We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elaina Whitesell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elaina below.
Alright, Elaina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Joey: I was fourteen, homeschooled in rural Pennsylvania, and playing guitar at least 2 hours a day. It was the early days of YouTube and somehow I found videos by people like Pomplamoose and Alex Goot who were making music, seemingly all the time. It made me think it wasn’t silly to want to make music for a living. Prior to that, music had been purely scholastic to me. Even though I spent most of my time doing it, I thought music was just something you learned to enrich your life. When I saw these musicians on YouTube, I began to realize that there could be a greater purpose to playing music that just as a cool hobby. I saw how you could connect to a huge audience in non-traditional ways, and that was exciting to me. This thing I naturally wanted to spend hours and hours doing could actually mean something.
Elaina: I always joke that I came out singing. My mom called me Laina Bird since I was very little, because I was always humming or whistling or singing. I danced and participated in community theater from a young stage. I even flew on a stage rig at the age of five as Tinkerbell in a school production. I always felt creative and designed my room and books and made little movies. As I began to get older and took voice lessons, I felt a lot of adults around me pressuring me towards my academic pursuits, because I excelled academically. There was a lot of pressure for me to be a doctor. I really had no idea what I wanted to do, and I ended up going to college unsure of what I wanted to be. I applied as a classics major, because I had a background in Latin and wanted to learn Ancient Greek. But by the time my Freshman year started, I was on a pre-med track. I ended up flunking all my math and science classes because I didn’t want to show up for lectures. But by some twist of fate, a friend had recommended I take Introduction to Fiction and Poetry. It was the only class I showed up for three times a week. During Christmas break, I realized, “Hey! I think I’m a poet!” I saw a world in which I could be a creative writing professor and stay in academia. So that was the first time I let myself think about doing what I love and making art. By the end of my undergrad, I knew I didn’t really want to stay in academia much longer. In 2015, When I met Joey, who had such a deep understanding, commitment, and technical knowledge, and was interested in talking music with me, I realized how much music was the driving force in my life. I think it always seemed absurd to me to attempt making music, let alone a career in music. It seemed like such an impossible thing. But Joey and I just made music together all the time. Our life was music. And slowly I began to realize there wasn’t anything else I could do for the foreseeable future than be in love and make music.
Magenta Moon: In 2019, we took a two month road trip around the states. We’d done some songwriting together prior, but it always felt like just messing around. On that trip, we were camping a lot. With no TV or phone service, sitting around fires, we started finding songs. These songs were coming to us fully formed, from a more serious and open place. We didn’t have a name for our project, though we toyed around with “Paul Rudd’s Robot Girlfriend” as a working title. At the end of that roadtrip, we ended up moving to Portland, Oregon. We worked a lot, but also continued writing. The music was changing rapidly, and we were developing a unique sound. We started writing and acquiring the necessary gear to record what would become our first album, “Rapid When It Happens.” It wasn’t until quarantine that we had a significant amount of time to write and record. If not for the 90 day quarantine in Portland, the first album would’ve taken a lot longer to make, and might not have ever come out. By that late summer of 2020, we felt ourselves becoming a band in earnest. We found the name Magenta Moon on a late spring night after a drive over the St. Johns Bridge. Though even after self-releasing that first album in December of 2020, it took us some time to realize that the band was something we wanted to seriously pursue. After playing a few gigs, and spending two years thinking about it, we decided to move to LA in September 2022. Within a couple of months we had three other guys join the band and began playing out all the time. We just released our most recent single “More” which is a culmination of years of realizing that we’re going to be doing this our whole lives, why not actually try?
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Magenta Moon is an indie-rock band co-fronted by songwriting duo Elaina (bass, vocals) and Joey (guitar, vocals). Other band members include Broadway B (keys), Patrick Mannella (drums), Christopher Xue (violin). Our sound is a unique blend of rock, jazz, and pop. We like to say we’re a mix of Mazzy Star, Pixies, and Portugal. The Man with goth sympathies. We play gigs all over Southern California, most recently with a show at the Viper Room on June 28.
We have a loyal following that we call “the party.” Our shows are characterized by a really good vibe that makes everyone feel welcome and comfortable. We focus on empowerment and having fun.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
We say that Magenta Moon is a music spaceship. It’s a vehicle that transports people to where they want to be. The main mission of our band is to bring joy and empowerment to as many people as possible. We believe life is a party and that music is love. When we have a shared musical experience, we have the opportunity to use the sound waves to change our lives and have fun. When we throw a show, it’s a chance for people to come to an event where they’ll meet other people like them. We want people to walk away from our shows feeling lighter, and also ten times more confident. Our goal is to give love with our indie-rock spaceship. We’d love to get our show to as many people as possible. We think we can do this best by taking it on the road. We’d love to connect with a band who would want us to tour with them.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
More small grant opportunities, as well as foundations that offer UBI for creatives. It’s very difficult for artists to create at their potential when they don’t have steady income or secure housing. While it’s important that creatives learn how to create sustainable careers for themselves, there shouldn’t be such a high pressure on artists to monetize every second of their process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://magentamoonparty.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magentamoonparty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magentamoonparty/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@magentamoonparty
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/magenta-moon-party
- Other: https://www.musicconnection.com/live-review-of-magenta-moon-in-los-angeles/
https://getsomemagazine.com/blog/magenta-moons-new-single-more-is-a-sonic-adventure
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Mathias Fau
1 &3: JA Photography
2: Dustin Engelskind
6: Jacob Adamson