Danger Den Podcast

Ep. 1: Maddy O'Neal | The Danger Den Podcast w/ Danger Foley

• Danger Foley • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Ever wondered what it's like to make history at one of the most iconic venues in the world? Join us as Maddy O'Neal, a trailblazing DJ and producer, shares her exhilarating journey of being part of the first all-female lineup at Red Rocks. She gives us an inside look at her unforgettable performances at Burning Man, tackling challenges like playing multiple sets amidst a dust storm. Maddy opens up about maintaining her creativity and authenticity on tour and how these experiences have fueled her forthcoming album, "Vital Signs," which recently came out on October 8th. It's a candid conversation filled with inspiring stories and intense emotions behind her music.

Our chat with Maddy also explores her evolution in the music industry, where live performances and festival vibes have shaped her unique sound. Discover her approach to sound design, blending dirty, funky bass with organic, melodic elements, and learn how collaboration and risk-taking have been key to her success. As a female artist, Maddy shares invaluable advice for women navigating the music world, emphasizing the power of community and genuine connections. Her transition to a solo career hasn't been without its challenges, but Maddy's resilience and support network have been her guiding lights.

Maddy takes us through her creative journey during the pandemic, which became a time of honing her skills and overcoming imposter syndrome. Her career trajectory highlights the creative process amidst unexpected pauses. We discuss the importance of a robust live setup and how visuals play a crucial role in her performances, ensuring a seamless experience for her audience. This episode is a testament to the power of community, perseverance, and staying true to one's artistic vision, offering listeners valuable insights beyond the music itself.


Danger Foley:

Welcome to the Danger Den podcast. I'm your host, Danger Foley, and the Danger Den is a home- away- from- home for musicians and artists to create, recharge and share their experiences while touring through Denver, Colorado. In each episode, we'll go deep with the humans behind the art we love. Today, I have the privilege of sitting with the immensely talented DJ and producer, Maddy O'Neal. Maddy just released her third studio album, Vital Signs, and she's currently on her fall tour, so make sure to check out her dates so you don't miss her. Our conversation goes much deeper than music and I know it's going to inspire you, so sit back, take a deep breath. Thank you for being here. Let's get dangerous.

Danger Foley:

Oh man, what a day. Yeah, this is the first official episode of the Danger Den podcast. I am here with Maddy O'Neill, one of the most inspiring, in my opinion, female DJs and producers in the industry, and I get to sit with her as my first guest.

Maddy O'Neal:

I am honored. Thanks for having me. It's been an epic day already and what a beautiful space to be able to celebrate. Yeah, yeah, I'm just happy to be here.

Danger Foley:

So, to give some context as to what the Danger Den is, we have created a private home away from home for musicians who are passing through Denver. It's become so clear how difficult it can be to take care of yourself when you're traveling music. In my opinion, um, it's really important to keep the artists in a place where they're able to create from a place of like that authentic, you know, purpose. So tell me about the last couple months you played on the first female lineup in history at Red Rocks yeah with rez, yeah and then immediately went to play Burning Man yep talk to me about it.

Maddy O'Neal:

I think that was the craziest week of my entire life. Well, for sure was. Um, yeah, made some history. I played direct support for REZZ at Red Rocks and that was my fourth time playing, but the first time I played a sold out direct support show. So I had like full volume, full production and just like where I'm at in my career. I felt like I was so ready for that moment. Um. So there was all the preparation leading up to that and if it wasn't for that booking, I was planning to go to Burning Man for the full week. Um, but that came through and I was like you know what, even if I can only be there for three days, I'm gonna make it happen. It sounds a little crazy, but I'm just gonna not party after Red Rocks and just go straight into Burning Man. Hot. And then I played three sets there, two on the first day when I came in and I was just like on a cloud, like coming from that night. So yeah, adrenaline is the hell of a drug.

Danger Foley:

It sure is. And you got caught in the dust storm on the way out of Burning Man.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yes.

Danger Foley:

So how long did it take you to get home?

Maddy O'Neal:

So we kind of I didn't really have like a clear exit plan.

Danger Foley:

I was just kind of like winging it, so you didn't need to be back for certain, but I wanted to get out before it got really crazy.

Maddy O'Neal:

So I played two sets on Saturday and then one on Sunday, which was actually hilarious because the dust storm happened during the day and I was supposed to play it like 530, like all the way across the playa and I almost didn't go because I was like I can't see two feet in front of my face and I was like you know what? I came all the way here geared up and I like knew it was directly across and I and I just like pedaled by myself until I like popped out of a cloud exactly where I was supposed to be, literally exactly like right in front of the camp that I was supposed to play, and I was like holy shit, like that is some Burning Man, miraculous things. Yeah, I was just like all right, cool, and my bike died on the way too, so I was like just like huffing with my big tired bike.

