Maya Lucia Makes An Appearance
By Sean Maldjian, Contributor
Photo by, Kristina Kiseleva
Meet Maya Lucia
A self-portrait by, Maya Lucia
Would you rather…
…be a vampire cowboy in the old west or a werewolf
I would be a vampire cowboy in the old west. It’s kind of hot and giving me “No Country for Old Men” meets “Twilight” vibes.
Some questions with Maya Lucia
Welcome to the blog, Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Happy to be here! I’m Maya Lucia, I’m originally from Minneapolis and I’m currently based out of New York City. I make Garage-Pop music (Indie-Pop/Indie-Rock) and am inspired by the world around me.
While writing music what is your process like?
It changes. When I first started out, I stole a ton of chords and structures from the music I was listening to. I used to go on UltimateGuitarTabs.com and just find a song I liked, transpose it, and make a new melody. I think most people start like that.
Now, it’s a lot more playing around. I don’t really write chord names, I mainly do shapes and then tab things out. I keep a notes tab of lyrics and also use voice memos when I think of ideas with and without the guitar. I used to use google drive to keep all my songs, then I transitioned to physically writing songs, and now I do a mix of both.
Recently, writing comes in bursts for me. I have this song we play live (“i dare u”) that I wrote after going to a bar. I recorded the chords and original verse ideas shortly after. I had the melody and structure cemented, and couldn’t figure out what to do in the chorus. A few months later, I was listening to the voice memo while driving home from practice in Minneapolis and I came up with the lyrics in the chorus. I sent a voice memo of the song to my bandmates and we tweaked some of the ending structure while playing it live. That’s the ideal process, for me.
What do you like best about doing a live performance?
I love performing. For me, that’s the centerpiece of my music. I love to dance with my bandmates and get all the energy out of my body through live shows. It’s really beautiful to see other people enjoying it too. At a recent house show in Philly, it was at least 100 degrees inside and everyone was moshing and swaying and doing their own dance. That’s what I really enjoy about live performances.
Do you drive? Are you a good driver?
I do drive! My abilities are up for debate depending on who you ask and how long they’ve known me for. I would consider myself a good driver. But you would have to verify that with my bandmates.
Your album “miss girl world” drops on August 19th. How does it feel now that it’s recorded and ready to go?
We finished mastering everything over a year ago, so we’re itching for this to be released. I wrote the songs between 2017-2020. When you have something ready for this long, it feels like it losing meaning until people listen to it and reacting with it. It needs a second life and I’ve definitely seen it have that a bit when we play the tracks live. We all learned a lot from this record and I’m excited to use it as a jumping off point for future releases.
What are your thoughts on high school musical?
I was like HSM number 1 fan. The second HSM is 100% the best one. I remember saving up and begging my mom to drive me to buy the CDs. Sharpie is a y2k icon, so she definitely lives on in the MAYA LUCIA musical universe.
What was the creative drive or inspiration behind “miss girl world”?
The inspiration was really just growing up through college. I had a string of difficult events happen and I felt like I was often drowning. I’m sensitive to the world around me – the way people react, the way certain things feel. The songs feel like vivid memories to me. There’s an undertone of longing for change and nostalgia for wasted time in all the tracks that drives the record.
Naming the EP was difficult. I went through a lot of different titles. “miss girl world” got its start originally because I went through a phase of listening to “Miss World” by Hole last summer. In my head – and out loud I guess too – I would replace the first verse line with “I’m miss girl.” It was what we put as the placeholder name of the EP originally and it just stuck. I like how it’s morphed into my musical universe and created a persona in some ways. It makes sense to have this EP be the vehicle into that.
What shoes do you wear most often? Why?
Currently, it’s my Dr. Martens 3989 Bex Smooth Leather Brogue Shoes. I had to panic buy them for an event I was helping with at my day job and I actually really fuck with how comfy they are. Most of the time, my frequent shoe is because I’ve destroyed the previous one (i.e. my white Jordans I wore every day for like 8 months straight). I’m really into boots, but it’s too hot for those right now. But I used to wear these red boots every day and at every show. I feel like I move around way too much for those shoes, so they make rare appearances depending on the outfit.
Even though this is a solo project, how important is collaboration to you?
Collaboration is a huge part of this. I look to my bandmates Samuel (Stroup) and James (Duncan) a lot. This EP started during the pandemic with me just sending them voice memos of older songs or things I was working on. There were a few tracks I wasn’t super excited about, which I think happens a lot depending on how old a song is. When everyone started adding in their parts and production elements, it completely changed. I love seeing things through my bandmates' eyes and hearing the tenderness they bring to the songs.
Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)
We’ll be playing at Our Wicked Lady on September 8th – come check things out!