Interview with Future Palace

Hello! It is Adam. Welcome back to bringing it backwards. A podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to hang out with Maria of the band, future palace, over zoom video, Rio's born and raised in Berlin, Germany. And she talks about how she got into music. The first instrument she learned was the 12 string guitar that her mom had. She tells us about that. The first couple of bands, she was in a band that she was in for nearly eight years. And through that band is how she landed in what is now future palace. She talks to us about the success of a music video that ended up getting them signed to a rising empire, a stint she had on a reality television show, which was super interesting and all about their new record run. 6 (2m 17s): You can watch our interview with Maria on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It would be amazing if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik TOK at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, apple music, Google podcasts, it would be amazing if you follow us there as well, and hook us up with a five star review. 7 (2m 40s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 6 (2m 46s): We're bringing it backwards with future palace. 8 (2m 50s): Hello? 6 (2m 51s): How are you? 9 (2m 52s): Hi. I'm good. I'm good. I 6 (2m 55s): Appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much. I'm great. 9 (2m 58s): Awesome. Yeah. Sorry for my weird background and everything 6 (3m 4s): Like at a venue or something. 9 (3m 6s): Yes. I'm not kidnapped. I 6 (3m 9s): Am good. 9 (3m 12s): We're on tour right now with EDIS. Okay. And they're having a sound check. So I just looked for a corner that's not too loud and annoying for us, 6 (3m 20s): So yeah, I appreciate it. No, no, no. That's awesome. So you're like, you're playing. When do you play? Like in a few hours? 9 (3m 28s): Yeah, we play at, I think either seven or eight. One of both times. I, it might be seven already. Yeah. We, we have time. No worries. 6 (3m 39s): Okay. I'm good. I'm glad. Okay. Where are you about right now? 9 (3m 45s): We're in cologne right now. Germany. Cologne. 6 (3m 48s): Okay. And what time is it? I'm just curious. I'm in, excuse me. I'm in Nashville area and it's like 9:00 AM, so yeah. 9 (3m 55s): Oh, wow. Yeah. It's a 4:00 PM here currently. 6 (3m 58s): Oh 9 (3m 60s): Exactly. And we still have some time cause we're the openers and we have another interview at five or something, but 6 (4m 7s): Yeah, the 9 (4m 8s): Crazy day, but a good day. 6 (4m 10s): Yeah, for sure. Well, I'm Adam and I appreciate you doing this, especially on such a wild day with the tour and everything else going on. 9 (4m 18s): Yeah. We're happy to be here. I'm happy to be here. So of course we totally wanted to get time for this. I hope the sound is okay. And everything. 6 (4m 26s): That sounds really good. That mic is good. What is that? What kind of mic? 9 (4m 31s): That's a really old one for like 100 euros and I wanted to sell this, but then a drummer was like, just take it on tour for interviews. I'm like, yeah, that's smart. Just as some it's really use be Mike. It's a, 6 (4m 43s): Oh, it looks good. Look. Yeah. It looks like a, like a legit Norman mic. 10 (4m 48s): I wouldn't be holding no money. 6 (4m 51s): I was like, oh, that's cool. 9 (4m 54s): Yeah, no, no. It's just like a cheap one. 6 (4m 57s): No, all good. All good. Well, cool. This is about you and your journey and music. And we'll talk about the new record that you have coming out in about a little less than month 9 (5m 6s): <inaudible> yes. We're freaking excited. 6 (5m 9s): So cool. So first off, talk to me about where were you born and raised in Germany? 9 (5m 14s): Yeah. All of us saw just three, but all of us born and raised in Berlin actually still live in Berlin and yeah. 6 (5m 21s): What was it like growing up there where you can look at a suburb or are you in the city? 9 (5m 26s): I mean, Berlin is a pretty big city in general and there are so many people living there. It's funny because I only met my two band members really late, even though we were in the same scene and did music for years, I met them really late because there are so many people living there. And I grew up on the more, like, almost on the border of Berlin to the other city. That's a little more like a little more country-like, but still it took me like 10 minutes to go right into the center of the, of the city where all the big buildings are. So I would say pretty much city, city, life, all of us. 6 (6m 1s): That's amazing. What about music? Did, was that something that was in your household or your parents musical or anything like that? 9 (6m 11s): They, yeah, all, a lot of people in my family do music, none of them officially professional or anything, but it was always a passion of, in my family, at least. So my mother is saying and had a guitar at home. She had a 12 string. Yeah. 12 string guitar. And I was so confused as a child. Like what the hell is this kind of thing? And that's where I learned guitar on this 12th string. And she taught me when I was 12. Just what she knew randomly. And from that day on, I kept going, I watched YouTube tutorials because we had a keyboard at home and yeah, my siblings also liked to sing and it was a big passion already in my family. And I was like the first one to say, I wanted to try to make this a profession. 6 (6m 53s): Okay. 9 (6m 54s): Like real, real, real profession. Yeah. 6 (6m 56s): So at 12 you learned the 12 string, the 12 string guitar sounds so, so cool. And really when you're playing it, I mean, I'm not a great guitar player by any means. I mean, I can play like the chords in a power cord, but like, I feel like when you're, when you're playing, I mean, it just, you can play a regular chords and it just sounds so awesome. But if it came down to the fact that like, if I had a restring, the thing or tune it, it'd be like game over. 9 (7m 24s): I think we never even done that role also so less with this one, but it was beautiful. You didn't have to do much. And it sounded amazing already because there's so many strings and makes us sound so full. And I was just streaming streaming on it without even doing chords. And I'm like, yeah, that's so cool. 6 (7m 43s): That's amazing. So 12 you, were, you, you said, were you singing before that? I guess that was my question. 