Should be no secret by now that Mal Fantome is one of my favorite independent bands around right now. Scratch that, you can take out the “independent” tag, you can just go with one of my favorite bands around, period. Their sound is captivating. It’s so “vibey,” yet it possesses what I can only describe as a subtle intensity. The listening experience has you buzzing to a solid groove while the vocal delivery has an amazing way of drawing you in, and have you hanging on every word. Alas, it’s not only their sound that’s great, it’s the overall aesthetic. Mal Fantome is a band that when you listen to the music and watch the videoes they produce, it all comes together perfectly. The vibe, the visuals,it all culminates into a polished, distinct, brand of artistry. You can tell that they approach the project meticulously from every aspect of their music, and I love that. I guess you could say – I’m no stranger to the “Mal Fandom.” Ha! Get it? Dad jokes. For days.
I had the privilege of previewing Mal Fantome‘s new music video for their upcoming single “Broken to Pieces” earlier this week, and I’m so happy to share it with you today on the AMS blog. Everything I described before and more with this one. The The Afghan Whigs influence really shines through on this one I think, but overall, as always, it’s nothing short of signature Mal Fantome. The imagery of an “astronaut” wandering through the forest is really slick, cool imagery. The song’s hook, “you’re broken to pieces, thousands of pieces….” is so catchy, I’ve been singing it repeatedly in my head for the last week. The low end on this production is smashing, it’s well deserving of a listener to put it on their best speakers. Just tasty. Or as my friends in the Only The Host community would muse, it’s “Crispy.”
“Broken to Pieces” goes LIVE May 2nd (Thursday) at Noon Eastern (EST) – 9AM Pacific (PST):
Here’s a fantastic idea, how about after watching the premier, you read a little bit about the debut of this release and of things in store for the band via Lead Singer/ Guitarist Chuck? Great! Check out the Q&A …
Chuck! You’re awesome man, thanks for taking my questions. What Mal Fantome song would be played at your funeral? What’s your swan song?
Hard question but ‘My Heavy Soul’ from the HOT EP might be the one. I can’t pick one song as a favourite but for my funeral, if I ever get one, that might be a good choice.
Who’s involved with your video production? It is so cool
We’re all involved in the video production but I must say that Jack our bassist and Mal Fantome’s co-founder usually takes the lead and Marc, our second guitarist, is the guy who does all the work to produce them. A very talented and patient guy, you should see him work. For my part and Ike, our drummer, our role is secondary. We are part of the team, of course, but we are not as involved as Jack and Marc. By the way, these two have been working together for more than 25 years. They developed a great chemistry and you can feel it in all of Mal Fantôme’s identity.
What’s next, when is this thing coming out and what are the plans for release?
‘Broken to Pieces’ is the second single from our upcoming new EP (June 6, 2024). The EP will be called ‘VACANCY’ and is the companion to the ‘HOT’ EP released last year. We will be releasing our third album in fall 2024. It will be called ‘LOVE HOTEL’, you see the theme here? For our 3rd album, as we did with the two EPs, we invited musicians we loved listening to over the years. You’ll find guys like Roger Joseph Manning Jr (Jellyfish, Cheap Trick, Beck, Blink182, etc.), Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star, R.E.M., etc.), Trent Williamson (INXS, Elton John) and a few others, joining us throughout our EPs and next album. To us it is a way to challenge ourselves and raise the bar. We really think this pushed us being better.
Any lessons learned? What advice would you give other independent artists these days.
Never take yourself too seriously. Be humble and appreciate the little things. The little things are often what makes the difference in the end.
How do you feel about AI?
Scary. Amazing. Game changing. If we talk about AI’s impact on music I am not sure I like where we’re heading. As amazing AI could be, at this time, all it does is generate content from what already exists. I have played with it and got really amazed and concerned at the same time. I believe a lot of artists won’t write songs anymore and will just be very good prompters. As for me personally I don’t have any interest to work with AI for our music. To me it kills all the fun and challenge of putting music and words together to create a song. I like imperfections in music and art, I like to feel the artist take on something. I may be out of fashion but I believe there will always be a place for music and art done by human beings. I might be wrong but I sure hope I’m not.
Call out another independent artist, who’s another independent artist you admire
I have the chance of having a day job that allows me to listen to a lot of music. I discover new artists every week so this is a very difficult question. I can say that in the last few weeks, I discovered an artist by the name of ‘Map of Autumn that I really like. They have great songs, very emotional. Great guitars… everything I like.
What notable things about this release would you like people to know about?
‘Broken to Pieces’ is one of the songs of our next EP and will also be part of ‘LOVE HOTEL’, our upcoming third album. We’ve been inspired by albums such as ‘The Head on the Door’ by The Cure in the sense that the album captures many sides of the band, each song being unique but still coherent to one another. It’s really a classic Mal Fantôme song with a voodoo twist. This song wasn’t considered until Marc insisted this was a good one and deserved to be completed. He was right.
ALWAYS so good hearing from you Chuck, thanks for sharing your video with AMS Radio and best of luck with this fantastic release.
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