>> I had a film canister that was made into a banjo.
>> Just a film canister?
>> Yeah, it's sounds really cool.
>> Well, let's hear it.
>> I would, but I'm wearing pajama pants.
And nobody needs to see that. [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC]
>>
Welcome to 4/4, where we get in rhythm with our guests by
asking four reverent questions and four not-so-reverent questions.
Our guest today is Maiah Wynne, singer with
Envy of None and a singer/songwriter in her own right,
and the star of an upcoming movie about a snowboarding dog!
>> It's called the “Powder Pup.”
Think of it like “Air Bud,” but with snowboarding.
>> I knew that you've been working on a career in music for a long time,
but how did it come about that you were in this film?
>> I did two internships with a sound team that did sound for film and television.
And I worked on two films in high school,
and I started acting my junior year of high school as well,
just in local, smaller independent films in Montana.
It's easier to get acting gigs in Montana if you don't
have an agent or a booking agency behind you.
After I graduated, I pursued it a little bit more behind the scenes:
I was a sound utility on some different films
and I did some extra work on bigger shows and films.
I was actually just a background extra in “Metal Lords,”
which is a film that just came on Netflix.
I was “other band” and you see the back of my head onstage for like two seconds.
And I think if you pause it during the mosh pit scene,
you might see me getting crushed somewhere in
the background [LAUGHTER] thrown all around.
>> I was an extra in “Shutter Island” and Leonardo DiCaprio killed me.
>> That's great though like what a great way to be killed.
I'd love to be killed by Leonardo DiCaprio.
[LAUGHTER] I was a background extra on this film that had the Backstreet Boys in it.
It was a zombie apocalypse film.
It was on the SYFY network or something,
and it had the Backstreet Boys and a bunch of other boy bands in it.
One of the members I think of *NSYNC
rescued me from some zombies and they had
this slow motion shot of blood being splattered on my face.
And then just this look of amazement as he wrote away on a motorcycle.
>> Which is better the snowboarding dog or well,
I imagine being rescued by a member,
*NSYNC is pretty special.
>> It wasn't all that glorious,
there's a lot of fake blood happening in that situation.
I didn't really get to have a lot of a moment because you can't have lines as an extra.
But with the snowboarding dog film,
I got cast as a major character,
so I enjoyed that a lot more,
even though getting rescued by a member of *NSYNC was pretty cool too.
>> I came across a lot of facts about you and my research,
and ONE OF the most interesting things I came across
was the song you made up to teach people how to spell your name.
>> [LAUGHTER] Where did you find that?
>> Could you demonstrate that?
>> If I remember it goes M-A-I-A-H W-Y-N-N-E,
that's me. [LAUGHTER] It's a whole thing.
It's like “my name is Maiah Wynne I like to sing lots of things.”
[LAUGHTER] I can’t remember. It's a terrible song.
I was hoping it would be like one of
those annoying jingles that people can't get out of their head.
“The only way I'm going to get this out of my head is to look her
up and follow her on social media.”
>> If somebody gave you a boat, what would you name it?
>> David.
>> The origin story of you joining Envy of None is interesting.
You win a song contest,
the prize is a Zoom session with the bass player of Envy of None,
you two start collaborating.
Then he says, "Hey,
I showed this to my friend Alex Lifeson and he wants in."
>> Yeah. [LAUGHTER] Basically that's exactly what happened.
It was a shock.
[LAUGHTER] A really great shock.
I didn't really understand how Andy and Alex knew each other
or how that was really a thing until after that happened,
obviously I was like “Who?” “How?” What?”
We had a lot of time
to get to know each other and I did a lot of research after that.
Andy was a part of their management team for
a few years on the road and went on tour with them.
He knew Alex for a long time and it was just this amazing thing
that unfolded and it happened kind of magically.
>> You're there and you're rehearsing in person with them.
Obviously, Alex Lifeson is playing differently in this project,
but you're with the guy who played in Rush,
do you ever say, "Hey, do the lead for ‘Spirit of the Radio’?”
>> [LAUGHTER] I haven't yet, but we actually haven't had any studio time with the
four of us or just performing or writing together in a space.
It's all been virtual.
We did get to hang out, the four of us,
for the release of the album.
I went back to Toronto and we did the album release party.
The first time I went to Toronto,
we all went to dinner together.
We hung out, but we haven't really created in the same space together.
>> Your solo work is so different from the work in Envy of None.