Danger Foley:

Yeah yeah, it feels so much more difficult to pedal an e-bike than it does a regular bike, it's like three times the workout.

Maddy O'Neal:

It's so heavy. Yeah, mine died too and I couldn't see, so it was like a fucking mission.

Danger Foley:

This will end at some point. I'll be on the other side of this.

Maddy O'Neal:

But I ended up playing for like two and a half hours. They were just like keep going.

Danger Foley:

What was your set time allotted for?

Maddy O'Neal:

It was just an hour and it was just such a vibe and I just yeah, so I'm glad I didn't bail For real.

Danger Foley:

I was like you know what.

Maddy O'Neal:

I'm going to do it.

Danger Foley:

And yeah, looking back, that probably was one of the most legendary weeks.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, yeah, as you said for sure I came in with some fresh serotonin for everybody.

Danger Foley:

Yeah definitely yeah, the happiest girl on earth vital signs yeah, it's your third album yeah, congratulations yeah it's coming out October 8th yep. First of all, how did you come up with the title of the album?

Maddy O'Neal:

so I think I started writing this or like knew it was an album at the very beginning of this year, like in January. I had the craziest touring schedule ever last year I played almost 100 shows and I was like honestly kind of burnt out by the end of the year and I was so ready to just like lock myself in the studio and like go back to the inspiration you know filling my cup of like why?

Maddy O'Neal:

I'm out there playing music, you know. So I really just like dove in and I knew it was time to write my next full body of work. I just felt it. So that's when I started writing it, and I think it wasn't until like halfway through that I titled it.

Maddy O'Neal:

But definitely the inspiration was like we're living in such a crazy time right now, like so overstimulated and there's a lot of anxious energy happening from all angles, from all angles and like I had to remind myself even coming off of the tour that I did that like just like pause and like check in with yourself and like like the vital signs, like just like check in with your body, you know, and just have those moments.

Maddy O'Neal:

So that's kind of where the inspiration came from for the title title and a lot of the inspiration for the music. I really wanted to take it back to my roots and where I came from, like the electro soul stuff like with the resurgence of Pretty Lights and the family that I kind of came up with I was definitely feeling inspired by that sound again came up with. I was definitely feeling inspired by that sound again. I feel like I've evolved over the years and kind of strayed away from the more like sampling vinyl and the way that I got into music a little bit, and so I wanted to kind of incorporate the whole spectrum of what has inspired me up until now. So a lot of the collaborations are people that have been around for my whole journey, like Cherub and Prop Cause.

Danger Foley:

How do you always Three, six mafia yeah?

Maddy O'Neal:

Three, six mafia.

Ryan Nelli:

So You're wild, for that I know yeah.

Danger Foley:

I want to hear more about each of these. Like was this as big of a deal for you as a fan as it was from a production standpoint? Like did you grow up listening to?

Maddy O'Neal:

Three 6.

Danger Foley:

Mafia and Cherub.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, I mean, I didn't. I didn't grow up listening to Cherub. Definitely Three, 6 Mafia.

Danger Foley:

Yeah.

Maddy O'Neal:

And I'm there. Those two are kind of connected. So in 2018, I think this was my biggest tour I've ever done. It was like two and a half months on a bus with Cherub Crazy, craziest tour I've ever done in my life. And they were good friends with DJ Paul and, just like that whole camp, they had collaborated together and they connected me.

Maddy O'Neal:

We met on tour and at the time I was just like I need to make this collab happen, like it's got to be a very specific thing. I'll know when I write the song that I want to send to DJ Paul and we talked about it like last year, but he was really busy. And then I saw him at Bonnaroo and he was like yo, year that he was really busy. And then I saw him at Bonnaroo and he was like yo, is that track still available? And I was like no, it's already out, but I can write another one. So I said this was like a trap, the trap anthem on the record. And he wrote to it like the next day when I sold, sent it to him.

Maddy O'Neal:

So he must have been elated, he's such a cool dude Like it was an amazing experience, wow, and very full circle for sure.

Danger Foley:

It feels like you've had quite almost feels like for lack of a better term like divinely inspired path of, like the way that it's gone down for you.

Danger Foley:

Yeah, path of like the way that it's gone down for you.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, tell me about like, just like the genesis of your career and the Pretty Lights and how, like it just feels so serendipitous, like it feels yeah, I mean, I think part of my brand and who I am as an artist is like I've tried to be like as authentic as possible throughout my whole journey.

Maddy O'Neal:

Because, like I've tried to be like as authentic as possible throughout my whole journey, because like I've grown as a person as my art has evolved and I really wanted to be authentic and sharing that experience and I feel that from my fans like I was in a duo project and then I started the solo thing and people saw me go through that transition and then they keep following me and like seeing the glow up and the evolution and I think that's a really cool thing for fans to be able to see.

