Taking a Walk.

Hi, I'm Buzznight, the host of the Taking a Walk Podcast.

Now today, imagine some scenery, beautiful scenery with somebody whose music has been the soundtrack to countless Island sunsets, beach bonfires, and good times with friends.

Joining me today is Maoli, a multi talented singer, songwriter, and producer who's become one of the most beloved voices in contemporary Hawaiian and Island reggae music from his breakout hit No.

One to chart toppers like Summertime and Get You Home Safe.

Mioli has some incredible ability to blend traditional island sounds with modern R and B and reggae in a way that just hits different.

He's got this smooth, soulful voice that can make you feel like you're sitting on a beach in Hawaii.

We'll talk to Mioli next on Taking a Walk.

Taking a Walk, Ioli, Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, My friend, Thank you for having me.

Man.

Yeah, So we like to ask an opening question just to kind of get things rolling here.

Since we call this show Taking a Walk, I want to ask you if you can take a walk with someone who would you take a walk with my wife.

Oh yeah, that's that's one I would take a walk with right.

Now, smart man, where would you go?

Maybe down Broadway?

Broadway in Nashville.

Yeah, Broadway in Nashville.

Man, Wow, that's a quiet place, right.

Yeah.

I've been up here for the past three weeks now and uh, we paid a lot of visits to that Broadway.

So for people who might be discovering your music for the first time, how do you describe what you do?

It's a that's a great question.

It's just a mixture, man, of my lifestyle, my culture.

You know.

I come from Hawaii.

There is you know, we have this island way of living, you know, and so reggae music is very big there.

But the style of life I live at home is very country.

Like I fell in love with country music for a long time, you know, and I've been doing it for a while now.

But it's just a mixture of country and storytelling mixed with the style of reggae music.

It really makes you feel good.

It puts you in a place where if you're listening to it, it puts a smile on your face and it takes you to a place of beauty and relaxation.

Is that intended, that is intended.

Yes, well you nail that every time for sure.

So take me back to the beginning.

When did you first know music was going to be you path in your life?

Was there a specific.

Moment It was more like an on and off thing where at one point of my life I was like, yes, this is what I want to do, and then another point of my life maybe I should pursue something else.

But actually wasn't until I would say two thousand and nineteen, like around the pandemic time.

That's what I knew.

It was like, yeah, this is going to be something pretty big, you know, and I knew that I have to pursue this is my calling.

And tell me about these influences.

There's a vast group of influences, I believe, people like Bob Marley and John Legend, Stevie Wonder are there are there more?

Oh yeah, that is course on and on man, the Bob Marty, Peter Tosh touts in the maytows that when it comes to the reggae side and the soul side, man like Gard Brookes, George Straight you know those are Alan Jackson, those are huge influences on this music.

Kenny Chesney you know, it was cool too.

I just I just went to the CMA's last night for the first time and I got to watch finally got to watch Kenny Chesney perform.

George Strait was there and it was it was crazy.

But those are huge influences on my music for sure.

And walk us through your creative process, especially with your with your new music, but in general, when you're writing a song, where does it usually start?

Is it a melody first?

Is it a bead?

A lyric?

Is it a vibe?

Take us behind the scenes.

It's it's multiple things.

Man.

Sometimes I'll just have a title in my head and I kind of work off that.

Sometimes it's a melody, just a melody.

But when the process of writing, I just don't like to get in the way of it because for me, it's spiritual.

You know, you just have to be at the right place, the right time and just download what for me is like God says, hey, this is your song, and just accept it, you know, and it kind of just flows.

And I don't know how to explain it, but it's it's it's a very spiritual thing for me.

So it's a it's it's just a wonderful thing.

To have happened, you know, and I just kind of let it be.

So it could be the melody, it could be the title, it could be whatever inspires me at the time.

Sometimes it's just the music and I'll just kind of flow off of that.

But yeah, that's really what it is.

