MAWK TAWK Vol. 10 - “Everybody Wants To Be You”
What’s Up MAWK Nation?!? Big day for us as we are excited to announce the release of our third single “Everybody Wants To Be You,” from our SOON to be released record “Shangri LA.” Spoiler alert, this is going to be the lead track on the new record. It’s a big energy riff rock track that we know is gonna kick off the album with a bang! :)
Listen to “Everybody Wants To Be You” on Spotify – Click the link below:
https://open.spotify.com/
(If you don’t have Spotify, then just search for the song on Apple Music, YouTube, Google Play, Pandora, Etc.)
“EW2BU” (as we’ve been abbreviating it on text threads and set lists since it was written) is a song dedicated to celebrating one’s inner peacock/supermodel/rock star. Strutting your stuff, letting your attitude shine, taking your sexiness out for a spin and feeling beautiful for a moment or two, that’s the spirit of the thing.
There are references (some more subtle than others) to various rock stars in the lyrics, including Duran Duran, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Tommy Bolan. My favorite lyric in the song is probably this one from the second verse:
“Are you Lucy Diamond
Some kind of contraband
Walk the runway, maybe dig a pony baby
And strut like Duran Duran”
Of maybe this one from the bridge:
“Are you elevated
When you bang a gong
Pupil’s all dilated
Purple feather boa with John Lennon glass on”
We’ve got a fun video almost finished for EW2BU that we will be releasing in the next week or two. No AI for this one, we are using footage from shows we’ve played around LA in the last year as well as some extra footage we shot at our rehearsal studio and Jason’s house (Plus some cameos of our friends that were shot at the infamous annual Danada Day :). It’s coming together damn well we must say, can’t wait to share it with you beautiful peacocks out there! Here’s a quick screen grab from the video…
Quick update on our video for “Shangri LA” – We have over 1 Million views on YouTube for the video! It’s crazy to have so many eyeballs and eardrums on our music! You can check that one out with the link below:
https://youtu.be/2kjsm3Ej4kE?
And finally, we’re closing in on 2k YouTube subscribers, if you haven’t jumped on board yet, please do! Use the link above and, as they say, smash the like and subscribe buttons!
Okay, that’s all the news that’s fit to print for today, thanks for all your support with everything, we’ve really been feeling the love lately! Hope you dig the new tune, cheers!
Yeah, you know that it’s true
Everybody wants to be you!
- Steve (and Dan and Jason)
MAWK TAWK Vol. 9 - “The Shangri LA Music Video Release”
Greetings MAWK Nation! We are excited to announce today that we have released our new video for our single “Shangri LA” - it is officially live on YouTube! We love the work our esteemed friend/director/artist Sean Rice has done for us here as a follow up to his amazing video he made for our song “Indiana Jones” a couple months back (over 1.5 million streams and counting!). If you have seen the video for Indy, then look out for a few easter eggs in the Shangri LA video! Look up Sean for all your creative production needs at www.seancrice.com .
Click the link below to watch Shangri LA NOW!
https://youtu.be/2kjsm3Ej4kE?si=K09vGb03sHBnowF9
So, here’s a quick thought on AI, specifically as it pertains to this video and the previous one: We see AI as an artistic, creative tool that enhances our work and allows a vision to be realized if it is used responsibly and correctly. This is a new sandbox to play in, and if used with care it can be an amazing bit of technology and one hell of a lot of fun. This treatment was conceived and created by real human beings. The song is of course made by us and is 100% organic. The work Sean put in to use the platform and stretch the available technology to its limits and achieve the story we wanted to tell is all elbow grease and real, human, sweat equity. No artistic or creative roles were replaced. No jobs were lost, or collaborations were abandoned.
