Malcognitas

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Rock / Gothic / Experimental
Honolulu, HI

YVONNE HARADA // guitar
ARA LAYLO // vocals
JACK TAWIL // drums
LORENZO TRINIDAD // bass

Story by Nick Krismunando and Amit Kalra

For the last month the general vibe I got around the island was pretty depressing.  I mean, 3 to 4 weeks of some serious rain will do that to anybody—believe me I’m from Seattle, I would know.  So if you were wondering where this dark and gloomy cloud was coming from, I can tell you it wasn’t from the NW, but came from right here in Honolulu.  The Malcognitas—a local band—spread their dark and melodic goth sound around the island for a ridiculous seven shows during the month of March, and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.  Might I suggest you keep your umbrellas handy.

After finishing their most demanding month of shows to date, The Malcognitas find themselves hard at work and keeping their regular routine of Sunday night practices.  After stumbling upon the band at Detox for the UH fashion benefit on March 22nd, we decided that we would like to get to know the band a little better.  Before the show at the Wave (see April 6th Review with Explore and At Sea) we were fortunate enough to sit down with the Malcognitas for a little get to know you in which we learned why this band really is the sexiest band in Honolulu.

KL: Did you guys all grow up here?

Yvonne: I think I’m actually the only one who was born and raised here.

Lorenzo: umm…I was  [Everyone laughs]

Yvonne: Oh ya of course, Lorenzo was…sorry!

Lorenzo: Technically Jack was born here too, but he was raised outside [Seattle].

Ara: I was born in the Philippines.

KL: We’ve heard a lot about bands that will move to the mainland for-

Ara: Notoriety? Oh ya, it’s a fact.  Go Jimmy Go, Jack Johnson [have] had the best success.  There are a lot of bands out there you know, and I realize that here.  We             don’t think that we’re the greatest band in the world.

Lorenzo: Ya, it’s funny because a lot of people here think that, you know we’re on an island secluded from everything else.  And I thought that too, that’s why I moved to San Francisco.  But while I was there I missed it as far as the things that you can’t really have in some big metropolitan city.

KL: So what’s missing there that you find here?

Lorenzo: The aloha spirit.

Ara: We’re not trying to be anything but musicians.  You’re kidding yourself if you think like, “This is the band, this is it and we’re gonna make it.” You’re gonna accept it, you’re a musician, the music comes and goes and hopefully you play with people that you love to play with.

Yvonne: Eveyone’s a musician. We’re just doing whatever we can.  I don’t think there’s musicians and non-musicians, we’re all musicians, we’re just doing it.

KL: What do you think of the scene in Hawai’i?

Jack: Personally, I really like it here. You can start a creative endeavor and see the whole thing through.  It’s really hard to do that in the mainland.  I’ve noticed here that the environment is very nurturing.  Sometimes it can be hard to find a venue to stage events, but at the same time there’s not quite as much… competition.

Lorenzo: Ya, the bands in our local scene are very supportive.  Also, in the mainland I remember where certain venues would only play certain genres. The metal bands would play here, and the punk bands will play there.  In our scene you’ll often go to a show and have a ska band, a punk band and a metal band.

Jack: The scene in Seattle was just like that, where you could go to a show and see all kinds of bands. It was very eclectic.

KL: Do you feel like there’s an audience for independent/underground music here as opposed to somewhere on the mainland?

Jack: It seems that when people here find out that there are actually shows and original bands, I’ve met a lot of people that are shocked.  It seems that it’s harder for people that aren’t from here or even ones that are from here to connect with the underground music scene.

Ara: It’s true. I remember when I played in Portland and people were like, “there’s bands in Hawai’i?  You guys can play instruments?” [Laughs]

Lorenzo: Ya, “Where’s your ukulele?” [Laughs]

KL: Have you been together for a while?

[All heads turn to Lorenzo]

Lorenzo: Oooookay. [Laughs] In October 2004, I had changed jobs and one day I walked into the art gallery I worked at and one of my friends at the time was there and she was listening to Interpol and I mentioned about wanting to start a band with that kind of sound for a long time.  She mentioned something about Jack, and immediately I called him.  We started to get together and trying to make some original music together, but at the time it was just us so we just spent time writing songs and tightening up the rhythm section.  Towards the end of the year, another mutual friend told us about Yvonne.  We met up with Yvonne and gave her some stuff that we had recorded.  It was right around Christmas so we took a break and after we came back, Yvonne joined us.

