Biography
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Born
20 February 1988 (age 36)
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Born In
Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California, United States
Maïa Vidal (b. Santa Barbara, California, February 20, 1988) is an American born composer, songwriter, musician, and visual artist. Currently based in Europe (primarily Barcelona and Paris), she has toured in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
Vidal was born in Santa Barbara, California, moved at an early age to Brooklyn, New York, and then to Ithaca, New York where she began studying violin. She started her first band, an all-girl punk group, while a student at Ithaca High School. Her band, Kiev (later changed to Kievan Rus to avoid name conflicts with a California band of the same name), played in two Warped Tour events, and toured briefly with Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, and Gogol Bordello. Bad Religion's Greg Graffin took an early interest in the band, and produced their EP Kievan Rus. The band was cast in a series of Coca-Cola commercial called "Girl Band" directed by cinematographer Lance Acord that aired in 2005. Mike Viola provided lyrics and musical direction for the commercials, but 'Kiev's' music was used for the series. Various articles referenced the Coke ad highlighting the DIY attitude of the band, the documentary style used by Acord for the Coke "Real" campaign, and the ironic juxtaposition of a real "girl band" in an advertisement being more "real" than the reality TV show "American Idol" during which it aired.
She started a new project, Your Kid Sister, while an art student at Concordia University in Montreal. 'Your Kid Sister' began as an homage to Rancid, her favorite punk band, and she covered Rancid songs in the persona of Tim Armstrong's fictional younger sister. Rancid's …And Out Come the Wolves was a major influence and during the 'Your Kid Sister' project, Vidal always performed while wearing a wolf hat. She created a music video for the song, 'Poison', using stop-motion animation. She independently released the album 'Poison: 5 Rancid Songs That I Love' in 2010.
In 2009, Vidal moved to Barcelona and began writing new material while continuing to perform Rancid covers, and playing in other bands.
Barcelona design company Desigual commissioned Vidal to compose music for the "Dreams 2011" ad campaign featuring designs by Christian Lacroix.
While writing and recording new material she transitioned to using her given name, Maïa Vidal, as her performance name. Her first effort as 'Maïa Vidal', 'God is my Bike' was recorded in Barcelona and was released in Europe and Japan by the Belgian label Crammed Discs on October 31, 2011. Several French and Spanish radio and television programs have interviewed Vidal about her influences and her approach to music.
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