West Indian Girl Meets FilAm diva
By Nickee V. de Leon
Asianjournal.com
The LA Times describes their music as “artfully-layered dream pop.”
Los Angeles-based West Indian Girl is a sextet musical collective that began as a one-time studio duo. The group is composed of six exemplary artists which include Robert James (vocals and guitar), Francis Ten (bass), Mariqueen Maandig (vocals and percussion), Mark Lewis (drums and backing vocals), Nathan Van Hala (keyboards) and Amy White (keyboards and backing vocals).
Combining guitar riffs with synthesized and exotic tunes, WIG’s music is rhythmical and harmonious. WIG released their sophomore disc, 4th and Wall in late 2007. The album is their much-anticipated first release for Milan (Emilie Simon, Lisa Gerard).
To Die in LA is perhaps the most catchy track of the album, but one remains undecided as a flurry of other equally dreamy, melodic tunes allure your eardrums.
Robert James describes 4th and Wall as “their hidden sanctuary. It’s an old warehouse surrounded by a humble community of homeless people living in cardboard boxes and tents. They’re our captive audience, listening to us every night in the rain, cold and sweltering heat. We play for them as much as we play for ourselves. It’s the place where we conjure up spirits and manifest visions — visions of a better place.”
The West Indian Queen
“Bolstered by the gorgeous presence and phenomenal range of Mariqueen, West Indian Girl takes its spirited live show to a level few acts can rival,” states West Indian Girl’s official website about the vivacious Filipina.
Mariqueen Maandig did not disclose her age during the interview with the Asian Journal (AJ), but from the perky sound of her voice, one can already tell that she is brimming with youthful enthusiasm. In fact, her passion for singing and the drive to hone her craft was what pretty much got her foot on West Indian Girl’s door.
“I was living in Orange County and I was working in a really, really uninspiring computer job,” she lamented.
“A good friend of mine was asking me, I was just going through a rough patch in my life and you can tell that I’m unhappy. She asked me what I did and I told her that I sang and that I went to fashion school. She attempted to get me a job in a recording company and she was good friends with Francis, and she introduced me to Francis. I met him at a bar in Hollywood.”
Mariqueen remained in contact with Francis and went to West Indian Girl’s first show in Orange County. “After I saw that first show, Francis came up to me and I told him that they needed me. There was no way that that band could move forward without me in it,” she asserted. “I went to their studio a couple days later and played for them and that was it,” she further narrated.
Being a part of WIG felt natural for the perky Mariqueen. “ It’s a huge part of my life. I don’t even know how to feel about it, because I can’t really imagine my life without it. It’s like a vital organ,” she said with much thought.
Dreamy and psychedelic
When asked how she would classify WIG’s music, Mariqueen said that she did not want to pigeonhole their music and felt that it’s pretty universal. “It crosses over so many different genres, we are fortunate enough to play with [a diverse group of bands like] My Morning Jacket or Jason Mraz. We sound very dreamy and light and it’s very psychedelic,” she stated.
Mariqueen described 4th and Wall as simple, with no frills nor drama. “It’s where we rehearse and record and we’ve been working on our record for two and a half years and I feel that all the time we spent there affected the sound of the whole album.” She said that each member made a list of potential names for the album and that 4th and Wall did not come up on anyone’s list.
“I was just looking outside of the window at our rehearsal space and I said let’s just name it 4th and Wall,” Mariqueen recounted. “4th and Wall is very theatrical and we thought it was really fitting,” she further added.
AJ asked Mariqueen which track in 4th and Wall was her personal favorite. “You know what, it changes every week,” she laughed.
Pure and unadulterated
Asked about WIG’s foremost influences in creating their music, Mariqueen said that she believes that the members of WIG influence each other.
“When we create music, we don’t come in with a sound. It’s just someone starts playing something, and we just start jamming on a song and we create the barebones of a song and then we [start] tracking it or recording it. That’s when we put the final touches. Honestly, I can’t say that any real outside source influences our music. It’s just us as a collective.”
Mariqueen cited Nine Inch Nails and Portishead as some of her personal favorite bands.
WIG for KCRW
AJ asked Mariqueen how she felt after WIG got airplay in KCRW. Their album was subsequently named CD of the month.
“It’s such an honor. KCRW is such a tastemaker establishment and everything that they put out gets so much respect. It just really feels so good for them to embrace the album… It’s one of the coolest experiences that I’ve had so far,” she replied.
Being Pinay
Mariqueen was born in Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines but moved to the US when she was four years old.
Her parents speak Tagalog, Visayan, Spanish and English but thought against teaching Mariqueen any other language besides English so that she would not acquire the accent that comes with learning Visayan or Tagalog.
“I feel kinda sad about the fact that I can’t speak [those languages]. But if anybody were to say anything in front of me in either Tagalog or Visayan, I can understand everything that they say, I just can’t speak it,” she confessed.
Mariqueen described her upbringing as very family-oriented. Her mother has a big family, with seven siblings who all had more than one child. Her father also belonged to a family with seven kids. Even if she was an only child, Mariqueen grew up with a lot of cousins, aunts and uncles.
“You know how Filipinos are. You don’t even have to be blood-related and you would consider someone your aunt, your tita, your tito,” she quipped.
“I come from a very musical and loving environment. I grew up with the same Filipino values like always be respectful. [ I also grew up] very strict Catholic, I went to Catholic school all my life. But I’m still an American woman. I think I got a good balance of Filipino and American culture and I’m very lucky,” she added.
Mariqueen admitted that she’s not very fond of Filipino food. However, Magnolia mango ice cream is her all-time favorite with banana turon as a close second. She said that she even eats turon and ripe mangoes with rice.
Mariqueen advises aspiring young FilAm musicians to keep believing in themselves and to do what they hold dear and not to conform to anything. “Be true to yourself and really believe in what you do. Always practice your craft and just keep trying.”
