The End is Near

Photographs By Yvette Pavon

Los Angeles musician Mario Loor discusses the differences between playing in a band and being a solo artist, learning lessons the hard way, and his single, ‘Dancing Forever’.

Los Angeles, USA

You last caught up with Reckless in 'Haus of Laughs'. What have you been doing since then?

I’ll go in chronological order. I released Haus of Laughs on Xmas 2020. I was still aiming to gain recognition as a skateboarder because teaching nearly every kid in LA got to my head. It was taking time away from music, granted that changed once I started a band.

We brainstormed ideas for a vision that whole summer. We started making friends with bands in the LA Mod scene, making demos & playing shows as The Strangers. Within a month or so we decided to break from that mold and change our name to Margarita Boys. A fun loving rock group that is not bound to one style. The lifestyle quickly got to us and broke the band apart this year. We recorded a few singles that sound great really capturing our progress as a unit! We’re just figuring out how to go about the project because of the split. That brings us here. I’m releasing music again!

How is working with a band versus working independently? What have been highs and lows?

The difference is the energy. The band provides a more energetic performance and enjoyable experience as a player. Though it can be challenging to compose tunes in a band setting. You and your band have to be on the same page. I found that bringing in fully finished songs worked the best for me.

You are sharing your latest single, "Dancing Forever". What is this song about?

‘Dancing Forever’ is a story about a frightened lover that knows the end is near. He’s using nostalgia to keep his lovers interested. Insisting she looks at the way it used to be to save them from splitting. Since it’s very autobiographicaI can tell you that how I was handling that situation was very wrong. Thou shall not chase whilst the other is pulling away. I had to learn the hard way time and time again till I finally woke up. You can only take it for so long, you know?

How does 'Dancing Forever' show your evolution as an artist?

Dancing Forever is crazy for me because I never thought I would make a poppy dance song that I would enjoy. It’s wild that other people like it too. I always tried making dance songs but they would come out so cheesy. This one has just enough to make it taste good like Pizza or Malai Kofta! I’m also impressed with my synth work on this track, that was new achievement for me at the time.

How did this song come to life?

The song came to life when I ran into an ex-employer, Samur Khouja on the street in a neighborhood I had just moved from. He happened to have a studio on that street and we started discussing working together. Fast forward months later and I had been making demos with my friend Ross, snakexfoot on drums. From 2019-2020 I worked with Samur on and off mostly creating what you hear at home with very minimal gear. A Customshop Fender Stratocaster, a Korg Minilouge, an Mbox, Macbook, a couple mics and monitors.

I was very excited when the intro melody came about! That happened last.