Well, MaLoKai was a vision that I’d had since I was fifteen, and it took six years of praying and waiting for God to bring the right people along. It was really hard to come up with a good name, and about a year before the band got together, I was reading the Bible, and it was the Youth Bible, and they had these little blurbs in the different Scriptures, and there was a little bubble next to where the Book of Malachi started. It was just a short blurb, and it said that not a lot was known about Malachi himself, but he was known more for what he stood for, so straight away I was like, “Yeah, that’s amazing!” because my heart is to be known for what we stand for, we don’t want to be known for ourselves, but for God’s glory. And so that’s where that came from. And it also means ‘my messenger’ in Hebrew, and we consider ourselves messengers, we take the message of Jesus Christ. So we decided to change the spelling, to be cool, but yeah, that’s where it came from.

As well as the band, you have a studio. Let’s talk about that.

We actually built the studio because we have this band, and in London it’s really expensive to rehearse, so we thought, “Right, we need to build a place,” so we started a charity, and eventually what we want to do is employ bands like us to spread the Gospel. Part of working with us as a charity is that bands will get their album produced and distributed for free. I’ve been mixing since I got into music, when I was about thirteen, fourteen. I started off writing rap, I was into rap, and I’d write these tunes on the computer, and it developed more as I started learning instruments, and it developed more into production. I’ve done live sound as well, but being in the studio is something I really, really love, and so when I turned eighteen I thought I could either go on a course, or I could buy the gear.  The course I wanted to do was about ten grand for a nine month course, you get a certificate, and it’s much easier to get into the industry, but I thought, “Stuff it,” so I went out and got a loan, and I bought a whole bunch of gear, Pro-Tools rig, and a bunch of stuff, and just started in my bedroom, basically. Our album, Perception of Reality, was recorded and mixed in my bedroom (it certainly doesn’t sound like it was recorded in a bedroom!) before we had the studio, and then one day we realised we needed a studio, but we couldn’t afford it, so we thought, “Stuff it, let’s build one,”. So my landlords, ‘cos they’re really close friends of mine, said, “Right, have the garden,” and it was a big garden, and we took a whole bunch of the garden and we built a three hundred square foot studio. So we’ve got a sixteen square metre live room, then we’ve got a nice big window, and then we’ve got a twelve square metre control room, so we’ve got loads of room, you can get a six-piece band in there.
So yeah, I produced and mixed our album, and I absolutely love doing it, but I wanted to work with more artists, we want to support other Christian artists. So we got the studio finished and started doing a little bit of work with other bands. We did some work with Rising From Death, and I’m producing and mixing Firefalldown’s album, and I might possibly be doing Conduit’s album in the near future. It’s where my heart is, second to the band, producing and stuff is amazing. So that’s where the studio came from; I looked on YouTube, how to lay bricks, watched a couple of videos of guys laying bricks, then watched a couple of videos on woodwork, all on YouTube. Then I went out, dug the foundations, built every block. It took a year of working three, four nights a week, plus every weekend.

So when you say you built a studio, you actually, literally, built it?

Yeah, I literally built the whole thing from the ground up, myself. Every single step. It was amazing how much I learned, ‘cos I didn’t have a clue about building, so I just did a bit of research and built the whole thing for seven grand, which was amazing, ‘cos I had a builder quote me, and he said he wanted twenty five grand just in labour time to build it. It’s amazing, man... go and build your own studio!

What kind of support have you had for the studio?

Well, first of all, some of my closest friends in London, my landlords, they gave me the space and said, “We believe in what you do, do it. Go for it!” That was amazing, I love them to bits, they’re the most amazing people ever. We’ve had a few different people support it financially, but most of it was obviously us. ‘Cos it’s hard to support somebody else’s vision; when it’s your own vision, it’s easy, ‘cos you’re driven. But people who were really close to me believed in it, and when they had a bit of money, they said, “Here you go,” but at the end of the day, it comes down to faith. I said to God, “I have no money, I don’t know how I’m going to build this, I have stuff to buy, but God, this is yours, and I believe,” and the money would just turn up. And I have no idea where from, but God is faithful, man! And he brought it, he provided, and now we have this incredible studio that bands can come and record.

The bands you just mentioned are all Meltdown bands, and MaLoKai just played the Meltdown stage here at Greenbelt. Can you explain your connection with Meltdown?

