MOИK

Interview With MOИK

SBS:  Welcome to our pages!  Whether you’ve been here with us in some way before, or you’re brand-new to the site, it’s probably best to get an introduction from you so that we get everyone on the same page to start.  Tell us a little bit about the history of your music, and what’s happening with it lately!?!

MOИK:  I’m MOИK, a visual artist turned music producer from Los Angeles.  I used to work in film — specifically as a digital compositor with a background in visual effects and motion graphics.  After the COVID pandemic hit, I lost my job.  Lost my girlfriend.  And then I lost my little brother to suicide.  Music wasn’t just therapy — it was survival.

I started learning to make beats during lockdown.  If I’m allowed to namedrop, I want to thank Bad Snacks, Decap, Reid Stefan, Underbelly, L.Dre, and my good friend mentalEscape.  They’re true givers of knowledge and have all leveled me up into the artist I am today.

Just this week, I finished two new EPs — DETH and LI6HT.  The first drops on Halloween 2025 and is based on my time working in the deathcare industry.  After my brother died, I took a job picking up bodies for a funeral home.  I saw things I’ll never forget.  DETH EP is about that darkness — and more.
LI6HT is the other side of that story.  A love for life, second chances, and finding peace.

SBS:  Let’s talk about the before and after of where you’re currently at.  What’s something about the music that you’re making now that you don’t think you could have done five years ago, and what’s something you think you’ll be able to do with your music five years from now that you can’t do today?  How have you grown as an artist/band, and what steps do you take to continue your artistic evolution?

MOИK:  Five years ago, I was grieving, numbing, and fumbling with 808s trying to find meaning.  Now I make music with intention — concept albums, vocal layering, mixing, mastering — all done solo.  I even use AI to help bring characters like Azul to life.  She’s now the Aaliyah to my Timbaland.

In five years?  I want to produce animated music videos to go with each release.  I’m not just making songs anymore — I’m building mythologies.

SBS:  If you were to assess the overall health of the independent music scene right now, what would you say?  What are the positives and the negatives about the current state of independent music, and what do you feel like artists & bands can do to contribute to the community & help it grow beyond the music being made?  If you’re not actively looking to listen to the music of other independent artists/bands, is it really all that fair to expect anyone would listen to yours?  How do you help the scene around you grow?

MOИK:  The independent scene is both thriving and suffocating.  There’s more music than ever — but the algorithms are gatekeepers now.  I think the best way to contribute is by engaging with other artists off the timeline — real feedback, real collabs, not just fire emoji comments.

If you don’t support others, don’t expect support.  I try to support other artists the way I wish I’d been supported.  I don’t chase trends or popularity, but I root for artists who are vulnerable and honest.  That’s where the real music lives.

SBS:  What do you consider to be the biggest accomplishment or achievement you’ve had with your music to-date?  How do you personally measure your own success – is that something that even can be measured?  Is it awards, accolades, chart position…or is your definition of success based on something entirely different?  Should success, however you define it, be something that artists are continually focused on – or is success something that naturally occurs in the course of doing what you love to do?

MOИK:  Honestly, hearing my mom say she’s proud of me after listening to my song “N4TURAL” meant more than any chart position ever could.  My brother never got to hear my music, so every track I make is like sending a postcard to the afterlife.

Success, for me, is creating something that feels like it was meant to exist — and knowing it touched even one soul deeply.  Everything else is noise.

SBS:  When you’re working on something brand-new, and something about it just doesn’t feel like it’s coming together the way that you think it should, how do you know when it’s time to give up on it, or how do you know that it’s time to dig in even harder and find a way to make it work?  Are there distinct red flags you can hear when something’s not working?  What are the signs you look for that tell you to stop forcing the material?  What would actually encourage you to keep going with the process instead?

MOИK:  “Love is like a fart. If you have to force it… it’s probably shit.”

But if a beat or lyric haunts me even when I step away — that’s when I know it’s worth finishing.  Sometimes the song isn’t ready because I’m not ready.  I’ve learned to trust silence.  If it doesn’t come from truth, it doesn’t come out at all.  But when it does — it’s beautiful.

SBS:  One of the points of general consensus in the art of making music, is that we all get our sound from somewhere…we hear what we like, then more often than not, we take tiny pieces of what we love to find our own voice & approach to go on and make music in our own way.  Essentially, what I’m saying is that it’s absolutely natural to be inspired by other artists/bands, and almost every artist/band ends up having that inspiration show up in their own work in some way, shape, or form.  What the real key is though, is retaining your own organic perspective – you still wanna be original too, right?  So how do you go about doing that?  Are there artists or bands that you know have been an influence on your style & sound?  How were you able to incorporate that influence without becoming too noticeably derivative and still be yourself?  Should we embrace and celebrate our influences more than we do?  It’s almost like we try not to admit influences exist in the pursuit of being original, but it’s like, bruh…if it’s there, we can hear it.  We all borrow something from those that came before us to some extent, don’t we?

