Portland native Sharaya Mikael formed Banta after she left a desk job in 2010 to move to Nashville and pursue songwriting, but Los Angeles was calling as a true home for her four-piece rock band. Officially, Banta began in 2013; Mikael created a self-titled EP with producer Andrew Stonestreet of Greylag and recruited a rotating cast of musicians around her music. After landing a record deal with eOne Music, the band started opening for Houndmouth. Banta’s debut album Dark Charms is set to drop on June 3, and today Myspace is excited to premiere an unplugged rendition of "Hungry Heart."

Hometown: Portland, OR

Homebase: Los Angeles, CA

Is Banta more of a solo project or a band?

Banta is more of a solo project in that I am the sole writer and creator of the group, but the live performance is a full band and is much more collaborative.

How did you meet your band?

I was lucky enough to meet all of my players through mutual friends and at parties in LA. I’ve had somewhat of a rotating cast of musicians and kind of swap around players based on availability for tours and stuff. But it's gotten to be a pretty consistent lineup and I couldn't do this without them, so in that sense it's more than a solo project.

How do you describe your music to someone who's never heard you before?

A cascading waterfall of emotion and rainbows flowing through a valley of unicorns and flowers. I try to think of something new to say every time someone asks this question, because I don't really know how to answer it. I'm too involved to have proper perspective.

Why are you called Banta?

It's like banter or repartee but with an accent. Accents make stage banter more interesting, and I have really terrible stage banter. So it became some sort of a joke after shows I would talk in a silly accent, but I'm also terrible at faking accents. So just silliness really.

You’ve moved from Portland to Nashville to LA to pursue music. How do all these cities influence your sound?

Portland was great for writing lyrics, because it's raining all the time so I had a lot of time to sit and think deeply and read, and be sad etc. Nashville was inspiring for crafting great melodies and learning song structure because I was surrounded by great songwriters who told me, "if you can't strip everything away and play a tune around a campfire, it's not a good song". And LA was great for finding a group of inspired and ambitious musicians to form the band. They do it because they are passionate dreamers and not for the money. Those are the kinds of people you only find in the hustle of LA.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

Kevin Parker from Tame Impala and Sia Furler.

Did you grow up in a musical household? How did you discover music?

I always think its funny when people say “I'm into music" as though there are people that exist in the world who hate music. I’ve never met a person that doesn't like music or didn't grow up listening to music. I feel like that would be categorized as some sort of child abuse. Even if your parents had the worst taste, or were super religious or something, I feel like there is no escaping being inspired by music in life. It's part of being human and we are exposed to it from day one. My family doesn't play any instruments, but there were definitely a lot of terribly cheesy top 40 records and cassettes in our house growing up in the 80's / 90's. NKOTB, Paula Abdul, Belinda Carlisle, pop stuff like that. Oh, and my grandma did sing in a barbershop quartet for her church, it was adorable. I like to think I get it from her.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

I was in high school with the advent of Napster, that's when I really started to discover music that moved me and connected with me emotionally. I would make the most eclectic mixes of songs with titles like "happy mix", "sad mix" "girl power mix" etc, so there was a really wide rage of musical discovery there. But as far as artists that I really loved I'd have to say Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Chicago, Fiona Apple, Erykah Badu and (if I'm being honest) Jimmy Eat World, and Death Cab for Cutie were some of the first records I really got into on a memorize-every-word level. I think when you really love an album you absorb a part of its essence, it sinks in and becomes a facet of your musical identity.

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote? What was it about?

Oh man... This is embarrassing, but yes. I was in 7th grade and very into youth group at the time. I wrote a song about the walls of Jericho (story in the bible) falling symbolically as walls of emotion. "Let your walls fall down" etc... it was very emotional, as is fitting for a girl in junior high. I recall feeling very clever for use of allegory.

What's the best thing that’s happened to you as a musician so far?

When I originally set out to start this project back in 2012, I did a Kickstarter campaign to get it off the ground and record the first EP. I was shocked at the show of support from fans who had been following my songwriting. It funded with 15 days to spare and I was blown away.

What about the craziest?

The craziest thing was a couple that flew me to Alaska to play a house show! That was a pretty unbelievable experience.

Why is your album called Dark Charms?

The lyric in the song "Dark Charms" refers to a woman who is manipulative and has an underlying agenda. Kind of creepy actually. It’s my favorite track on the record, so that was kind of a title track. But in the wider context I felt like the album ended up having a very melancholy vibe to it so I liked the imagery of dark yet sweet, it felt fitting.

If you were a hashtag, what would you be?

#thatswhatbumpersarefor - I’m a terrible driver.

Do you have an awesome Myspace-related story as a musician? Can you tell us about it?

I remember when I started going to shows at clubs in Portland around 2003, I would use it to keep track of and discover new bands. It really made the Portland music scene feel smaller and like more of a community at that time. I very much wanted to be a part of the scene, and I felt like Myspace was the gateway into a new world. I didn't realize at that time that I wanted to be a performer. I was just a good old fashioned fan girl.