Malina Moye interview

She’s a singer, songwriter, record label founder, and oh by the way, a guitar virtuoso who plays upside down left handed. Malina Moye talks entrepreneurship as an art form, the science of playing lefty, and more in our Beatweek interview…

I’m left handed myself, so it’s nice to see someone playing a guitar in a way that looks normal to me.

That’s so crazy, because when I was younger I remember my dad was like, “Malina, okay, you’re going to play the guitar” and he gave me obviously a right handed guitar, he’s right handed, and he gave it to me how a right handed player would play. And I was like, I don’t get it. So when he would leave the room I would take the guitar, slip it upside down, and then I was like “this feels right.” Then I just started doing the chords, and he’s like, “That’s backwards, you can’t play like that.”

So you’re not restrung, you’re just playing it upside down.

Oh yeah. Even with my customs and my signature, this is what’s so crazy. I have the left handed body, I do a right handed headstock, and then I have it strung backwards. So even with a righty guitar, if we were to go jam tomorrow, no biggie, I just take your guitar, flip it upside down and start playing. The high E is closer to me, so everything is backwards.

It’s the kind of thing that some people would incorrectly refer to as a gimmick, as if you had surgery just so you could be left handed. Does it cut both ways, where some people tend to overfocus on it?

Imagine you go into your soundcheck. You’re a girl, which I think is the first thing. As a woman, there are not a lot of female players. And I think that when you’re a woman and you go to your soundcheck and you’re just like all in your jeans and whatever, and you get to the stage and your guitar tech hands you your guitar, it never fails. The guitar tech will hand you your guitar, and then I’ll put it on, and I promise you, everybody in the room they take a big gulp, like, does she really even play or what? And then as soon as you fit the first few riffs, they come over and start giving you hugs, swear to god. And then they go “oh my god that’s crazy, I haven’t seen a girl play guitar like that, oh my god you’re left handed.”

Why did you end up starting your own label?

Here’s the thing. I think that just from being in so many different situations, seeing so many other deals and seeing how you can sign a deal and you’ll get stuck, you’ll sit for three years and then this A&R will get fired, and then you’re here. For me it became more like man, here I am writing over at this label, I’m over at Sony, I’m writing but Beyonce’s album is next, Jessica Simpson’s album is next, and then it’s kind of, okay, where’s the Malina Moye record? But it’s like you’ve got to get in the little line and just keep going and stay at that level, and eventually your turn will happen.

But I guess in my heart, I started to go man, this is crazy. I mean I feel like this is a good record. I feel like I have a grasp of what I think good music is. This is what moves my soul. This is what I want to do. So that’s why I was like, you know what? Let’s put the label together. I ended up cross marketing a single with a calendar, that got more press, next thing I know I got investors involved and put another record together. That one got us out on the charts. More investors came into place.

Most musicians I encounter are terrible at the business side of things and they pay other people just to handle that for them. Why do you think that’s been different for you?

I think that if you have a talent and you can make a lot of money, there are going to be tons of handlers around you, but you must have a grasp on what is real and you must have a vision. I think, for me, I always wanted to be like the Michael Jacksons, like the Madonnas, people who literally impact our music and bring these changes. And with the research and the reading that I’ve done, you start to see that a lot of these people, they were instrumental in their careers, and they would say to people, “I want this, this, this, and this.” You put people in places and positions so that you know this person can do this, this, and this.

I look at it like if I were in high school. If you want to be the most popular girl in high school, you’re gonna put yourself more than likely with the most popular people. And when the happens, you start to look at, okay, this person is like this, this, and this, and you need to fill those gaps in. Because now you’ve got to be crazy to see how the internet is, look how it’s changed the music industry. People are saying that in the next couple years, look at Wyclef, he got on the stage at the Grammys, and he was like, if you want to even say that we have labels anymore.

A lot of artists are now starting to realize, hey, they were telling you certain things, but you can really learn to do this yourself. If you can play that instrument, and that takes a lot to do that, or sing, surely you have to know what you want to do and where you want to be. Now a lot of people may not know how to get there, but again, you’re gonna find those people to help you get there.

Learn more at MalinaMoye.com • iTunes • MySpace • Facebook • Twitter

About Bill Palmer

Bill Palmer is Editor in Chief of Beatweek Magazine. His editorial contributions include interviews with musicians and iPhone industry coverage.