Malice K at Doc Holliday’s – Photos by Lulú Rodriguez
Last Call is an interview series where I, Brittany Marino, ask talented folk all about their lasts: last time they did something, last time they felt something, etc. This week I interviewed a brooding but playful Malice K. I was forty five minutes late and despite my unprofessionalism, he agreed to wait for me.
This weeks Last Call comes with a special treat. Today, Malice K dropped his new single “Radio” and a video to go with it. The track, which is co-produced by Issac Eiger (Hollow Comet) from Strange Ranger, showcases Malice K’s raw vulnerability and introspective lyricism as he croons “I’m trying hard to be someone else, but someone else is already taken.” Watch “Radio” video directed by Johann Rashid here:
Brittany: Last person you texted? You can check your phone.
Malice K: Natalie.
Brittany: Ok so Natalie was the last person you texted.
Malice K: Yeah, “Where the fuck are you?”
Brittany: (laughs)
Malice K: Natalie is my favorite publicist in New York, and that’s why I hired her. And I sent a smiley face, to spread happiness.
Brittany: Last song you wrote?
Malice K: The last song I wrote? Hmm. I don’t know.
Brittany: The last song you recorded, maybe?
Malice K: The last song I recorded was a song for my baby, which is a song that I wrote for my full-grown baby. That’s my girlfriend, Cheeky.
Brittany: When was this?
Malice K: This was last week, or two weeks ago?
Brittany: Is this something that is going to be on an upcoming album, is it just for you, what are you doing with this?
Malice K: It’s still being decided. I ended up recording more songs than were needed for the album and contractually I have to have a certain amount of songs on a project. So, I’m still doing that, I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but I also want the album to be cohesive.
Brittany: Yeah, absolutely. So… to be determined.
Malice K: Yeah.
Brittany: Last movie you watched?
Malice K: James Bond, the newest one.
Brittany: You’re going to have to educate me, I’m not a James Bond fan– is this in theaters?
Malice K: It’s “No Time to Die,” it came out two years ago, or, three years ago now, 2021.
Brittany: Thoughts?
Malice K: The first half hour was really good, and amazing choreography, and I was very interested. There were several times where I was helplessly afraid, and helplessly excited. But then after that it fell apart, and it kind of turned into “MacGruber.” Have you seen that?
Brittany: I’m familiar with it. Is it an SNL skit?
Malice K: Yeah, but they made a movie out of it. It’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
Brittany: Well, I will have to add that to my list. There’s always a Bond song though, right?
Malice K: There is, Billie Eilish did the song.
Brittany: Oh, has she done one before?
Malice K: No, she hasn’t, she shouldn’t have done it this time either.
Brittany: What are your thoughts on the song?
Malice K: The thoughts on the song… I thought it gave James Bond this kind of Gen Z-vibe that really didn’t match. That was kind of cool, but I don’t know if she can deliver it.
Brittany: Last concert you went to?
Malice K: The Voidz, but I was performing so I don’t know if I “went.”
Brittany: The one at Murmur?
Malice K: Yeah.
Brittany: Okay nice, I was there!
Malice K: Oh, you were there! Didn’t you stop me in the hallway, and didn’t you scare me?
Brittany: (laughing) No, I didn’t stop anybody. I hide, I run away from people. I was there working the event.
Malice K: What were you doing?
Brittany: My friend Nasa was in charge of the top floor, she was producing–
Malice K: So you were a top that night?
Brittany: Yeah I was a top that night, I refused to even go downstairs. Just kidding, I did go and got to see you perform, and was like “Okay, look what we’ve got here!” (laughs) Well, what was your experience with that?
Malice K: It was really cool.
Brittany: The space is really, really cool.
Malice K: It was great, everybody took care of everything, I think it was the first show I ever did where I didn’t have to prove that I was performing, and I wasn’t being manhandled out the door as soon as I showed up. Cause that really ruins the vibe, like, if I show up with somebody and I’m going to walk in they’re just like, “I’m going to kill you!”
