EXLUSIVE: Interview with Malia from Love Music Dance @ Circus Disco

Greetings, Los Angelenos and other fans of electronic music. It’s been a long time coming, and with busy schedules full of work and… Coachella… Rob and I have finally settled back into a groove of solid posts, guest mixes, reviews and previews, as well as all the other things that this blog is about. And of course this site is first and foremost a glimpse into the electronic dance music world of Los Angeles. That’s why we’re particularly proud to bring you this interview with Malia Sachiko, who is the main promoter for Love Music Dance, a trance-focused group which hosts nights at Circus in Hollywood, Shark Club in Orange County, as well as an electro night at Area in Hollywood. (Guestlist here)

Rob and I have met Malia a couple of times now and I have been continually amazed by her devotion to trance music as well as club Circus itself. Malia is not just a promoter; read the interview and you will see that she is more of a uniter of friends and fans around Los Angeles, bringing people from all over the area to enjoy trance music amongst friendly music lovers. You can tell that she loves what she does and it shows in her work and what Love Music Dance has become in the past year.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

ABOUT MALIA

BC: Tell me about yourself and how you got into trance.

Malia: I was exposed to trance by complete accident in the late 90s. I was listening to the radio in the middle of the night and came across a radio show on KROQ that was playing electronic music. Up until that point I had listened to and enjoyed a lot of 90s dance music, but the music I heard on the radio that night that was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. I immediately fell in love with trance the moment I heard it.

BC: Do you know what song was playing?

Malia: Yes! It was Sasha – Xpander. I recorded it that first night and set out on a mission to find more trance music. I ended up buying my first trance CD in Santa Monica a few weeks later. I heard trance music when I was walking around on 3rd street.

BC: Yup yup, the techno cart on the Promenade!

Malia: I went up to the cart and told the guy there I liked Sasha – Xpander and asked him to recommend a good CD for me. I ended up buying ATB’s “Clubber’s Guide to Trance”. After buying the CD, I got more and more into the music and began to realize that some of the artists whose tracks were on the compilation were actually playing at events around LA. I started out going to raves with friends in high school, but didn’t discover the club scene until I was 21 years old.

I fell out of the scene for a while after high school because my friends were no longer interested in raving, but I continued listening to trance. One day I was browsing the flyers at Grooveriders in Sherman Oaks and I came across a flyer advertising 4-Strings performing at Club Heaven at Arena in Hollywood. I was uneasy about the idea of going out alone at first, but I was a HUGE 4-Strings fan! I’m glad I decided to go because I had a the best time and the music was incredible. I danced all night and met tons of cool people at the club.

My new friends invited me to come to Circus the following night. It turned out that trance events were taking place every Friday night at Arena and every Saturday night at Circus which was right next door. So I drove out again the following night to check it out and all of the people I had met the previous night were there at Circus. That was the beginning – I quickly fell in love with Circus and became one of regulars. You could find us there every weekend. Little by little we built a solid community of friends and acquaintances who went to the club every weekend.

BC: What was your favorite event back then?

Malia: I think my favorite event from back in the day was the white party Spundae threw at Circus with ATB and Armin van Buuren. Everyone was wearing white and there was even an awesome afterparty; it was insane.

BC: Were you already involved with promotion back then?

Malia: No not at all, I was just one of the regulars.

ABOUT PROMOTING CIRCUS

BC: How did you become a promoter at Circus?

Malia: I’ve always been a promoter at heart. When you love something, you want to tell your friends about it! Saturday nights at Circus had many ups and downs due to several promotional groups coming and going starting when Spundae left. I started officially promoting for Circus after Nikita left at the end of 2008.

I went up to one of the managers of the club and asked what was going to happen to the club. He told me they were probably going to shut down the EDM nights and replace them with something else like hip-hop. I said “You can’t do that! This is my home!” I assured him that I knew a lot of people who had been coming for years and if they kept good trance music at Circus, people would keep coming. They decided to give my idea a chance and I started working for the club the following Monday.

That’s how it started – I had never been a promoter and they had never run a trance club so we had to build the entire thing from scratch. It was a very daunting task, but my heart was is in the right place. I was willing to do whatever it took to keep trance, my favorite music, and my friends at my favorite venue: Circus.

BC: So you became one of the promoters for Saturday night after that?

Malia: I’ve been the the only official full-time promoter for Saturday nights at Circus, but we have always had the support of a lot of people including the regulars and anyone who loves the club. It was a dream of mine to promote for Circus and to be a part of it now is an incredible opportunity which I am very grateful for.