MOИK:  I started DJing at backyard parties and underground raves in the ’90s when I was about 15.  I still have my old House, Hardcore, Rotterdam, and Gabber vinyl.  I also played bass in a Metal/Punk band during high school.  I grew up in East L.A. during the golden era of Hip-Hop and fell in love with Reggae after a trip to Hawaii.

That unique musical DNA helps keep me original.  It’s all in there.

SBS:  Has there ever been a time where you wrote something inside one of your songs…maybe it’s a lyrical line, or maybe it’s a riff of some kind…something that you did, where you surprised yourself?  I like to think we all have a moment or two where we can stand back and be amazed by something we created, and appreciate the fact that maybe, just maybe, we exceeded our own expectations of what we thought we could accomplish – you know what I mean?  Get as specific as you can so the fans out there know what they should be paying attention to when they hear it – what’s your favorite thing that you’ve written on the inside of one of your songs, and why does this particular piece resonate so much to you?

MOИK:  Yeah — writing “PE4CE” caught me off guard.  It was my first real attempt at a rap verse, and I actually wrote the first half years ago.  But the second half…that took life experience.  I couldn’t finish it until I’d lived through more loss, more healing.

When it finally came together, I realized I wasn’t just rhyming — I was revealing.  That’s when I knew I’d crossed into something deeper.

SBS:  I’ve been having a lot of great debates lately about whether or not everybody that’s making music has the right to be heard…and you’d probably be surprised by how different people seem to feel about this issue.  I know where I stand on it, and I think you can all probably get an idea of what my position would be from this free interview we’re doing here & the way we run things at sleepingbagstudios…but regardless, I’m putting this question out there to you, because I’m interested in YOUR perspective.  Just because you’ve made a song, does that mean people should listen?  If your answer is yes, do your best to explain why you feel that way & why we should make a sincere effort to listen to the music of others.  If your answer is no, explain why you feel that way, but also explain why people should still be listening to your music if that’s the case – what would make your music the exception, and not follow the rule?  Is there any value to an idea that’s not finished, or a song in its demo stages, or maybe something that’s not recorded in a top-shelf studio or with good equipment – somebody still took the time to make that song to the best of their ability with the means they had to create it – should that be listened to, or not?

MOИK:  No — but every honest voice deserves a chance.  Not everyone is entitled to an audience, but when someone puts their soul into a track, it earns at least one good listen.

Music used to be sacred — an experience, not just content.  Now it’s background noise in a playlist shuffle.  I come from a time when you sat with an album front to back like a film, reading every lyric like scripture.  That ritual is fading, and I want to bring it back — for the ones who still feel something.

SBS:  There are ups and downs in the dynamics of almost every album we listen to, with very few exceptions.  Even those exceptions, probably still come down to more of a personal preference about what we enjoy about music and how we personally hear it, rather than anything being completely and totally “perfect” – you know what I mean?  Does an album actually need to have some kind of up/down dynamics in terms of what’s appealing to the masses in order for the best of the best songs in a lineup to be fully appreciated?  Wouldn’t every artist & band avoid the ‘down’ side (less accessible/less popular for example) if they could?  Does the ‘down’ side represent something else perhaps, like the story of an album or journey of an artist?  Is the ‘up’ side of a record as potent or noticeable if it doesn’t have a ‘down’ side to go with it?  Would a completely balanced album somehow be boring if it didn’t have the ups/downs that most have?  Do we HAVE to like every single song on a record for it to be considered complete?  Are the dynamics of an album something anyone can really steer in the direction they want to, or are all artists & bands simply going with the strongest material they have created at the time?

MOИK:  Absolutely.  Peaks don’t mean anything without valleys.  My upcoming releases DETH and LI6HT are mirrors of each other — pain and healing.  Loss and love.

An album is a story.  The “down” tracks are usually where the truth hides.  The “up” tracks are how you dance through the pain.  Without both, it’s just a playlist — not a journey.

SBS:  I wanna send out a shout-out to YOU from me personally – I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to talk tunes with me throughout the years, and I appreciate the time YOU have taken with this interview too.  Because this one’s a little different in the sense that it’s been sent out to multiple people and is a little more generic in that regard, I have no doubt whatsoever that we probably didn’t get to talk to you about something you wanted to talk about – so let’s fix that!  This final space is what we call the SBS Open Floor – a spot where you can say anything else you want to say to the people out there.  It can be anything at all…your main websites…something else you want them to know about you and/or your music…your favorite bands in the scene right now…the secret 11 herbs and spices to the Colonel’s secret recipe – you get the idea, and it’s probably best you choose something that suits you rather than take any of my suggestions, but feel free to take the SBS Open Floor for a ride.  Whatever it is you want the people to know, now is the prime time for you to tell’em!  Thanks again for everything – keep in touch!

MOИK:  Protect your peace.  Do what you love.  Love your life.
Thank you for listening.  https://monk.wtf

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