Brittany: Did you go upstairs at all and do any of the stuff they had up there? They had tarot card reading, there was a psychic. The psychic, I think, could channel Kurt Cobain, allegedly.
Malice K: That’s so weird!
Brittany: I did not speak to this person.
Malice K: I met some psychos, but I didn’t meet any psychics. There was a jazz band that was pretty cool, and I went to go play the arcade, and they had six security guards in front of it, and they were like, “It’s closed.”
Brittany: Oh yeah, I kind of remember that happening.
Malice K: They shut it down, and they had pentagon-level security for the arcade. I just wanted to play the fuckin’ Bart Simpson game.
Brittany: They were trying to make it a private after party, but it was really hard for them to manage who was supposed to be there or not. They kept trying to kick out my friends. I was like, “Do you see this? This is an official badge!” I really had to be like, “Do you know who I am?” (laughs)
Malice K: I’m not there yet, to where I can do that.
Brittany: No, I also am not there, let’s make that clear, but I was given the okay for my friends to stay.
Brittany: Last thing you splurged on?
Malice K: The last thing I splurged on…
Brittany: Like, treated yourself, spent a significant amount of money on…
Malice K: I was like, “I splurged this morning I’ll tell you that!” (laughs)
Brittany: And that is on the record, ladies and gentlemen.
Malice K: Exhibit A, exhibit A (laughs). I was thinking of “splooge.” But I splurged, um…
Brittany: You don’t treat yourself ever?
Malice K: I treat myself like shit.
Brittany: Okay, what about instruments?
Malice K: I don’t buy instruments, I get them for free.
Brittany: How about, do you like to order food?
Malice K: I, what do I splurge on…
Brittany: It’s okay if the answer is no, I’m just trying to see if I can figure out what your treat-yourself thing is. What about tattoos? Those are expensive. Unless you get those for free, too. (laughs) I don’t, I spend quite a bit.
Malice K: I haven’t gotten a tattoo in years.
Brittany: What about that jacket, how much did you spend on that jacket?
Malice K: I don’t remember, I’ve had this jacket for ten years, eight years.
Brittany: For the readers, it’s a nice leather jacket with a fur collar. It looks nice.
Malice K: Oh, the last thing I splurged on was a $5000 hospital debt. Well, I haven’t paid it yet so I haven’t splurged.
(both laugh)
Malice K: I spent $22 on this shot of alcohol and this beer. And that’s the most money I’ve spent in…
Brittany: And that folks is Alex treating himself… That’s fair, I’ve had other people answer and say they don’t really spend a lot of money. I think that’s normal.
Malice K: I just don’t.
Brittany: I treat myself a lot.
Malice K: I just don’t even know what I want.
Brittany: What about travel? That’s one I’ve heard before.
Malice K: Sort of, but the last time I went traveling I was paid for it. I’ll be traveling for work and stuff, for recording, or something like that. We’re about to go to Miami but {Cheeky} paid for that. I’m going to spend money when I’m there. I spend money on experiences, and I will spend a lot of money, but it’ll be just useless things that disappear. I bought some Uggs, but they were $20.
Brittany: I think those go for $100, $150, so $20 is quite a steal.
Malice K: I just don’t really…
Brittany: Okay, I think that’s fine, I just personally can’t relate.
(both laugh)
Malice K and Cheeky
Brittany: Last note written in your notes app?
Malice K: Let’s see. It’s probably something like, “Please, God, no.” It’s probably something horrible that should be kept private.
Brittany: Okay.
Malice K: The last thing I wrote in my notes was my next album, and the list of songs that were on it.
Brittany: So, the track list?
Malice K: Yeah, the track list of the album.
Brittany: Is that settled?
Malice K: Sort of, I’ve got a lot of shit.
Brittany: Can I get the number of tracks?