Man.

I just I step aside and I let music do its thing.

So since your music takes us to at least takes me and the audience to like an island sort of feeling, you know, the concept of a desert island disc if you were stuck on an island and you had, Yeah, what would your desert a desert island disc?

P?

What island would I want to be on?

No?

What which album desert island disc album would you have to have with you to get you through that?

As far as mine goes, I would have to see my MMO album.

Yeah, that one, that one has all the island feels on it.

That was pretty much our most successful album so far, you know.

Yeah, I like that so far.

And is there is there a desert island disc from another artist that you would have to bring with you?

Or is that an impossible question like the taking a walk question?

Yeah, that's a hard one, man, that's a real hard one.

I know.

Probably Kenny would have to be up there, Jimmy Buffett would have to be up there, Bob Marley and I don't know, man, I can't do that's a hard ONOK.

I know.

I'm sorry.

Don't think less of me for asking such a difficult question.

So you produced a lot of your own music too, Now, how does this work for you?

Having two hats artist and producer?

Does it change your approach to a song?

Sometimes?

Yeah, But I've been working a lot lately with this producer, j Vibe.

He's based out of Miami.

He's been helping me a lot lately with the creative side of the music.

But I wouldn't take credit for that.

I would, I would.

I would have to say that Javibe has a lot to do with it, you know.

And uh, yeah, that's a pretty that's a pretty cool name.

I mean, Myoli is a pretty cool name.

But Jay Vibe, God, that says everything right there.

Him and yeah, me and him have been doing it for a while now, since a little bit before the pandemic, and it's been working out great.

So, you know, I don't want to fix something that's not broken.

How does he make you a better artist?

H I would have to say is honesty.

He's very honest with me.

Is not too much people are driving the studio with them, they're just like, hey, you need to redo that line, you know.

But he's one of those people where are here, you know?

And I and I'm I'm a person that could take constructive criticism.

So I would have to say that it's his his honesty and our friendship.

That's that's the key to having this type of success or whatever you want to call it.

And if I walked into you guys in a studio session, what would the overall vibe be?

I mean, is there is there, uh you know, some some laughter that's going on?

Is it a complete intensity?

Is it a balance?

What's what would I sense when I walked in?

Oh Man, to be completely honest, there's a lot of laughter going on, a lot of jokes.

It'll get serious, and uh, there's there's kind of a lot of drinking going on.

What's the the drink of choice.

I'm a tequila guy.

I gotta have I'll just sip on that the whole time.

And uh, it's funny because sometimes we'll, you know, we'll hit something where the song feels amazing and let's getting on the shop there.

I got it.

I love it.

It's just a fun process.

Man, Is there a time of day that you feel most creative?

I would say, nah, manybe the morning, like the afternoon time.

You know, I'm not really like a late night studio guy like I like, I like to work in the morning to like late afternoon, like a nine to five almost.

That's what I love about Nashville, Like Nashville is like cockwork here, Like everybody wakes up in the morning nine o'clock, leaves the studio five and it's like big clock eight clock out.

I love that stuff.

But so let's talk about the new music and how it all unfolded.

So tell us about it and tell us what the process was like in terms of creating it with Jay Vibe and the rest of your crew.

Yeah.

Well, the last country album I did last EP A summer the country version of it.

I linked up with the producer Dan Huff, who's a phenomenal for producer man, really really good.

I was blessed to be working with that man.

Him and his brother David Huff.

They found me at a show that I was doing in Nashville, and they came.

They came to the show and just you know, kind of introduced themselves and I kind of knew immediately, like I think, these are the guys I really want to work with when it comes to that country side, you know.

And it wasn't too late.

Wasn't that much after I would say, maybe like six six months maybe we ended up coming.

I flew up to Nashville.

We started working with them for the first time too.

I never did this before, but it's kind of like the way they record up here, where they'll get a bunch of the musicians.

