![\"89660019\"](\"\/\/media.wonderlandmagazine.com\/uploads\/2016\/06\/89660019.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOrange cotton ‘hardcore’ hoody by MISHBV, black cotton graphic print hoody by NICOPANDA, black and yellow lace dress by MULBERRY and red cotton graphic top by VIVIENNE WESTWOOD.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve created a universe that we inhabit that\u2019s very inclusive\u201d say Los Angeles-based queer-pop band MUNA. With positive female inclusivity at the heart of their message, friends Katie Gavin, Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin are the college grads fusing funk beats, synthpop and RnB with heart-racing, politically-infused lyrics.<\/p>\n With tracks such as \u201cLoudspeaker\u201d bringing their audiences to tears (in the best way possible), MUNA are set out to make their audiences feel as safe as possible, and to promote total acceptance. Expressing the difficulties of growing older through their track \u201cWinterbreak\u201d, where they write about \u201ctrying to make a home where there was once a home but there\u2019s no longer\u201d, they write about issues that everyone in that awkward not-a-teenager-but-not-an-adult stage can identify with.<\/p>\n Writing their \u201cThe Loudspeaker\u201d EP together as well as producing it (it was mixed by Dan Grech-Marguerat), MUNA tackle hard hitting topics whilst giving their audience space to be themselves. We met the trio at a North London studio ahead of their shoot to talk\u00a0about the vibe of the band, how they met, their support of fellow female musicians and coming full circle in the UK.<\/p>\n Can you tell me how you met and how MUNA started?<\/strong><\/p>\n Katie: We met in school, because we all went to USC \u2013 University of Southern California. I was a transfer student, so even though Josette is a year younger than me, I was in the same class as her. We both studied music, so we met on the first day of both of our schooling at USC. And then in the next semester I met Naomi in a class called African Diaspora.<\/p>\n Naomi: You always say what class, you\u2019re like \u2018and the class was called African Diaspora\u2019.<\/p>\n Katie: Because it\u2019s weirder to try and explain our majors. You told me I shouldn\u2019t say American Studies and Ethnicity. I studied Ethnic Studies, she studied African-American Studies, they overlap.\u00a0Anyway! we were just friends for a whole semester, and then we were pre-gaming before a party, and Naomi started playing guitar, and Josette heard her and was like \u2018we should jam\u2019, and then I invited myself, and \u2013 we all three play guitar, but I didn\u2019t want to have a three guitar jam session, and I had started spending more time on Ableton as of recent when this was occurring, so I sat down with my mini keyboard and started making a beat and a bassline, and then the first time we jammed we wrote a song and it kind of just kept going like that.<\/p>\n Red wool jumper by JOSEPH, black cotton blazer silver ring detail by ASHLEY WILLIAMS and black leather trousers STYLISTS OWN.<\/em><\/p>\n V organic then.<\/strong> That\u2019s really nice! \u2018We just jammed, and then we became a band\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n Josette: We wrote our first EP before even having a name. We just wrote these songs and then we just did it.<\/p>\n Is that this EP?<\/strong><\/p>\n Josette: No, it\u2019s a secret EP.<\/p>\n Katie: There was an experimental EP called “More Perfect” where we were really interested in the idea of it all being very<\/p>\n Josette: Organic<\/p>\n Naomi: Weird<\/p>\n Katie: Yeah, just unpolished and whatever we \u2013 the three of us \u2013 liked, because we all have so many different influences and such a wide range of music that interests us and inspires us. We were just like, let\u2019s just put it the fuck out on Bandcamp or whatever. And we actually got some press in the UK when we started putting stuff out, and that\u2019s kind of what made us realise like, oh, there\u2019s people that will take us seriously as musicians and creatives, and so that\u2019s why it\u2019s very special for us now, it\u2019s like full circle to come here. We were never here but we wanted to be.<\/p>\n You were here in music spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n Naomi: People here in the UK in general just get hip to music way faster than in the US. They know shit way before other people do.