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 S04E27 • Malia DelaCruz of CIAO MALZ
Ever wondered how a white MacBook and GarageBand could spark a musical journey? Meet Malia DelaCruz of CIAO MALZ, a talented musician from Brooklyn, who takes us through her captivating origin story. From her childhood fascination with instruments like the piano and clarinet, to those early days of crafting songs with the hum of background TV and basketball games, Malia reveals how he discovered his unique creative process. Her story is a testament to the power of embracing distractions and letting go of overthinking to allow musical ideas to flow with ease.
Malia's narrative unfolds as we explore her evolution from band member to solo artist. Listen as she recounts the serendipitous encounter with the band Frog and the label Audio Antihero, which opened doors to dream collaborations. Transitioning from collaborative projects to solo endeavors, Malia shares the liberating yet challenging experience of finding her voice and style. Her heartfelt EP Safe Then Sorry, showcases her growth as an artist and her commitment to creating richer musical textures.
Navigating the world of music production and performance, Malia offers insights into the balance between technical skills and songwriting. From opening gigs for bigger bands to receiving uplifting feedback from peers, her journey is filled with motivational moments that inspire aspiring musicians. Emphasizing the importance of consistency, discipline, and seizing opportunities while maintaining one's unique charm amidst a world of repetitive patterns. Join us for this lyrical journey, celebrating individuality and the allure of CIAO MALZ's irresistible presence in the music scene.
Music. Listen all the three-pointers, think about it, stay, find new ways to dance the morning. Always one thing after another. Here we are. So another episode of Bureau Podcast. We're into season four here. Beautiful weekend we have over here, and I have Chal Miles coming in. Malia De La Cruz World Podcast. We're into season four here. Beautiful weekend we have over here, and I have Chal Miles coming in. Malia De La Cruz is the main writer contributor, it's you right.
Speaker 2:That's your moniker, that's me, all those things.
Speaker 1:And where are you coming in from today?
Speaker 2:Coming in from Brooklyn, New York. It's also a very nice day. Where are you coming from?
Speaker 1:I'm just north of you, so I'm just a little bit south of Montreal in Canada. Oh wow, yeah, so I think we're seeing the same beautiful, clear blue skies. That's cool. Yeah, we got the same one, guys, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got the same one.
Speaker 1:That's it. That's it so kind of to get started. I like kind of rewinding time a bit and talking about your origin story of music and when it started to really click for you as an individual in this world. When was music starting to really become something that was necessary for you?
Speaker 2:I always played. When I was really little I would play piano. I was not, I never had lessons, but I always could see it in my head and it made sense. And when I finally end up piano at home, so whenever I saw, when it was super exciting. So I always kind of had like this innate ability and like this want to do it.
Speaker 2:I played band instruments in school, like viola and clarinet, but like it was never cool to me, I never practiced. Like the clarinet got really gross. But then, like in high school I I started like well, middle school I started like recording music on like garage band and I had like this really long audio cable like attached to an adapter, like it wasn't real but it worked, and so I would use that and I would just start making songs and I could layer it and none of them were in time. It was all latency. I had no idea what anything was, but I loved it. So I just kept working on that. I was like, how do they make it sound like a real song? And so I've just been working on that for the past few years. But I I need like I just feel like if I don't do it, I don't feel good. I feel like I'm like sick or something. It's very strange, but I love making it.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I read that story too, that you started with the one of those white MacBooks and garage band and starting to like put stuff into it. Um, what, what was your inspiration for those early recordings that you started to do by yourself? Where were you drawing that inspiration from?
Speaker 2:I my uncle played like electric guitar so I only knew like a few licks. It was really hard to form a full song, but when I had like an acoustic guitar, I can just keep doing like the same thing. It was hard to get like an arrangement of songs, so I tried to use it for that, to try to like transform a verse into a chorus, like how do you make it go all the way. So I feel like that was something that really like drove me to like keep recording, not even about the songwriting, but just like the technical process of it right, right.
Speaker 1:So were those first kind of like introductions into your garage band and layering more about figuring out the production end of things rather than, um you know, focusing on the songwriting and establishing songs that you were building upon?
Speaker 2:yeah, 100. I don't think any of the first songs I written were ever played like on a guitar in full before they were recorded, which is not a great way to do it but it was just like what can we do without any con, like any deeper context, like what can just be fun?