Maddy O'Neal:

And like even the the rough shit that I went through, you know, like without being too exposing my life too much, I wanted to be real about it. Um, and I hear that from my fans it's so cool to feel like I've been a part of this with you. I think it's unique to Colorado too, in a sense, and the Pretty Lights world because it's so community-based. Yeah, I've had a very unique journey journey and it's been like a slow burn. I feel like things are all happening right now in a really crazy way, but that whole process felt really special to like know that there's people that have been following me for 12 years.

Danger Foley:

It's like that's crazy Right, and with that comes the growth as you were talking about with your music yeah um. How has your music shifted in the span of all these years?

Maddy O'Neal:

yeah, I mean I definitely get in, like I play a lot of crossover festivals, which is cool that my music can translate for sure and play, yeah, shows with not just electronic artists, um, but also like the insomniacs of the world and playing festivals like Lollapalooza, which is definitely a crossover thing. But I'm always inspired by, like, the position that I'm put in. You know, like who I'm playing before and after, and like even staying at a festival for the day and kind of absorbing different environments because I play a lot of different worlds. So I think, subconsciously, a lot of the experiences I've had live have inspired the direction of my music.

Danger Foley:

Just the different energies.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, yeah yeah, it's a lot like from that live environment, um, but yeah, I dove much heavier into sound design and trying to, you know, exist in the bass world, while maintaining, like the beautiful organic elements of what makes my sound my sound, which I think I've finally found the right way to do.

Danger Foley:

Do you know how to?

Maddy O'Neal:

articulate it Well, I say like dirty, funky bass music, but make it pretty, make it pretty, you know. You do say that yeah, so I definitely want to keep it melodic and always incorporate some organic elements that like humanize it, but like I still want it to like smack you in the face Totally. Or like make you want to throw some ass.

Danger Foley:

That's always the goal.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah.

Danger Foley:

Just if they're not throwing ass, then what's the salt?

Maddy O'Neal:

for what is the point?

Danger Foley:

What is the salt for? You know there's so many different avenues that I want to take this just based on this alone. But when you're talking about sound design and you're talking about these collaborations, how do you like to work with other artists in terms of the sound design and in terms of how you actually shape the track?

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, I mean, every collaboration is different. A lot of the collaborations on my record were me starting an idea and sending it to somebody and letting them do their thing. I like to give people a good amount of creative freedom in a collaboration and then send it back or get together and finish it together, but I want someone to feel like they can sprinkle themselves in in the way that they want to.

Maddy O'Neal:

otherwise it wouldn't be a collaboration you know, yeah, um, I love working in person, but I do work with a lot of people that don't live near me, and I think that's incredible that we can yeah, what a time to be alive.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, we can do anything remotely at any time. So, yeah, it's fun just to have no boundaries and to be confident enough to reach out to people like DJ Paul and, you know, realizing that you're going to miss every opportunity that you don't take. So, like people are way more down to work together than you would think, you know, so just reaching out to people, and taking your shot.

Danger Foley:

Would you say that that mindset is how you got to be where you are? Of just like just taking yes, every single chance 100?

Maddy O'Neal:

how? How old were?

Danger Foley:

you when you first learned of that superpower, because I really do think that such a I, I live by the same principle yeah um, and people look at me and they're like god, like you have balls, like you, you did what and and I'm in complete agreeance Like it is crazy how many amazing opportunities people miss out on just because they don't ask.

Maddy O'Neal:

They're like waiting for them to come to them. Right and it's like no yeah no one's coming to save you, closed mouth does not get fed Exactly.

Danger Foley:

And so being a female in this industry and having such influence over a lot of other females in the space, like what would? What advice would you give women that are trying to get into the music industry, besides taking every chance that you can?

Maddy O'Neal:

I think a lot of it is back to, like, the community aspect and really just like reaching out to people, like people are cooler and more open than you think and nobody can do this by themselves. You know there's so many aspects of this and so many things that need to align for you to actually be successful and make this a career, and a lot of that is leaning on other people and knowing what you want and putting it out there and making genuine connections and, you know, supporting each other as a community, and that's one thing that, like the Pretty Lights world taught me early on. It was all about the family that was created. Nelly, shout out, nelly, shout out, nelly who hasn't even officially been introduced yet.

Danger Foley:

This beautiful man in the corner, we call him a cool sweet guy here in the Danger Den Cool sweet guy. Cool sweet guy. We call him a cool sweet guy, but this is Ryan Nellie. He is the director-producer of this beautiful interview and then in the corner. If Beth wants to pop her head in the frame somewhere. Wait no, right over here. Right there, there it is there.