9 (7m 49s): Yeah. Kind of it started at the same time I was singing, but just like as a child and in school, but I think it was like 11, 12 when I actively started to sing in school. I had my first child band with my best friends. Oh yeah. We wrote our first songs. They were really, really, really embarrassing, but that wasn't already with 11, 12. And then in high school or like mid school here, it's called, like, we have a middle school, then high school. I joined the school band there and then we did covers and I also had my first real band with 14 and all of this came together. That's when I also started singing, like with 11, 12 was like the first songs I also wrote and everything. 6 (8m 32s): So young. I mean, if at 14 years starting like a band, I mean to start like the band that you're really, I mean, wait, so this band didn't start when you were 14, did they? 9 (8m 42s): No, no, no, 6 (8m 43s): Nothing. Another band got you. 9 (8m 45s): It was another band. It was my first real band. It was, I wasn't here for like three years. 6 (8m 50s): Yeah. 9 (8m 51s): Yeah. I did like many things that I already wished back then. Now this is my band. Like, this is where I'm going to get, I don't know people to know us with, but yeah. Then I met the other guys later on. I think I was like 20 or 19, actually. I wasn't that old. I'm still not that old, but I always knew 6 (9m 11s): Probably not very old, 9 (9m 14s): But yeah. I always wanted this real bad. I always tried to do all that. Good. And I actually studied music for two years and then quit. But yeah, I already knew that I really wanted to do this. And then luckily the, a miracle brought me these two guys and then we met future Pellis work. Yeah. In like 2018. 6 (9m 35s): Okay. Wow. Well, real quick on the band that you started, when you were 12, you were writing original songs. Is that what you said? Or you 9 (9m 43s): Sound 6 (9m 43s): Like, what did you guys sound like? Was it this same style of music? Were you always into like kind of the metal heavy stuff 9 (9m 50s): Back then? When I was like 11, I was really into, ever-loving like obsessed, obsessed with her and I 6 (9m 57s): Actually asked him, have you heard it? 9 (9m 59s): Yeah. You mean I heard flames and then yeah. Yeah, yeah. I liked, I liked the style she's getting back into right now. It's cool to see that she's getting more comfortable again with like her more old-school 6 (10m 13s): Style punk style. Sure. 9 (10m 15s): Yeah. But it's fun because I was in sixth grade and then yeah, I was, I'm like 10 years younger than my band members. So for them, they were probably like teenagers and I was just a child, such a fan girl. And I was covering her coach songs, a girlfriend, and I try to somehow make something similar. Like Demi Lovato back then. Yeah. I had like really weird. That was me when I just got into rock. I also listened to Lincoln park back then. That was all in about like 2007. That's when I was like 12 or something. I don't quite remember what year that 6 (10m 49s): Must've been it now 9 (10m 52s): I'm just in the wrong time. I was just, 6 (10m 60s): Oh man. I'm old. Well, okay. So where's, that was that the style of songs that you guys were writing when you were, you know, in that age and with that first band? 9 (11m 8s): Yeah, it was like singer songwriter, every Levine type of songs. I was just having my acoustic guitar and I didn't understand much. And then later on with this other band, when I was 14, we started doing more progressive music, progressive rock, listen to lot to flyleaf or the number 12 looks like you are my chemical romance, all of that stuff. Yeah. And we just tried to make something worked for us. It was a little more progressive though. And experimental and I also started screaming then already with like 1560. And I tried it for the first time and we just did what we wanted to do, but it was less poppy or like less structured than what we do now with this band. 6 (11m 48s): Gotcha. Okay. So with that second band, the one where you started screaming at everything, and like you said, that point, you knew that this was what you wanted to do. Like w at what point, like, was there something that happened or it just, it just felt good. Like, what was the point where you're like, this is going to be it for me. And like, I honestly think I could do this. 9 (12m 8s): I think I had this moment already when I was, it sounds so crazy, but I think I had already, when I was 12, I was like, I don't know what it was, but something in me clicked, like this could actually be a job I could make this happen, but I wasn't sure how. And then with like 14 back then, I was a big fan of bands, like Pentagon disco and para and everything. And I was like, I just, I don't know. It was just a feeling that this is what I'm here for. I don't know what it is. It sounds so cheesy. 6 (12m 38s): I totally get it. I was just, yeah, 9 (12m 40s): There was almost nothing I enjoyed more and that gave me more like power and inspiration and doing music. I also, because I grew up in a pretty problematic family and this was a escape for me from all of this. And it helped me to turn all of these bad emotions into something nice that I could, I don't know, build something with. And yeah, at that point I was like, I just really, really, really want to lift from this and get on. And then I actually was like, I need to quit school. And I don't know. I was like really crazy about it, but I finished school and everything and, and I started studying media design first because I was like, oh, let's keep it safe. And I also like arts and drawing a lot. 9 (13m 22s): And I was like, yeah, maybe just do this and be safe. And then I heard people singing because of the school. I was like in an art school. Oh. 6 (13m 30s): That's 9 (13m 30s): When I studied. Yeah. For, for a few years. And I heard people having singing lessons because they also studied music there, there were music classes and I was drawing at that time. We did like naked. We had to draw a naked person. I remember 6 (13m 46s): How old were you at naked people? 