Speaker 1:so right, right. And what's your songwriting process like? How do you, how do you go from an idea to you know, thinking, okay, this, this could be a single, or I could put this on the ep, or how do you what's?
Speaker 2:that process like for you I try not to think like that, because if I'm trying to write something and I'm thinking this is going to be big or this is going to be a song or like this is going to be something, there's like too much pressure and I kind of just lose it. Like the second I start thinking outside of the song. So I like to kind of distract myself. Lately I've been watching a lot of TV or like basketball games or something and just playing, and then if my mind somewhere else, it kind of comes out just so naturally. It's like phantom writing or something. Like you just say something that makes hopefully it makes sense, then you just go with it. So that's kind of how I've been doing it lately, trying not to be trying not so hard. If I get something that doesn't make any sense or like I hate it, I'm like that was really like embarrassing to say, like I'll change it later, but I just try to keep going before I start catching myself and overthinking.
Speaker 1:Right, right. No, it's interesting too. I was reading some of the stuff that's out there online about your music writing and how did you originally start forming the relationship with Audio Antihero? Like I heard that you covered a song by by frog and then it kind of snowballed from there. Can you kind of fill in those gaps a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I found frog a few years ago on the count Bateman AP and I was like this is so good and I felt so attached to it more than I've ever felt attached to like any other music before, and I can't explain why. It's very strange, it's a weird relationship. I had to it but I just felt like I had like known it before and I can't explain why it's very strange, it's a weird relationship. I had to it but I just felt like I'd like known it already and I was like obsessed with like the tape recording and just the crazy lyrics and whatever. So I loved it so much.
Speaker 2:And then I made a cover on YouTube when I went on vacation. I just like had limited gear and I was like I'll just do a cover or something. So I did that and I posted it. And then Jamie reached out from Audio Antihero and I was like no way, like that's Frog's label, like it was so cool to me, like Frog was the biggest deal in the world, like the most famous band to me, and I was like that's cool and it like made my whole like month. And then later down the road I had finished the CP and my friends were like are are you going to get a label? What are you going to do? And I didn't know. But I remember I had spoken with Jamie before and I reached out to them and I said I'll take a listen. And then they loved it I think so, and they were like we can work together on this, and it was a dream ever since.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. And what was the first song that you really like wrote on your own, produced on your own, where you felt that you were capturing, you know what was in your mind was actually making it down on tape, like, do you remember that first song, that that that you had penned, that was an idea. And then it really like kind of started to launch this idea that you could be a band on your own yeah, I think it was when I was in high school, so it's a song.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if I have saved my computer anymore, but I sent it to a few of my friends and it was very cool. I had a course that was catchy. Probably not as cool to me now, but it was the first time I wrote something that I heard my friends were sending to other people because they liked it, and that felt like something for the first time and it was like really impressive to finish something and be like I could never do that again. But I can do it again. So that's right, you sure have Pretty cool.
Speaker 1:That's great. That's great. And like, what was the difference? I heard that you collaborated with the band sister.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Before you had started writing, kind of creating your own kind of band, your name and your style. What do you find the biggest differences was between the collaboration when you had other members to kind of venturing off on your own and kind of doing it all yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I had played with members of sister even earlier than sister was born. Okay, so pre-sister days I feel like when you're collaborating it's a little bit different. There's a little bit. I feel like there's a lot less pressure on you, so you tend to like have stranger ideas or just like bring something that someone's already building, which is like a lot easier for me because I like working with people. Working by yourself like requires some some amount of self-awareness and trust, because you could just go crazy with it. And especially when you're working on the whole thing by yourself, you're listening to it so much you almost get so used to it that when someone else comes along and is like, hey, you could fix that base, that is hurting. I'm like, oh, I've just been listening to it for so long that I made everything around it kind of like shape around that craziness, or it's like you don't catch things as fast as you do when you're collaborating.
Speaker 1:Right, right and do you like having that autonomy over everything? Or does it also help when you kind of get other opinions floating in that kind of? Does it inform you and does it transform things for you? Yeah, floating in that?
Speaker 2:kind of does it inform you and does it transform things for you? Yeah, I mean, I like to have the autonomy because I just like to have days where I can just do everything and I feel like I'm in control. If I want something, I can bring that in. If I want to play over there, I can do it. But working with this record, there was an amazing drummer, my friend felix, and they did like a much better job on drums that I could ever play, that I could ever program, and it brought so much like feel to it that was a totally different like texture that I ever could have done. And I think that's like why this one is so much better than my old songs, cause like people really gave it their all and came in and like really went to bat for it.
