Marlon Jones- A GGT Interview

Photograph by @get_lost.cr2

We got to kick a few questions back and forth with one of the 214’s favorite event curators. Peep what he had to say down below!

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First, dood I appreciate you doing this. Now, first question is: Where did the name Malibu Jones come from and why is he only used when you DJ?

Marlon:  “Of course, I love doing interviews because I feel like a lot of people only know me off twitter and I’m sure 50% of them have me muted by now so they don’t really know the REAL Malibu lol. So, thank you for this opportunity. But the name actually came from a joke between me and my best friend I was driving a Chevy Malibu at the time, I drank a ton of Malibu rum, and we took some photos jokingly and posted them on twitter talking about how I was gonna release an R&B Album as Malibu Jones… It never happened. I use it when I DJ now because I weirdly like to separate me as a photography and event promoter from my DJ world lowkey so now Malibu Jones is like a character I play when I DJ & shit to escape feeling like “wow its Marlon up there” lol.”

Photograph by Dawn

 Now touching slightly on the question of branding and marketing a bit more…I remember you tweeted something about being tired about not getting into the scene, so you went ahead and created your own show, Marlonpalooza, to enter it. How did you go about putting that first show together?

 Marlon:  “Oh yeah of course, when I first got into “The Scene” I felt like deadass half the shows I was seeing was like the same couple of people on the bills and the same people throwing all the shows. People knew me as a photographer already then I started printing my own work and wanted somewhere to sell/display it but I felt like no one would ever respond to me about press passes or give me the chance to sell my work at their shows and it made me feel jaded for awhile not even gonna lie I wasn’t mad at them just salty. Finally its getting close to my birthday 2018 I had just made one of my best art projects and I just thought “damn I need everyone to see this”. So I tweeted about putting together a small art show that would also have a few musicians. Immediately a bunch of the homies started hitting me up saying they would be down to play so it went from being a few homies to a full ass show. Then I got beyond lucky to be friends with the most talented graphic designer in Texas, Ashton Dunn. I hit her up to make me a flyer she was quick to say yes and no lie she made the best flyer I’ve seen come out of this city in awhile without her my shows would have never been successful because everyone took my shows very seriously when they saw how professional it looked even though behind the scenes I was having a panic attack and got venues cancelled on me twice. (u can edit this out, kinda ranted lol) Also another reason it was so successful was because they venue accidentally double booked day of my show so I gave the outside stage at killers to the other show so we had a full metal show running outside while having indie and rap inside that also really helped with the success cause there’s still people to this day that think I put together the outside show even though I totally didn’t so shouts out to that other show for helping my show but I don’t wanna take their credit for also putting together a lit metal show outside.

What would say to an artist struggling to get put onto shows in Dallas? From a promoter’s perspective that is.

Marlon:  “Go to shows, so you can meet musicians, visual artist, and promoters who put all these amazing events together. Take a step back and honestly ask if what you’re currently creating is worth being put onto shows, I’m not hating but we can all grow as artist and you can’t be mad that someone doesn’t like your art or doesn’t think it would benefit the vision of the event. And lastly im not gonna say JUST throw a show, but honestly just throw a show there’s a lot of DIY space in DFW you can very easily put together a decent event for like $300-$500.”

Photograph by Marlon Jones

Switching back to your tweets again (which I love, seriously they’re fucking hilarious usually.) You have been tweeting recently about not getting jobs you applied for which leads me to believe that you agree with my thoughts, that having a day job apart from the music scene is a good idea. At what point would you justify dropping your day job for the music/entertainment/creative industry?