9 (13m 49s): I think I was 19 or 20. Yeah. 6 (13m 52s): It was already like some naked dude showing up and you're like, and you know, you're 15. 11 (13m 58s): No, no, no, no. It's like, whoa, 6 (14m 1s): Is this, 9 (14m 3s): They asked for permission. So it was like our, yeah, like it wasn't weird, but it was funny. And then I was sitting there, like, I wish I would be singing right now. And like, I had this feeling like I really need to be there right now. I just couldn't deny it. I couldn't ignore it. It was just so loud inside of me. Like you belong in the other room right now. And that's when I switched the classes a few months later. And then yeah, learn a bit of music theory, which I'm not good at at all. But at least I got some knowledge there and some singing lessons for the first time in my life for like one year. And from that on, I was, I felt like I was actually prepared to try this better with new people and try to go full on. 9 (14m 47s): Yeah. 6 (14m 48s): So before, before this, no, no, no, no. That's, that's the of this. I love this. So you, you finished high school and you were still in this band that you were in prior to a future palace. And then you go to art school or the high school you went to as an art high school? 9 (15m 4s): No, it was, it's a little weird in Germany. So we have like our, when we're your child, you go to school until you're like 12, and then you finish like a pre what is it called again? Like pre 6 (15m 16s): Permits, elementary school type thing. 9 (15m 18s): Elementary school. Exactly. And then, then that's we already go to high school. So from when you're 13 grade seven until grade 10, this is like the normal, normal education everyone does. But then yeah. And then you can decide to do three years extra. I think now they're two years, which is called a levels, I guess, in England. So like something you need to do to study afterwards, to go to college, you have to do these two extra years 6 (15m 43s): And then you go to school after that you go to college or apply for 9 (15m 46s): That's that's when you can get to college. And I did these two years extra and then I was able to go study. Yeah. 6 (15m 54s): Oh, okay. So in the two extra years, did you, is that when you started studying or, you know, you started studying art? 9 (16m 0s): No, I had to do so I did. I went to normal school for 13 years, just normal school. And after that I started studying on the art school. 6 (16m 10s): Oh, cool. Nice, nice 9 (16m 13s): College. You would call. 6 (16m 14s): Yeah. So what we'll with that band that you were in prior to, to this one where you guys touring, like, did you put a record out? Like, I mean, was it, was there like a moment or like a milestone or validation that you were like, okay, we, you were in the band for a long time, obviously. So it was like, was this something that you thought was going to happen and like, did that just dissipate and then this new band started or was it just kind of like everyone went their separate ways? Like what, what kept you moving forward? And then how did this new band form? 9 (16m 44s): Oh, that's interesting. Actually never told anyone, I think in this way, bud. So we really wanted to make it work with the old band. I was especially me and the guitarist. We really, really took it seriously. And he was the head of the band, like both of us, but more him. But yeah, when you don't have like a really structured person or experienced person that will end up going in circles and circles, and that's what I kept calling it. It kept going in circles and we try to make new plans. Actually, a lot of us studied music in this band or the head of the band. The guitarists started studying sound design. And that's actually how I met the new band through mutual friends because he studied with another friend together. 9 (17m 29s): And through this friend, I met my two new band members. Yeah. But then we were actually there in the studio where he studied and we recorded our first. We wanted to do our first IUPY with this alt band on actually recorded all of the songs, I think released two or three of them. But, but the IPI never, never was never published. Yeah. But it was still like a school task for him. We recorded everything. And this one friend that I met my band through, he recorded us and he was like, your band is so cool. And I was like, yeah, thanks. Your band is all so cool. And yeah, that's that's we never toured, we had a few gigs, but never did a full tour sadly, but we have few songs and it was all prepared. 9 (18m 12s): And then my patients kind of kind of left because I noticed, I don't think this is going to be it with them. I don't think this is how you're going to work. Everyone is a little too creative. None of us is really well-structured. We need someone who has like a plan and experience with this and it just didn't continue. And like some people jumped off, some came back in the band, but the, the main part of the band, me and the guitar player, we stayed until the end. And it was actually really, really sad when I left the band because I met a future palace. So Amanda Wieland Johanna's we both met when we were already in a band. So both of us had a band and we call it like an affair sometimes. Yeah. 6 (18m 52s): <inaudible> the secret band and hiding it. 9 (18m 60s): It sounds a part of the bed. That was a WhatsApp group. That's what it was called. Future palace, without even having a plan, what this is going to be. But yeah, it was hard because I was like also best friends with this person with <inaudible> who was like, yeah. And I actually wrote a song about this parted ways, which is also single of us is actually about this for me about leaving this bed and going parted ways and knowing when something is over and just won't evolve anymore. Even though you spent so many years with them and really, I really hope to make it with them. But now that I've been with a future palace, it is an entire different world. Everything that didn't work immediately worked with them because they're just different type of people, different kinds of people. 