Speaker 1:Amazing. And how do you think your songs have transformed over time? You know, from those early beginnings of your garage band to you know, you have an EP coming out in December. I mean it's great for track Like. It's a really great little introduction. How have they transformed over time from your singles? Well, you had an EP that you launched, first right, and then you had a couple of singles and then you have this new yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So this feels like the real one. I feel like this had like a lot more heart and a lot more feel. I really cared about what was going on to it and I mean that in every way, like I, every guitar that was played, I feel like I it felt different playing it. It wasn't just to record, it was just to play, and whatever we got, that was like how it, how it ended up being. So it's like a lot less polished, I think, than some of the older stuff, but because of that it just feels more real to me. And then, just like the songwriting on it, I feel like it came from a more honest place. It came from like a more authentic place, whereas the old songs were just like let's just see, let's just get a chorus and a verse, and like they don't really have to be related. And this time I was like, nah, they should, they should be related, like this should be like a cohesive piece of information to a listener. I just feel like there was a lot more care yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And what informed you on this? This record, like what themes, what inspired you from the world around you to to pen these songs? Like where, where was the seed that that started to grow out of these, these four tracks that you're going to release?
Speaker 2:yeah, I feel like listening to frog a lot helped me, because frog is like very non-serious, but those songs are just about what you're observing around you and it's true, one of my favorite songs was like the rip to the empire state fle Market, which is just given directions to where the flea market is, what's inside the flea market, what kind of conversations you like, it's that kind of thing. It's like really simple, but it's. It's like a real experience that you've had, rather than just like the same old stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I read too. Your work was was a source as well. Um inspired some of your songwriting, um. Do you mind if I ask you what you do for work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I work in finance and it's funny because like we work in this like beautiful building and like I'm over looking like the whole city all day and it's like glass and gorgeous, and then as soon as it ends, I like go to the studio. It's like underground, it's like under the sidewalk, and then it's it's. It's just like such a different vibe to go from there to like in this basement with no windows, but I feel like that's, that's like such a shock to the system and I really do think about like work after it because it's just like right after and I'm thinking about the day and even if I'm not like trying to write about it, I feel like it does kind of seep into, seep into like the work in the studio.
Speaker 1:Right right, that's really cool. And what do you think about these four songs that you assembled that you know you're kind of on the eve of introducing it to the world? Um, what are your impressions of what you created with the new EP and let me get the name of it Safe, then Sorry, ep coming out December 2024. That's her. How do you see this collection now? Kind of like having a bit of distance from it and kind of like the production's done Now it's just like releasing it into the world. What's your impression of what you've created? I think it's just like releasing it into the world. What's your impression, um, of what you, what you've created?
Speaker 2:I think it's really cool. I do feel like a little bit further away from it now, because it was a lot of it was done over the summer and now it's all packaged and ready to go. But I think it's cool. I think it's a little weird. I think it's like very authentic. I feel like you can really hear like the diy-ness of it, like that still exists inside of there. I think the mixing was like really creative. I worked on that with my friend James and then he kind of took it to the end and I think the context is interesting too. I mean, there's like stuff about, like, basketball. There's stuff about Mary Shelley. It's very random, right, right, mary.
Speaker 1:Shelley, it's very random, right right. I saw some of the themes that were being pulled out was being kind of in this stagnant world and unsettled world and trying to navigate your way through some of those issues. Does that ring true in the songs that you were putting out?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like just the name safe and sorry is like really what I've been thinking about. Like I have a nice, very like comfortable life, but sometimes I'm like what if I like went harder into like music when I was younger, like I probably would be like less money successful, but like would I be like what would be, what would happen? So it's interesting to like really put that into perspective, like towards the end of your 20s versus the beginning. This is like my 10th year in new york, so I feel like 10 years here feels like so much longer, but it's like just interesting. It's like putting everything in a perspective in a way about like just my last couple years right, right.
Speaker 1:And what's your? What's your impression over those last few years of of of creation? Has it inspired you to say this is something I know I need to do now like was it an awakening of that musical mindset that's been inside you, that that is finally kind of the doors kicked open?