Maddy O'Neal:

It is Beth is the experiential producer of the space and just the wizard Wizardess Couldn't do anything without these two.

Danger Foley:

So bring it back to the emotional piece of this and the journey of it. All of it all. Talk to me about the not so shiny times of your career where it might have been really tempting to give up.

Maddy O'Neal:

I think, as any artist knows, there's plenty of those moments. It's such a roller coaster and you really have to be all in number one. But yeah, I mean, I think the hardest thing that I had to overcome was leaving my old music project and starting over as a solo artist in 2016. Because I had put five years into my old project and a lot of work and a lot of you know blood, sweat and tears already, and then I was like, oh man, I got to do that all over again. But luckily I wasn't starting from zero. I had all these people and relationships that I had built and everyone had my back and they were like we're not going to let you sit around and feel sorry for yourself, like you got this, like here's a show.

Ryan Nelli:

No.

Maddy O'Neal:

Sadie O'Neal. No Saddy O'Neal! She is dead.

Maddy O'Neal:

But yeah, I mean, like the Pretty Lights crew, including yourself, um, just that, everybody. Like Mikey Thunder, Michael Menert, um, Phil, who's now my manager, like people put things on my books to inspire me. Like, they were, like I was, like I don't want to play a show until I have a full album's worth of music. I want to like come out showing people if they had any doubts about me let them know shut the fuck up stay down, yeah,

Danger Foley:

stay down

Maddy O'Neal:

yeah without saying anything, right uh, but,

Danger Foley:

but make it pretty

Maddy O'Neal:

Yes, but make it pretty um, so luckily I had really amazing support system around me for all of those moments where you really want to quit and I just I never felt alone in in doing that. I always felt like there was where we were all looking out for each other and you know, sometimes that's rare in this industry.

Danger Foley:

I'd really I'd say that's a more unique story.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah for sure, and I've realized that over the years, talking to other people and hearing their experiences, and I'm like, wow, I had a pretty special family, especially in the early years, because I just felt like I was like the baby of the crew. You know, I mean dude, I mean, what can you say about watching my journey?

Ryan Nelli:

Yeah, you were. I mean, of course, I think I was 37 when I met you.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, maybe 20. Yeah, yeah, probably.

Ryan Nelli:

Yeah, I mean so you were the baby of the crew um. My one of my best Michael ,Menert, , was like kind of got you on Super Best Records right yep and so I think I met you at Super Best Records debut, that New Year's party yeah, was that at 1UP, 1UP? Yeah, we put couches on the stage and we, just like we all, lamped on stage together, you know yeah, we would put couches on the stage and yeah, we just make it a vibe, but we just like all stands like passing bottles around and smoking weed and you know, and like it was like a mafia of our own that's real bad.

Maddy O'Neal:

I miss the type a little bit.

Ryan Nelli:

They're fun, man, yeah so I mean, I just got it from la and I just met you that day as my first, like week back no way. After six years being gone from Colorado. So yeah, man, I saw it right away. Michael was big uppi ng you and I saw what you guys were doing. Um, obviously I feel like the Maddy O'Neal took on a whole new like life, and yeah had i It just, I think that shot out of the gate and it felt really good immediately. And you, you, but you also worked really hard for a long time and stayed true to your what you were trying to do yeah, um, and I didn't like expect anything right away.

Maddy O'Neal:

t knew it was going to take yeah me a minute to figure it out and

Ryan Nelli:

There's no promises that you would, necessarily we're gonna exactly, yeah but you, just, you know, you're a good example of someone that just stayed in it and it's like one foot in front of the other and you, you know you showed up for yourself and people showed up for you, you know.

Maddy O'Neal:

Y eah.

Danger Foley:

Beautiful man yeah.

Ryan Nelli:

I'm warm right now.

Maddy O'Neal:

Don't make me cry, I just got fresh makeup.

Danger Foley:

But he told me um. He was like I'm doing this listening party at the Yacht C lub. He's like have you heard of Maddy O'Neal?

Danger Foley:

and I was like I haven't.

Danger Foley:

And then I like listened to your stuff and I was like this is some like sick and dirty, like Like this is like, yeah, it makes you throw ass, yeah, it works.

Maddy O'Neal:

I love the way that you said that.

Danger Foley:

I can confirm.

Maddy O'Neal:

It's like the lightest way to say it.

Maddy O'Neal:

I love it,

Danger Foley:

yeah, no, it's It is such a big sound and

Maddy O'Neal:

I've been working on that.

Danger Foley:

I can't even imagine playing that in a big venue.

Danger Foley:

What's been the best venue for you to hear your music?

