Hailing from all points on the globe (Texas, Australia, Jamaica), the Brooklyn-based ladies represent New York City’s convergence of cultures as they subtly cull their broad range of influences into a tasty indie-pop blend of ethereal beats and saucy lyrics. After meeting through mutual friends, MyM.O.formed in 2008 and started regularly playing live shows on the NYC circuit. Erika Buestami aka Enki is a singer and rapper from Australia, who handles lead vocals and bass. Katy Walkeris a veteran DJ, originally from Texas, who plays keys, contributes vocals and produces their songs. Dion Mac is a Jamaican-born rocker, who shreds guitar and adds to the medley of vocals.
The band is making waves with their second release, the full length album, Bonfire, which dropped in August and last summer’s Monkey Remix EPout on Unemployable Music. Their music video for “Monkey” and “Bonfire Man” directed by Joel Mejia, who also plays in the live band, exemplifies their talent for creating their own elaborate music videos. When performing live, they are a five-piece act, playing shows on the NYC circuit. Examiner.com caught up with the three ladies of My M.O. at their home in Brooklyn to chat about the group’s newest album.
Being such different musicians and performers from such different places in the world how do you feel you were able to come together with such cohesion musically?
Katy: It really was trial and error to get onto the same page but at the same time we all contribute different things. We all clicked really quickly but we just weren’t sure how to go about it. We all produced our own tracks and we had all these different instruments and we like all different kinds of music. The challenge was to find music that was really in finding music that we resonated with all at the same time. For bonfire we did a lot of experimenting with the sounds after we were all musically in synch which kickstarted the whole process.
Was it a long process working on this album as a result of all the experimentation?
Dion: We took about two years to put it together. It was that period of time that allowed our skills to develop our sound to a tighter and more experimental sound. By the time we were done we had become more open to taking chances while having fun with it at the same time.
Erika: We are all individually musically driven so when we come together we have so many great ideas. We set our own time limits. We set our own pace. We made plans and we stuck by them. Since we were doing it without a label we could set our own pace and spend as much time as possible on each song in order to get it right. We had full control of how we wanted to sound.
Do you think taking the DIY approach made things better?
K: We felt really free to do what we wanted. When you have other people involved sometimes they try and turn you in different directions than you want. The three of us already know what we want to do. We know what kind of sound we are after because we discovered it on our own which is really powerful.
Have you given thought yet to a follow-up to Bonfire?
D: Definitely! We actually have tracks that we have written and put aside as part of our process. Next time out we will definitely be drawing from that vault.
Can you talk to us a little about how you view the Brooklyn music scene where you are based? Is it challenging being an all female group in that environment?
K: I think it is a very interesting time in the sense that there are so many people crossing genres. It is really inspiring. I have been influenced by successful artists who live right around the corner. We are really unique on the scene. It’s really rare to have a band that is an all-female trio who are running the show.
E: We work hard to connect with as many other bands as possible because we don’t fit easily into any one category. We’re not really Indie rock and we have such a great multi-cultural turn out at our shows despite what the “sound of Brooklyn” right now is. We just try to connect with people the best way we can: through the music.
D: Speaking out is a good thing. Being an all- female independent trio who write, produce and play our own music is an incredible thing. The respect is there and I am sure people will look at that and really admire it as well as be into it because the sound is so unique.
Comments