Okay, enough of that, let’s talk about the video! It mostly speaks for itself but some of you may enjoy the subtext and intention of the story. “Shangri LA” the song is our love letter to the city of Los Angeles that was born after the devastating fires our community suffered through last year. The video uses LA as a backdrop and is based on a creative reinterpretation of the 3 Musketeers novel by Alexandre Dumas. Each of us (Steve, Dan, Jason) takes on a core characteristic of a Musketeer (Athos/Aramis/Porthos) and goes on a short journey to tackle our inner demons and issues before assembling for a celebratory concert. It’s a very loose thread that connects this story to the novel, but it’s a fun element that we hope adds at least a thin layer of substance and depth to an otherwise silly little romp of a story. And sure, some of you literary types may be asking yourselves “where the hell is D’Artagnan?” and you wouldn’t be wrong. Somehow there are kinda, sorta FOUR Muskateers in the book?! True story, we did what we could with the numbers we got :)
So, there you go, we sincerely hope you enjoy this video in the spirit that it is intended! Here is a link to the song on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3FDPmdHPOedBuBoKNRuSTY?si=c7f5113f5ad84e01
Hey, also, THANK YOU to everyone that made it out to our show at Universal Bar and Grill on 3/28! Such a great evening with you guys it really felt special and spirited! For those of you who couldn’t be there I person, we had our friend Jordan Rowe video the entire evening, here’s a link to a YouTube post of the full show (PRO TIP- you can use the chapters in the video description to jump around from song to song):
https://youtu.be/ViqjEzzfrQc?si=Qav-1OEF9KD13uso
Also – here is a Setlist from the show! :
You can listen to some of these songs on via our main Spotify page, and others we are excited to be recording and releasing in the future. Link to our main Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/33WZIU6ibrprkOFdhphEmW?si=EEkyR02gSSG-Xz4Nf3Af7Q
And finally, keep your eyes peeled for our next single “Everybody Wants To Be You” in the coming weeks and a new video for that song in the weeks that follow the single.
Cheers everyone, thanks as always for all your support!
All for one!
- Steve (Jason & Dan)
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MAWK TAWK Vol. 8 - “Send Us Your Vids & Thank You!” - March 30, 2026
What's up MAWK NATION! HUGE Thank You to all of you that made it out to our show this past weekend at the Universal Bar & Grill in Hollywood! It was so great to see so many familiar faces. We had a blast playing for all of you and we hope you enjoyed the show! WE HAVE A HUGE FAVOR TO ASK!….. During the show we asked you all to pull out your phones to record us playing our upcoming single “Everybody Wants To Be You.” The purpose of this is that we want to use your footage in the video for the song! So - if you were at the show, and you took some video (even if it wasn't of EWTBY but another song) - if you would please send that footage to us we would appreciate it! Please email the footage to: You can do this easily directly from your phone, or if you want to get fancy you can download to your computer and send that way, then of course feel free! We really appreciate any footage you can send us! We will also be posting other live footage from the show to our YouTube channel in the coming days & weeks, so if you are not subscribed to that, then just click on the link below to subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@MAWK3band In the meantime - here are some more shots from the show!
We will be gearing up for the release of “Everybody Wants To Be You” very soon, before we get to that though, we just saw some footage today from our upcoming video for our current single “Shangri LA” and we are all blown away! Looking forward to dropping that very soon too! As always - please check us out on your preferred streaming service (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook - @mawk3band . Thanks again for coming to support us this weekend and we will see you at the next show!!
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*Even the “ 3 ” was Red : )
MAWK TAWK Vol.7 - “ *MAWK LIVE* - Saturday MARCH 28th! ” – March 18, 2026
Greetings MAWK Nation! We're here with a quick note to let you all know that we are going to be hitting the stage at The Universal Bar and Grill on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 PM! It’s gonna be a great night, we have some killer new songs to play for you plus a bunch of your faves! UBG is a great room on the cusp of “The Valley” in Los Angeles, right at the foot of Universal Studios. We played our first show ever there and had an absolute blast!
We’re excited to be sharing the stage with our friends in Dadcorp and Last Machine Standing so come early and stay late for a night of great music! Cover charge will be $10 at the door and there is usually parking either in the lot or on Lankershim, BLVD. Shoutout to Promoter Extraordinaire Donovan Lyman at Hollowbody LA for setting up the night for all of us!
We have our third single from our soon-to-be-released album Shangri LA coming your way VERY soon! It’s called “Everybody Wants To Be You” and we’ll be rocking that one hard at the show! Thanks for all your incredible support for our first two singles off this album - “Indiana Jones” and “Shangri LA!” Looking forward to having the whole record released into the wild very soon as well!