9 (19m 44s): And I noticed, okay, that that was what it was missing for us to make it work. And yeah. 6 (19m 50s): Yeah. You just knew, like you knew that the vibe was so much better doing this project. That's, you know, obviously working now, right. So with this, with, with feature pallets, so you're the affair, so to speak, you know, eventually you both go, you know, let's start this band. And then is that how the formation of future pals started or where you, where they kind of abandoned and you jumped in, 9 (20m 15s): They knew each other before ready and had a few projects. The last one was the one with the mutual friend of ours. And then we did a feature together. Actually I was there to do a feature for their bands and we just noticed that we work really well together. And then we wanted to start a new project, completely new or with the three of us only. And we just did a few songs for fun to see how it works. And it worked really, really well. I think one of the first ones we did was maybe was also a first single and we're like, oh, this works really well without even talking much. That's cool because it seems like we have the same vision somehow. Yeah. And it happened really quickly from that point on. 9 (20m 55s): So first we just tried it out and then they sat down and said, yeah, we wanted to do a new project. Anyways. We, we were originally looking for a male singer and wanted to go heavier, but then you would fit really well. And yeah, we started from scratch again, but both of them knew each other already years before they have so many stories. They told me all the time from their old beds and they're all tours and 6 (21m 17s): Okay. So they were like an act they're actively touring and everything. So this is, this became all new to you when she joined this band, like touring and everything. 9 (21m 24s): Exactly. It's always funny because they're like, well, you're so young and we've been here so many times and now you had, you were so lucky to skip so many steps had to do like sleep on couches and random stranger places and yeah. All that stuff. And I'm like, okay, I'm happy that I joined at this point. 6 (21m 42s): Right. But in reality, you didn't really skip many steps. I mean, you've been working on this since you're 12 years old. Right. And you just haven't done the touring aspect of it, but when, okay. So the band started in 2018. So it's weird because you've been a band for, you know, four years at least. And, but two of these years have been kind of lost due to, you know, the pandemic and everything. So when you start this band, you put out maybe, and then does it cause that does, I mean, there's a lot of plays on that song on Spotify. Like, was there, like, what was the first like validation that the band was working? Was it putting that song out and seeing the response? Was it, you know, getting a label? I mean, what, what was kind of like once the band formed, you put the song out, like, what was the next like moment? 9 (22m 26s): Actually, we were really lucky with already the first step we did the first single I had a YouTube channel. I'll still have it from back then. Cause I always did YouTube when I was 14 and I was able to build a community there if you fall a following and I didn't do much on there anymore, but decided maybe we could do release the video on my channel. Cause I have like 30 UK, whatever followers. 6 (22m 53s): Yeah. It's no big deal like thousand subscribers. That's amazing. Congratulations. 9 (22m 59s): I mean, thank you. It just, I just quit it. I just didn't continue. That's why it's like frozen, but it is a lot, I don't know how that happened back then. I just did hair dying videos, but it led to something nicer at the end of the day, because luckily the, yeah, it's so cool because YouTube is a great support for, for the creators and actually there's a YouTube space and the entire world. I'm not sure if it's still there, but it's, so-called YouTube space and they offer studios and everything for free. When you have over 10 K subscribers. 6 (23m 33s): Yeah. I don't know. I'm pretty sure they still do it. They had one in LA. 9 (23m 38s): Yeah. They have it like in every capital. I think it's so cool. And luckily we're from Berlin. So we had one, I visit this one when I was younger, just because I was invited. I was like, yeah, sure, cool. 6 (23m 49s): 30,000 followers, you know, no big deal. 9 (23m 53s): I don't know how to me, it just doesn't seem like, I don't know. It's weird. I keep forgetting it also. It's kind of funny, but yeah, we were able to record our first music video for free there with great equipment just because I did some hair dang videos and finally as well. So we already had a reach. We had a nice studio. We were so lucky with all of this. We paid a lot for as, not a lot, but we paid for the studio completely ourselves. We, we went working for this 40 hours a week in a bookshop, funnily and yeah, that was one investment that wasn't as easy for the first step. But we got a really big recognition already because of the channel, the video. 