Areola Treat have been catalysts for their genre on the local front, a rousing brand of indie punk. Sibbi, the first track I heard from the band, remains one of my favourite local offerings with Lisa Micallef Grimaud’s somehow husky, somehow aggressive vocals refusing to die in my subconscious.
The Areola Treat is made up of Lisa, Adrian, Steve and Chris.The band will be performing during this year’s Rock the South music festival, taking place between April 20 and 22. Tickets are available online. from https://shop.trackagescheme.com/event/rock-the-south-2018/.
How was the band born?
Lisa: I have no recollection of anything other than I was brought to the studio garage on a flying carpet sometime in 2006. From that day forth, it was a done deal.
Adrian: Areola was the inevitable project for myself and Chris after the demise of Lumiere. It was also started with Lisa in mind after we heard her singing some backing vocals on Lumiere’s album, but we wanted to write some material to entice her with before flying her on the so called magic (peach) carpet.
How did the band change through these years?
Lisa: I think our music’s become more defined and layered and more beautiful. I’d say it evolved. Not to say we’ve become the Stravinsky of garage rock or anything but you can hear echoes of something else in there today.
Adrian: The only line-up change was when Steve came in for Matthew back in 2009. It was also the start of more layers and to a certain aspect a darker tone to our sound.
What was the Maltese indie scene like when you started?
Lisa: As it is today, only smaller!
Adrian: In terms of quality I would think that we’ve moved forward quite a lot. There is more good stuff coming out nowadays than 12 years ago. There were more venues where you could do a gig though, and probably it was also easier to attract a crowd than today.
And today – how has it changed?
Lisa: Well, grunge is back again bigtime for one thing. Also, there’s certainly more girls forming rock bands and doing electronic music, from what I can tell. It’s nice to see the positive influence alternative music has had on young women here.
Girls have visibly picked up guitars and drums and synths and vinyl and now have what seems like more of an avid interest in collecting music and talking music and doing street art. That’s a bit more refreshing! In a way, a lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same but then again just over 10 years is perhaps not a long enough period to really judge the change in pace of the scene.
Would you say more people are into indie today than when you started? Lisa: We’ve definitely seen the underground expand a bit more, and that can only be good. I suppose Indie’s a huge category of music that contains within it around 10 or 20 other different genres.
I’ve always been into garage bands, rockabilly, post-punk, dark wave and psychedelia myself and I still feel certain genres are perhaps less frequently heard here, but I generally find it easier to talk about music today than I used to, also because my own collection’s grown considerably.
But, as for the rest, I think there seems to be more people going to big-scale festivals, so that can only indicate a surge of interest in the style. On the other hand, we’ve been having this conversation for a couple of decades and honestly, I think the fact that the question’s still being asked speaks volumes about the scale of the scene in the country.
What has been the biggest challenge keeping the band going through all these years?
Lisa: Not drinking enough or drinking too much? And devotion to making music we love.
Adrian: Music-wise I love writing songs and playing gigs as much as I used to before. But, I have to admit that as you grow older it’s harder for four individuals leading different lives to find the time to rehearse as regularly as we used to. Having said that, we still manage somehow.
The miniscule size of the scene also makes it more challenging to keep getting the same people for gigs after 12 years.
Where do you see it in five years’ time?
Lisa: I’d like to say out of the country, doing lots of gigs and making records, but you just never know, do you? If we were full-time musicians I suppose reality would be a lot different to what it is.
Adrian: I have to admit that we still do what we do because we love doing it. I don’t have any aspirations of grandeur or anything of the sort. As Lisa, said if we wanted to be full time we had to leave our shores 10 years ago but we decided not to.
The biggest problems indie bands in Malta face are...?
Lisa: The same two or three places to play or see live bands maybe. But that’s always been an issue. Alternative music isn’t something the majority care for so, I suppose, because it’s not a lucrative business people are willing to invest in long-term in a place like Malta. I have made peace with that.
But, then again we’ve got some great places for our genre that have opened up, places we’re allowed to make noise and the police won’t come to break up a perfectly good show. Then again, alternative crowds don’t need finesse to have fun, do they? More giant warehouses will do nicely.
In fact, I think disused and abandoned warehouses are great venues to do shows. Other than that, there’s nothing that should be stopping us. We’ve no excuse. There’s the world wide web available, so doing your PR’s easier, great online sites mean there’s a variety of means to showcase your music, more people work in marketing and digital advertising and musical people are very creative, so sky’s the limit!
Adrian: Either the red-tape with the noise level issues, or the lack of interest shown by local crowds. These are the things that make or break the scene.
Valletta 2018 – has it helped the Maltese music scene/hindered/no difference?
Lisa: In terms of giving exposure to the alternative music scene, I’m quite certain it didn’t make any difference in the slightest. But two of my good artist friends had their exhibitions running for the V18 programme. It was well-thought out and offered them great exposure, and I was glad to see many people attending.
Pop culture’s clearly the most prevalent scene in Malta and, while I agree it should be kept alive, I can’t say I have any real interest in it. I’m sure V18’s helped to elevate the status of all the pop artists that performed in Valletta, although I still have no idea who they were or what they look like.
But I’ll bet you anything people were just dying for their daily dose of underground music culture after that!
What have been some of the band’s biggest highlights through the years? Lisa: Touring in Europe, doing shows and meeting the KVB band.
Adrian: Some gigs (both locally or abroad) keep coming to mind as standing above the rest. When playing abroad is cool to meet random people that you never knew or met before & discuss music after a gig. You get to meet like-minded people easily!
What should we expect from your Rock The South gig?
Lisa: New stuff. What’s next? Lisa: We keep making noise and banging stuff. Adrian: Possibly recording these 30 odd songs we have and release them.
An edited version of this interview was published on the Sunday Circle magazine.