Listen to Indiana Jones Here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7xRhKQOIXaXKMYRATdzcpN?si=qhy1yPDATp-ancU6DnHwUg
Listen To Shangri LA here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/698or1LqwDNhrwi6FXdS1t?si=KfCj7v-NTNm-10BxL7imFQ
Cheers friends, excited to see you on 3/28!!
MAWK TAWK Vol. 6 - “Shangri LA” - February 20, 2026
Greetings MAWK World! Big day for us, we are beyond excited to announce the release of Shangri LA! It’s the second single and title track from our forthcoming new record, and it’s dropped today as you’re reading this! If you want to give it a listen, click the Spotify link below, but you can also find it on your preferred streamer by searching “MAWK3 Shangri LA“.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3FDPmdHPOedBuBoKNRuSTY?si=30bb4a86c8d44578
So, let’s talk about the song! Shangri LA has been a fave of the bands since it popped out of the aether at a rehearsal in late December of 2024. It started as a repurposed section of another song that Jason had written, and then Dan flagged it as a vibe and suggested we use it on its own. It was just a couple chords, but the energy was palpable, and we knew from the start that we were onto something. Over next week a lyric idea started to take shape and at the next rehearsal we hammered out the arrangement and… pow! We had the beginnings of something we were excited about (definitely on-theme, see below).
We have a mantra in this band. It isn’t always true, but sometimes, when it is…. it is. When things go REALLY right… we all look at each other and someone will inevitably say:
“It’s just so easy” :)
It isn’t, of course. But if you’ve ever had things “magically” come together a few times, you should acknowledge it. So, we do.
The song at its core is about rebirth… getting a fresh start, finding a way to a new day in difficult times. “I believe in, new beginnings” is the main call of the chorus. There is a tip of the cap to Joni Mitchel (“paradise from parking lots” is a reversal of her famous refrain in her song “Big Yellow Taxi”) and Rush (I know, I know…) “dizzy heights and busy streets” is a reversal from a line in their song “The Analog Kid”. I think of Shangri LA as an optimistic anthem of hope, and I believe we play it and sing it like a declaration of beautiful possibility.
(also… Jason and Dan totally agree with me :)
I’m particularly proud of a line in the second verse:
“I’m wide open, like an old bookstore
I’ve sold a couple stories, and told a thousand more”
(Hi – Dan reading this and interjecting…. may I second, and say, Steve, one of my most favorite lyrics you have ever written, ever sung, and how universally applicable it is to all of us humans… but now I digress).
Um…thanks… really it means a lot... But how did you hack my MAWK TAWK Nelles ?!?
Digression back in my court…. Back to the matter at hand….
It’s not the stories we sell that matter. It’s the ones we tell. Art for the sake of sharing beauty and truth. Commerce is fine but not what it’s all about.
Then almost immediately after the song was “finished” something horrible happened. On a Tuesday night in early January of 2025 the winds here in LA reached 100 mph and several devastating fires wreaked havoc on our beloved city.
In the coming weeks as we came to grips with the destruction all around us- particularly in The Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas of Los Angeles County - we returned to rehearsals for our upcoming show on January 25th, 2025, at The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip. It was immediately clear that Shangri LA had taken on new meaning for all of us. Our city was in the process of a “new beginning”. When we performed the song at The Viper we dedicated it to the city of Los Angeles and since then the song has been inextricably entwined with those terrible days and the ensuing recovery that continues to this day.
I think it’s still very much a declaration of beautiful possibility, even if that comes in the face of horrible devastation.
So…. thank you from all three of us for your support in all things MAWK3! Hope you enjoy the song, thanks in advance for giving it a listen! We are going to be playing it live on March 28th , news on that front coming soon! Not to piggyback, but we have been blown away by the response to our video for our first single from Shangri LA – “Indiana Jones” (link below to watch… I know… shameless :) SO – on the heels of Indy, keep your eyes peeled, we hope to have a sequel / video for Shangri LA for your viewing pleasure soon!
