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Meet Madeleine Mathews of MAWD in Studio City

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Mathews.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It all started when I was eight years old. My grandparents forced me into taking piano lessons which I absolutely despised but now look at it as the greatest gift I’ve ever received. My great-grandmother was a professional piano player and traveled around the country, and after her passing, I think they wanted someone else to carry on her gift. Not until I realized I could write my own songs, did I start to progress and find my true love for creating and playing music. I’ve always been a huge music junkie.

As a youngster I loved hitting up record stores, perusing all the music blogs when I’d come home after school, create a billion playlists and making mix CDs for my friends, and going to shows. I knew music meant something special to me, but I wasn’t sure if it was just a passion for listening. When I was 17, I began teaching myself to sing (because though I loved playing piano, I wanted to write songs with lyrics). I was awful. I imitated artists like Joanna Newsome (an odd choice I guess for teaching yourself to sing after), Norah Jones, Alela Diane, and Amy Winehouse until eventually, my voice became my own.

Writing music as an angsty teen was the perfect way to release my anger, heartbreaks, and trying to figure out the world. When I was younger, I thought being a professional musician as a pipe dream so instead of launching into a singer/songwriter career I went to college to get my degree in music business. If I wasn’t going to play music as a career, I at least wanted to be a part of it. In college, I played and fronted my first few bands (many with one of my best friends Sarah Scharf). Our first band, South Fork, was more of a folk and harmony-driven band.

Then we decided, this is fun and all… but I think we want to rock a little and then created our two-piece girl rock band, The Feisties (Sarah on drums/vocals and me on guitar/vocals). It was during that time where I grew as a musician and realized “hey maybe I could try to make a go of this music thing after all.” After being an avid part of the Chico, CA music scene, I caught the eye of a small indie label called Soundx3 under my new solo moniker MAWD. I created my first EP with them and even went on a short tour to Sweden to promote the album before releasing it.

After college, I was struck with the decision to pursue music or pursue a career in the business of music. Anyone who’s in music knows it’s hard to do both. Nobody really takes you that seriously in the business side if you’re also pursuing music. They think you’re just using it as a way to climb the ladder. So, I packed my things in August of 2017 and moved to LA to become a professional musician. It was the best and worst decision I’ve ever made. A lot of good and amazing adventures have come out of it, but also a lot of stress, criticism and hard decisions. Unfortunately, in late 2017, my health began to deplete and left me sometimes bedridden and unable to work.

I spent many days crying in bed and unsure if I wanted to live anymore. If I couldn’t pursue music because of my health, I didn’t see the point in it all. Of course, that was my depression and anxiety talking. I suffered from the extreme leaky gut (a gut imbalance problem that causes body aches, chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, triggers autoimmune problems, and so much more). Thankfully, I have (hopefully) overcome the worst of it. I’ve been on a rigorous doctor issued diet for over a year and on many many supplements to help restore balance to my body.

While in LA, I put together an amazing backing band whom I was lucky enough to have them become fast friends, I opened for Larkin Poe at a sold-out show at the Hotel Cafe within my first three months of living here (which launched a lot more opportunities), opened for Robby Kreiger (of The Doors), made the journey to SXSW in 2018, toured throughout Northern California, got featured in various notable blogs including LA Weekly, Live Nation’s Ones to Watch, EarMilk, and more all within a year of moving here.

I also released my latest single written with my friend/co-writing buddy Josiah Mezzaschi (owner of The Cave Studio) Now here I am in early 2019, in a much healthier place both mentally and physically and ready to take on the year. I’ve grown a lot as a musician and am incredibly grateful for this journey. Though there are many hard obstacles I’ve had to endure to get here, I’ve learned so much. I’m not as far as I’d hoped to be at this point, but I think it’s all just one big growing/learning process and you have to just continue to be grateful to be alive, create, continue to do what you love, and share your music.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. The biggest one that comes to mind was/is my chronic health problems. Like I mentioned before, I suffer from leaky gut and chronic fatigue syndrome which severely affected my life in the last year. I’ve been dealing with it for almost ten years, but I was at my worst in 2018. It made it incredibly difficult to live my life to the fullest. Luckily, my wonderful boyfriend and family have helped me so much throughout this process of getting better, and I’m forever grateful to them.

I think being/pursuing anything in the public eye also comes with a lot of negativity as well. While most people I’ve come across have been supportive, I’ve definitely had my fair share of “haters.” Without going into much detail, I was severely criticized and bullied on social media about choices made in my music career this last year. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I came out the other side realizing you can’t please everyone and definitely began giving less of a shit about what people think of me.

In fact, it made me feel stronger than ever because sometimes you need those hard life lessons to come out better on the other side. Not everyone will agree with how you do things or your path, but as long as you believe in yourself and know what you’re doing is right and true, then that’s so important.

Being a musician comes with many struggles. You love music. You don’t want to do anything else, but it’s hard to make a living, and it comes with a lot of criticism. You have people telling you what you should be playing, how you should be acting, how you should look, etc. But, you just gotta be true to yourself and be honest and real and only good things will come out of it.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with MAWD – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’m a singer/songwriter but rarely play solo (I LOVE playing with my backing band – shoutout to Tommy Paradise (drums), Zach Andrews (bass), Hannah Crowley (backing vox), Kyle Bailey (violin), and Aidan Scrivens (lead guitar) … if you ever need a backing musician, these are your guys … and gal). I mainly play guitar live – but I also play piano, banjo, some bass, accordion, and harmonica… oh and of course I sing! My genre ranges all over the place but usually stay within the folk-rock/ folk/ indie rock realm.

I guess I’m most proud of how much I’ve accomplished on my own. I’ve put a LOT of work into what I do. From writing and co-producing songs, planning full on tours, budgeting, editing a lot of my own videos, making my own content, etc. The wheels are constantly turning, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’m not sure exactly what sets me apart from others, but I like to believe I have my own sound.

My voice is unique. I’ve never truly had any extensive formal training, so I just make up singing as I go along. It’s both a curse and a blessing. Music teachers have a hard time with how I pronounce things or phrase things, but at the same time, it makes me different. I also love folk and rock, so some of my songs I use the sweeter side of my voice while other songs I tend to get a bit gritty.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
So far, my plans for this year (or next depending on when I can get it out), I’d love to produce and put out my first full-length LP. I was only able to release one new single last year and this year that’s going to be different. I’m planning on/hoping to release a song every month or so! I have a lot of goals I’ve set for myself this year, and I can’t wait to check them off my list.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Brianna Mulvey, Peter Zuehlke, Ben Thomas

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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