Marlon: “Once again thanks for the twitter shout out, I find myself fucking hilarious but sometimes I feel like I be annoying everyone lol. Very important, me maintaining a career outside means I can finance my ideas without having to run it by someone for approval all the time, also it keeps me from having to make business moves or work with people I don’t really wanna work with cause I don’t need the financial help of people around me so I can do whatever I want with whoever I want business wise. I like bouncing my ideas off others, but I don’t wanna have to be communicating with 5 people every time I wanna do something. But to answer your main question is when I can pay for my shows off my shows. If I relied on Marlonpalooza funds I feel like it would take the fun away from throwing them cause right now I’m just doing them cause that’s what I wanna do and I can stop at any time because I have a job. I’m not tryna be thinking “oh I need to throw a show this month to pay rent”. That’s the road that leads you down being a scummy promoter and we both know there’s already enough of those out there.”

If you could summarize Marlon’s/Malibu’s map for the road to success, what would it be?

 Marlon: “Dawg idk theres no true road to success besides having rich parents or parents that really care about your future. Also being ridiculously talented. I have none of those things lol, but Rock Lee always inspired a young nigga that hard work beats talent so that’s how I live.”

Photograph by @zachxburns

Is there a day you might give up on the creative industry? A timeline of sorts in which you tell yourself if you haven’t “made it” by the said date you’ll take the “normal 9-5” path of life.

Marlon: “Nigga im tryna do that now lol. I’m tryna get a career so that if this art shit don’t pop off I can just fade into obscurity. I deadass almost quit throwing shows after Marlonpalooza 2, It got really stressful and I got a little afraid of it was gonna be successful or not so I told myself if this show is bad you quit now if its good youre stuck with this shit. So here I am know trying to throw 6 shows in the next 12 months, I already missed one date for a show I was supposed to vaguely throw. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again. If im like 30(5 years from now) and this shit just ain’t working, like im not tryna say it has to Camp Flog Gnaw big by then, but if im struggling and shit. Ima move on and just keep doing photography cause that’s much less stress but also I guess that wouldn’t really be giving up. So I never plan to just grow old and be a boring nigga.”

What would success for you look like? I ask this because I know you’re not only a promoter but an extremely talented photographer as well. How does that talent of yours fall into your goals of success alongside event promotions?

Photograph by @dfwsuave

 Marlon:  “Success for me is to own a Texas based record label & a venue in Dallas to host mine as well as others events, I got some other goals but im not tryna jinx it or give any of these niggas free game lol. Hopefully one day I get to be more hands off with my events and really just help with talent buying/art direction in which case I’ll have more freedom to actually shoot my own shows. Really sucks every year I book my favorite artist and I don’t even get to shoot them. I’m still mad about not being able to shoot PNTHN at Marlonpalooza 2.”

Now for something a bit lighter… If you were a rapper- What would you name your first album? Have you ever made music?

Marlon:  “Fuck I’ve never thought about a name for my first album, but I would obviously go by the name Malibu Jones. Honestly prolly name it after my dog Teddy. And I used to make some beats, I tried to teach my self piano also. I think im tone def lowkey and its actually the biggest stress in my life. I would trade in every ounce of skill I have for photography if I could learn to make music well. I’m a “Music is Life” ass nigga.”

@annie_nelson

What got you into the local music scene? For example, for me it was listening to Pat Ron and Caleb Sky’s music and realizing there was loads of talent in the underground. Do you have a moment like that?

Marlon: “Lowkey, by accident. I became friends with a bunch of dudes in the metal scene of DFW without knowing they were in bands, they invited me to shoot their shows. Then I started going to rap shows cause I was also homies with a few rap acts to shoot and the rest is history. I’m a lil older than some of the people in the scene and when I was 18-19 it wasn’t as big so you had to go a lil more out of your way to find shows, whereas now you gotta go out of your way to not see all these shows being put together in Dallas.”

Now finally… Who is Marlon/Malibu Jones? 

Marlon: “I wish I could tell you but I’m still figuring that out.”

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I wanna thank this funny ass dood for taking this interview- I learned a lot I didn’t know about him and his thought process and overall his plans-great talk. Y’all go make sure and peep his Twitter here. -Jon