This one’s for you Los Angeles, “we’re with you”,
Steve, Jason, and Dan
Link to watch Indiana Jones Video:
MAWK TAWK Vol. 5 - “The Indiana Jones Music Video” - January 13, 2026
What's Up MAWK NATION !?! - We hope the new year has started well for you!! It's hard to believe we are almost halfway through January, but here we are! We are VERY excited to announce the release of our music video for our single “Indiana Jones.” The premise of the video is the three of us taking adventures via the three methods of transport - Land, Sea, and Air - to retrieve pieces that once put together allow us to play our song together since it's hard to “make it on their own.” This is what the video would look like if we had millions of dollars to spend, but we don't! We have a fraction of that, like a tiny fraction, so we have to thank our incredible director Sean C. Rice for using today's technology to create our Indiana Jones world!! Without further ado - please click below to watch Indiana Jones on YouTube!
https://youtu.be/StDB_Exymqw?si=aH-OT9ttug0wLO-J
For more info on our director, please visit www.seancrice.com !!
And if you haven't listened to Indiana Jones yet, you can do so on Spotify or your favorite streaming service.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7xRhKQOIXaXKMYRATdzcpN?si=hchn1FvmQcGN-kF81dp-sQ
In other news….
Congrats once again to the winner of our Fender Acoustic Guitar Giveaway - Emmett B. from Gary, Indiana! Emmett was kind enough to send us a picture of him with his new guitar and said that we could share it with all of you! SO - here he is : )
Thanks again to all of you that participated in the giveaway. More giveaways to follow!
We will be dropping our second single from “Shangri L.A.” in February - more on that later :)
Please visit the band at www.mawk3band.com, and on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook via the handle @mawk3band.
Wishing everyone the best for 2026 and beyond!
DAN (Steve, and Jason)
MAWK3
MAWK TAWK Vol. 4 - “And The Winner Is..” – December 30, 2025
Hello MAWK Nation! We hope you are all enjoying a Happy Holiday season!! We would like to welcome all of you that are new to our newsletter MAWK TAWK! Thanks for joining us :) As we have been running our Fender Guitar giveaway over the past month, we have seen a lot of new folks join the crew here and thank you so much for being a part of MAWK Nation! For those of you who don’t know us, we are MAWK3, a rock trio from Los Angeles. The band consists of Steve Giles (Bass & Lead Vocals), Jason Sweeny (Guitar & Backing Vocals), & Dan Nelles (Drums). We are three great friends that have played in numerous bands over the years, but never together…. Until now! For more on our back story, you can check out our bio here:
https://mawk3band.com/about-mawk
We have been overwhelmed and so thankful for the support that we have received since the band formed, so we thought that we should give something back, and what better way to do so than gifting someone a new guitar! Lots of people from all over the US and beyond have joined us over the past month, and we are thankful and humbled you all have done so. THANK YOU! SO – without further ado, we have run a random draw – with video proof – and the winner of the guitar is…..
EMMETT B. from Gary, Indiana!
We have been in touch with Emmett and have shipped the guitar out to him. Congratulations Emmett! Thanks again to all of you that signed up over the past month. We had intended to announce this on December 19th, but some communications issues prevented that from happening. Better late than never :) We intend to make this an annual event, so, mark your calendars for the MAWK3 Guitar Giveaway 2026!
In other news….
Our latest single “Indiana Jones” continues to hit the ears of people all over the world, we have received lots of positive feedback from lots of corners of the planet including Brazil, Mexico, Italy, France, the UK, Chile, Portugal, Serbia, Peru, Colombia, Canada, and the USA, just to name a few, and here are a few things that a few people are saying!...
If you haven’t listened to “Indiana Jones” yet, you can do so on Spotify by clicking the link below…. Or by searching for MAWK3 on your preferred streaming platform:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6B1QcZks1nKbzqGCtoRaue?si=c6890df8160a4d84
Coming in January!.... The Indiana Jones Music Video!
We want to announce that we will be releasing a video for “Indiana Jones” in January. We want to thank Director Sean C. Rice for all of his efforts with the video as it looks great and we are all excited to share it with you!! Here are a few stills from the video!...