Maddy O'Neal:

Well, it's funny because I don't get to hear it from the audience. Red Rocks was insane, obviously. One of my other favorite sets I did this year was Electric Forest. I think I played for like the biggest crowd I've ever played for. I was like it was 5pm on Thursday and I was like are people even here on Thursday? And like cause it's been? I haven't played for us since 2018 and like people just like filled in so quickly like as soon as I started I could not see the end of the crowd and, yeah, that was like a very unexpected moment banger set yeah, that sounds I was just like holy shit like electric forest looked yeah so magical it's.

Maddy O'Neal:

It's one of the my favorite festivals of all time.

Danger Foley:

I've never been

Maddy O'Neal:

and then I really, oh my god yeah but then I got to do a house set on the honeycomb yeah like the 360 in the forest

Danger Foley:

with the disco balls hanging down right.

Danger Foley:

Is that what they are?

Maddy O'Neal:

I think they're like bubbles

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, the bubbles um, yeah, that was. That was a really insane weekend and that was just the summer yeah, I think it was in June

Danger Foley:

was that a madhouse set?

Maddy O'Neal:

The the 360 was a madhouse set.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, which is perfect

Danger Foley:

Tell me about madhouse

Maddy O'Neal:

yeah, um, it's basically me DJing house music. I didn't want to start a whole new alias for my house project because I've done that before and I didn't want to start over with all the pages and social media. Yeah, that was part of it, but I think we did a good job of like trying to differentiate the sets from each other enough so that people like I don't want people to come to a regular show expecting me to play house music or vice versa. So I wanted to be very careful in how I branded that. But I think that started over the pandemic when I was live streaming a lot and in my main sets I was you know, I play I try to play like 85% of my own music and I knew that the same people were tuning in over and over again and I was like, oh, I don't want to just keep playing my catalog.

Maddy O'Neal:

So you know, know, we all had a lot of time over the pandemic and I fell in love some of us chose to spend it more wisely, yeah well, I didn't produce a lot, but I really dove into the DJ aspect because I use Ableton for my sets with like drum pads, but I wasn't really as skilled on decks as I wanted to be, so I used my PPP loan and I bought three thousands and then I like really dove into house and like fell in love with it and like realized it was there were so many more like sub genres and any like every it went way deeper than I thought. You know, I kind of had like this shitty mentality of like from a producer perspective, like oh, it's just like the same loop for both. You know what I mean Like just like being ignorant about it until I really took the time to dive in myself and found what resonated with me. Um, and yeah, it's so fun, and I'm about to start writing my first house record, oh, or EP, which is very exciting.

Danger Foley:

That is so exciting yeah, where are you in it?

Maddy O'Neal:

that's, it's not started it's not about to. Yeah, I wanted to get this record out and then kind of, that's like the first thing that I know that I'm gonna start on in the next couple months, um, and so I've got some collaborations and stuff to finish first, but like, as far as bigger projects go, that's kind of what I'm looking at and we are collaborating on a house track yes, congratulations, let's get a 10 inch record out fine, let's go

Danger Foley:

see our best records relaunch yeah, you heard it here first, folks. Yes, nelly super down Maddy O'Neal, that, I mean that sounds fucking awesome. Yeah, I'm really excited um, so you're with your process yeah you. You talk about writing a track, then you talk about all of the other pieces. How long does it take you to typically write a house track?

Maddy O'Neal:

Well, you don't know yet but in terms of actually no. So me and Megan Hamilton, before the pandemic happened, we were going to launch a our house project called housewives and we had like this whole visual aspect. We were like we're gonna smash vinyl and like sweep it up and like we had all these fun ideas for it, and then so she kind of really got me into house music. She was like dude, we have to do this, like it would be so fun. And then pandemic hit. We even like had our logo and our branding ready to go and I produced like four house tracks that I never quite finished.

Maddy O'Neal:

But then the pandemic happened and our teams were like this is a terrible time to start a new project. You know like there's no momentum for shows. You know everyone is like freaking out, so we just like put it on hold. Maybe we'll launch it down the road. But when I'm on tour little samples or little things that inspire me I'm always like putting them in folders so that when I go to sit down to actually write the record it's not a blank canvas. I'm like collecting ideas.

Danger Foley:

Totally.

Maddy O'Neal:

There's like a whole collecting piece of the process before the writing actually starts.

Danger Foley:

First of all, let's talk about your setup. What do you like to play with?