I only discovered Meltdown a few months ago. Brian (Bassingthwaighte) sent me an email on our MySpace, inviting us to come along to In-Tune, and I’ve no idea where he heard of us from, or where he found us, ‘cos it doesn’t really say anywhere on our MySpace that we’re Christians. We have a blog which talks about our vision, but apart from that, unless he heard something about us. Anyway, he invited us along to In-Tune, and I had the most amazing time, just being able to meet other artists like ourselves, and to know that there were other rock bands out there that were Christian. We’re still not really involved, just because it takes time to build relationships; Greenbelt is the first event we’ve done with them since In-Tune, but I think it’s more my relationship with other bands that’s brought me into it, because with Rising From Death, Dave (Williams) phoned me and said Rising From Death need to record a couple of tracks, and it’s kind of last minute, urgent, so I said “OK, send them down for a couple of days,” so I did their tracks and they were really, really happy with it. And I was already talking to Firefalldown at this point, because they heard my album and asked where I’d got it done, and I said I did it myself, and they were like “Wow!” they were looking into a couple of different options, but eventually they said they felt God leading them to work with me, because they live close, they live in London, and I was really flexible, and it just turned out perfect, they really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed it, we’ve had a great time, and I’ve just started mixing, I just finished mixing the second song off the album yesterday.

I’ve heard the Rising From Death tracks you’ve done, and you’re obviously not bad as a producer. Is it difficult not to be arrogant about your abilities?

I wouldn’t say... you see, being arrogant is, a lot of the time, something that comes naturally with music. I don’t believe in it, I think it’s wrong, I think we should swallow any kind of pride, ‘cos at the end of the day, we just do it for God. I’ve got a great wife who’ll kick me in the ass if I’m out of line, if she sees me getting there, she’ll say, “Oi! Who d’you think you are, man? What are you?” And equally, I’ve got friends who are older than me who I’m accountable to, and for me one of the things that is really, really important in life is being humble, it’s one of the things that I constantly try to be, because nobody wants to work with an idiot. Nobody wants to work with someone who’s really up his own backside. I’ve worked with people who are, and it’s not nice, and I don’t want to be that kind of person. But, equally, I know my work is good. I know that I can produce to a higher standard than anybody I know, for rock music, not for any other genres. It’s because I listen to this genre, I’ve grown up on it, I know the sound, and because I’m not an old school engineer, and I haven’t learned all the analogue stuff, I got brought up on digital, everything I learned is on digital, and that’s what we use now. So I know how to use all the gear to the full potential. So, on one hand, I don’t go around saying, “I’m the best,” but at the same time, I know that my work is really good, and I know the sound that these guys want to achieve.
So for me, it’s like “Guys, come on, let’s work together,” but at the same time, I’ve got a family to feed, so it’s hard, it’s really hard. I wish I could do it all for free, but when you’ve got a wife and kids, and bills to pay, it’s hard, and I think that’s the biggest obstacle at the moment, because as a Christian, even with my band, everyone wants you to do everything for free, and unfortunately you can’t.
But, yeah, if I ever start getting up my own backside, I’ve got people round me who’ll say, “You know what? Shut up!”

So what’s the deal with the charity?

The charity’s called “Project: Unbroken”. It’s about reaching out into a broken world and seeing it become a little more unbroken. As a Christian artist, it’s really hard to make a living. At the moment, we all work full time as well as doing the band. I had this vision, ever since I was a kid, to have a record label that would sign Christian artists. In the States, the industry is massive, but here, it’s pretty dead. So I’ve always had this vision to have a label to sign artists, but the thing is with most labels is they have big, big money to spend out for studio and stuff, but because I do it, it doesn’t cost me anything, the only thing that costs is mastering, because I’m not a mastering engineer, so I can say to a band, “I’m going to sign you, and I’m going to record and produce your whole album, and all we need to pay for is the mastering.” So we started the charity because we want to employ artists to do the same thing as us. We want to go out and spread the Gospel. It’s hard enough to make a living, let alone if you do it just to spread the Gospel, it’s a lot of living on faith and living on the edge, which is fun, because it makes you really trust God, and you have to rely on God because you’ve got no other choice, and so it gets you in a position where you’re like, “OK, God, I need to feed my family next week,” and you rely on him. But it’s a something a lot of people don’t do, because they’ve got their secure job, and they’re paying their mortgage, not that there’s anything wrong with that, that’s absolutely fine, but I think some people are called to live on the edge, and it’s an inspiration to other people.
So we built the studio as part of this charity, and we want to say by basically working for us, you will get a set wage, and you will get your album made, produced by me, and it will get distributed, as part of the deal, but it’s finding the right artists to work with. But also, separate to that, the label’s there to sign people who don’t work with us as well, so in the future, what I want to do is offer production for bands, and say, “I’m going to produce your album, and then we’re going to distribute it, and when the sales come in the label gets paid back for everything, all the work we’ve done,” and then the income gets split the way it’s supposed to. So in the very near future, what I’m hoping to offer is a way for bands to have their whole album produced, but it means they have to work really hard because, somehow, I need to get paid for my work, so at some point that money needs to come back in. So it’s really difficult, because you could sign a band, and then six months later they could be like, “You know what? We’re gonna finish now,” and I’ve put in six months of work and it’s all gone down the pan. It’s not easy to know where to go, but as long as I trust God, he’ll bring me to the right bands.

It’s easy to trust God when the money’s coming in. What happens when it goes wrong, and God says, “No”?

