ONE ON ONE: AN INTERVIEW WITH LAKE MALICE

FIRST AND FOREMOST, HOW ARE YOU GUYS DOING?

(Alice Guala) Good, really good yeah.

(Blake Cornwall) We had a great show playing with Vukovi last night in Bath, the crowd was just absolutely wild. It’s always good when you get such a responsive crowd cause you go in with such a buzz. So yeah last show of the run with them today, it kind of feels like you know when it's Sunday on a weekend and you don’t want to go back to school, kind of feels a bit like that.

FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY KILLING IT ON THIS TOUR, AND YOU’VE BEEN KILLING IT PRETTY MUCH ALL OF THIS YEAR AS YOU’VE BEEN TOURING NON-STOP. BUT, YOU DID HAVE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, LIKE MANY OTHERS, YOU GUYS STARTED AND SURVIVED, AND THRIVED IN LOCKDOWN. SO HOW DOES IT FEEL GROWING AT SUCH A RAPID PACE?

(Alice Guala) Um, that’s a good question. I think it feels great and it makes you very grateful for all the opportunities, but at the same time it’s quite challenging because if you get all these opportunities but you don’t have, you know you haven’t built much to it yet, in terms of fan base etc., it becomes really hard, especially financially, you know to fund everything ourselves, being independent etc. So yeah, I think that’s the main challenge, however it does feel great to be given these opportunities, based on the fact we started writing music in lockdown and then we were straight off into gigging, so it was awesome.

(Blake Cornwall) I think the pace at which we’ve had opportunities come our way is really quick from starting the project up until now, obviously we’ve done quite a lot and it’s quite hard to adjust I guess to all these new things. For us, in terms of musicians we’re experiencing a lot of things that we’ve not done before in the industry, me definitely, you know i’ve not really had many experiences prior to this at this level, so we’re kind of learning as we go about the industry, and it’s mind blowing you know. We are just blown away by everything that comes our way, it's amazing. But at the same time it’s like, woah we need to maybe wise up quickly to things like financial aspects and things like making sure we have enough time to get writing done and who we’re going to work with on this and that and the other, and so it’s a bit of a whirlwind obviously, we both work full time jobs as well so that’s like an extra layer of stress sometimes, making sure that you fill your job requirements and things, it can be quite chaotic.

I’VE DEFINITELY BEEN THERE, I KNOW EXACTLY HOW IT FEELS TO BALANCE A FULL TIME JOB WITH WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING, AND LIKE YOU SAID IT’S HARD TO KIND OF FIGURE OUT THINGS AS YOU’RE ON THE MOVE, YOU’VE BEEN TOURING BASICALLY NON-STOP, BUT YOU’VE STILL RELEASED 2 OR 3 SINGLES THIS YEAR SO FAR?

(Blake Cornwall) We’ve done 2 this year yeah.

(Alice Guala) There’s more coming.

I MEAN THAT’S WHAT WE WANNA KNOW. FIRSTLY, HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO FIT THAT INTO YOUR BUSY SCHEDULES AND HOW DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION TO WRITE WHILST YOU’RE ON THE MOVE ALL THE TIME?

(Alice Guala) We write at home and we record at home too and that makes it very easy to fit into the schedule. It’s a double edged sword I guess because on one hand you have it all there and it’s at disposal to you, you have your equipment and everything, but at the same time you don’t book that time and then tell yourself you have to do it, so it comes with having to force yourself and be very hard on yourself and be very determined.

(Blake Cornwall) You’ve just got to be disciplined really, sometimes you just want a weekend to do nothing basically and just absolute vegetate, but we’re just like no we’ve got to get these vocals done or whatever it is. It’s a bit of a grind, but it’s all so worth it because in this project we’ve actually got a clear path of this music being heard by somebody eventually in terms of a fanbase, be it not a huge one, and that’s an absolute privilege that I'll never take for granted. I work harder than I’ve ever worked on music now because I know that it’s amounting to something, whereas before in projects none of my stuff has seen the light of day, I’ve just spent countless hours in my bedroom kind of tweaking, mixing and whatever and it’s never seen the light of day. So, knowing that it’s going somewhere gives me that inspiration and gives me that drive to work harder than ever.

ABSOLUTELY, LIKE YOU SAID YOU HAD BEEN DEVELOPING AND WORKING AND PRODUCING MUSIC THROUGH LOCKDOWN AND YOU’VE GOT NEW SONGS COMING UP, IS THIS POSSIBLY THE START OF AN ALBUM FOR LAKE MALICE? OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO CALL IT THAT YET?