Speaker 2:yeah, I would say that I feel like it's a true passion of mine, like something I think about all the time. I'm always trying to get better and especially when it comes to, like, the production side of music and the engineering, I feel like I've become so hopelessly obsessed with trying to make it better and trying to like do new things and like just working out of it, like working at it like a little bit every day and it's it's a lot, definitely, and I think there's so many like engineers and there's so much of it going on. It's definitely oversaturated, but a lot of it is like this goal to sound the same, and I like being able to control those aspects because, like, if you can make it a little different and it still sounds good, like that's your own style, and that's always impressive to me when I'm listening to something new.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Have you ever produced other people's music or has it only ever been just yours that you've produced?
Speaker 2:and like the engineering side of things, yeah, I recently just engineered a little bit of like additional recording for my friend Avery's record and that was really fun to to just be in the room moving things around, watching it happen and like hearing a song live. But being recorded for the album is like such a cool feeling. The song sounds like totally different. There's like so much emotion in it. It's an awesome process.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:I felt very alive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, how does your mindset have to shift from, like, the creative well, I'm not going to say create, but the songwriting part to the production part? Like, how do you have to separate those two so that you can look at the production, and or do you have to merge the two? Like, like, what's your balance that you do when you know from production?
Speaker 2:to songwriting from.
Speaker 2:I always kind of try to keep um a creative aspect to the production part, especially when we're like mixing stuff and I feel like that's something like not everybody thinks about because it is very technical and it's a very, a lot like very black and white. If that's bad, fix it. If it's good, leave it. But it's nice to think of it in a creative way, like where are the effects? What words in the song can I like put effects on that really make it really stand out, like really pop, like what's something that like makes me feel like boom, I'm in the song again, like if it starts to get like slow, it's like that's like the interesting part of it to me.
Speaker 1:Wow yeah, that's interesting. I never thought of it that way too. It's similar to like I mean pretty much any kind of visual as well, and and and audio, where you're adding effects where it's needed to, just you know yeah, slow things down, speed things up, transition things, it's like yeah everything's there for a reason yeah, and there's a lot of automation on this record that are very sneaky, like you don't even know it's there, especially with like compression and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So like we really tried to experiment on this one that's amazing and tell me a little bit about like.
Speaker 1:So you've been doing this for for some time now. Um, yeah, what have been some markers along the way where it's motivated you to keep going? Are there situations or experiences that you've had in music that was kind of like that changed your trajectory a little bit?
Speaker 2:yeah, I, every so often there'll be something that happens, someone who will reach out. That I think is really cool. And they're like hey, I heard this, this is cool. That makes me keep going. Um, but also just a while back, like I was playing a show and like this band was like really getting a bigger, a bigger like social following and they had like sold out this place and they're like do you want to open? Like small things like that are just like really exciting. I feel like the opportunities are the thing I'm in it for the long term. On like stuff is always going to happen and it's like cool to get your stuff out there. If you don't do it, like no one will know and no one will ever want to work with you. So like this is just kind of part of that.
Speaker 1:Right, Right. That's a good advice too, to starting up artists as well. Is that persistence and and keeping your eye on the prize? What kinds of advice do you offer up to somebody that might be at the start of their musical journey to keep going and to pursue it and to take it seriously? What would you say to those beginning artists?
Speaker 2:I don't think just staying consistent and being disciplined, because you'll naturally get better over time, but if you do stop and come back, like I have a few times, like it's really hard to get it back to where it was, like all these little things, when you're making music, they, they really grow if you nurture them and it goes for everything, like if your music gets better than like your opportunities get better, and that's how it should be, at least, but like it makes it. It's a lot easier if you stay consistent. It's a lot harder if you don't.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, interesting Wise words for sure. And what do you think success would be? What would success feel like for you? You know, once the CP comes out, I imagine you're going to be doing shows and stuff that will accompany yeah yeah yeah, I'll be doing shows the next year okay, cool and like what. What do you, what would you hope like, what would be seen as successful in your eyes with the launch of this new ep in december? What, what do you hope for it?
Speaker 2:a billion dollars um if not a billion, maybe a few million yeah, yeah, a few million would be really cool.
Speaker 2:Um, I think it's in terms of numbers. It's hard. I don't really try to think so much in there. I mean, they obviously matter and it's great to have them, so it's nice to hopefully there'll be some numbers in there later. But it's also just like the, the reach out from like people that have been listening for a while. They're like hey, this is on all day, like this is great. Like I just had a radio station that I really love play the song yesterday. Like those little things are like success to me, like people actually listening to it and caring is huge. And having like making an effort to reach out, I think like I'm also just like hope it, someone likes it and like wants to work with me like on a collab in the future, something cool like that. Like I just love doing this and it's cool to like watch it grow and I hope it like resonates with people. That's success to me absolutely well said I.