Lastly, We would be remiss if we did not leave you with some shameless self-promotion! Please follow the band on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok & X, and feel free to spread the word and share with your friends and families! We are @mawk3band on most platforms.
We want to thank you all again for the support you have shown the band here in 2025 and since our inception. We are excited for the many things that will be coming in 2026 that we can’t wait to share with you in the new year!
Happy MAWKidays, Happy New Year, and Much Love!
• DAN (and Steve, and Jason)
MAWK TAWK Vol.3 “The Fender Guitar Giveaway” - November 19, 2025
Greetings MAWK Nation! Lots of exciting stuff happening for the band, but the big news today is that, given the upcoming holiday season, we have been reflecting on all the support you have given us since we started the band and have decided to giveaway a brand new Fender guitar as a way to say thanks! The rules are below, but basically if you are on our mailing list as of December 18th, 2025, then you are eligible to win!….. as long as you are located in the contiguous United States. Apologies to the rest of the world but shipping costs are already crazy, plus we don't want you to get hit with an tariffs, so we have to limit things on that front. We’re gonna have a drawing in a couple weeks and pull out a name and all three of us really want it to be YOU! If you have a family member or friend that may be interested in a brand new guitar, please feel free to forward them this email, or just head over to www.mawk3band.com to sign up! Check out the photos below, it’s a Fender FA Series Dreadnought Sunburst Acoustic Guitar, with the full bundle of picks, extra strings, a carrying case, and an instructional DVD.
I
NDIANA JONES
In other news, our latest single Indiana Jones is officially out and making the rounds. Some fun press coming down the pipeline, we’ll have more to announce on that in the coming weeks. Thanks to everyone for listening and spreading the word and for all the amazing feedback we’ve been getting! High hopes that this song catches a wave like we think it can!
https://open.spotify.com/track/6B1QcZks1nKbzqGCtoRaue?si=c3d609b686ab4661
NEXT RECORD & NEW TUNES
And of course, our new album “Shangri L.A.” is ALMOST done! Mixing is now officially 100% finished, mastering is happening this week, conversations about artwork and song listing are happening! Shit is getting real kids! We are absolutely OVER THE MOON with how great it sounds and can’t wait to share this album with ya!!
Now that record #2 is almost in the can, we’ve begun working on new material for our third record and I’m not gonna lie, this stuff is killing. Some of you caught our last show at The Viper Room in October where we debuted one of the newbies “The Worst Thing”, that was fun! Several more bangers in the mix, the juices are flowing, and we’re excited as ever about the future. Hey, now that I think about it, here’s a Youtube link to an iPhone video (thanks Min!) of that song at the Viper!
https://youtu.be/92Rp1_BxRco?si=hxzKquA9ev9L7wZY
“Hey, hey, would it be okay, if you were mine for just one day
Hey, hey, would it be so bad, if Gwynevere and Gallahad
Had the love that we imagined to be real…”
THE MAWK SHOP IS NOW OPEN !!
Hey, we’ve got merch!! Check out the MAWK SHOP link below for some cool stuff. Great way to help us spread the word and support the cause! I’m particularly fond of the MAWK3 beer glass and bucket hat. Check out the link below!
https://mawk3band.com/mawk-shop
That’s most of the news that’s fit to print for now. We’ll have a new single for y’all in the coming weeks, possibly not until 2026, but we're still having internal discussions about timing and song selection. Here’s an insider tidbit: It’s either gonna be “Everybody Wants To Be You” or the title track for the new record “Shangri L.A.” My money is on EW2BU but the deliberations continue, more on that soon!
Thanks as always for following along, we legit can’t be more pleased with the responses we’ve been getting to this newsletter! Cheers from all three of us, tawk atcha later!