{Redacted}
Brittany: Last thing you obsessed over?
Malice K: The last thing I obsessed over…
Brittany: Don’t tell me you don’t obsess over things.
Malice K: This jacket, and I obsess over Cheeky a lot to the point of turmoil. Inner turmoil and disease.
Brittany: That’s a great answer. Does anything else come to mind?
Malice K: There’s this book called “The Ultimate Evil” and it’s by this guy Maury Terry who was really popular for uncovering these Satanic cults that were buried underneath the story of the Son of Sam killings, which was that guy who worked in the post office that shot a bunch of people. You have to read it, the book was 900 pages and I blasted through it in less than a week. I obsess over that, but don’t put that in there.
Brittany: I would love to be able to put that in there, but if you insist on me scratching it, then… People want to know about books!
Malice K: Just say Cheeky first, and also…
Brittany: I’ll keep it all in there.
Brittany: Last embarrassing thing that happened?
Malice K: This seems like something that I’d have the best answer to! Does it have to be the last embarrassing thing?
Brittany: It could be the last embarrassing thing you remember.
Malice K: The most embarrassing thing I can think of right now– I have cousins in San Jose, California and I went down there to visit, and I was probably 14 or something, this was a long time ago, and we did this wrestling camp. There would be the younger kids, and then the older kids, it went from middle school to seniors in high school, and all the seniors were really good at wrestling, and super cool, rich California cool kids. Me and my cousins were not rich or that cool, and we’re at the wrestling camp at this college and I go to go to the bathroom, and all the stalls are taken up, and everyone’s shitting in there, so it’s gonna take a long time, then there’s people pissing in the showers that had their own private doors, so I just go in the sink cause I’m like “I’m gonna die.” And one of the senior kids walks in, and I was like “Oh shit!” but I can’t just stop peeing, so I run the water and kind of put my hands over my penis that’s pissing. I was pretending to wash my hands, and he just comes to the sink right next to me and he starts fixing his hair and doing all this stuff, and I’m just losing my mind. I finished pissing, and he was drying his hands off at the thing, and I was like “Well I’m just going to be one step ahead of the guy,” because you know, I don’t care, and was like “I was pissing!” So, he’s like “What?! You were? You fuckin’ freak! Blah blah blah”, and he’s like, “You’re a fucking sicko!” So I left, and was like, “Fuck!” I totally could’ve just not said anything. I was just trying to one-up. Then, they had this rec room, where it’s like, where everybody goes to hang out, and there’s 200 people in the room, and I walk in, and I’m like “Well that was earlier.” Then the guy’s like, “That’s the guy that was pissing in the sink!” Everybody was like, “Ahhh!” They all freaked out. All this stuff. And I had like, a week left of the camp.
Brittany: Did they coin a nickname for you? Were you, like, “Piss Boy”? “Sink-Pisser”?
Malice K: That nickname didn’t come till later.
Brittany: Yeah, okay.
(both laugh)
Malice K: I’m Piss Boy now.
Brittany: I would own it! I’d be like, “Yeah, I’m Piss Boy. And what?” Also, I don’t believe that none of these guys had ever pissed in the sink. I don’t believe it.
Malice K: No. I’ve endured so much embarrassment, that’s the only story I can think of.
Brittany: That was actually very good, and it was when he was 14 years old, so quite a long time ago.
Malice K: That was a bad year.
Brittany: I think my entire 14th year was an embarrassment.
Malice K: It was horrible, yeah. Oh, another one, when I was 17 or something like that, I had been with this girl for two years, she was my first love in high school, and she was breaking up with me, and I was just sobbing, like, “Please, please don’t leave me, please don’t leave me!” or whatever. And then I farted, like, while I was sobbing. It just ruined everything, cause I was really trying to get her back, and she was like, “It smells.” And that was it, and now we’re not together anymore. It was insane, I was begging for the love of my life, or the relationship, and I just fuckin’ farted in the middle of me crying, just begging. Just fucking insane.