BC: Do you think Circus’ main support when you first started a year ago was the regulars?

Malia: Yes at first, but things have expanded a lot since then. More people are introduced to the club as we are able to book better and better talent.

BC: How do you use social media to tell people about Circus?

Malia: I use Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Going.com, Plurlife, tranceaddict.com, pretty much anything I can get my hands on that helps get the word out. I also host weekly meetups for several local internet groups, one of which is the “Los Angeles Trance Meetup Group”. Social media has been a big part of promoting the club. I also submit information to various websites that list club events such as the SoCal Raves calendar.

Facebook has definitely been one of the best promotional resources. MySpace is sort of dying out these days because it is so saturated with spammers, but when I post something on Facebook, I find that people respond almost immediately. I like the fact that you can log in and see that 15 of your friends are going to an event. Facebook helps get conversations going and builds a buzz surrounding the upcoming events in a way that isn’t possible on other sites.

BC: What do you think of Twitter?

Malia: I don’t personally like using Twitter but I have it linked it with our Facebook account so it automatically updates from there. A lot of random people find and follow our Twitter, but we don’t expend too much energy seeking out new followers. At this point, Facebook has been a lot more effective so I focus my efforts on that site. We are able to reach people outside of social networking sites with our database of thousands of people who have signed up to receive our promotional emails.

BC: What are some other ways that you reach out to Circus regulars?

Malia: Well a lot of them are my friends and I just talk to them. Some of our regulars have been coming to Circus for decades since it was a disco club. People feel good here and want to keep coming back. I call it my home because it’s a place I can go and be surrounded by friends, everyone is happy to see you, you’re seeing your favorite DJs – it’s an amazing experience.

BC: How do you reach out to non-regulars?

Malia: We make an effort to book DJs who have a big following and attract new people. A big part of the success of the club is the word-of-mouth promotion. People also use Circus as a place to celebrate special events or birthdays and invite friends who may not have been exposed to the club otherwise.

CIRCUS’ GROWTH

BC: What’s the capacity of Circus?

Malia: About 3,300 total for the club, about 1,300 people in the main room. We have about 800-1000 people here regularly and on the big nights we can have over 1,200.

BC: What are the future plans for Circus for the next year or so?

Malia: We’re focusing on building momentum right now – we’re focusing on booking the best talent and throwing the best events we possibly can. We’re on a really good track – we have so many good DJs coming up, I wish I could tell you! Just in May we have George Acosta on May 8th, Cressida on the 15th, and Lange on the 22nd. And that’s on top of Roger Shah and Max Graham in OC on May 21st and 8th, respectively. (Guestlist here)

BC: Is it tough convincing the DJs to come?

Malia: All the bookings go through agencies. You have to talk to the agencies, offer them a gig, talk about pricing, dates, etc.

BC: What other events is LMD doing?

Malia: We recently opened a new EDM club called BEYOND Fridays in Orange County and every Thursday night we have an 18 and over electro club at Arena, the venue next to Circus.

BC: What has been your best night at Circus been?

Malia: It’s funny you ask that because almost every Saturday when I’m leaving Circus I think to myself, “Wow! That was the best night ever!” It sounds cheesy, but I try to live my life so that every weekend is the best weekend ever (until next weekend). It’s hard to pick a best night at Circus because I like different nights for different reasons – sometimes it’s the DJs, the production, the crowd or the music that makes a night stand out in my mind. I would say invariably when I’m at Circus I know I’m going to have a good time.

DJS AT CIRCUS

BC: What do you think a DJ from Europe would say about Circus?

Malia: They would say that the people are very friendly and really there for the music. You can go to a rave and half the kids there may not even know who’s on stage. But at Circus, we’re really excited to see the DJs and I think the DJs appreciate and enjoy that. The people know their music, know their tracks, and are very excited to meet them.

BC: Do you get a lot of positive feedback from DJs who play at Circus?

Malia: Yes, definitely. A lot of DJs say they had a good time and want to come back. Many of them do come back – for example, we had had Rank-1 several times last year; after a DJ’s night is over here we’re usually immediately planning their next event.

BC: I’m sure for the DJs it must feel pretty special to play at a club where people know their music.

Malia: Yes certainly, and the great thing about Circus is that you can get up really close to the DJs – it’s a lot more intimate than seeing them at a rave or another club.

BC: Are there plans to book non-trance DJs in the future for Circus?

Malia: No, not on a regular basis. We definitely like to keep things exciting and periodically book non-trance DJs, but we will continue to be primarily trance focused.