Maddy O'Neal:

For my main Maddy Live sets, which is what I normally do when I'm playing my music in the bass world. I use Ableton and two drum pad MIDI controllers. So I use an MPD-232 and a Roland SPDS. The ancient one is still not broken, protected at all costs. Every time I bust it out people are like damn, that thing is still around. But I love doing it with Ableton because when I'm playing so much of my own stuff, like when I finish a song, I always look at like what I want to do live or what I want to interact with. A lot of times it's percussion elements on the drum, yeah. And then a lot of times it's like the samples that I chopped up, whether it's like vocal samples or just like little you know, the sparkly stuff, yeah, um, so yeah things that make it pretty yes, yeah, um, but yeah, it's fun because I can I pre-plan that when I finish the song, knowing that I've been doing it like that forever so.

Maddy O'Neal:

I export the stems separately you know, percussion stem, vocal chops and then I put them onto my drum pads and it's really fun to do it that way and I love CDJs and I'm glad that I could do that on them also.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, but something about that element of playing live is really special with Ableton, yeah yeah, and I could always do that with CDJs too, and just like have a drum pad on the side, just for moments which I've thought about. But, yeah, I think it's like it's a, it's a unique thing, like I thought it was a negative thing for a while. Like that, if you were playing with a bunch of people that used CDJs, like you would be judged. If you came up and you're like here's my laptop.

Danger Foley:

You know what I mean.

Maddy O'Neal:

But the more I've stuck to my guns, it's actually opened up opportunities for me, like being on the live stage versus the DJ stage. Like that's how I played ultra. I would play it on the live stage because I had live elements. So, yeah, I think like also trusting yourself and what feels good, like keep doing it Maddy came up to me one day.

Ryan Nelli:

We we ran into each other at some festival or somewhere and she just like kind of sides sided up on me and she was like, just so, you know, I kind of feel like I figured out djing. She's like I think I finally can say I'm a dj. I think that was the exact word oh, that is so mean I looked at you.

Maddy O'Neal:

I was like, okay, okay, ma'am yeah, all right, I was finally ready to yeah flex yeah, you said it very like, flatly yeah and I just had I looked at you.

Ryan Nelli:

I said I believe you yeah she seemed like she and I saw the the trajectory, I said she must be doing something right, like I hadn't seen the show in a second or something. But yeah you know, and I was like, okay, let me see what she's doing. And then, sure enough, I've seen you work to cj 3000s.

Maddy O'Neal:

You can dj yeah, and I think being able to do both, like the more I started mixing outside of ableton, it like it made me think about my production differently. You know, like the intro outro. You know like, just like the, the arrangements that I was making and how they translated live it like really helped a lot in that world too yeah, I think, and just DJing.

Ryan Nelli:

You're referencing music and in record box you see the arrangement in a visual yes and you start queuing it up. Yeah, and so not only is the software analyzing it, but you're analyzing it for sure and it teaches you about arrangement. It teaches you how to format. It teaches you, yeah, you know kind of what's and like the tension zones and like yeah so, nelly, I want to actually hear more from you about um.

Danger Foley:

when you first met Maddy and you saw that she was going to fly with us, what does that look like in terms of what made you think that?

Ryan Nelli:

I don't ever take anyone's success or trajectory for granted or think they're going to make anything right Like it's. I understand the fragility of the path and what it takes, but she never stopped. There wasn't even a hiccup, you know.

Maddy O'Neal:

The work ethic, I think. Yeah, and a lot of people believed in me before I believed in myself. Yes, which is crazy, michael.

Ryan Nelli:

Mennert man. You know, he's really one of the beautiful minds of the music industry.

Maddy O'Neal:

He's a genius guy, and Mikey Thunder too.

Ryan Nelli:

Yeah, he's putting people on. Yeah, these guys who, just like, rallied around you and kept you close. But it wasn't like you were propped up through hype, it was like you earned it through the nose and yeah, and that was like a personal relationship that was hyping me up. It wasn't like yeah, you had to show up and play the shows. I remember I went to your first headlining show at Cervantes where you had the video rig and like that was amazing, I was like I think I was on a cane.

Ryan Nelli:

I was coming off an accident.

Maddy O'Neal:

It was the first time I left the house.

Ryan Nelli:

And I showed up. I was like I'm going to actually get up from this like, like in depressive state of you know five surgeries I was in in this motorcycle accident. I totally forgot about that yeah, but I popped out for her. I was like damn Maddy, just like stepped it up like 10 notches yeah, last stop amazing. So, and and it's never stopped it's just been this like I think the last few years has been. The graph has gone, yeah, yeah yeah, well, thank you.

Danger Foley:

And to talk more about that. We're talking about the grit and the self talk and all of the things that you need to sacrifice and work through what. What has that been like for you?

Maddy O'Neal:

I realized early on that if you really want it, you have to sacrifice everything for it. You know, personal relationships, a regular lifestyle and like really being able to step away from, like, a social setting and saying no to things to work. Um, this isn't. It's a lifestyle, not a career Like every. There's no off button necessarily, um. So I realized that right away.

