Interview with Vocalist Lucas Di Mascio of Malacoda (Canada)
By Mick Michaels
COSMICK VIEW: Hello, Lucas! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.
Lucas Di Mascio: No problem, thanks for reaching out.
CV: Do you feel that it's
still possible for an unknown band today to be plucked out of obscurity and
make it to stardom? Can a dedicated core of fans sharing their music make that
possible or has the internet and social media changed the game?
LD: Oof, that’s a deep question, haha! I’ve worked as a music producer
and a recording engineer since 2009ish so I’ve seen quite a bit of stuff from
the pro side and the indie side. I think obscurity and stardom are relative to
what you believe each is. Every day I’m discovering bands that I’ve never heard
of before…and they didn’t just come from nowhere, some of them have had a few
records out for a while. For example, just last week I discovered a band called
Eleine. I had never heard of them before, and they’ve been around since I think
2011. They aren’t famous, I guess, but they have some impressive numbers on
social media and their YouTube has great interaction. I would personally strive
for what they have…I think that’s realistic and honestly enough for some artists.
Social media and the internet has changed the game and it’s constantly changing
the game on what seems like a bi-monthly basis as far as what the right thing
to do is for reach. All I can say is that you can drive yourself nuts trying to
strive for a result and for me it’s never really been about stardom. I like
making music, and all I want to do is make even more music.
CV: Do you feel that given
the accessibility and social awareness of modern times that a music underground
still even exists today as it once did?
LD: Well the underground scene is definitely not the same as it once
was…I mean wasn’t it all about trading cassettes and stuff in the 80’s and
90’s? I think when I was a teenager the “underground” had evolved to
downloading torrents of bands from Europe that we could not get CD’s of here in
Canada due to distribution and import/export fees. I don’t really know what to
consider “underground” today…maybe it’s looking for Spotify playlists or
something along those lines. I find in Hip-Hop or electronic music there’s a
lot more collaboration, like remixes or featured tracks among their
communities, which I find kind of lacking in my metal scene. That kind of
sharing of art to one another and mutual appreciation I think is what’s left of
the “underground” mentality now, but I could be wrong.
CV: What do you see as the
biggest difference in music and how it is perceived from back say 35 years ago
compared to music today? Has both the music and the artist evolved from your
point of view?
LD: 35 years ago I wasn’t even a thought, haha!
So I don’t think I can comment accurately on that. But, I will say that the way
I saw things as a youth to how I see things today, in regards to music, is very
different. I think in the 80’s music was starting to get really commercialized,
even metal was becoming more about hair bands and ballads. But I think that
commercialism was such a defining aspect of the 80’s…it was part of the charm
you know? I don’t know if it was frowned upon by metalheads back then, but I
think nowadays people are more aware and vocal of “commercializing music” and
the whole “poser” vs “true” metal stuff than they were back then. I think
nowadays people are more aware when something is a cop-out record just made for
money or to get fame, or do something that generates a buzz. Artists are using
social media now to give unfiltered or heavily filtered, statements and linking
it to their art. I dunno if that’s an improvement or not on the artist/art
relationship, but it is what it is and it is definitely different from 35 years
ago. Madonna doing something risqué back then was shocking, nowadays if a pop
artist DOESN’T do something risqué it’s more surprising.
CV: Do you believe bands and
artists who have the biggest impact on fans and other artists are aware that
they are or is there more of a tunnel vision sort of process for them keeping
them somewhat in the dark? Can influential artists see past their own work to
be aware of the ripples they make?
LD: Some of these bigger guys must know that they are influential and
making an impact. I’ve been to VIP meet and greets, done the whole 70K Tons of
Metal cruise and met almost every artist I’ve ever wanted to meet... and you
just see dozens of people letting these guys know how much they mean to them,
even if they aren’t musicians themselves and are just music fans. I think it
takes a certain kind of arrogance to not be able to see past your own work as
an artist and see how it influences or affects people. Or maybe it’s a fame
thing? All I know is when a kid hires me to engineer their songs, or someone
comes to a show I’m playing or whatever and they tell me they think I’m cool
and they have my band shirt on, it’s humbling to me. I think as soon as you put
something worth listening to out there and people are noticing it, you are
influencing someone. So, I think the best thing is to not take advantage of
that connection to your listeners as an artist…no matter how big you are.
CV: Does music need to be
influential to be considered worth listening to in your opinion? Or can music
simply be just an enjoyable auditory experience devoid of substance?
