Q&A with Madi Diaz on songwriting and recording her new album 'Plastic Moon'

On Wednesday, indie pop artist Madi Diaz will be playing at the Hotel Cafe. Diaz started out at the Paul Green School of Rock in Philadelphia and went on to attend college at Berklee School of Music in Boston, where she teamed up with partner Kyle Ryan. The two are set to release their first full-length album, “Plastic Moon,” on Jan. 24. Diaz spoke to the Daily Bruin’s Margaret Davis about the album and her beginnings as a musician.

Daily Bruin: Could you talk about what life was like for you growing up?
Madi Diaz: Growing up is pretty much the same for everybody, traumatizing at times and awesome at different times. My mom home-schooled us all of my life, so that left me a lot of time at home, up to my own devices. … So it left me a lot of time for wood wandering, the piano (and) going through my dad’s pretty epic record collection.

DB: So is that what got you interested in music when you were young?
MD: I think so. Even when I was 5, (my dad) taught me songs from this like red piano book. It had a red cover and there was this song called “Ducks in a Pond,” and I remember that was my first song and it took you from all the way up the octave and all the way down the octave in a major scale. Then, I kept playing piano through early growing-up phases (and) then steered away from it. (I) didn’t really think much about music until probably high school. But, you know, it was always present ““ it was always, always, always there.

DB: How did you get started with songwriting?
MD: I was in a couple of really crappy high school bands. You know, the ones where you’re in it with your girlfriends, and one of your girlfriends is learning to play the drums and the other is learning how to play guitar, and you’re learning how to play guitar and sing at the same time. And we’d all try to write songs together and tumble through them all at the same time. And when I started to really hack away at songs (myself) I was probably about 19 and already going to college. When I started, I fell upon this Ray LaMontagne CD, “Trouble,” … found out he was playing at Berklee, and I dragged 15 of my friends to go and see him. And I was absolutely awestruck, stunned, moved to tears, blown away.

DB: So, was your first recording experience when you did “Skin and Bone” in Hawaii?
MD: Yeah, I think that … it was my first recording experience (for myself). There was always … stuff going on at school for class projects and my friend’s apartment building, but (“Skin and Bone”) was definitely the first time I had a group of players sitting down and helping me figure out … how I wanted to arrange myself, and … I was (still) figuring out how I wanted to arrange myself.

DB: In what ways would you say the School of Rock influenced you as an artist?
MD: You know, that’s a tough thing. It was a really, really great experience growing up. I wouldn’t trade it in; I’m a pretty “no regret” kind of person. I think it made me realize, as an artist, that if you’re not going to fight for your own opinions no one else is going to do it for you. … You have to stand behind your own methods and your own vision. … I think half that battle is the students learning from the teacher and the other half is becoming a more empowered artist.

DB: What’s it like working with Kyle Ryan?
MD: Kyle is awesome. We’re super, super different from each other. … I’m a lot more emotional, and he’s a lot more in his head. He’s in his head, and I use my heart. I think the two of us together kind of strive to find the other person and find a really good common ground. I feel like he’s my favorite person to work with because we can always meet right in the middle and we know right where to find that. And we make each other totally crazy, but we somehow are kind of able to take it through.

DB: What was the recording process like for “Plastic Moon”?
MD: For “Plastic Moon,” Kyle and I had been living in Nashville for a while ““ for I think about a year. We knew that it would kind of bide time so that we could put out a full-length record or at least try to find thoughts and find our common thread in each song. So I think there was about 40 or 50 songs over the year in Nashville, or at least we whittled it down to about 40 or 50 songs and then took it further and tried to whittle it down to 15 songs to I think we’ve got about 12 songs on “Plastic Moon.” And I mean, it was an interesting process. It was the first time that I had paid attention to consciously making a record.