Ara: This was when I started getting irritated.  [Laughs]

Jack: Oh, this is interesting.  So your first, your very first feeling towards us-

Ara: I was pissed off! [Laughs]

Jack: Was jealousy.  You were jealous and anxious.

Ara: You would be too! [Laughs]  You stole her! [Laughs]

Lorenzo: When I first saw Ara, she was performing this Wham! song, and I was looking for a singer at the time but they just weren’t what I was looking for.  Then I saw Ara and was just like, “Oh my goodness!”

Ara: This one time, I didn’t go to practice [Laughs] then I show up and there’s this girl there! [Laughs]

Lorenzo: Well here’s the thing. So Yvonne is now with us…

Ara: I wasn’t taking it seriously at first.

Lorenzo: Yvonne comes up to me and says, “You know my friend Ara?” I was like, “I think I’ve heard that name before.”  Then she was like, “She was the one singing that Wham! Song.” I looked at her and said, “that’s your friend…get her in the band!”[Laughs]

Yvonne: Ya, so the story is she didn’t come to a couple of practices right?

Lorenzo: Right, we told her to come down to rehearsal and try out, and she never showed up and so we were like, “Okay I guess she’s not into it.” So on April 1st Ara finally walks in.

Ara: And there was another girl there!!

Lorenzo: Ya, since Ara wasn’t coming we called this other girl

Jack: The Replacement [laughs].  That’s the only acceptable word.

Lorenzo: Just as she was about to start, Ara Walks in.

Ara: I was like, “Uhhhhhh.” I felt so [poopy]!

Lorenzo: So I said to both of them, “Who wants to try first?”  Ara then gets up there and does her thing and the girl was like, “Wow, I don’t know if I can top that.” So basically, the Replacement felt outmatched and left. [Laughs] I think the next couple of months we flushed out a couple of new songs and on June 4th we played our first show. [Everyone applauses and laughs]

Jack: How do you remember all that stuff?

Lorenzo: I have a very good memory. I can remember all the way up until I was four years old.

Ara: Okay, we’re out of time here. [Laughs]

KL: Ya I think we’re running out of tape here. [Laughs] So what did you guys grow up listening to?

Jack: Well I was fortunate enough to grow up in a place with a strong local scene, and so mostly I listened to a lot of local bands, bands like Green River, The Melvins…

KL: Did you get to see Mother Love Bone?

Jack: Ya, actually I got to see one of their last shows before the singer died.

Ara: So what do you listen to now?

Jack: Our stuff. [Laughs]

Lorenzo: I’m the one in the band that listens to a lot of Goth.  A lot of old stuff like Bauhaus, and even newer bands…bands that you really have to be into the scene in order to really know.

KL: Do you still listen to a lot of that?

Lorenzo: Ya definitely, but when I was growing up I was fortunate enough to listen to all kinds of music. I’ve been exposed to a lot of pop, disco, jazz music because of my family.  When I was first getting into music, I was around 12 and I got into the whole Seattle band thing.  Then when I was in high school I got into ska, punk…ya, basically I listened to a lot of stuff.

Ara: Hello. [Ara then attempted to sabotage our mic to no avail. Okay so she didn’t do it on purpose]  My musical influences are…hmm…a lot of r&b influences…old school stuff, Sade, love me some Sade.  Basically, woman that I could look up to, women that had this really commanding voice.  Anita Baker was a really good example of that.  She didn’t have this typical woman voice; she had this really low and beautiful voice that I always wish I had when I was a kid.  Then I started listening to a lot of Everything But the Girl, Portishead, Massive Attack, a lot of that kind of stuff.  There’s a lot of that female stuff, you know, but Everything But the Girl and Portishead were really life changing.  If you listen to it, it’s just so beautifully sad, I love that.

Now I listen to a lot of different stuff…Black Candy…I’m listening to a lot of Goldfrapp right now…oh and the arctic…what’s that band? The arctic…the Arcade Fire, that’s right, [I] love them.

Lorenzo: I just realized I forgot to mentions two bands that are regularly in my rotation Evanescence and Lacuna Coil.  I love that stuff.

Ara. Lorenzo hates the Smiths!

Lorenzo: That’s right. It’s true.

Ara: It’s okay, cause I balance it off, I love The Smiths.

Lorenzo: Oh, another band I forgot to mention, the Swans, everyone should listen to them.