9 (24m 34s): And then also, which I don't like to mention. I had took part in a really trashy TV show at that time. 6 (24m 40s): Oh you did? 9 (24m 42s): Yeah. It's horrible. Please. Don't look for it. Sorry. 6 (24m 45s): Ah, I want to, now I'm curious. We can't talk about it. Oh 9 (24m 49s): Yeah, we could. We can. I mean, it's, it's hilarious. I was completely fooled by this entire production. I didn't know what was happening. I think I was like 21 or something. I don't know. 6 (25m 2s): Okay. Real quick. This is, this is fascinating. So let's how do you get involved in the television show? Like did somebody come up to you and be like, oh, Hey, we're doing a reality show and what's the premise of the show or you don't have to say the name of it if you don't want, but I'm just curious, like what the premise was. 9 (25m 18s): It was underwhelming to say, so am I, it was actually funny cause I quit studying music because it also cost money and I didn't have much money and stuff, the loan. And I was like, no, wait, I think I don't need a degree at this point. I think I need free time and work and passion to get to my goal. That's when 6 (25m 37s): The reality, right? Yeah. That's really all you need. I mean that one's gonna be like, you know, arising empire. Isn't going to be like, so do you have a college education? I'm not going to say here. 9 (25m 50s): Absolutely. Okay. I took like one and a half or like two years from the school. I think I know a lot more than many others might know I'm I feel prepared now. I just want to go full on and go work. And I, I just worked in like retail and a cafe, everything just for the band. And, but then I made a little mistake, right. When I quit, I didn't calculate. Right. And it's as stupid as it sounds. I didn't have money and I was looking up quick jobs. I could find really quick jobs. And then I randomly found, because I had a part-time job while I was studying at a TV production. I was like building, I was just holding cables there. I was like a studio assistant 6 (26m 32s): Or something 9 (26m 33s): Like not, not important at all. And I was like, maybe I could find something there because they offer so many jobs quickly without big deals. And then I found this production and they were looking for a tolerant open-minded people that are interesting and open for a project, like a social project. And I was like, well, I don't know. 6 (26m 52s): I check all these boxes. Yeah. 9 (26m 55s): I might. That might be fun and you're getting money for it. So I just applied randomly without thinking much. And yeah, later on they asked a little more weird questions. Like how do you like parties? What would be your ideal boyfriend? I'm like, what the hell are they asking me? 6 (27m 9s): Yeah. You can swear if you want to censor yourself, just letting you know. 9 (27m 14s): Okay. And yeah, I had a bad feeling already. And then I asked the band members, should I join this? And they're like, yeah, sure. TV could always be good promo at the end of the day. Maybe. Hopefully. And yeah. So I went there. I didn't know what it was. I went to a different country to didn't even let me know. I just flew to Austin 3i, which isn't that far from Germany. I was like, what the experiment is this going to be like, I don't know. I'm open. And then I ended up being in a nunnery. I think it's called in English. We're all non slough. 6 (27m 44s): Oh yeah. Whoa. 9 (27m 46s): And I was there for an entire week with other girls and the plot was not living, living there and being like open-minded the plot was they had roles for each girl, just like every reality TV show and try to make us look really bad. So the contrast is really big, like where this rebel, rebel girls, crazy girls or party girls that go into the nunnery and then they should act like they're super shocked and it's horrible for them. And I was the, the non orientated punk Maria. 6 (28m 19s): Oh, of course. That's the 9 (28m 21s): Role they gave me. Yeah. They cut every sentence. I said, and I was like the, I didn't have a plan in life and yeah. That's what they, that's the role I had. And I didn't know until I, and it was crazy. Yeah. And I did not until I saw some scene, I was like, oh my God, where am I? Oh yeah, 6 (28m 39s): Yeah. The, the beauty of reality television. Right. They're just going to ask you leading questions and then clip what they know what they're hoping, you're going to say. Cause they've already like written out the, the they're they're gonna, they're gonna fish. So you say something that they know that they're like, okay, perfect. We got the clip that we need for her there and blah, blah, blah. 9 (28m 58s): They're crazy day. They ask in a way. And so they, they tell you something and there's a person who's taught to do this too. They know she knows what she wants from you. And she will ask in this way and she's like, you have to take the question while you repeat, you have to take the question in. So like, how did you like how this girl acted? Tell me, I think this girl acted the, the, the, I think that's the, that's what they want. So there for, it looks like you randomly started talking about this even though. 6 (29m 25s): Yeah. Or there'll be, do they do this where they're like, so Maria, like, did you hear so-and-so is saying all this bad stuff about you? Like, can you believe that? You said, they said that. And then you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe so-and-so said that. Like, you know, then you're like that person, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, snip, Bria says, this person does this. 9 (29m 47s): I early noticed that they're not, not that they're not nice people I noticed. And I try to be as boring as possible. I try to don't give them anything. And then they actually took things I did off camera. So they still record it. And one example would be the interviewer asked me something about time and I was making a joke off camera. I'm like, time is an illusion. Ha just as a sarcastic joke. And they took that and made it look like I'm always like always laid and unstructured. And then I said, time is an illusion. 