Paul: “It’s tough. There are lots of sharks.”
There’s a sort of predatory wing of the industry. It’s like in nature when there are lots of little fish gathering for something (indie artists in L.A.) bigger fish (fake radio promotors, “producers”) will show up and have an easy meal.Marina: “I see it a bit different. When we first get a spark to create, we do it for the pure joy of it, and then we want the whole world to share in that joy. Our job is to be the vehicles for what wants to be created and the Universe’s job is to wink back at us. Sometimes that wink comes in a form of a business contract and lots of views and money, but more often it comes in a form of creating itself.” @nonduo1
Live Interview
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/07/21/episode-343-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW NON DUO
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
Non Duo (Paul McCarty and Marina Gutman)
Based in Los Angeles
Paul: “It’s tough. There are lots of sharks.”
There’s a sort of predatory wing of the industry. It’s like in nature when there are lots of little fish gathering for something (indie artists in L.A.) bigger fish (fake radio promoters, “producers”) will show up and have an easy meal.
Marina: “I see it a bit different. When we first get a spark to create, we do it for the pure joy of it, and then we want the whole world to share in that joy. Our job is to be the vehicles for what wants to be created and the Universe’s job is to wink back at us. Sometimes that wink comes in a form of a business contract and lots of views and money, but more often it comes in a form of creating itself.”
Marina: “Failure is just another way of asking: Do you really want to do this? If the answer is yes, then it’s no longer a failure. More specifically, I’ve gotten rejected after every initial pursuit of a passion and it’s my steady resolve that has prevailed in the end. And now people say, “It’s easy for you, you’ve been a creative person all your life,” not knowing what goes on behind the stage.”
We never really considered doing anything less
than a full album while planning to record as Non Duo, though we plan to pre-release the “Free” video with our recorded version of the song because there’s such a strong buzz on it. But we write pretty prolifically together so cutting down to an album was hard enough. I’ve never felt compelled to put out an EP, and singles (I’ve been told by promoters) are just harder to promote. A full album just feels like you’re making a real statement to the world.
Social Media allows indie artists to get their music out there quickly and efficiently,
and it lets us interact with our people on a daily basis. It allows for excitement-building even before the album is released. We put out a teaser with stills from our upcoming videos and music as a way to get people talking and excited about what’s to come. We’ve got interested parties waiting for the album, people telling us they can’t wait to buy it. We are also planning to use social media to release each of our videos individually, spanning a week or so, in order to build even more suspense right before we release the album. We will do the same when we put out our events for the album release concerts.
Paul: “I’m sure John Lennon would be fun and very enlightening to talk to.”
Marina: “The Buddha. Who else do you need?”
A handful of people get excited by something
that no one could’ve predicted or controlled and then someone else calls it “trendy” and “current”. No true artist does his/her art to try and be trendy. They just do it and if it’s recognized and becomes popular, then that is by definition trendy. For instance, after we translated the Russian song, people were asking us to do more. We tried to translate another cool song, but all the ones we attempted so far felt forced and unorganic. So we decided not to force it unless one pops up spontaneously like “Free” had done.
Our Yoga teacher’s favorite phrase
with which to end every pose: “Ok. That’s good enough.”
Paul: “I’ve been playing music since I was a kid.”
My mom and dad were both musicians. For decades I tried to make a living at film scoring. It was when I relaxed on the making-a-living part that I started enjoying it more. I formed a band (Wicked Saints) and we recorded two albums and two singles together.”
Marina: “I’ve been singing since I was a kid, but didn’t start pursuing it seriously until I got jealous hearing another woman singing one of the songs that I wrote with Paul. Then it was on. Inspiration comes in many forms. For many years it’s been fiction writing and then it branched out into songwriting and eventually singing.”
Free
It’s the only cover song on our upcoming album.
It’s “Raft” by Yury Loza and it’s the first thing that we collaborated on. Marina thought that I should cover it with Wicked Saints, so we worked together on the translation from the Russian original, then sent it to the songwriter for approval. To our surprise he actually worked some on it with us and then approved it when he was happy with it. Turns out it’s a big deal because it’s never been sung in English before and it was a huge song in the ’80s in the USSR. Everyone knows it.
A man is so disillusioned with society/life/the world that he gets on a raft and sets off for who-knows-where and never returns.
Support Artist: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dark-single/id1053950801
Paul recorded a live video of the song with Wicked Saints
and once Russia found out it existed, it went totally viral. Marina and I recorded our version and are hoping for similar success of it as Non Duo.
Well, our name Non Duo comes from the term non-dual,
which means not two, but one, as in underneath the seeming difference between us, we’re all the same. Most of our songs to varying degrees touch on that theme such as Dark, Shadows and Lights, Small Things, Turn Around, and (believe it or not) there’s also a song called Not Two. And we’d like to think that even our translation could help bridge the gap between two worlds.
Los Angeles.
There are many places to play and hear live music. Although there is a smorgasbord of places to go, it’s a challenge for the indie artist because there are many of us here in LA and it’s a buyer’s market.
We opt for no-cover intimate listening-room venues.
Some of the places where we play are Muse on 8th, State Social House on Sunset Strip, Matt Denny’s Ale House in Arcadia, Brennan’s Pub in Marina Del Rey, Viva Cantina in Burbank, and many others.
We both enjoy Yoga.
Recently we discovered a passion for making music videos—both the making of and the process of editing.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.non-duo.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tMJ7ycSvNo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonduo1/?fref=ts
Twtter: https://twitter.com/nonduo1
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/non-duo