(Blake Cornwall) I think it’s a bit early for us to sort of announce those sort of plans but we are working towards a body of music because we feel like it’s right to put out something that’s more than just a single here and there, but in terms of what that is we’re not quite ready to share those plans just yet.

(Alice Guala) Yeah I think a body of work has to have a purpose if you know what I mean and because we’re so recent as a band we’ve been looking for this purpose while doing music. As we write music it becomes clearer, and I think now that we have a few songs that match certain topics and certain sounds then we are working towards definitely releasing a body of work, whether that’s going to be a mixtape or an EP, I think it’s going to come quite close this year, it should happen quite soon, but talking about an album that’s a further milestone to me.

(Blake Cornwall) I think, obviously being independent, funding an album can be quite a daunting thing as well so obviously a dream for me is to put out an album, but in terms of where we are career wise and financially the circumstances aren’t quite there for something like that yet, but you bet that’s coming eventually, cannot wait for that it’s going to be a monumental moment for us.

I’M REALLY EXCITED FOR YOU, AND LIKE YOU SAID WITH YOUR FANBASE, YOU KNOW THEY EXPECT MORE AND THEY ARE GOING TO BE REWARDED WITH MORE AND YOU GUYS ARE REALLY CLOSE WITH YOUR FANBASE, I HAVE THE HONOUR OF BEING APART OF YOUR DISCORD, I’VE SEEN ALL OF THE CRAZINESS THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON DOWN THERE. WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE HAVING SUCH A TIGHT KNIT COMMUNITY? IT’S SUCH A RARE THING TO FIND THESE DAYS.

(Alice Guala) I find it amazing, I think it’s like the best thing that comes out of music is creating a community, it’s the whole point of it, you share art in order to communicate something and express yourself and if those people can relate and make friends out of it as well then it’s even better for us. It’s like a little family, it sounds very cultish.

IT IS, IT IS AND YOU’VE TIED PEOPLE TOGETHER, IN THIS POST LOCKDOWN WORLD OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN NOW COMMUNICATE VIA THINGS LIKE DISCORD AND ONLINE AND A LOT OF MEMES GET GENERATED AS WELL, AS I KNOW, SO CAN WE SEE A TOMATO REFERENCE HAPPENING I NLAKE MALICE CONTENT AT SOME POINT?

(Blake Cornwall) Oh for sure.

(Alice Guala) Yes a hundred percent it’s happening.

(Blake Cornwall) I think it’s part of our DNA at this point, isn’t it, the tomato thing is going to stick, possibly along with a couple of other weird things that have come out of that Discord.

(Alice Guala) If I could I would put every single meme we create on the Discord on a t-shirt, like if I had infinite money I would just create merch based on stupid nonsense memes that we create, and I want to do one with tomato stuff a hundred percent.

(Blake Cornwall) It still blows my mind to see people walking around with that like “Maleech-ye” that’s like the funniest thing ever. When I see that t-shirt I'm like how is that a thing in the world?

(Alice Guala) It’s an old YouTube meme nobody knows but it’s awesome.

IT’S STUCK BUT LET THIS GO ON RECORD I WILL BUY A TOMATO T-SHIRT LIKE IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN AND YOU GUYS NEED TO PUT IN YOUR PRE-ORDERS AS WELL. IT’S GREAT THAT YOU HAVE JOKES LIKE THAT WITHIN THE COMMUNITY BUT OBVIOUSLY YOUR MATERIAL IS VERY SERIOUS, IT TALKS ABOUT A LOT OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AS WELL AS COMMENTARY ABOUT STUFF LIKE GOING TO A PARTY AND FEELING A BIT ANXIOUS AND I THINK THAT IS QUITE SIMILAR TO THE CONTENT THAT VUKOVI MAKES. YOUR TOPICS ARE QUITE SERIOUS AND BLAKE I THINK YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU’RE QUITE INSPIRED BY VUKOVI AS WELL.

(Blake Cornwall) Yeah big time.

WHAT’S IT LIKE GOING ON TOUR WITH THEM NOW?

(Blake Cornwall) I still feel starstruck every time I see them it’s really bad. Genuinely it is weird because formed the project during lockdown and it was during lockdown that I had a sort of musical revolution of what I’d get inspired by and Vukovi were one of those bands that were super at the forefront of that for me in terms of what they were doing with metalcore. But yeah it’s an absolute privilege to be here supporting them on tour, I think we’ve played with a lot of the bands that have actually inspired us to start this project already which blows my mind. It’s extremely humbling to be given the same platform as them and share a stage with them.