<\/p>\n Josette: Or they\u2019re more open to it.<\/p>\n Red cotton graphic top by VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, b<\/span>lack wool trousers by MCQ\u00a0<\/span>and black leather boots by DR MARTENS.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In your bio, you say MUNA is not just your friendship group, it\u2019s kind of a totally inclusive way of life. What do you mean by that?<\/strong><\/p>\n Naomi: I think that by being who we are we\u2019re trying to represent something positive and that sort of materialises in us feeling like we\u2019ve created a universe that we inhabit that\u2019s very inclusive? It\u2019s not that trippy \u2013 it\u2019s mostly just the idea that we make music, we do it all ourselves, the stories are real stories, there\u2019s nothing polished about it necessarily even though it sounds polished.<\/p>\n Josette: We want to create a space for our listeners to feel safe and feel like themselves, and be part of \u2013 at least for me, it\u2019s like how I feel around you guys is how I want other people to feel when they see us, and when they listen to us because I am myself when I\u2019m around you guys. I feel safe to be myself.<\/p>\n Naomi: I feel like there\u2019s no \u2013 aside from grime here and certain kinds of hip-hop in the US, there\u2019s no real music movement. I\u2019m so infatuated with the imagery and the culture of punk, and how radical that was politically, and how left of centre and out there that was, and I think that we kind of want to bring a little bit of that into pop music and pop culture and be a little bit like \u2018fuck you\u2019 about the way we live our lives, like unapologetic I guess.<\/p>\n Katie: You\u2019re being like MUNA when you\u2019re just shining \u2013 especially if you exist in a world where people may not always let you feel like you are the best at what you\u2019re doing, because there\u2019s someone else who\u2019s getting the credit or someone else who\u2019s getting the attention, it\u2019s like no, just believe in yourself so much that \u2013 and if you have a small squad of people who really know that you\u2019re the best at what you do then that\u2019s the only thing that really matters to us. We don\u2019t care what other people\u2019s opinions are \u2013 unless you love us, and then we love you too!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I loved the Winterbreak video, on socials\u00a0it seems to have had a big impact on people\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Katie: The best is seeing people screaming Winterbreak, because the vocal delivery is so low key, and there are people that will sometimes \u2013<\/p>\n Naomi: At our EP release show there was a girl who was literally in tears<\/p>\n Katie: But screaming too \u2013<\/p>\n Naomi: I think that\u2019s kind of the vibe of the band in general. In tears but screaming.<\/p>\n Josette: My brother just got cornrows too when he was at the EP show, so he was this big white guy with cornrows screaming all the lyrics, and crying because he was so drunk and excited. It was quite the look. It was quite the look.<\/p>\n Katie: There\u2019s a few people that we\u2019ve never met personally but we know fuck with us in the UK that are coming tonight and I\u2019m so excited to see them interact with the music.<\/p>\n Orange cotton ‘hardcore’ hoody by MISHBV and black leather boots by DIESEL BLACK GOLD.<\/em><\/p>\n Naomi: That was kind of the point of the video. We could just make \u2013 we could make a video where there\u2019s a romantic plotline, but that\u2019s so easy, that\u2019s the first thing that would come to your mind. And that should come to mind when you\u2019re listening to the song, because that\u2019s what it\u2019s about, but I think for the video we just wanted to find a thing that we all had in common which was that it\u2019s fucking weird getting older, and it\u2019s really weird to go home, and we wanted to capture that instead of making it a love story or a breakup story or whatever.<\/p>\n Josette: Cause it still is what the song\u2019s about, in a different way \u2013 trying to make a home where there was once a home but there\u2019s no longer.<\/p>\n Katie: I\u2019ve experienced that with best friends as well, and it can be just as hard. But I also think it\u2019s funny that there\u2019s the whole gal pal phenomenon, right, where you can be very openly homoerotic as two women and society will just not read it as romantic, it\u2019s just like \u2018best friends having a good time\u2019.