We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mikey Qubti. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mikey below.

Mikey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

Back in 2018 of 2019 my friend Paul Valle who used to live in Arizona, helped book us a show out there. He made sure we had bands to play with, and, even made sure we got paid. We had never met in person, only over the internet, but we liked each other’s music a lot and so he wanted to help us out by booking an out of state show for us. We ended up playing at Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, AZ (which is a rite of passage for unsigned rock bands) and we thoroughly enjoyed our first show out in that state. Many thanks to Paul for believing in us, and for being so kind as to facilitate the show and making it happen! He’s got some great music with a project called King Chiefs everyone should listen to.

Mikey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We’re a hard rock band based in Orange County, CA. We’re a band that prides ourselves on the principles of making music for the sake of making music. A lot of artists these days feel the need to make money, get famous, or get laid. We’re a band that only cares about the music. If we can write one song that would inspire a young kid to pick up a guitar or buy a drumset, or make a person who’s going through a terrible time feel heard and less alone, then our goal would be accomplished.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

There’s been a few times we’ve had to pivot in our career now. Back in 2020, our original rhythm guitarist Kyle Vellanoweth had decided he didn’t want to continue doing music for a living and so we had to make the decision to go from a 4 piece band to a power trio. In this decision, we started writing our music differently to accommodate the 1 less guitar. We ended up creating an amazing record called “Misato”, and so this was a blessing in disguise to have had to strip back our approach in this way. We would’ve never made that record if it wasn’t for the situation we had been thrown into. We made another pivot when we then invited our current rhythm guitarist in the band, Garrett Mahler, in which the situation again, turned very musically inspiring very quickly. With the extra guitar back in the band, we had then started writing music for what will be our next upcoming full length record (I can’t reveal the name of it just yet). There was still changes and pivots to be made though, as we had just started getting Garrett settled in, our original bassist Jack Thomas also made the decision that he would not be continuing in the career of music and so he left the band in 2022. At this time, we had most of the record written, with the exception of a few songs, and had already booked studio time across the country out in Chicago. In order to make things work, we soldiered on by hiring a couple friends to travel with us and play bass on the record. The result has been awesome as we’ve got 11 songs down that are now in the mastering process.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Our resilient story is the same as above. We’ve had many lineup changes since the band has been conceived, but we’ve still managed to create beautiful art with each band member that has been here or gone on their own path. The main key to things is just to keep going and put the music first. If the music comes first always, no matter what is going on around you, you will find a way to bring things to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Desertoftalkingshadows?fbclid=PAAaYntoqxpzWRc-FF8yeWl2yvMFfDOe0Q4ldZy16uYOAXWn82Ep_SAXaKbB0_aem_AULTNBFhc4F6DzkHmw0cvSnZPmdyTCN6cq1eJsgng97VoDd0ZSc9xHQ-BUmh3W88fDw
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/desertoftalkingshadows?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@desertoftalkingshadows?si=7_9N1tX1G8y_a25K

Image Credits
FarrelPhotography Nicole Galinson