I'm so used to, like, you know, I'll work out an idea and send it to my my producer, and my producer sends me something back.

But with this one, I was like, I'm actually in the room with all of the musicians and they're so great that they that they can just one take, you know.

And I was a little intimidated in the beginning because it was like a new thing for me.

But after a while they made me so, you know, I was super comfortable after after I got to know everybody.

But that was that was a fun experience.

I never recorded that way before in my life and then what we did with that was but that was more country style.

And then from there I brought in my producer J Vibe, who is really good at that that reggae solum, and we just now you got Dan Huff, one of the legends of country working with J Vibe, who is one of the legends in reggae music.

That sound.

That was the last album that I just did, the Island Vibes.

That's what you hear.

So it's the writing, the storytelling of country music, the guitars of country music mixed with the foundation of drum and bass when reggae music, and that's kind of what you get right there, you know.

I might you must have multiple, if not all, favorite tracks off of it, and tout a few of them that really pop to the top for you.

I would say, uh damn good Night and uh Last of the Summer.

I mean I would say those two.

Those two really it on me.

Oh, I love that was my favorite.

Yeah, And I usually don't say that because I'm like, every one of them is my favorite.

Of course.

Yeah, of course, how do you think your sounds has evolved with these with these new tracks?

I know you're experimenting all the time.

Yeah, that just comes with time and experience and life.

You know.

Like I'm always trying to grow as an artist, you know, and then try new things.

And I don't want to go too far off, but you know, because I do have a great core fan base that wants to hear the style that I do.

But yeah, I'm always constantly growing and trying to just get better every day.

That's kind of just what I've been doing, you know, just evolving.

And you mentioned the loyal fan base.

What do you think with that loyal fan base is about your music that resonates so deeply and personally with people.

I think it's because we're very similar, you know.

I always say that the reason you like the songs and the music is because it's really a reflection of who you are.

That's I think they just resonate with you know, as an artist, I'm just being me, you know, I'm just doing what I do and and and I think there's a huge fan base that, you know, that just loves that style and the way I live life, the way the things I talk about in the songs, the way it moves you, the way and a lot of these people are island people.

You know, like that's why we'll go to New Zealand and so thousands of tickets there and Fiji and Tahiti.

I think it just has this island vibe to it where island people are just drawn to it, you know.

And it's been doing really well then.

And it's the concept of I love it.

Aloha spirit, a love spirit, that's right.

I love that.

It's how do you carry it beyond your music in everyday life?

The aloha spirit?

It's something that to me, it's like you just have it, man, It's it's a way of life back home, you know, we as I'm Hawaiian and back home, it's like it's just it's it's a way to love, you know.

And uh, you it's hard to get it anywhere else in the world.

It's it's it's it's really a just a place of giving and and and and just love, you know.

And that's uh, it's just instilled in me from the day I was born.

I mean, we need a low house spirit more now than ever.

More now than ever.

That's why I believe in this.

Man.

I'm like people I feel need to need to hear these types of of vibes because you know, it's it's it's it's very uplifting, it's very you know, it brings you to a great place and you can't get mad listen to it.

You know.

So when you're traveling and performing, how are you able to stay grounded?

Because there's it's not an easy life, it's not.

Mine at all.

Well, i'd have to say prayer, a lot of prayer.

And you know I travel with my wife too, so she helps me a lot, you know, So I would see that man just just being rooted man, a lot of prayer and and and a loving wife.

That's why when I asked you to take in a walk question, you'd be very smart about it.

And you said, well, I think it's my wife.

I like that a lot.

What's your wife's name?

Mercedes?

Mercedes?

If you're listening, your man did the right thing.

What's something most people don't know about you that they might be surprised to learn.

I love popcorn and Disney movies.

Yea, I love that.

What kind of popcorn?

Oh?

Any kind?

Man?

The micro alievable ones, easy stuff.

You can't be the movie theater.

