Spotlight: Mallika Guhan Talks About Finding Her Start During A Pandemic With Behave PR
There are a number of gears working behind the scenes in the music industry, especially once you step outside of the studio. While the artist and their music certainly take centre stage, to get the music out into the world is a task easier said than done. For indie artists without a large team or following behind them, the roles of those involved become even more important – managers and publicists especially.
Doing her part is Mallika Guhan, a freelance publicist who recently launched Behave PR, a boutique publicity firm based in Montreal, Quebec. With a number of years under her belt in the music scene, including as a musician herself, Mallika joined me to share some insight on the journey thus far and some recent releases from her roster.
When and why did you start Behave?
Mallika Guhan: I started working as a freelance publicist almost two years ago mainly because I wanted to help artists, especially artists of colour in music. I spent a couple of years playing in my own band in Montreal and saw first hand how much money and effort goes into every aspect of music creation and wanted to find a way to help. I tried out a few things and fell into PR and it just fit with my experience.
From there, the idea was to create a genre-fluid music PR service that was actually affordable for artists starting out. Montreal has a KILLER music scene — and that was really what drove me to do this.
How was starting a business in the pandemic?
MG: It was terrifying (haha). On a personal level, the visibility — you know, starting to promote myself and what I was doing… that was a new thing to navigate not to mention, at a very strange time. I can be a shy person by nature but the pandemic gave me the push that I needed to launch Behave.
In the music industry as a whole too, there was a lot of uncertainty with where it was going and artists and music industry professionals were grieving their lost shows, tours, opportunities and launches. So, it was a lot of thinking on my feet when it came to re-planning and planning new releases. A lot of time spent was just reaching out to see who was still willing to write about emerging artists. But when artists kept reaching out with their amazing projects, I knew it was worth it to keep going. There were A LOT of challenges but it ultimately worked out in the end.
What do you look for in an artist?
MG: I listen to a lot of music and a wide variety – and I really love when an artist can keep the integrity of a classic genre while bringing something new to it, to make it feel fresh or even futuristic. I really listen for good songwriting and arrangement too — because these are the parts of music that help you feel the music and actually connect with it vs. just sounding cool or different. But on top of that I just like working with nice people.
Tell us about some of your artists:
Choux
MG: Choux is a long distance dream pop duo by vocalist and keyboardist Lizzie Carolan (Montreal) and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Gatesmith (Minneapolis). They just released their debut EP Super Moon that was mastered by Phillip Bova Shaw who has worked on albums for Land of Talk, Andy Shauf and Bahamas among other artists!
Check out their track “On a Sunday” off the album, it reminds me of the 90s.
Nora Toutain
MG: Morroccan-French alt-R&B artist Nora Toutain released her debut album Vol. I. on Good People Records back in late September. Here is the closing track “Victoraville”, an afro-pop song about following your wildest dreams which was produced by Busty and the Bass member Chris Vincent. It’s a vibrant and different kind of listen – I find it really refreshing.
Sara-Danielle
Sara-Danielle makes sparkling-sweet indie pop music. She recently teamed up with producer and songwriter Jesse Mac Cormack (Helena Deland) for her single “Scared” which is about the beauty of taking risks even if it scares you.
Milla Thyme
MG: Milla Thyme is a Toronto-raised and Montreal-based rapper, bassist and producer. Check out his soul-pop single 3 Dimensions (produced by Chris Vincent) out on Urbnet Records. It’s about his time growing up in Toronto and rapping at house parties. It has that futuristic global funk vibe that gets you moving.
What’s next for Behave?
I am in talks about putting together virtual live sessions in 2021 featuring the artists that have come through Behave. Eventually I want to run shows and have more of a presence in Montreal when live shows are back. I also want to slowly transition to turn this into a record label!