LD: I don’t think music needs to be influential to be worth listening
to at all. If we based it on that, then the only stuff worth listening to would
really be mainstream pop music since it’s the most influential in regards to
plays and advertising. Music should be an auditory experience, but not devoid
of substance, that’s something that’s objective in my opinion. Like, I love
ambient music…I really do. And I fully admit sometimes it’s just a refrigerator
humming at a certain frequency while a dude in the background is throwing
broken glass at a wall with maybe a few guitar chords every 2 minutes. The
substance there is in the atmosphere, to me. You might not get it, it might
just sound like noise to you, but the dude who made it wanted to create
something that would make you feel something. I don’t even know if it’s
enjoyable, it makes me feel creeped out or anxious, but it’s cool to me that
this ‘music’ or soundscape, whatever you want to call it, has that effect as an
auditory experience. I think if an artist goes into the studio and says “Yeah
I’m gunna make a song just for the sake of making some money, and I don’t care
how crap it is or how it affects people and I’m gonna cut as many corners as I
can.” And they come out with this absolute dumpster fire of a track, it’s kind
of like auditory vandalism…like defacing someone’s tombstone by carving a
smiley face onto it so it’s less gloomy, or breaking their windshield into a
pretty pattern because who needs to see through it when it’s an art piece
right? It’s music, sure. It’s art, I guess. But it’s vandalism because it’s
functionless.
CV: The world has been rocked
by the COVID pandemic. The economy has been sent into a tailspin in its
wake, unfortunately. Bands worldwide have been restricted with performing
live and some it seems, restricted from earning a living. How has the
pandemic affected your band? Are you hopeful that 2021 will see many of the restrictions
lifted?
LD: Yeah 2020 was a rough year, but my whole stance on the COVID
pandemic is I just don’t know what will happen with it. I think the quote that
I adhered to in regards to dealing with the pandemic was from the show “The
Strain” by Guillermo Del Toro. Something along the lines of you can’t treat a
virus like anything else, there’s no reasoning with it, no making deals, it’s
not restricted by borders or laws, it just has one purpose and that’s to
thrive. I don’t feel like it will go away soon…I definitely would be surprised
if 2021 saw a full return to normalcy. With that said, I’m not hopeful things
will return to normal anytime soon. I haven’t seen many restrictions lifted
here, if anything they put us back in a lockdown in Ontario. I think Quebec was
under a lockdown too. My stance is just take it day by day, see how it goes and
better to be cautious than risky. Otherwise you’ll get depressed and start
going crazy. The pandemic meant we couldn’t rehearse, we couldn’t gig, getting
together was hard since we’re all in different cities and my studio business
lost a lot of bookings because of it. So, yeah. It sucks!
CV: What do you feel artists
and bands can do right now to stay relevant, especially in an environment, such
as the present, where performing in front of a live audience is being
restricted? What immediate options do you see available?
LD: I think artists should just keep making music. Let’s be real,
there isn’t much money to be made in anything other than selling merch at shows,
and even then depending on your deals with your labels or management that might
not even make you much money. The whole livestream show thing was something we
didn’t pursue because it was just hard for us to do it, and I’m personally a
little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to displaying the band. I’d want to
do it with a full camera crew at a nice stage and stuff, but we couldn’t do
that. Just write music…maybe work on a solo project, brush up on other skills you
can use to help your band…now’s the time to learn things. I started learning
how to master so I could master our records in the future if need be, I brushed
up on my keyboard playing so I could do more of that, and I released a side
project with my buddy and ex-Malacoda member Michael Farina (Secondhand
Depression). I think that’s what musicians should do…don’t struggle to make
things the way they were, because it’s not possible right now. Learn things so
you can make new things and improve.
CV: As an artist, what have
you learned from the events of 2020? Are those lessons learned different for
you as a person than as an artist or are they one in the same in your opinion?
LD: As an artist I’ve learned that people still need art. People still
need an element of escapism…especially now. But I’ve also learned that because
it’s still somewhat valued, it doesn’t mean that people are willing to change
the way they consume it. I think it’s made me become a bit more entrepreneurial
with how I’ve approached my thought processes. I think these lessons learned
are one and the same.
CV: What's next? What can
fans expect to see coming in 2021?
LD: Fans can expect the EP, Crawling Chaos, to drop on April 2nd on
all streaming services. We’ve got some behind the scenes videos, lyric videos
and other goodies coming out in the next few months. If all goes according to
plan there will be even more songs released later this year. As I said, the
plan to make up for how shitty 2020 turned out was to make 2021 filled with
music. We’ve got a revamped website and merch store with some cooler products
we’ve wanted to do for a while like mugs and hats and stuff. There are some
other, bigger surprises that I don’t want to spoil just yet.
CV: Thank you again Lucas for spending some time talking
and sharing with our readers. It was such a pleasure. I wish you all the best.
LD: Thanks for having me, stay safe!
Check out Malacoda at:
Official: www.malacodametal.com
Faccbook: https://www.facebook.com/MalacodaBand
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0uSMLxN5CQhtsuekp5sGqe
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLPNpJWXL5ejV2X03ZHwXYg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malacodametal/
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