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Meet Malo Sixkiller, Stone Martin, Steve Miller and Cris Ridenour

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Malo Sixkiller, Stone Martin, Steve Miller and Cris Ridenour.

Malo De Dentro started in late 2005, when (Malo Sixkiller) met Chuck Simoes through a craigslist ad. They started out by writing some riffs based on the classic sound of Soulfly and Sepultura; specifically the Roots album. A few song ideas turned into full songs quickly. A search for a singer was filled quickly, with a screamer/growler on vocals. The band took form, and the first show took place in June of 2006. We played the local scene for many years with a tight lineup, releasing one EP called “Rise of the Snake” released in 2006. After a change in vocalists in 2008, a full album titled “Evil Within” was written and released in 2009. The band continued to play live on a regular basis.

In 2016, a change in direction led to the transition to a clean vocalist. Malo and Chuck began the search for a new vocalist that would bring a new era to Malo De Dentro. In July, they auditioned Stone Martin. It was clear right away that Stone had a superior range and was a perfect fit for the new direction. Stone officially joined the band shortly after.

Immediately, the band began to write new music, taking the music to new levels of creativity. By the end of December, enough new material had been written to finally take to stage. Stone debuted on New Year’s Eve at Joe’s Grotto. The band was well received in our debut, and things were starting to fall into place. Because we were essentially starting over, we started at the bottom. We played a lot of opening slots throughout 2016 to get our name out there. In the meantime, we began to record our first album in nearly ten years. The new album consisted of a few older songs that were not previously released and new material written under Stone’s direction.

In February of 2017, Chuck Simoes decided to move on from Malo De Dentro to start his own project. The band continued to write and record. A search for a new lead guitarist led to the very talented Steven Miller. Steve brought the one element that was missing from the puzzle: a guitarist that could shred, bring melodic style, and a new young flare to the sound. Steve is also responsible for engineering the new album.

In March of 2018, Malo, Stone, and Steve released the long-awaited album “From Darkened Skies” The album received a great reception.
2018 was a big year for Malo De Dentro, with the band playing key venues like the Whisky-A-Go-Go in Hollywood, and the Marquee Theater in Tempe, AZ. In June of 2018, bassist extraordinaire, Cris Ridenour joined the band and has been helping write and record new material, in addition to playing live.

Malo De Dentro continues to work on a new EP, set for release in early 2019, as well as bring their style of metal to the stage in Phoenix and the southwest states whenever possible.

Please tell us about your art.
We are a heavy metal band that makes a blend of several styles of metal music. We take elements from traditional heavy metal and combine a thrash element, clean vocals, and roaring guitar and vocal harmonies and blistering solos. We write what feels right, not what any particular genre calls for. Most of our songs are fast-paced, but not all.

Stone Martin, the lead singer, is the primary writer. He typically brings full arrangements to the band, and we tweak them until we have a song that the band likes as a whole. Everyone contributes ideas, and sometimes those ideas are worked into songs or are created as the foundation of new songs. It’s a collaborative effort. With the technology available today, we are able to do our songwriting remotely; allow us to record and develop our parts from our own home studios. This is a great convenience since we all live on opposite sides of the valley.

Everyone has their own individual reasons for playing music. But the underlying reason for all of us is for the enjoyment we get out of it. We play music for ourselves, first and foremost. We love what we do, and we love to share that with everyone. Creating music for us is an outlet from our daily lives and often keeps us from committing violent crimes against humanity. For a couple of hours, you can take your instrument, and just forget about all the stresses of the day and just create something wonderful that makes people want to bang their heads.

For anyone who is interested in a career in music, or would just like to do it for fun, I will say this: do this because you love it and have a passion for it. But most of all, have fun doing it. Music is meant to give you enjoyment; whether you are listening to it, or creating it. It can be a long road to develop your skills, but it is well worth it. The members of Malo De Dentro plan to keep doing it until they die.

What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
It’s been a big transition in the music industry over the last decade. The conditions have changed in many ways; both good and bad. Social media has changed the way you approach fans. While social media and the internet has made accessibility to music much easier, it has also made it a bit more impersonal. No longer is there the experience of going out to buy an album, looking at all the cover art and jacket information. Or taking that record or CD, and playing it all the way through. Now, people can buy individual songs, and just skip the rest of the experience. This is convenient for the consumer. It lets them focus on the songs they like. But it removes the element of discovery and makes it harder for a band to promote the rest of their collection.

A big plus to social media, though, is the ability to put everything out there with a very low cost of entry. You can upload an album on Spotify in a matter of minutes. And all of a sudden, your music is exposed to millions of people. You can also promote your shows online where people can now more easily be aware of your events.

Before the internet and social media became a platform for music delivery, you had to approach the music scene a lot differently. Things have changed, and you have to adapt. I think the changes have made it easier in ways and harder in others, as I mentioned in the above scenarios. You just have to adapt and play by the new rules. If you can figure out how to reach your fans in the modern age, you can be just as successful as you could have been in the past. You just have to be willing to change, while still putting in all the hustle from the street-teams of the old days.

Cities like our great city of Phoenix and the surrounding areas can create more art-rich districts. If you look at some to the great cities to have music and arts, you will find that there are certain areas in town that cater to the arts. Music venues line the streets. Artists can display their art out on the walkways for everyone to explore. Phoenix metro is a sprawling area, so it makes it difficult to have a community of artists that can succeed together. Another thing that I see popping up now that is helping the music and arts community are more street fairs and music festivals. We played the Mesa Music Festival this year, and it was a great experience for us. We need more events like this — events where the town comes alive with music and art of all types.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can find us playing shows around the valley quite often. We play many local venues. A few of our favorites are Joe’s Grotto, Club Red, and The Marquee Theater. You can find our shows and information at www.malodedentro.com, or on Facebook at facebook.com/malodedentro. You can get our music and merchandise from our website as well.

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Image Credit:
Live shots courtesy of Jennifer Scribner

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