Check out Mandlenkosi Daley’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandlenkosi Daley.

Mandlenkosi, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My parents were both missionaries and so I grew up in Southern Africa, specifically in Mfanefile, South Africa in the late ’80s during apartheid, and Plumtree, Zimbabwe in the ’90s (in the years leading up to the economic collapse of 2000). I loved growing up there! I grew up singing in church and listening to tapes sent over to me by my uncle who lived in the United States. He’d send stuff like Blondie, Talking Heads, Bob Marley, Squeeze. I didn’t have a ton of tapes, so what I had I listened to on repeat.

When I was 15, we moved to Melbourne, Australia and that is where I really got into writing and performing music. Because I was the new kid I had to make some friends, and I’d been teaching myself guitar, so the first week in music class I turned to a couple of people and asked if they wanted to play some music together. They did, and that was my first band!

I moved to Los Angeles for college, where I met my bandmate/wife/best friend Claire. About two years ago, after a few lineup changes, we settled into the current lineup of Ian Meltzer on drums, Alex Pfender on bass, Claire on synth and me on guitar, calling ourselves Ugly Sweaters.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My art is songwriting, and performing those songs under the moniker Ugly Sweaters! I try and write fun, energetic songs, and I absolutely love performing them live. I like jumping around and yelling, and harmonizing and bouncing up and down, and leaning on my bandmates and sharing microphones, and playing choruses again because we’re all worked up! I really get excited about every song I write, and I hope that my music brings as much happiness to other people as it does to me. Writing and performing makes me so happy, and it is a great way for me to get out my thoughts and to just feel good.

An Ugly Sweaters show is supposed to be where you can leave your inhibitions at the door and dance, or jump or sing along like no one is watching. Whenever someone describes Ugly Sweaters as “fun” I feel like I’ve succeeded! There are plenty of “cool” bands to see, but my goal is to be that band that ends their set, and people in the audience turn to their friends and say “That was so much fun”! We all laugh and smile through our sets, and I think when people see us having fun with each other, it’s relatable. Most people like having a good time with their friends, so when we do that on stage it comes across as really genuine.

Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
I think conditions for artists really vary depending on what the artist is trying to do. Right now I find it hard to make a living from my art, but I don’t think it would be any easier for me at another time, and in some ways, it would be a lot harder. I have not found it hard to release my music to the world (the internet is great for that), nor has it been tough to book/perform live shows… lately.

So much of the booking process has come from years of being around Los Angeles, playing different venues all over town, and getting to know lots of bands and bookers. I think the more people you know, the easier it gets (though I’m sure if you know one great booker on Billions Booking that would make life easier). I like meeting a band, becoming friends and then playing heaps of shows with them. Tambourines are that band for me, I love those dudes, they sound awesome and I have a blast playing shows with them, over and over again. Creating a network of music friends is really important to me, and it births a “scene”.

I think L.A. does a good job of showcasing lots of art and musical talent through some of the free festivals, but it could always do more. The Eagle Rock Music Festival and Echo Park Rising, just to name a couple of events, have been great showcases of talent. These festivals are extremely accessible and have tons of bands, big and small! I wish Echo Park Rising was once a month. It is such an inspiring feeling to walk Sunset Blvd. and have the streets teeming with people of all ages checking out the music. It being free, and clustered on those few blocks makes EPR one of my favorites. I think if I was 14 or 15 years old and went to Echo Park Rising I would start a band the next day! Ugly Sweaters have never played either festival, but I think they would be perfect venues for our sound and energetic live show.

I always love L.A. because it provides an endless cycle of venues for smaller bands. What I mean is you can hit a totally new audience playing Echo Park, Silver Lake, the West Side, North East L.A., South LA, the Valley, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, DTLA, Hollywood, etc. You won’t run out of venues to play, many will not have the same audiences, and when you find ones that gel well with your sound, you can work on putting together better and better shows with them.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Our music, like so many things, is moving more and more online. People can stream it on Spotify and Soundcloud (for free) under “The Ugly Sweaters” or go to our website directly at www.theUglySweaters.com for music and videos and show announcements.

Listening online is only half of it though, coming to the show is where the real magic happens. People can support us by coming to shows, and even booking us for shows or adding us to bills. We love playing house shows/free shows/all ages shows, and no venue is too weird. We’ve played backyards in Hollywood, living rooms in Highland Park, bigger venues, tiny venues, day shows, late shows and ranches in Compton! Shows are the best, and we can make a little cash if people buy merch! We have amazing merch designed by the extremely talented artist Niv Bavarsky. CHECK HIM OUT!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theUglySweaters.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @mandla
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UglySweatersLA
• Twitter: @uglysweatersla
• Other: @uglysweatersla

Image Credit:
Anthony Mehlhaff

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