BAKER CITY — Maria Maita-Keppeler, who heads the quartet MAITA, started into the world of indie rock in the early 2000s by singing at open mic nights each week.

“And getting more and more courageous,” she said.

By 2015, she started touring MAITA and released an album titled “Best Wishes” in 2020, followed by her LP “I Just Want to Be Wild For You” from the indie label Kill Rock Stars. Her newest record, “want,” released July 25 via Fluff & Gravy Records.

Maita-Keppeler is joined by guitarist Matthew Zeltzer and multi-instrumentalists Nevada Sowle and Cooper Trail.

She lives in Portland and will head east for a show on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Churchill School, 3451 Broadway St. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $18 in advance at churchillbaker.com or $25 at the door.

Touring

In 2020, she organized a virtual release show to promote the new record because all live shows were canceled.

“It was so much work, a huge production,” she said.

She’s a visual artist as well as a musician, so she created illustrations to accompany the album.

“That was a creative way to keep the album going in a nontraditional way,” she said.

After the pandemic, MAITA toured on the East Coast.

“That was our biggest endeavor,” she said.

Her band is a quartet and each member must schedule around jobs, so they mostly tour on weekends. Shows this month and into November are around Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

“This area of the country is one of my favorites,” she said.

Their tour for the newest album starts Oct. 24, and she encourages audiences to give it a listen before they attend a show.

“It gives people time to really listen to the album,” she said. “It’s so cool to have relationships with the songs.”

Some songs, she said, morphed a bit during the recording process.

“There are times I’ll think it’s a soft song, then they start playing and oh, it’s a rock song,” she said.

Although she writes songs for MAITA, she said each band member is also a songwriter.

“Everyone is into experimenting and trying new things,” she said. “We treat each song as its own thing — what is the emotional story and how do we capture that?”

More

For more about MAITA, or to listen to the band’s new album, visit maitamusic.com.