6 (30m 19s): Oh my gosh. They look crazy. Oh, wow. Okay. Oh my goodness. So that happened. And then that helped fund a little bit of the band, I would hope. 9 (30m 31s): Yeah. And 6 (30m 32s): Then draw attention to that. Like where people like, oh my gosh, she was this girl we're going to look her up. And then they found out that you were in a band. Is that like, and was the show only in Austria? Like where did this air? 9 (30m 44s): It was, I think in every German country. And I'm not sure if it was even an Austria, it might've been in Germany, but they send it at prime time channel. And I think they even screened at twice or streamed at twice. So, 6 (31m 2s): Oh my gosh, I'm sorry to bring back trauma. But like that's so fast, 9 (31m 8s): But it is a story to tell and I made the best out of it. So I asked them if I could, that were dropping a music video, which had the perfect timing, luckily, and then we did an after interview. They didn't yeah. An interview with me afterwards. And then I screened maybe like a part of, maybe on TV on prime time or like, yes. And then I was able to say like, yeah, after the nunnery, whatever, blah, blah, blah. I recorded. 6 (31m 33s): Oh, that's awesome. 9 (31m 34s): I mean, I already had the span, they just made 6 (31m 36s): It look 9 (31m 37s): Like, yeah. But 6 (31m 38s): Then 9 (31m 39s): Yeah. But then I was able to, or we were able to get a lot of people, but I'm not sure if they are still there, but a lot of the commons were like, oh, this is Maria from the TV show. Oh, I found her from this TV show. And then finally our label found us through this video and they're like, what is this? What does this show like? They're like, what is this? But they just liked the video. But then yeah. 6 (32m 0s): I don't know. So they contacted you via that video that they found because of the television show. That's crazy. Wow. 9 (32m 8s): And that's when they contacted us. So Hoben said in an interview, so who's one person working in a rising empire. You said they saw my channel. They saw the video. It had really great performance already because we did everything. We could, I did it. I did everything I could, to be honest. I am verus myself in my home country. Yeah. And it performed so well that they were immediately like reaching out to us. And from that point on, we were already like relieved, quickly signed and made the deal with the album already. And we're like, okay, we didn't know we make an album, but now we're going to make an album. And yeah. 6 (32m 46s): That's when he put out a scape. 9 (32m 48s): Yeah. And that's how we started doing escape. So we already had some songs written and then we were like, okay. So this is going to be an album. That's try to make some other songs that fit. And yeah. 6 (32m 59s): Okay. So then you put that, but you put that record out in 2020. So how was that? I mean, did you put the record out? What actually what month do you remember? 9 (33m 7s): September 20. 20. I remember. 6 (33m 9s): So the pandemic was already happening. 9 (33m 13s): Yeah. When, when it was released. Yeah. But while we were recording in 2019, I mean, we started doing in 2018, we went through the studio already knowing what happens without the label. And then when we knew we were going to make an album, we went there. I'm always like two days in a row. Once again, two days, two days. That's how we did escape because we didn't have much free time. We were all working much and yeah, like within the year we'd finished escape and then it took, it takes a while, a few months until it can be released. Right. Yeah. The pandemic started happening. We did our first ever tour with flash forward in March, 2020. And that was the, the last possibilities to play. 9 (33m 52s): And that was our first ever like shows we played. And then after that, like right off the last day, everything shut down. 6 (33m 60s): Oh, so you were able to get through the tour, you were able to get through the tour. 9 (34m 3s): It was just a support tour before we even released much. We didn't release that much yet, but we did one tour, at least one support tour before and then everything shut down. 6 (34m 14s): Okay. And then you put the record out and everything's shut down. And then how do you then do you, are you able to support the record last year at all? And then obviously you have an, excuse me, a new album coming out next month. So where does that land? Like where was this new album? Something you've been working on over the like right after that record was done right after escape. And it's like, okay, well now not only do we have a bunch of time because of, you know, no one's going outside. We have a bunch of time to write this record and you know, hopefully we'll get a chance to support escape a little bit more than we had before. 9 (34m 47s): Yeah. I mean, there was a S escape to our plant and we had to postpone it. I think two times, three times until it was canceled, we try to make it work. We thought it's going to work, but we had to totally cancel this. And then after canceling this, we really quickly decided to start this new album because what else should we be doing this time? And we just almost immediately, I think in January or December or something, we already started working on run with the first demos. And yeah, we just used this entire year to start this new thing. We didn't even promote escape that much. We did a live stream and no, but we just didn't do much anymore. 9 (35m 30s): We just wanted to go forward. We wanted to make new songs, get it out. And yeah, we were just in the writing process. We didn't even think about escape that much anymore. 