Maddy O'Neal:

But I think really when I honed, it was like I definitely went through a pretty big party phase. Um, and looking back on it, I've wasted a lot of time. Luckily, the pandemic was kind of like a slap in the face to me and it was like you're going to blow this If you continue. Like you have such an opportunity that people would kill for to be in your position and to have the relationships and the connections and everything that I had, and I wasn't working as hard as I could have been, and so I like took a step back.

Maddy O'Neal:

I kind of like refocus my entire vision over the pandemic. Even though I wasn't actually making a lot of music, I really took a lot of time to like visualize where I wanted to be, hone some other skills that I wasn't necessarily where I wanted to be on, like you know, diving into sound design and mixing and DJing. And yeah, and like now where I'm, where I am, now I can legitimately say I could not be working any harder. And like when I could finally say that to myself is when I got over the imposter syndrome that I had because you felt like you actually, yeah, I was like I fucking couldn't give it anymore.

Danger Foley:

I was like I literally couldn't be working any harder, you know and to probably hear the change in the quality of what you were able to put out in terms of a performance.

Maddy O'Neal:

The benefits of my work and like legitimately feeling like I was always moving forward and getting better and learning things constantly. That was definitely a pivotal moment for me. I was like mature enough, I had seen enough, I'd done the partying, I knew what I wanted and I just kind of like made a plan for myself and, yeah, it's been very rewarding to know that that works.

Danger Foley:

So what does it feel like when it actually clicks and when you realize that you have a formula for continuing to progress in your career?

Maddy O'Neal:

It always feels good to feel like you're growing. I never want to feel stagnant and I think when you realize that you are in charge of that is pretty powerful, like there's endless information out there. There's so many different things that you can do to level up and focus on and you know, it's ever evolving. With, like technology and social media, like now we have to be content creators and play a million different roles and I think I was fighting. A lot of people fight the social media thing and they're like, like it's so awkward I don't know how to like interact and like once you realize it's not going away, you have to find a way to make things work for you and to figure out how to, how to connect with people in a way that feels good too. So I think that's a big part of it. Unfortunately, you know we we just have to have that time online and yeah, the ones that thrive are the ones that adapt.

Danger Foley:

It's not necessarily that you get so good at one thing, because then if that thing changes or is no longer an option, right then you're totally fucked exactly um you can't like hate on other people either like have you dealt with the negative, you know, the trolling and things like that on social media and um, yeah, how does, how does that piece affect you?

Maddy O'Neal:

honestly, I don't have a ton of a ton of haters. I think some people are coming out of the woodworks more so now that I'm becoming more successful but they're all like random people that know nothing about me or my project. You know, it's like my ad will hit the wrong. Go to the wrong side of the internet.

Danger Foley:

They threw it over there just to cause a ruckus? Yeah, just to see what would happen.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, but you know you have to brush it off like the right people will find yeah, find, and I think that I have a really strong relationship with my fans because a lot of them have been along the ride, and trying to cultivate that community outside of me is also a cool thing. That to to try to do if you're an up-and-coming artist is like connect your fans with each other, so it's not like you are this entity. You're creating a community that exists outside of your presence and how do you do that?

Maddy O'Neal:

um, do like I have like my mad squad, like Facebook group um, now they have that on Instagram to like creating little communities or having like meetups at festivals so that you know people can come do a meet and greet, but they also see who else is interested in the same things and a lot of you know people make organic connections that way. So, yeah, there's a lot of creative ways to try and do that and I think that's a cool thing to do.

Danger Foley:

Absolutely. Have you heard of any stories of people meeting through you or through your music? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like shows.

Maddy O'Neal:

And I mean one of the biggest compliments that I've gotten is like that the crowds at my shows are awesome. You know very big compliment.

Danger Foley:

Yeah, are awesome you know, that's a very big compliment yeah because you know those are the people that you're attracting.

Maddy O'Neal:

And it sucks when you go to a show and you really like the music, but like the crowd is just like awful or like falling over this or that, and so, yeah, I'm proud of that aspect as well.

Danger Foley:

Another big piece of the crowd's experience at a show, and something that really impacts the energy, is the visuals. Yeah, and you pay a lot of attention to your visuals. Tell me about what goes through your thought process when you're yeah, I mean the bigger and bigger stages that I'm playing.

Maddy O'Neal:

I realize that I do have control over the whole audio-visual experience together. It's really important to feel like that is on brand. It took me a really long time to find a graphic designer that literally resonated with. I was like your visuals feel like my music, you know, and so what I've been doing for that is like anytime I finish a song or a piece of art, I animate it and turn it into visuals so that it's all like cohesive and flows into the live setting.