Speaker 1:It resonates with me. I mean I was fortunate jamie sent me me an advanced listen and it's really great. I mean I really love the ordering of them. Like the sequencing works super well.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:The delivery is really sensational. It's such a like. Every song has its like, its own child. You know it's its own little.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they all work together. Yeah, they're very different. There was never a time when I was going through them, when I was like had to stop in the middle of something and didn't know exactly what it was after like a second, which is cool.
Speaker 1:Amazing, Amazing. And what's a live show like? Like, how are you going to go about planning your your live shows with, with, with this music?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm trying to put a band together. I'm trying to get some of the original musicians especially James, who played guitar for this to help out. But I think it's going to be interesting translating it into a live fan. I think some songs will be easier than others. But, like, we did a lot of layering with guitars and stuff like that and I don't think it's ever cool to have five guitars on a stage. So it's never cool, it's who is?
Speaker 1:more than enough.
Speaker 2:It's so scary when you go to a show and you see five guys come up with guitars, you're like this is going to be loud, yeah, yeah. This is going to be tough, but yeah, so I just have to figure that out before the show has happened. I put a lot of effort into having rehearsals and working it all out. It'd be nice to get some transitions going in there. I think that's always really big. I always notice that when small musicians have transitions, it's so cool. It feels like a full show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love too you're mentioning musicians changing instruments and moving around it's this organic creation process going on, it's yeah special.
Speaker 2:It's awesome to like see a band that really, like, knows each other and is just playing to have fun, rather than being like oh, like I used to be sometimes.
Speaker 1:I'm like I hope I'm playing the right thing next, or I'm like thinking about the next chord while I'm singing and I'm gonna screw up. It's like such a, it's such a learning process to play live for sure, and are you, are you excited about, about the live aspect, or does it kind of freak you out?
Speaker 2:it kind of freaks me out a little bit. Um, I haven't done it in a little while, which is bad. You're supposed to stay consistent for this reason, but I think it'll be great, like I'm really excited for it. I want to make sure like, when it is done, it's done like correctly and in a way that I feel like proud of amazing.
Speaker 1:So tell us a little bit about what, what, what the future holds here, like what? So you have your ep coming out you have four tour dates that are that are that are booked.
Speaker 2:What else can we look?
Speaker 1:forward to, is the song process still advancing and you're looking to the next, and can you fill us in on whatever you can about, about the future?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think I'm ever going to stop doing it, so I think I'm hoping it gets better. I'd like to like keep working on on the engineering side of it and making these new interesting songs and just testing out new guitar pedals, get some new textures in there and really make sure everything meshes On my next project. That's something I'm really focusing on. And then the song writing. It's about getting the song before you start recording for me. Um, I gotta stop doing that. So that's, that's a big one right, great.
Speaker 1:Well, that's cool. Well, this has been a lot of uh, a lot of fun. I mean, these are short, um, but full of information and ideas, so I really appreciate you taking a bit of time to talk to us. Your journey is really fascinating. Great new EP coming out. People in December Safe then sorry, and then catch a show and please support. Ciao, mouths. Did I say that, right? Ciao?
Speaker 2:That was perfect. Ciao, mouths.
Speaker 1:I got it. I got it Well. Thanks so much and all the best, and as you release more stuff, we'll speak again.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me Something in your walk. Don't even gotta talk. You get whatever you want. In a fever or a flood, the almighty God above Comes and tells you heads up.
Speaker 1:Like the cold run.
Speaker 2:How you?
Speaker 1:lost us, and you know what Made a good love.
Speaker 2:Make up Horse winning all the races. Hair never out of placement.
Speaker 1:Fashion, then you brush it off. Know the names of your brothers.
Speaker 2:Marky Ricky Danny Tucker, laughing, cause you know that they're not. Know the names of your brothers, marky Ricky Danny Tucker, laughing, cause you know that they're not. And it's straight for tapping, but they won't even stop them. And women, they all know your name Like the gold rush.
Speaker 1:How you lost us and you know what Made you good Love Baby. Good luck.
Speaker 2:Got no temptation.
Speaker 1:To sit around and have the same conversation.
Speaker 2:Going circles, going berserk.
Speaker 1:There's nothing that I have not heard guitar solo Thank you.