6 (35m 39s): Oh, wow. 9 (35m 40s): Yeah. It was kind of sad, but we were sad that we were never able to play so many songs live. Maybe we might. Yeah. We haven't played in some songs life ever to this point from escape because the headline tour we just had. Yeah. We played a lot of new songs because we really hyped to play them. People know that more people know them than most songs of escape and yeah, 6 (36m 3s): That's cool. Yeah. And that's great that people really liked the new songs and like are resonating with them instead of like, whoa, go, I want you to play the signs off the other record. And you're like, well, I got this new one. You know what I mean? So that's, well, tell me the, the premise of the record. Like where is it hard to, to write the album? I mean, were you coming from a place of like, look at all this destruction having on the world and the pandemic, like I did see that it's about like a toxic relationship. Like how much of that, you know, w was that we'll just, I guess just tell me about the record. 9 (36m 35s): Yeah. So the writing process was almost entire like 20, 21 when most lockdowns happened. And it was really like, you didn't know what was going to happen the next day or the next month. We didn't know when we will play shows again. So like all my hopes, because I, I put my life in a way that it works for the band in the best way possible. So I quit the study thing. I worked back then now, luckily I don't anymore, but I worked in like a retail store, selling clothes or in the cafe, I changed so many jobs and I was, I was not, well, I D I wasn't happy there. Of course I would just earn some money. I think many people could probably realize who have a dream that you just want to get money quickly. 9 (37m 18s): And yeah, I was just so unhappy in these jobs that my depression got worse and worse and, or maybe even evolved in this because I had so many things happening, like toxic relationships in the past. And then I was like, yeah, let's make my life amazing now. And started working, whatever happened happened, but then it just hit at some point, it got too much. And then with the pandemic on top of that, with this unhappy job and no nothing was ever like a good thing that happened because I couldn't even go out to see friends. I couldn't even party to like distract myself. I couldn't even do what I was, I think living for, I couldn't do much music anymore. 9 (37m 58s): So that was what the album was there. Again, it was holding me, it was getting me through this time and helped me to distract my mind to get my thoughts out. And it's honest, it's pure on his thoughts I had in these moments. I like really did he like almost the worst depression I've ever had at the start of 2021? And I went to therapy, found a therapist because I noticed like this is getting out of control. Music can not only be my, my, yeah, my hope or my anchor. I need like some professional help at this point. Or I don't know what to do because there was just so much with the pandemic on top. And yeah, I luckily had found a therapist and everything started going a little more up, or let's say a little more normal, but that's when Ron was still written through this entire process of so many things and flashbacks for me and private things happening. 9 (38m 53s): But yeah, it's pretty much like a D I read like run. I just wrote, it was so easy to write because I had so many thoughts at this time. And yeah, you can, you can tell in the few songs. And I think it's even more bitter and honest than a lot of songs and escape because yeah. I don't know. It's like the aftermath. I, it was the first time for me to reflect my entire life and notice, okay, I need to stop right now, take a break and breathe and see what happens to me. And before that, I was always like the one who kept going, he was like, I'm strong. Let's keep going. But then that was the first time I ever like, quit my job for Monday to, than other, like head of the panic attack and stuff. And it was like, no, I need a break. 9 (39m 34s): And that's pretty much the background of run. 6 (39m 37s): Wow. 9 (39m 38s): Well, studio, I was still like a little suffering and that's why these songs are really real and honest. 6 (39m 46s): Yeah. With that. I mean, was it, is there a particular song or a song or songs on the record that are hard for you to like, you know, knowing what the S the, the deep meaning of the song is about? Is it hard to like, you know, sing it, or like, was it hard to write, like, 9 (40m 1s): Yeah. I mean, almost all of them already in escape. I put out a few really private things that I was never even able to talk out loud. There's still a few songs I haven't written yet because they're too hard for me to talk about. And maybe in the future, they, I might be able to, but yeah, it, it was kind of crazy. And first when I, when I write it, yeah. When I wrote it down and it was really opening to people, everyone was able to read. 6 (40m 28s): Right. I mean, you're being so vulnerable. Is that something that was nerve, I mean, were you nervous about, you know, presenting that to people or letting people in on that? Yeah. 9 (40m 38s): Yeah. It was, I was more like white, the speech cringy how I wrote it, or is this like embarrassing, but I feel like most people and producers nowadays are pretty used to kind of lyrics like this in this genre. And I think some people might even write lyrics like this without meaning it. And then therefore they're just go on with it and let's just record it. But so I didn't make it a big deal. I didn't talk much about it with anyone, but for me personally, it was kind of weird. I was in my own bubble at this moment. I tried to deal with myself, but one of the first moments when it was pretty hard for me was rehearsing for this tour because I was singing them out for the first time. And I was crying all the time in each song. 9 (41m 19s): I was like, oh my God, how am I going to go on stage? Like I was crying so many times because I don't know. I was, first of all, happy that these songs are there now, but also singing these lyrics. I was still so affected by each word, because they're just the truth of this moment, right? 