Danger Foley:

Amazing.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah.

Danger Foley:

And so this is all just a part of the conveyor belt, of how it all works 100% and so, by the time the album is finished, everything is buttoned up and has a bow on it yep, I have animation, show visuals of all the singles, all my album art and yeah it's locked. Yeah, locked in. That is awesome. I'm learning a lot right now, yeah, so want to talk about October 8th. Do you have any plans to celebrate? I mean, other than, yeah, this is.

Maddy O'Neal:

I was going to do another like public album release party, but I might just do like a merch pop up and maybe be like playing it casually, less of like a, because this is, this is kind of like covers that base of like celebrating with my people. Um, but I am working on. This is a little further away, but I just booked my biggest denver headline for next year holy shit, congratulations very exciting. Um, amazing it's. Yeah, it's a big deal. I'm excited to announce that.

Danger Foley:

But not yet. I'm excited.

Ryan Nelli:

That's a little teaser yeah, it's got to be the mission stop we don't know, I'm not gonna say I'm gonna call it right here, right now that's a it's an interesting prediction there. See how it plays out so where else did the Ogden.

Maddy O'Neal:

There is a very specific trajectory in Colorado, the lily pad jump, yes, totally.

Danger Foley:

It's a fun little pond to play in. There's so many good venues here. What's your favorite in Colorado in terms of whether you've played it or have yet to play it?

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, I mean, you can't touch red rock, so that's that's not.

Danger Foley:

We won't include that?

Maddy O'Neal:

um cervantes definitely holds a special place in my heart because all of those you know that's just like the heart and soul of the denver scene, um, and I've had a lot of amazing memories there and met a lot of the people that are now near and dear to me at that venue Friends with all the staff and Scott Morrill.

Danger Foley:

Should we go doorbell? Dutch Duncan.

Maddy O'Neal:

Oh, yeah, we should.

Danger Foley:

Actually I think he said he's out of town. Oh damn it. Okay, he was right next door.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, but that's like. I say that to anybody that doesn't know. Denver I'm like Cervantes is the cultural center of the Denver music scene and will always be, in my opinion.

Danger Foley:

So yeah, it's a very, very special place for sure. Yeah, so to bring it full circle, Vital Signs October 8th. Is there anything else that you want people to know going into the album that would make it a different experience to listen to?

Maddy O'Neal:

it. I can confidently say it's my best work, which is exciting. It's 10 tracks. It's in true form to me. I cover a lot of bases, you know. There's a little drum and bass, some future bassy stuff. There's the trap anthem with DJ Paul. There's a houseier song with Cherub. That's the fun part about writing a record is I feel like I have a little bit more freedom to expand and experiment without, you know, catching people off guard too much. Yeah, I'm excited for people to hear it. I've definitely been working on this record feels big to me, like sonically. I've been working on my sound design and making things feel like larger than life and thinking about them in a big live setting. So I'm really proud of how I was able to hone that on this record too.

Danger Foley:

I cannot wait to listen to it. I am so excited to hear all of the hard work and it's an honor truly to have you here sharing your listening party experience with us.

Maddy O'Neal:

Yeah, it's been an honor already and I'm excited to share the record with a lot of my favorite people and the extended family that I'm meeting today. Yeah, dog, Finally, Finally, I know. Yeah, thanks for having me, and I think a lot of people are scared of like celebrating their work or themselves, and you even had to catch me with like part of the invitation. I was like I don't know if we should put that second part of you. Know you gassing me up and you're like I think we should let yourself yeah.

Maddy O'Neal:

So I think it's cool to be in a position now that I don't I'm not afraid to celebrate, like I know that I worked my ass off and we should celebrate each other and our accomplishments. And like ass off and we should celebrate each other and our accomplishments and like not be afraid of that, because so much of this happens behind the scenes you know by yourself, but it's a such so much work goes into making a full length album and because of social media, you know people are like on to the next all the time. So I think it's really important to pause and celebrate those moments and thanks for making it happen for me.

Danger Foley:

Couldn't agree more. And yeah, let's go get back to celebrating. We have a dinner with some of Maddy friends and then we will be hosting her listening party this evening. So we are going to go get back to that. Thank you so much for tuning in, Maddy. Thank you again. Thanks guys, ryan. Thank you, Maddy thank you again.

Ryan Nelli:

Thanks, guys Brilliant guys.

Maddy O'Neal:

Thank you, brilliant.

Danger Foley:

This is a phenomenal launching point.

Maddy O'Neal:

Holy shit, yeah, yeah, yeah, whoa.

Danger Foley:

Yes.

Maddy O'Neal:

Stick to those guns, stick to those guns, check those vital signs.

Danger Foley:

Yes, listen to the album.