Yeah, but some people get all bollocked up with you know, caramel popcorn that kind of thing.

Yeah, I'm a just a butter guy.

Yeah, the real deal.

Yeah, you put the butter on that, and I'm just munching for these.

So beyond your new music, what else are you excited about right now?

And obviously tours play into that, but are there other projects or goals on the horizon.

Yeah?

Right now, I'm working on a tequila that hopefully I can get launched next year.

But I'm really I'm really excited about that.

That's my my side project that I've been working on outside of the music, you know, Yes, yeah, because I love Tequille Man.

That's I think it's part of the creative process, right, Yeah, that's right.

Do you have a name for it, a Limo vai.

Yeah, it's it's it's a It means five five waters, five holy waters.

I absolutely love that.

That is so cool.

What are some of your favorite types of venues to play at mine?

I would say like, I kind of like when they're like close to you, you know, when I do like the bigger ones, they're like, you know, it's kind of far away from me.

I don't get to really like interact with them and feel them, but I try my best, But I really like the venues where they're like right up close, you know, I can feel their energy literally well.

And they could feel yours.

Yeah, and you have a contagious spirit about you.

You have this joy that you radiate, you know, So the closer the better, you.

Know, absolutely, Yeah, I like that the best.

What causes and charities are important to you.

I actually have a foundation too, a nonprofit called Modeling Music Foundation, and I'm trying to just work with you know, kids where they didn't because there's a lot of talented singers where I'm from, a lot of talented musicians, but they just don't have the proper guidance to to you know, get them, get them through.

And I've been fortunate enough to really see this industry and and be around some really really talented and great businessmen, very smart businessmen, and I kind of want to just get that to my home, you know.

And and because there's just no place to go for that type of information that you just can't get it anywhere.

And I'm that that's one of the my foundation is what I'm you know, I'm really leaning forward too, is because I think that's important.

If I if I look back on my younger years, if I had a mentor or you know, somebody that just guide me, I wouldn't have to make as much mistakes that I made that I had maken through these years.

So I yeah, I think my foundation is the what I'm really leaning towards.

What would you tell your younger self if you could in retrospect?

What advice would you give your younger self?

Be patient?

You know, really it's like a mixture of you know, follow your heart, but be patient and remember that this too shall pass.

You know, there's a lot of there's a lot of walls that I've hid in my life in and I'm glad that I pushed through, but man, there was times where I went through some panics.

So in closing, is there the best advice now as somebody who's been at it and working hard that somebody has given you about music or life or creativity that really made a tremendous impact on you.

That's made an impact on me as far as.

Advice, Yeah, and your life, and there's there's.

There's several you know, there was an artists named Fiji back where I'm from, and he's like the pioneer of of our music, of my music, and he was a big brother to me, and he passed away this year, but he was the one who would be, you know, telling me to be patient, to understand that this is in timing.

God's timing is where you want to be.

You know, you want to force too much things.

You know.

He would always you know, just miss a dude that crazy I'm thinking about him, you know, But yeah, he would give me just that type of advice where you know, like be careful who you surround yourself with, and and and just stuff for like even the creative side.

I would I would get into like I would have my writer's block.

And he was an amazing writer, and he's like, you just have to learn how to use everything around you.

All of all the things that you see, you feel, your touch, you can use them all in your ears.

And I was like, I sat down there.

It just clicked for me and I've never gotten a writer's block after that, just by using everything around me.

I'm like, oh, so I can use the light and the flowers and I just put him here anyway, But yeah, he would be the guy that has given me a lot of advice in my career.

Well enjoy your walk with Mercedesily and thank you for everything that you are giving us, your tremendous Aloha spirit and your amazing music.

It's an honor, Mioli to have you on the Taking a Walk Podcast.

My friend, would you come on another time?

Absolutely?

Absolutely, You're always You're always welcome.

Thank you, I appreciate you.

Man.

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