Will Maiah Wynne songs make it into the set list or
when you're playing solo gigs will Envy of None songs make it into your set list?
>> Yeah, that's a really good question.
I feel like I've written so many songs and I love writing in different genres.
But a lot of the songs I released were specific songs for a project,
but a lot of the stuff I've released is definitely more towards
the folk or Indie side or singer/songwriter
ballady type thing that I've done so far.
But I've written over 200 songs,
and in those 200 songs I've had a few pretty heavy rock songs that I've written form
just myself over the past decade that I
just haven't recorded and released or put out there, really.
So the contrast between me and the stuff that I've put
out and then the stuff that I did with Envy of None is pretty drastic.
[LAUGHTER] There really is crossover there,
I just haven't had the chance to release that yet.
So I'm really excited for this record because I think it will connect some of those dots.
Not completely, probably there is a jump there regardless,
but you might be like, “there's a thread there,
there's some pieces there. That makes sense.”
But I do think when we tour,
if we tour, we're debating that right now,
I know that Alex doesn't want tour, which makes sense because he did that
his whole life and it's grueling and it can be really intense.
But I do think we'll do at least a few shows together.
I might supplement with Maiah Wynne shows in between,
and I have talked about adding a few of the Envy of None songs to my set.
One of the songs, “Old Strings” was one that I wrote anyway.
I know I'll at least be doing that song,
but probably in a little bit of a different version of it in my live set and then
probably incorporate at least a couple of other ones
into the set and do them in a slightly different way.
I think that's the fun thing about live shows is you can really rearrange
a song in a different way and incorporate it into the set that you're doing.
As far as Envy of None,
I don't know if we do any show us,
if we'll do any Maiah Wynne songs,
I imagine we probably would.
We might do a couple of other songs as well or cover songs. I could see that as well.
>> Maybe the song about how to spell your name?
>> Yes, exactly. That's a great song!
We’ll get the whole band to do it.
>> The recent solo stuff that I've seen out there as this,
the Lucy Gray Baird stuff. That's a character from a “Hunger Games” prequel, is that right?
>> Yeah.
>> It's almost like you're pioneering a new way of expression.
It's like fan-fiction, but music.
>> That's a great way to describe it,
and it was really fun.
It was just, I was reading the prequel to “The Hunger Games” and it had
all these songs in it that didn't have any melodies yet, they were just lyrics.
All these people were reading it.
My friend was also reading it and she ws super frustrated because she's like,
"I can't imagine what these songs would even sound like.
This is so awkward,
there's just these long periods of lyrics that it's hard to imagine."
So she asked me if I would do one of the songs for her.
I arranged one of the songs and I was like, "Well,
maybe let's just film it and I'll dress up
as the character and we'll put it up on YouTube."
Then it just, it blew up and people were like,
"Well, do THIS song too.”
Then I ended up saying, “well now I have to do
all the songs in the book” and it was really fun,
and I would just dress up as the character and
try to recreate the scene in the book as best as I could.
They did really well, and there's just thousands and
thousands of comments and people that were just like,
“I love this so much,
it helps me understand the book better and this character better” and “I
love your arrangements” and it just really tapped into that whole,
“The Hunger Games” fandom,
and they’re just such kind and amazing people and so supportive.
It was really cool to be more a part of that in a way,
and I started getting fan art from people all across the world.
>> What posters did you have on your wall growing up?
>> I had Brad Pitt in “Fight Club” and I had
the Beatles and a signed poster from Penn and Teller that my parents got me.
Kind of weird ones, I guess.
[LAUGHTER] The one of Brad Pitt in “Fight Club” was just huge. It was massive.
I don't think I'd even seen “Fight Club” at that point, I watched it later.
I don't why I had that poster.
>> If you were arrested and thrown in jail and nobody told anybody why,
what would your family and friends suspect it was for?
>> Probably doing something in my sleep.
I sleep walk a lot.
It could be anything, honestly,
you can't trust sleep me.
>> What's the weirdest thing you've done in your sleep?
>> I’ve run outside. I tried to call the police once.
Just last night I switched rooms five
times because I was convinced different things were happening.
I heard that there was booby traps in my room,
like with arrows shooting at me.
I was like I can't sleep with these booby traps.
I have to go somewhere else.
So I ended up sleeping in the living room.
>> Maiah, thank you so much for joining us.
It's been a pleasure to have you on the show.
>> Thank you so much for having me.
You've been wonderful. [MUSIC]