God never says, “No.” Matthew 7:9-10 says, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” For me, it’s not a case of when it goes wrong, it just doesn’t always go smoothly. Even with the band, we haven’t had a drummer for the last year and a half. We’ve just taken on a new drummer, we hope it’s going to work out, but the same day we got a new drummer, our guitarist announced he was leaving, because he feels God calling him to other things. So who are we to argue with that? At the end of the day, we need to support him, love him, and say, “We release you to do whatever you feel God has for you,” so it’s a rollercoaster, man, and that’s just life in general. So at the moment, money never comes flowing in, but God always, always provides, even if it’s the last second. Somehow, he provides. I can’t explain how or why, all I know is I pay my tithe, and I believe, and I just say, “God, I’m trusting you. I’m doing what I do because I do it for you and I believe you’re going to provide for me,” so it’ll never be a case of God won’t pull through, because he always pulls through. It’s just a case of how he pulls through. When I think about when I was younger, starting a band, I used to think it was going to happen this way, and then I’m going to be huge, and it’s like God’s given me all of my dreams, just not the way I thought he would. And often we think it’s going to happen this way, but who are we? We don’t know anything! We just need to trust God, and believe. I think people give up on their dreams because they forget that God knows what he’s doing. I’ve seen so many people give up on their dreams because things get a little bit tough, or it doesn’t look like they’re going to have a good future, financially, but personally, I think they’re giving up so much more by not living on the edge. I believe God can use you, whichever route you take. He can use you if you take the safe route, he can use you if you take the risk. But one way will be more exciting! I’ll take the more exciting route, I’ll take the risk. Just trust! It’s all about trusting God.

My band wants to record an album, we’ve heard you’re pretty good. What do we do?

What do you do? Give me a call! I guess talk to me about money first. Again, I’d love to do it for free, but I can’t. There’s people out there who can, but I can’t. But what I can give is an album which will be up there with everything else you hear in the rock industry. So just drop me an email, alex@emixengineers.com, and tell me what you want to do, and I’ll tell you how much it’ll cost, and how we’ll go about it. Or get in touch through MaLoKai.

Is there anyone you won’t work with?

At the moment, I’m working mainly with Christian artists, just because I don’t have loads of time right now, and what I do, I want to glorify God. I’m thinking about possibly working with secular artists as well, but it’s just dangerous, ‘cos I don’t want to promote something that I don’t believe in.

I don’t want to work with somebody who won’t let me do my job. It’s ok to be particular about your sound, that’s fine, but at the end of the day I’m the producer and I’m the engineer. Because they don’t hire the studio, they hire me as a producer and they get the studio for free. My fees are just my production fees, it just so happens I don’t have bills to pay on the studio, apart from electricity, otherwise they’d have to pay for studio hire on top of that. But if they do that, they have to let me produce the album, they have to let me do my work, because when you have somebody telling you what to do, it’s really hard. It’s like, “This is what I do... you play, I produce, I mix. Let me do my job.” I know what it’s going to sound like when I’m done with it, whereas they don’t. All they can hear is what they’re hearing now. So if I say, “Actually, don’t play that riff, play it like this,” they might be, “But I don’t want to play it like that, this is how I play it,” but that’s not going to work when I mix it, because I have the vision for the final product whereas they can’t have that, because that’s not what they do. So I’m not willing to work with someone who won’t work with that. You hire a producer because you believe that they will take your music, tear it apart and put it back together, and make it sound amazing.

Isn’t it difficult to convince a first-time band that you know their sound better than they do?

I guess it just down to fact I know what I’m doing. Obviously it’s about working together, I don’t just call the shots like I don’t care, of course I do, they’re the band, they’re paying me, but at the same time, with a band that’s new to it, it’s like, “Guys, you’ve heard my work, that’s why you’re here, you love it, and you want me to do the same for you. So let me do the same for you.”

The other thing with me in the studio is I’m not tense, I like a chilled environment, I’m really laid back. A lot of bands go in the studio and there’s a lot of pressure with time, but I’m not like that. If it takes four days to get the drum tracks down, it takes four days. Don’t worry about it. Chill. Because with digital, there’s so much you can do afterwards. Years ago, you’d have to spend four days getting a good drum sound, whereas now you mike up the kit and you get going, you worry about all that stuff after. And I always tell bands, if you want to compete with what’s out there, you have to do the tricks that you might not like doing. Do you want a demo, or do you want a big, commercially produced thing that up there with everything else that’s out there? I don’t want to do demos. I’m a producer, it’s my name that goes on it, so I’m not willing to work on something that sounds crap. At the end of the day, somebody hears it, it’s my name that’s on it, they’re gonna say, “Oh, I’m not going to him, I’ll go with somebody else.” I want people to hear it and say, “This guy knows what he’s doing, and I want to work with him.”

Thanks for your time, and good luck with everything.

Thanks, man!

(For more information about Project: Unbroken, check out www.myspace.com/malokairock