YEAH DEFINITELY, I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT A LOT OF US HAVE DISCOVERED NOW IS THAT MUSIC ISN’T AS DISTANT AS IT USED TO BE AND HAVING THAT CONNECTION TO PEOPLE AND KNOWING THAT YOU CAN GO TO A SHOW AND ACTUALLY CHAT TO A MUSICIAN AND THEY’LL BE HAPPY TO CHAT BACK, IS SUCH A REASSURING FEELING AND I THINK IT’S GOING TO MAKE THE MUSIC SCENE, ESPECIALLY THE ALTERNATIVE SCENE A LOT MORE OF A FRIENDLIER SPACE, WHICH IS REALLY GOOD. SO, I’M GOING TO WRAP THIS UP AS I AM AWARE THAT THEIR SOUNDCHECK IS FINISHING AND YOU’VE GOT YOURS COMING UP. SO, FOR ANYONE WHO HASN’T HEARD OF YOU GUYS, LIKE YOU SAID YOU’RE STILL GROWING AT THE MOMENT, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY TO THEM TO CONVINCE THEM TO LISTEN TO YOU GUYS?

(Blake Cornwall) Don’t listen to us.

(Alice Guala) Do you have problems? Do you have issues? Listen to Lake Malice, we’re going to sort them out. No sorry that was silly, um try again. I think it would be fair to say we do talk to people that feel like they can relate to us in a way, so if there’s people out there who feel like they’re struggling to find a voice, struggling to find confidence and somehow relate to any of the things we talk about but also just enjoy an energetic blend of genres that’s another thing I will say to those people, if we are your thing.

(Blake Cornwall) Yeah, I would agree. I’d say if you’re open-minded with metal, and you like metalcore but you also feel like it could be doing a bit more, be incorporating a bit more into it. Basically, if you’re someone who likes where the alternative scene is going right now, I think possibly we’ll be your cup of tea as well. We've got lots of heavy stuff going on but we’ve also got lots of pop and hype-pop inspired stuff. I feel like our niche is kind of just a bit of everything in a way, but still quite grounded in that serious metalcore sound.

(Alice Guala) Got to be ready for some weird stuff.

ONLY CERTAIN OF THAT, AND FOR PEOPLE WHO DO KNOW YOU GUYS, AS WE KNOW YOU’VE GOT A VERY CEMENTED FANBASE, WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE WITH THEM?

(Alice Guala) Oh my God, you guys are just the best fanbase ever, you’re so fucking stupid, in a good way, do you know what I mean? Silly maybe is a better word. No, you’re so fucking hilarious that’s what I want to tell them, I think you are just the kind of people I will hang out with so yeah.

(Blake Cornwall) I would say, I don’t know why you listen to us because to me we’re just 2 people making stupid music, but the fact that you do like it and the fact that whatever it is you like about us as artists that is extremely humbling and we want to do whatever we can to make you feel appreciated, so stick with us and obviously we want to put out as much music as we can and hopefully at some point we’ll have a headline tour and we can have an awesome party.

FINALLY, JUST TO WRAP THIS UP, COULD THERE BE MORE MUSIC VIDEOS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY TO GET INVOLVED IN, IF THERE’S ANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEM TO GET INVOLVED WITH IS THAT SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE CAN BE EXPECTING AND LOOKING FORWARD TO?

(Alice Guala) Yeah why not?

(Blake Cornwall) Yeah it was super rewarding doing ‘Stop The Party’ and having people actually turn up. Like, doing a music video is quite laborious so having people willing to do that is mindblowing.

(Alice Guala) Even just making a video about live shows and stuff like that which is an integral part to the Malice experience I think will be cool, so yeah definitely we’ll love that.

(Blake Cornwall) We’ll probably look at doing Discord meet ups and stuff at some point, even if it’s not music videos, just ways of engaging with everyone, because everyone in the Discord is like a bunch of mates, it’s just such a nice feeling knowing that that’s there. Yeah we’ll do more I reckon.

THAT HAS BEEN BLAKE AND ALICE FROM LAKE MALICE AND THIS HAS BEEN A HIVE INTERVIEW. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING PART IN IT AND I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU GUYS UP ON STAGE.

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