, what's the next chapter? But I have a lot to write about and I just need to find the time to do that. And I have ideas, a lot of ideas.
Speaker 1:Cool, cool. Well, we look forward to hearing more. And congratulations on this release. I mean, it is really. I'm going to listen to it again after this, because I just it's got me now. I'm in the cycle maybe a couple more times today, so thanks for putting that out. It's really strong songwriting, Thank you.
Speaker 1:I've really enjoyed it and more. We'll throw on breakup song times three at the end of this, so people don't go away Cause we'll stop talking, but Maria will start singing and have a great tour and I hope to talk to you again one day.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Yeah, it was lovely chatting with you.
Speaker 1:Cool, thanks so much.
Speaker 3:Radio silence rushing from the independent, ordered your least favorite and ate it with abandon. Walked the streets of San Francisco Wondering how to love a city. By myself. Every place it had your smell.
Speaker 3:On the phone I tried so hard here's the waning breath of everything we were and could have been to tell you come and get your shit after your buddy's show, when you will not be sober and know you're staying over, cause I'd be what you wanted. I'd be what you wanted. Order my breakfast, touch it for twenty minutes. This isn't fair, you say, but can we try again? Driving away, I watched you fade In the mirror. You looked lost, thinking I might stop, maybe turn my car around, cause that's what you wanted. That's what you wanted. I gave you what you wanted Home on my lunch break. A stranger in my home Home, a stage two house, our ending, ready to hear anything.
Speaker 3:This isn't fair, you say. I smile, cause I think you'll change your mind again. Instead, you tell me you don't want to always have to ask for what you want from me. I'm falling from the ceiling, fading into nothing. I wish I knew what you wanted. I wish I knew what you wanted. I wish I knew what you wanted. I wish I knew what you wanted. You tell me that you wish I pulled you into my garage, pushed you up against the wall, took exactly what I want, but I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want. I don't know.