<\/p>\n I saw that in the video, definitely.<\/strong><\/p>\n Josette: That video\u2019s supposed to be homoerotic?!<\/p>\n Katie: Yeah, I think it\u2019s super homoerotic.<\/p>\n Naomi: There\u2019s some truly homoerotic moments.<\/p>\n Josette: Do I just not realise \u2013<\/p>\n Katie: I whisper in your ear and smile, I think I definitely whispered about putting something in your bum bum in the actual shoot.<\/p>\n Josette: You definitely did.<\/p>\n Naomi: We do not have sex with each other, for the record.<\/p>\n Katie: But yeah, I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s funny, that people will read it \u2013 there was one journalist who talked about the romantic undertones to it.<\/p>\n Katie: We kind of just wanted to make a point that these things exist in spaces other than the boy-girl love story. We\u2019ve had multiple experiences where there would be a music video shoot or a photo shoot where the only creative scenario people can come up with is \u2018you and your boyfriend\u2019, and it\u2019s like, you know, we experience other things.<\/p>\n Naomi: Like the only time you have any emotion is when there\u2019s a dude involved, it\u2019s so crazy to me.<\/p>\n Josette: I don\u2019t know what you guys are talking about.<\/p>\n Katie: Josette just misses her boyfriend.<\/p>\n Josette: I miss my boyfriend. Scott! (I don\u2019t have a boyfriend).<\/p>\n Katie: Scott\u2019s our collective boyfriend.<\/p>\n Josette: He\u2019s our drummer and our tour manager (and our boyfriend). I don\u2019t think he knows. Now he does.<\/p>\n Black and grey graphic blazer by ASHLEY WILLIAMS, black cotton dress and choker STYLISTS OWN, black wool socks by FALKE and black heeled boots by MULBERRY.<\/em><\/p>\n I feel that\u2019s really clear with you guys – I was looking at your Twitter, and you\u2019ve been out there supporting Kehlani, you\u2019ve been out there supporting Kesha, people have really identified with your lyrics, and I\u2019ve got one tweet here \u2013 someone tweeted about Loudspeaker, and I thought you were just so sensitive in your response, do you guys think, \u2018we want to write for the people that need it\u2019 kind of thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n Josette: I feel like it\u2019s just become that, because \u2013 at least for me \u2013 the relationship that we have with each other \u2013 I\u2019m so much more comfortable being myself, and not being \u2013 whenever we go anywhere, you guys out me instantly, which is something I would never \u2013<\/p>\n Katie: You say that every time we do an interview<\/p>\n Josette: Because you do! I don\u2019t know, at least for me, I think the way we make each other feel \u2013 isn\u2019t that the whole point?<\/p>\n Naomi: I think it\u2019s sort of always been about that for me, because I\u2019m very sensitive with my identities, because I can\u2019t help but be anybody but myself, and I can\u2019t help when things offend me or exclude me or hurt my feelings based on my racial identity or my sexual identity or whatever \u2013<\/p>\n Katie: Well your self is so complicated. We\u2019ve had so many conversations \u2013<\/p>\n Naomi: Exactly. It\u2019s kind of crazy. Like it\u2019s all good, I\u2019m good, everything\u2019s chill. But I often feel excluded.<\/p>\n Josette: Existing is hard.<\/p>\n Naomi: Existing is extremely hard. And existing as someone who\u2019s a queer person, or someone who is not white, or someone who is not the gender they were assigned biologically \u2013 that\u2019s fucked up, and that sucks, and you will feel excluded by a lot of society, and I think because we all have sort of marginalised identities, we write from that perspective, and on top of that we try not to be exclusive. And I think that we all \u2013 we\u2019re like checks and balances.<\/p>\n Josette: When we talk about it, it feels so much more of a higher purpose. Even when we do songs it\u2019s like \u2013 Naomi and I can play guitar pretty well, we can all shed and play crazy things, it\u2019s like \u2018what is actually the purpose? What\u2019s the purpose of the song and how can we best communicate that?\u2019 Maybe it is 145, maybe it isn\u2019t, but it\u2019s just like making that choice that it isn\u2019t about you, it\u2019s not about how proficient you are, it\u2019s just about what is needed.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAll: Yeah! V organic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n