Kieran Webber
Director and Founder of CLUNK Magazine, CLUNK Events, and other CLUNK affiliate businesses. You’ll probably find me tucked away somewhere sending emails, listening to music, and creating content.
L.A based artist Marina Vanoff talks about life in L.A, the misconceptions, and her latest single ‘carousel’
As you could imagine, L.A is a competitive place for anyone wanting to progress in the arts, whether that be acting, illustration, or, in this case, music. However, Marina Vanoff stands tall above her peers as a potential stalwart in the alt/indie pop scene, Her latest release ‘carousel’ epitomises the latter as it boasts a masterful ability in songwriting, creating something that is deeply heartfelt and wildly infectious.
We got a few moments with Marina to chat all things L.A, her new music, and lots more!
Kieran: How’s your 2024 been so far? Any highlights?
Marina: Honestly, my 2024 has been filled with a bunch of highs and lows. You can hear about some of the lows on the record that’s coming out, but I would say that the best things this year have had to do with my family and spending time with them. As far as music is concerned, I played my first show in Long Beach at the Vine and a bunch of the homies came out and we all just had a really great night. Music is obviously a huge part of my life, and doing well and achieving goals is super exciting, but I’m finding that what truly makes life worth living is enjoying time with my friends and family, and appreciating every moment with them.
Kieran: Being an L.A based artist comes with a heap of stereotypes, but what is one that is actually true?
Marina: I’m not sure if any stereotype is one hundred percent true, but I will say I’ve had my fair share of fake friends that were only around because they thought I could help them get ahead in their career. That’s something that I think people deal with everywhere in the world though, LA just gets the blame for it.
Kieran: What’s a common misconception of being based in L.A?
Marina: That we’re all trying to be famous. I love music and that’s why I do it, even if I never got any recognition for it I would always write songs- it’s just a part of who I am. Not everyone in LA wants to be an influencer.
Kieran: What people or artists have influenced you so far?
Marina: There are so many musicians that I look up to, and all for different reasons. Gwen Stefani is someone I looked up to since the time I was a little kid. I always thought she was so cool and badass. When I was in the studio recording Bones Baby, Deftones was a huge influence for me. I definitely referenced Abe Cunningham’s drumming more than once.
Kieran: You recently dropped your latest single ‘Carousel’, can you talk us through what this song means to you?
Marina: I wrote this song about someone who I truly loved at the time, I just felt like we were stuck in groundhogs day, every day. It was like everything that was initially really fun about this person became monotonous and tiring. He was a really sweet guy, but he was also super destructive and unpredictable which got old really fast. Being on a carousel can be fun, but you don’t want to be stuck on one. At some point you need to stop going in circles, even if the ride is fun.
Listen to ‘Carousel’ here:
Kieran: What was the writing and recording process like with this release?
Marina: I wrote these songs in my bedroom, where I write all my songs, and then when I felt like I was ready to share them I reached out to my homie Adam Topol and we got into the studio. We recorded at Kitten Robot near downtown, with Paul Roessler and Kenny Lyon who are both super rad. For each song I would just lay down a vocal scratch track and a guitar track, and then from there we would build the song out, adding drums, bass, and everything else. Some songs took a little longer to capture perfectly, but then other songs, like Chino and Carousel, just flowed. Primitive was our word in the studio- we tried to keep our approach to each song simple and intuitive. We didn’t want to overthink anything.
Kieran: Lastly, what else can we expect from you in 2024?
Marina: I’ll be going on a mini tour in August and September, and then the record, Bones Baby, will be out in October! Before tour I’m going to Florida to film a couple music videos with the homie Droze, so keep an eye out for that! I have a feeling this is going to be a busy year.
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