- Steve, Jason and Dan
Be Sure to Follow the band on Social Media:
Instagram: @mawk3band - https://www.instagram.com/mawk3band/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081021289865
MAWK TAWK Vol. 2 - “Indiana Jones” - November 11, 2025
Hey friends, quick turnaround between our debut newsletter last week and this one, but we had no choice because we are celebrating a huge day for us here in Mawk World! “Indiana Jones” is our first single off the new record “Shangri L.A.” and it is officially out on all platforms as of last Friday! Woohoo! It’s so great to have this song released into the wild, you can check it out on Spotify by clicking the link below, or head over to your preferred streaming platform, search for the song, and have a listen there!
https://open.spotify.com/track/6B1QcZks1nKbzqGCtoRaue?si=78b1d5424d544e82
So, this song has a fun story, let’s see if I can do it justice…
The lyric was intended as a “response” of sorts to one of the bands collective all-time favorite songs - “Tom Sawyer” by one of, if not our favorite band “Rush.” That song famously celebrates the fierce independence and spirit of the individual. It champions a sort of self-made, willpower-first, “I Can Do It” ethic that is beautiful and powerful in so many ways. It features a fictional character (Tom Sawyer) as its centerpiece, who exemplifies that philosophy wonderfully.
“No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren’t permanent
But change is…”
I friggin’ love this song in many ways, including the powerful, unique lyric from Neil Peart and Pye Dubois. Anyway, one day I got to thinking that maybe there was a cheeky pushback to this ethic they are presenting. Maybe, we actually DO need support and love from those around us to get where we are going in life. What if the most Lone Wolf of Lone Wolves actually thrives with the right people in his or her corner, and maybe when they succeed they don’t really deserve 100% of the credit? To me it was an interesting thought at the very least.
So, I picked my own fictional character, one Mr. Indiana Jones, and I got to work on a lyric that I thought was a cool response to Pye and Neil’s take on Mr. Sawyer. Here’s a couple snippets:
“No one rises without love
We fall underneath the stone without a shove
Still connected to the end
Even the wolves who act like they ain’t got a friend
Just like Indiana Jones
Brando, Kurt Cobain, or Edgar Allen Poe
Legendarily alone
But they didn’t rise up, didn’t rise up on their own.”
Feeling somewhat excited about what I had, I grabbed a guitar and got some chords and a melody together, and…well… it didn’t work. I didn’t share it with the band because it just wasn’t clicking musically and I was a little nervous that it was a bit corny as a concept. Oh well.
So literally that night I’m with Jason on the way to rehearsal. He tells me he has a cool riff and a couple parts to go with it. They were inspired by listening to a band that Dan had shared with us the previous week. Can’t remember who they were, sorry.
(Hey Steve! Dan here - the band was “Final Stair” from Germany, and the song was “Who Cares.” Glad it had such an impact! :) Back to your regularly scheduled programming…)
Cut to halfway thru our jam and I step out to use the restroom. As I come back to our space, I hear J and D absolutely SLAYING this mid-tempo, groovy, swing beat that’s heavy as hell! I grab my phone and hit record immediately. I knew it was a killer from jump.
A few days later I made a demo singing my lyrics over that rehearsal recording and it totally worked so I sent it off to the boys. We had another rehearsal that night so I figured I’d know soon enough if it landed. When Jason picks me up he is all revved up about this Indy thing! We agreed that it had a novelty flair, but hoped it wasn’t TOO novel to scare Dan off, he’s always a great litmus test :)
We park at the lot. We see Dan pull in across the way. He gets out of his car and we are both curious what he’ll say about the song. Then from fifty feet away we hear him singing at the top of his lungs:
“Just like Indiana, just like Indiana, just like Indiana Jones!”. It was unanimous, we had ourselves a song :)
That was about a year ago, give or take. We’ve worked hard on this sucker. The verse lyrics, particularly the name drops of other famous loners, went through several revisions but the essence of it stayed the same. We’ve played it live at all of our shows since then. People sing along. It’s always the one that our friends and fans comment about after the show, “that Indiana Jones song is a killer!”, that sorta thing.
And here we are now, it’s officially out in the world! Thanks to everyone for your support with this tune and everything else we’ve been up to, including this here newsletter. See you in a month or so! Also, here’s that link again, seriously, go check it out!!
https://open.spotify.com/album/7xRhKQOIXaXKMYRATdzcpN?si=sne8WaHaQaC0RXNT5wmaGQ
-Steve (and Jason and Dan!)
(Be sure to follow the band on social media if you don't already!)
https://www.instagram.com/mawk3band
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081021289865