6 (41m 33s): Yeah. 9 (41m 34s): Yeah. 6 (41m 35s): That's what I was wondering. Like, it sounds like it was like, I mean, directly affecting you and crying. Like, was that something that with repetitive, like just doing it a lot, like, how did you like overcome that? Or are you still having like issues, not issues, but like, is it hard to not be that emotional on stage when you're performing some of these songs 9 (41m 55s): It's gotten so much better? I think it was practice and repeating it because I was in the rehearsal room, but also I just try to improve myself, my mental health and my life daily. So I'm, I've been doing therapy for one year now. And I think this really helped me to be also more confident and getting to know myself so much better and where pain comes from and how I get it out and where, and this really helped me to be honest to dad diff differentiates myself the songs when needed. I can also open up if I want to. So when I see someone crying in the crowd, it might hit me. Or if I, I do speech just on stage talking about what happened to me, and then sometimes the song right after might kick a little different, but it is something you get kind of used to. 9 (42m 43s): And it's like a routine. 6 (42m 46s): I didn't realize that you, you go up, you, you talk openly about everything that happened with you onstage. 9 (42m 53s): Yeah. I mean, I try when time allows it or when the crowd is open for it, I try to at least say one story or one thing and try to make people, or I wanted to share that this is nothing you should be ashamed off. And that's what I always want to convey to the people. And that's what I want to talk about with these songs. Cause I don't want to only perform and have a good time, but I think the lyrics are also a big part. And I want people to notice because here in Germany, of course it's not our native mother tongue or anything. So therefore I try to speak it up a little more because we might just listen to the song and just vibe with it. But to me it's important to also at least that some songs notice or understand what they're are about. 9 (43m 36s): And when one, a really big topic to me is domestic violence. And that's all one thing I always talk about onstage. So mental health and domestic violence, and yeah. Tell people to be open about it. Don't be ashamed and share if you need help or help your friends, if there need help, because that's something I went through. And when I got to stage, I I'm, I just will use it in a good way. 6 (43m 59s): Sure. No, that's amazing that you are that vulnerable and like that you allow yourself to talk about those hard subjects, especially on stage to a crowd of people that you don't don't obviously know, but they're there for you. I mean, I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through that. That's terrible, but I'm glad that you have an outlet for it. I mean, and you're able to kind of, you know, tell your story and that's a big for people to hear that they've you probably related so many people in the audience that you would never know are probably like, oh my gosh, like that's I that's me. That story you just told, I have that same, same or similar story. 9 (44m 40s): Yeah. Because it's a topic so hard to talk about. And many people are ashamed to talk about it. And I just really want to be as cheesy as it sounds, the person that I needed back then, because it would have meant so much to me to see someone on a stage, even talking about this because I was so embarrassed of myself back then, I was too scared to ask for help. And yeah, now that I learned from this, went through this, I just really want to make the best out of it and not just cancel it and push it away because you know, it happened and it happens daily, everywhere, especially with COVID and people being locked away with their families. Sometimes your pay is your enemy. You don't know. And oh man, Mike switched, did it switch? 9 (45m 25s): Okay, weird 6 (45m 26s): For a second. I was like, whoa, that's so loud in that room. That's awesome. 9 (45m 31s): No, but yeah, that is, that is one of my mission with the span. Not only music, not only living from it, but I have like my weird life mission that I want people to like, feel like they're not alone with these things and that this world needs a little more sympathy, empathy, whatever. And not only seeing your own problems, but sharing with the world and trying to feel closer to each other, again, especially after being locked away. 6 (45m 59s): I love that. I think that's so important. And what you're doing is so amazing and I appreciate you being so open and you telling me, you know, being on here and talking about these things, it means a lot. So I appreciate you and thank you so much, Maria, for doing this. I know you have a show tonight. It looks like you have so many tour dates coming up. I mean, you guys are going to be busy. It looks like, I mean all the way through, almost through September, you gotta, you know, put the shows in July and August, but like, wow. Congratulations. Yeah. Right, right, right. Well, I have one more quick question before I let you go and you have a great show tonight, but I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists. 9 (46m 35s): Oh yeah. Sometimes there's no way, no way that you can think of, but just keep going. That's what I, that's what I did. I didn't know any way. I didn't know who I will meet. I just did everything that I could and kept going. Don't let yourself down. Don't let other people talk you down because there's almost nobody, at least in my world that would tell me, this is a great idea. Do that. Because know that most people would be like, no, look for something that's safe. Be safe, be safe. No, do what you love and give it your all. And that's what I would say. Don't be scared. It is scary. It is not easy. But if you love it, it will be worth it.