Brittany: I actually don’t think that’s ever happened to me.
Malice K: (laughing) No, it’s like, emotions, who knows how they work or what they do? Anyways, yeah, that’s another one.
Brittany: Last album you listened to? Like, in full. It doesn’t have to be new, it can be, can be old. Just full front to end.
Malice K: Front to end… I’m more of back to front kind of guy.
(both laugh)
Brittany: Okay, well you can give me that example as well.
Malice K: “Live at the Old Quarter” by Townes van Zandt.
Brittany: Is that one that you listen to a lot?
Malice K: Yeah, I do.
Brittany: How are you listening to it, Spotify, vinyl…?
Malice K: I’m listening to it through Spotify and YouTube. That’s something I listen to a lot, the last album I listened to for real, though, the truth, the honest to God, don’t tread on me truth, is “Either/Or” by Elliott Smith which was actually recorded in Olympia, Washington, don’t let anybody fuckin’ tell you different. You look it up on Wikipedia and it says Portland, Oregon but if you buy the original print copy of the CD it says State Street Olympia, Washington, and it has the different addresses he recorded the different songs at– because Kill Rock Stars started in Olympia, it’s not a Portland thing, go fuck yourselves.
Brittany: The readers will fact-check this, so…
Malice K: Alright, well tell them to buy the fuckin’ CD. What do they teach you in school? That Wikipedia is a fuck-shit site. Tell them to go buy the CD, the original print of the CD, open that shit up, it says, “Olympia, Washington State Street” with the fuckin’ postal code. I have a picture of it!
Brittany: Oh!
Malice K: The whole thing started because of Harrison, I was talking with him, and I was like, “Yeah, State Street,” and he looked it up on Wikipedia and was like “(makes noise).” He’s a fuckin’ dumb idiot. All caps, put that down, dare to be stupid. Yeah, I went back home to Olympia and found this CD, and I flipped it around, bada-bing, it said fuckin’ exactly what I said. Put this in every magazine.
Brittany: Okay. (Laughs) In every interview you do moving forward this will be mentioned.
Malice K: I’m willing to take it to the grave.
Brittany: The last country you visited?
Malice K: America. I’ve never been outside of the country. I’m leaving the country for the first time next month to go to England.
Brittany: Nice! Is there a purpose?
Malice K: Just going there to speak English, baby.
Brittany: Yeah, they do speak a lot of English there.
Malice K: I’m doing a show over there. I’ve got the cover of (UK Magazine) coming out. It’s dropping in the air when I get there.
Brittany: Last question, last time you created something you were proud of?
Malice K: I made this really cool song the other week, and I obsessively listened to it till I wasn’t proud of it anymore. That’s how proud I am. If I’m really proud of something I’ll ruin it.
Brittany: Do you think that you’re a tough critic of yourself? Are you often proud of your work?
Malice K: Yeah, I’m extremely hard on myself. I have to be, because I’m the only one who has my best interest in mind.
Brittany: Whose opinions do you value, is it friends, family?
Malice K: It changes all the time, because it depends on how much I value the person. There are certain people whose opinions I value for a long time, but then our relationship ceases to be something valuable to me, so the opinion becomes irrelevant. As of now, Cheeky’s opinion really matters to me a lot, I don’t really trust anyone else except for myself. I’m a very self-deprecating person, but now that I’m at a point where I can sustain myself with what I’m doing, that’s lessening, because it’s not as much of a necessity for me to get to the next thing. I haven’t lived somewhere for longer than a year in the last ten years, I’m fucking crazy. What I’ve done or where I’ve been, where I’ve lived or how I’ve lived… So the self-deprecating things have been something that have motivated me to put in extra efforts to being where I’m at. But now that I’m here, I’m starting to go with those things so that I can keep what I have because the answer isn’t throwing things away