Yvonne: I grew up listening to Japanese talk-radio. [Laughs]

Ara: [in a sped up Japanese accent] Konichiwa! Konichiwa!

Yvonne: It wasn’t even J-pop.  I don’t know, that stuff mostly, and the more I grew up I started listening to more boy stuff, like metal and avant-garde stuff.  I was influenced a lot by the other band I was in with a lot of metal and crazy noise.

KL: What are your guilty pleasures?

Ara: ummm…what’s her name, Toni Gail?  You know that stuff, “Walking around naked…dut tu tu…just took a shower…doing a little dance with my robe…” [Laughs]  That’s my guilty pleasure.  Sorry. [Laughs]

KL: C’mon you guys, guilty pleasures…let it out.

Lorenzo: All I have to say—but first I will note that I have absolutely no guilt about it—I love pop music.  [Laughs] Whether it’s the classic stuff or the stuff that’s out now.  I think Christina Aguilera is absolutely fabulous.

Ara: And beautiful.

Lorenzo: Ya, that too.

Jack: Let’s see, present guilty pleasure or former…?

KL: Like stuff you’re embarrassed to listen to when you’re by yourself. [laughs]

Jack: Maybe when I was younger…uhhh…okay, I was really into Boy George.

Ara: [Fairy!] [Laughs]

Jack: See, exactly. [Laughs]

Ara: No, I was gonna say that no matter what you said. [laughs]

Eventually all eyes turn to Yvonne…

Yvonne: Okay, I do have a Debbie Davis album with me in my car.  [Laughs] New kids on the Block . [Laughs]

KL: Don’t they have some video where they’re running out in graveyards

Ara: That’s the new stuff. The NKOTB stuff. [Laughs]

KL: Hey man if it makes you feel any better, I totally had that culture club album. [laughs] Anyways, what would you like to see the Honolulu scene become?

Ara: Well, young people are finicky and they’re going to listen to what their friends listen to.  There are a few that have that need to find more progressive, more alternative, more edgy music.  The thing in Hawai’i is there is not enough events that are all ages and no smoking, no alcohol and it’s just about music.  I think in general most people don’t want to support music and the arts.  That’s everywhere not just Hawai’i.  If you don’t have a place or radio station that continually plays this kind of music, how is it going to get out? They’re just going to keep listening to what they’re listening to.

Lorenzo: I would like to see a renaissance of sorts where more mainland acts come down here, but also a lot of local bands are being supported by the general venues, especially all ages.  The teenage crowd, believe it or not are going to be your biggest supporters and can help create the hype for it.  It would help tremendously.

We owe the all age crowd a lot just for being able to play the amount of shows that we’ve been able to play.  I would like to see that continue for not only us but every other band out here as well.  [Head nod in unison]

KL: Okay, a couple more questions.  What does your name mean?

[Everyone laughs and looks at Lorenzo]

Lorenzo: Well it comes from the Latin words, ‘mal’ and ‘cognita’ and it refers to
the part of your mind that is often dangerous to even explore about yourself, but often that is what you have to do, tap into the dark side.  The malcognita can be many things to anybody, but the only way to find out what it is, is to ask yourself, “What is your malcognita?”

Ara: I haven’t been there. [Laughs]

Lorenzo: Everyone has one.

Ara: I wanted that to be our catch phrase, “What’s your malcognita?” Like, “Got Milk?”

KL: So where does the sexiest band thing come from?

Ara: Ohhhhh no…[laughs]

Jack: Ara’s tried so hard to get every trace of that stamped out.

Lorenzo: We’ve been stamped with it…without our knowing sometimes [laughs]

Jack: Wait a second. Lorenzo has this thing where he’ll call me up and be like, “Are you feeling sexy today?” My waking thoughts don’t usually involve that. If that’s how it started then it’s kind of cool.

Ara: Okay, there is us in the day time, which is this.  Then when we’re playing, it’s not us, it’s our malcognita.

Yvonne: I don’t know…it’s about the same. [Laughs]

Ara: Well for me, that’s not me, that’s somebody performing.  It’s like me x2. [Laughs]

Lorenzo: It’s funny tho that even before it got tagged on us, people would come up to us after our shows and be like, “That’s some sexy music.” [Laughs]

KL: So we should have the headline for the interview read “Sexy music for sexy people,” then. [Laughs]

Ara: No no no!

…Oops.