I’m sitting down at ArcTanGent with the incredible Amaya López-Carromero, poetic in nature and well versed in her craft. We chat her creative process and her alter-ego project Maud The Moth. Amaya is also the front-woman in the band Healthyliving and an all round creative delight.
Natasha: What is your favourite part of the creative process? Writing, rehearsing, recording or performing?
Amaya: I personally love writing. To me, nothing really tops that and that is why I do music. That moment of getting hit by this random idea that sometimes just takes over and you have this massive urge to explore that world a bit more, you start pulling from this thread and then suddenly things sonically start happening. I’m someone who’s very focused on lyrics and words as well. I find that part of it very soothing and it makes me kind of cope with life. So yeah, I really love writing.
So soothing and cathartic as well, during your Maud The Moth set I was just blown over, it was so beautiful. And it was so busy!
Yeah, I was actually really impressed. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work because we were on yesterday as well (with Healthyliving), and today we were on quite early, so I was like – I’m not sure there’s going to be anybody here, but then we just went on stage and it was absolutely packed. And I mean, I was a bit busy pressing buttons and doing power poses on piano stools, but I felt like it just kept getting more and more full and every time I looked, it was like just more people at the sides into the field.
So packed! What’s a song or project you’re particularly proud of and why?
I’m particularly proud of the last Maud The Moth album (The Distaff). It took quite a lot to get there and Maud The Moth has been a project that I’ve had since I was almost a child. It’s been my journaling, my alter ego and not in a fantasised world, but more in a metaphorical sense, trying to make sense of the world through symbolism and light.
Amazing, that’s so interesting.
Thank you, I feel like, you know, it’s gone through multiple iterations, and it’s got through multiple stages and I feel like this album finally managed the difference between what I imagined and what I was hoping to achieve. And actually, playing that really long song, ‘Despeñaperros’ at ArcTanGent is a particular highlight.
It sounded fantastic, people had tears in their eyes
Thank you, to do it live, to do everything with no click track, it was a pretty big exercise in concentration from everybody who was playing, you know, to communicate while you’re performing because you just have to look at the other musicians and you have to be going along together.
That’s cool, delve more into that?
Yes! So, I normally do live looping, so I hit the looper and then I loop layers, so the backing vocals are all done live and then there are some samples that we extracted from the album which we’ll then trigger. Even those ones aren’t really to a click, so you just have to listen to the sample and then play to the sample. And three people, three people have to do that, and we were initially not very sure whether this was going to work or not, and you’re doing it live so there’s a risk… But then then the magic of it all and the adrenaline really comes through into the excitement, and it worked. I’m really proud of that, and not just of myself – of everyone on stage, they all did so well.
I love that for you! Speaking of other musicians what’s a band that’s in your scene that you look up to?
I could mention a lot and for very different reasons. Someone that I’m permanently fascinated by is Elaine Otayoni, who used to have a band called Elizabeth Colourwheel. She’s living in Berlin, and every time I check her stuff out, she’s done something new, and I find it incredible how productive she is. I find her whole creative and artistic practise just really inspiring.
Oh nice, I’m going to check her out after the interview. What inspires you outside of music when you hit a creative block?
Actually, creative blocks are something that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit because I don’t really believe in creative blocks per se, or I mean – I do believe in them. They are real. But I think they’re mostly the result of self-doubt. So, when you start creating, you are also judging what you’re making and I think it is very important to be able to separate the two to create or write without any kind self-awareness.
Yeah, don’t judge yourself.
Yes, exactly. And then there has to be an editing process that comes later anyway. So, I feel like the best thing initially is to get rid of that self-judgement, which I’m definitely not very good at. It helps me to do other stuff like for example, I’ll go for a walk when I’m when I’m focused on writing and I’m trying to work on music.
Yeah, it’s that thing where you have that advice growing up of do some exercise, it’ll help, and then you begrudgingly do it and your brain goes ‘oh, my God, it actually works’!
Yes! For me, I don’t really have the attention span to do yoga on a daily basis unless I’m in a class, but I do yoga before I go on stage, because otherwise I cannot use my brain.
That’s a good ritual!
Yeah, I just do 20 minutes to half an hour of just like, stretching and yoga. I also have these practical lists where I will write down literally everything I need to do, like check for this thing, check for this other thing, is this thing on, be careful about this thing you might up trip over here. So, it’s this kind of small encyclopaedia that I have to read to make sure that I don’t miss anything out.
That’s a good life hack right there. Where do you see your music going in the next year or even the next five years?
Earlier in the year I had a day in Visconti Studio with some incredible composers and we did a bit of an improv session. We’re now working on that material to get something released, hopefully. And then I’m also working on a few bits and bobs from Maud The Moth that’s a bit different to The Distaff, so I might release a single. I have a tour in October as well in Spain that I’m going to be doing as a duo, so it’ll be me and Scott playing, and then I have some shows with Healthyliving as well. We’re playing Soul Crusher in like a month in the Netherlands too. So, yeah, quite a lot of stuff. I guess I don’t really have, like such long-term plans. I found that careers in music are really unpredictable. You can’t really have a plan. I’m trying to make it a bit more sustainable for me as an artist and I guess make my life a bit less stressful. I guess that would be my goal for the next 5 years to be able to do that!
And that’s what’s important at the end of the day, have an outline idea but be happy.
Yes that’s what matters overall
Okay, what’s been the most memorable moment on stage so far?
That ArcTanTent set was pretty epic – to get to perform these songs, you know, with other people playing my music as well with the full tonal and sound range of the album, was pretty incredible. Also playing Roadburn, because I looked up to that festival for so many years and then I got to play there; I played in this room, which was completely dark. I was there on stage, I performed completely alone, and people were just quiet for the whole set. 40 minutes I played, and it was like a definitive before and after point in my life as an artist.
Oh, that that’s beautiful, a turn of the page.
Yes, and when I came off the stage the first thing I saw while I was still holding my gear were Have A Nice Life, which is one of my favourite bands, and they were playing a secret show, and I just ran into them – it was such a fun moment.
There’s so much magic at festivals! So what advice would you give to anyone looking to go into playing music professionally?
Never forget why you are doing it and don’t get lost in the whole social media, politics, music industry stuff. Music has to come first and self-expression and uniqueness has to come first. Always make time to remember and enjoy the music that you’re playing and the output that you’re creating.
That’s really beautiful, I love that – thank you. And last question, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
Oh my God haha someone asked me this before and I said birds and they told me that’s cheating. I really like those really big ones, are they called Diplodocus?
Haha yeah, they’re pretty massive!
I think those are very cute. I do really like dinosaurs. I think they’re great, I like animals.
Have you watched ‘The Land Before Time’?
Oh yeah! I watched it when I was a child, but in Spanish it was called something else. I loved it. I think that’s why I like Diplodocus, forever in my mind.
- Follow Maud The Moth on Instagram | bandcamp | Facebook | YouTube
- Follow Healthyliving on Instagram | bandcamp | Facebook | YouTube