Radiate Magazine
- Jul 26, 2020
- 5 min read

Chatting with Flamango Bay

By Arielle Delacruz and Dioni Dobbins

BACKGROUND ON THE BAND:

Flamango Bay is a teen led, indie/pop/rock band from the Bay Area! There are four members: Georgia Manou and Ikaika Gunderson are the vocalists and guitarists, Bodhi Lucero is the bassist, and Dash Goss Post is the drummer (Can we talk about how cool those names are?? Rock star material for sure.) Freshly out of high school, this band is ready to take on the music scene! These four are definitely ones to watch.

INTRO:

The founders of RADIATE- Arielle and Dioni, sat down with the members of Flamango Bay (sans Dash sadly), over a zoom meeting to discuss the origins of Flamango Bay, their songs Bleach Blonde and Venus that are up on Spotify, performing live, what they've been up to during Quarantine, and what's next for the band!

Q+A:

A: How did you guys meet?

We met in middle school! We were all in the drama program, all in our emo phase, so decided to start a band.

D: How did you guys get into playing music?

Ikaika: We were all into emo bands, Motown, jazz, so incorporated that into our music. Our drummer is a real jazz guy.

Bodhi: My mom was here during the 80's punk scene so I have some of that influence.

A: So both your songs Bleach Blonde and Venus have different sounds to them. What is

your song making process? And what inspires your music?

Ikaika: Every song is different. We kind of approach it like making an art piece. We start with a rhythm/melody and build on top of it.

D: What messages do you hope to spread through your music?

Ikaika: It depends on the song, but with Venus, it was about making anyone who listens to it feel empowered.

A: I know you guys have changed your band name, you originally went by Something and Maybe Everything (SAME), so what made you go with Flamango Bay?

Something and Maybe Everything (SAME) was hard to say and also hard for people to remember. And as we got older the name didn’t fit us as much.

Bodhi: With SAME, we’d have to get pretty big to have it show up on search results.

Ikaika: Being based in the bay area, including that as a part of our name was a big thing for us too.

A: What's your biggest accomplishment as a band?

Bodhi: Probably the DIY Halloween show.

Ikaika: It was a performance in Bodhi's backyard. We had a bunch of people come out and it was a good time. Lil shlurp shlurp performed with us.

D: How do you feel the internet has impacted the music industry and songmaking?

Ikaika: All I thought of when you said the internet was the band The Internet (Collective laughter). Well Lo-fi has influenced it in terms of producing/sound. People like Dominic Fike got started on the internet.

Bodhi: We're able to upload our songs to Spotify, we're not signed to a record label. Mixing/producing music is hard so it takes awhile to get music out, being an independent band. Putting music up on Spotify was a process.

A: Can you tell me about the Bay Area music scene?

Bodhi: There’s a lot of smaller indie bands out here. We’re more indie but I mean you could write/make anything nowadays and call it indie.

Ikaika: Well I don't know if you’ve heard about what happened with SWMRS recently, I don’t even want to get into it, but they preached about inclusivity and respecting women, and when it came down to it they didn’t.

Bodhi: People out here, they talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk.

D: Do you have a pre-show ritual?

Ikaika: It’s basically just us being anxious before the shows. We’re like do you have your guitar? Cool! Do you have your bass? Cool!

D: What's your favorite song to perform?

Venus!

Ikaika: There are a lot of cool parts to play and if you listen to it there’s a cool guitar solo, Bodhi has his bass part, Georgia has her amazing vocals.

D: Tell me about your favorite performance venues.

Georgia: The Art House! There’s a bunch of carpets covering the floor and it was cool being on the same level with the audience.

Ikaika: The guy who owns it was a photographer from the 60's and has a bunch of cool photos from the civil rights movement. It was funny because our parents were all sitting on chairs in the front row. The people who went to the show were amazing, there were kids dancing everywhere. There were couches and kids would be dancing by them and stairs and people would be dancing and going crazy there too. Also the snacks there!! (We all collectively praise snacks and their ability to calm nerves before a performance)

A: If you could open for anyone who would it be and why?

Before everything happened with SWMRS we would’ve said them, but ANYONE? The dream would be Harry Styles (everyone collectively praises Harry Styles) other than that, Fashion Jackson, Small Crush.

D: What do you guys like to do outside of music?

Bodhi: I don't really have any hobbies right now, you'd think that with quarantine I'd have picked up more hobbies, but that's not the case. My hobbies were all school related. Science and math, I play the trumpet too which is fun.

Ikaika: Art, Painting. I’m a writer for Anti fragile, a zine that is based in the Bay Area.

Georgia: I like painting, crafting, but I don’t get into it that much.

A: I've seen on your Instagram that you guys are starting a zine, and have made collages and stuff in the past to promote your music. How did that come about?

Ikaika: There was a whole zine section in the library of our school. It inspired us and we thought it would be cool to incorporate that for our cover art for Venus. The zine is still in the works.

A: How have you guys been making music during Quarantine? What are you working on right now?

We haven't made anything as of yet due to Quarantine, but there are lots of plans in the works. We have released some demos on Soundcloud.

Bodhi: The process of mixing/producing music is difficult and quarantine has made it a lot harder.

Ikaika: We only have 2 songs up on Spotify and we're weary of posting our demos because they aren't fully developed and perfect like we'd want them, but they're a lot of fun.

We’ve been making stuff on GarageBand and sending it to each other. There are a lot of plans and things in the works.