With the glitz and glam of Urbanscapes last weekend, we managed to steal a moment with indie rising stars The Marias! Known for performing songs in both English and Spanish, the band quickly captured the hearts of plenty with their dreamy sound.
Thanks to U Mobile, we at Hype managed to catch the band for a quick chat!
When asked to describe what their creative process was like, the band paused for a bit. “Sometimes it starts with like just a melody, sometimes it starts with a drumbeat that Josh will come up with.” started Maria Reál, the lead vocalist of the group. “Each song feels more of like a moment in time that has been successfully captured and turned into an object of permanence.”
“No two songs have been made the same,” said Josh Conway, the vocalist, and producer of the group (who also plays drums!) added that there wasn’t really a formula for how they make their music. Perhaps that’s what adds authenticity to The Marias dreamy sound.
As it has been a while since we heard anything new from the Los Angeles natives, we pressed on for news of the much-awaited upcoming release that is being teased on their Instagram. “We’ll be releasing something beginning of next year as a precursor to something… a bigger project,” said Maria with a little smile on her lips. “Think of it as a little taste to what’s to come.”
When the topic turned into dream collaborations, members immediately began throwing out names of indie artists that were a little too underground for our radar. However, when Maria mentioned Sabrina Claudio, everything seemed to click. The indie starlet herself had only just visited Malaysia a few months back for the biggest music festival of the year, Good Vibes Festival, and had charmed all of us with her seductive dance moves and husky voice. We could see the two artists matching energies and genres pretty easily to make an even dreamier yet sexy track. Maria also added that the ultimate dream collaboration would probably boil down to Tame Impala, one of the group’s biggest inspirations.
We wanted to know what was The Marias’ favourite part of being a musician, and their answer had us going “awww” for a bit. Unabashedly, everyone simultaneously agreed that it was seeing the reaction of fans from all around the world. They were especially excited to play for the Malaysian crowd as they had no idea what to expect. It’s this excitement that keeps them on their toes, making them want more each time they perform.
“Different crowds give completely different energies,” explained Maria as she picked apart the most avid difference between playing a show back home in the laid back and cool LA versus anywhere else in the world. Josh noted that the most memorable crowd would be from Mexico, when they played a show that was delayed by an hour and yet turned out to be the craziest one yet.
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When thrown the idea of playing a dream venue, the band got visibly excited by the possibilities. Instead of naming your usual stadiums and festivals, The Marias had other ideas. “It will be an all-ages show, free, and have amazing food,” started Maria, “but ultimately a waste-free festival in a forest.” The rest of the band tittered at this, adding on about their choice of forest possibly being outside of Oregon.
As our interview came to a close, we asked the band what could the world expect from The Marias come 2020. Maria smiled confidently as she confirmed that there will not only be more new music, but more shows to come from them too! Perhaps we will be seeing the psychedelic-soul group performing here in Malaysia again sooner than we think. Either way, it looks like it’s a great time to be a fan of The Marias.