BC: How does Circus support local DJs?

Malia: We love to discover hidden talent. A lot of the local DJs who play at the club regularly are people we discovered or who contacted us; they are really passionate about sharing music and being DJs.

BC: What do you guys look for when you book local DJs?

Malia: Aside from skill, we definitely look for DJs who embody LOVE. MUSIC. DANCE. We look for DJs who have a good local following and can bring new people to the club.

TRANCE AND THE LA DANCE SCENE

BC: Do you think trance is picking up a following these days?

Malia: I think trance is timeless; at least I hope so because I love it. As a genre it has ups and downs – just like Circus has. But the music is timeless.

BC: Is the issue at Circus not enough trance fans or getting the trance fans to realize that Circus exists and getting them to come?

Malia: It’s a little bit of both but honestly I don’t think trance is such a big issue; it’s only a part of what we offer.

BC: What percentage of people who show up are serious trance fans?

Malia: I would say at least 75%.

BC: How does today’s scene compare to Spundae and Circus several years ago?

Malia: I think the family vibe has always been there at Circus. I think the rave scene has gone downhill, but I’m biased. When I first started it seemed a lot more about the music, now it’s oversaturated with drugs and half-naked teenagers. But Circus has always been a fun place to go.

BC: Would you say that LMD represents that old school raver mentality from the 90′s?

Malia: In a way… LMD – LOVE. MUSIC. DANCE. is similar to the PLUR mentality. I think that Circus is by far the closest you can get to that vibe in a club setting. I like to call Circus an oasis amongst the Hollywood bullshit. It’s a place where everyone is welcome and you won’t be judged.

BC: Do you think that’s an effect of trance music or Circus itself?

Malia: Definitely Circus itself. You can go to other venues and hear trance but it’s not quite the same. The music does help create the vibe, but I think there’s something magical about Circus. The feeling I get when I think of Circus is a feeling of comfort and belonging. The regulars are very friendly and all the staff are awesome. Everyone there contributes to creating the positive atmosphere. It’s a great place.

BC: What do you think of the dance scene in LA right now?

Malia: I’m not really that involved in the LA dance scene as a whole, but at Circus things are definitely picking up. I’m seeing a lot more interest in the events and electronic music seems to be becoming more popular and more mainstream. A while ago most people were into pop and EDM was less prevalent, but now everyone knows what it is and a lot of people are interested in it. You can even hear elements of electronic music in the new pop music that’s coming out.

BC: Do you see more clubs opening up in LA?

Malia: Yes, new clubs open in Los Angeles all the time. There are a lot of people in Los Angeles so there is a lot of potential here, but a lot of clubs open up and fizzle out. It’s challenging.

BC: Why do you think it’s so hard?

Malia: It’s a combination of everything. There are a lot of nuances to running a club and we’ve been finding those out as we go.

BC: What do you think of the fact that Avalon and Giant seem to be playing house only now?

Malia: I think it’s better that way. It would be great if they could cater to the house crowd and we could cater to the trance crowd. If we tried to book house our regulars would be disappointed and if Avalon booked trance a lot of of their regulars would be disappointed. It would be great if things continue like this because there would be less competition with other promoters for trance fans on Saturday nights.

BC: Is there a lot of competition in LA?

Malia: Of course, there will always be a lot of competition in LA. Some nights there are events at Avalon or Vanguard that we can’t compete with but we keep going and do the best we can.

BC: What do you think of the fact that Insomniac and GoVentures now seem to be putting a lot more house acts on the main stage?

Malia: I don’t really worry about that because the massive events are a whole different ballgame. All the clubs suffer on the nights that those events occur. We just do our best; we can’t compete with huge festival-type events like that.

BC: Do you think that the fact that more house is being booked is a sign of promoters changing tastes or the fans?

Malia: I don’t know, that’s a good question. In terms of the people that we cater to, trance is still very much the preferred genre.

BC: Last question – can you name some of your favorite trance tracks right now?

Malia: Gaia – Tuvan and Urban Astronauts – See the Sun (Aurosonic Remix). My favorite track from back in the day is System F – Out of the Blue. I used to be a big Ferry Corsten fan back when he was producing a lot of trance, but he’s kind of deviated from that now.

It’s really hard for me to pick a favorite track, there’s so much good music out there.

BC: Agreed! Ok well that about wraps it up, thank you very much for taking the time to meet with me and conduct this interview.

Malia: It was a pleasure, thank you.

© 2010, M Silin. All rights reserved.