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Controlling Your Own Destiny With MONIQUE PYM From RELIQA · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Stick to the center of the Dane light climate. Making tree fighters to your
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  puri can pretty picture. Just to stir them up and close your mind.
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  You always to sit and hate when you got them on your side. So
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  my name is Monique Pim. I'm the front woman of a band called Relica.
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  Yeah. So we have an album coming out on May thirty first.
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  It's called Secrets of the Future. Depending on if you're in the future or
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  not when you're listening to this interview, it may already be out, it
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  may not, but May thirty first is when it will be in your ears
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  courtesy of Grayscale Records and Nuclear Blast. You well, that was a fantastic
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  intro. Thanks for that. So May the thirty first is only about four
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  three weeks away. They say, happy you on me beco'me terrified? Are
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  you excited and nervous? Yeah, Cus, you couldn't give a shit,
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  Like what sort of bulain's it going on? Oh man, it's all of
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  the above. Really, I'm terrified, Like this is our for the longest
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  record that we've ever released in and because given the landscape, like a lot
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  of people listen to shorter form material these days, and we've tried to honor
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  that through our singles, but it'll be really interesting to see who latches on
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  to this full fifty two minute experience and experience is one of the words for
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  it, because it is quite a diverse album. But I am I'm so
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  excited, Like I think that this album, it feels like we're sitting on
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  a precipice right now, and once we release this album, I think it's
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  going to open up a whole lot of doors. So yeah, like,
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  let's just see what happens. We're taking it one day at a time.
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  Well, I've got to tell you how to listen to it before I did
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  the questions after this interview, and I'll let it run through twice at fifty
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  two minutes for one hundred and four minutes in my household because it was that
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  bloody good. Oh cool, it's really very impressive. Glad you like it?
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  In the modern age, mate, Like, how do you actually measure
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  the barometer of success in an album? Like? Is it Spotify numbers?
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  Is it comments? Is it likes? Like back in the old days,
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  know someone ring and say that was fucking great? But nowadays, how do
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  you measure it? These days? It's a really good question, and I
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  don't think it's one that has a correct sixcinct answer. Everyone measures success in
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  their own sort of unique way. I mean, there's there's even charting to
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  consider these days, like when you when you have a record, and I'm
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  very curious to see what happens and where we land in that sense, Uh,
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  I think we can all like get so caught up in, like in
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  the numbers of it. And of course those are so important, especially when
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  you're a label band. We will definitely be considering that with a lot of
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  We'll be taking a lot of stock of that, of course, But at
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  the same time, like success of an album can also just mean that it's
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  like to us, I think our album will be successful if we have opened
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  our audience a lot, if it opens those doors like I'm talking about.
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  So if we look back a year from May thirty first and notice that we
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  have been playing amazing shows, We've been reaching the right people. We've had
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  tons of people, you know, wanting to learn more about us and engage
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  with our not only our content but our live shows and things like that.
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  And we you can see a tangible difference between the release of an album and
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  say the release of the next album. If we see growth in many different
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  ways through our live shows, through our numbers, through you know, the
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  kind of interactions that we have on a day to day basis, then we'll
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  know that it was successful. I think it's I think you've got to measure
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  that success in a couple of different ways to really know. I think you're
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  actually being a little bit too modest there, mate, because all those things
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  you've been talking about, you've already got it. Like you guys are the
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  darlings of Australian music in the moment, Like it's it's going to be.
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  It's to be hard to go further from there, but like say, from
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  what I've heard, I think you can, Like it's it's it's gonna it's
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  gonna knock a few people to fuck out. You're so right, I mean
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  I and I really I really appreciate that, Like, yeah, you're absolutely
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  right. Like these shows that we've been playing in the in the past twelve
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  months have been nothing short of surreal, and I'm hoping that yeah, they
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  I mean, it's not only it's not only bigger on the scale of how
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  many people you're playing to, but yeah, like we really want to get
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  out and even see a couple of new cities. Like I mean, for
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  example, like the next thing that we want this album to take us global.
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  So hopefully if we see the site, if we see the Northern Hemisphere
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  next year, like we'll be on to a winner, you know. And
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  and at like not cross like crossing my fingers, you know, like hoping
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  that this happens, but like it looks like we've got all the systems in
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  place to make it happen, which is really exciting right now. Matter of
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  what we've been dancing around is from the start of the interview made but let's
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  get into the meat and bones of it, like tell us about the album
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  from a musical point of view and what you were going forward it. Well,
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  it's it's something that honors how diverse and open minded we we are as
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  people. I think the four of us we have so such different life experiences
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  and different influences musical tastes, and that's something that we've always tried to hammer
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  onto through our music and tried to sort of keep making records that we want
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  to hear, ones that we want to listen to, and things that feel
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  representative of us as people, not just as artists. But as people as
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  well. So that's something that we've really remained true to on this album.
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  And I mean, I'm only speaking from myself here, but I think that
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  we've sort of captured the right formula for it now because we've we're not only
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  like on our I don't know what I am ep, we sort of threw
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  everything at the wall and we just went pretty crazy with it. But this
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  album exercises a lot of straint and I think that that's really cool because it
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  shows that I think it shows that we've matured, you know, as people
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  and as artists, and it's also shown that, like, you know,
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  we we know how to right now in a way that services the song and
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  services the wider product, rather than zooming in on parts and kind of making
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  each part perfect and things like that. And I yeah, Ultimately, I
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  think the one word that captures this album is diversity or open mindedness. There
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  are so many different sounds on there. Ultimately we call it progressive metalcore,
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  but that progressive is the is the kicker. The progressive means that we've taken
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  metalcore and we've sort of drawn in a whole lot of different influences, sounds
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  and styles and things from other places, and so hopefully there should be something
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  for everyone on there, you know, something for the pop van, something
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  for the rap fan, hip hop fan like and then also of course staying
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  true to our progressive metal core roots. Hopefully people still love us for that.
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  Now you've released the singles Kill Star, Terminal, and Dying Light.
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  So are they a good overall sonic representation of what you expect? I think
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  so. I think there's a There was definitely a logical move behind those three
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  being the singles, because yeah, they do hit three very different corners of
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  the album. I saw, I think a YouTube comment this morning when I
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  was taking a look at the like feedback to Dying Light, because it's only
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  at the point of this this chat, it's only been out for like twenty
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  four hours, so I was having a look and someone said something along the
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  lines of like each three every like, all of these three singles have been
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  like so different. Like yeah, it was talking about how each of them
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  like hits different territory, And I think that's absolutely true. And I think
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  that every song on the album from this point on, because there are twelve
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  songs, is there's a lot of territory that we've covered has something in common
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  with one of those three singles, you know, whether it's got that sort
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  of high shine, modern like sort of like almost a stadium rock vibe that
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  Terminal has, whether it's got that techy, sludgy heaviness that Killstar has,
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  or whether it's got the attitude and the almost more like like dark and dirty,
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  like sort of like unpolished vibe of dying lights. So all those three
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  hit some different territory that I think each song on the album covers to some
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  extent. Yeah. Now, the press release refers to Secrets to the Future
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  as the band taking a daring and dexterous step into a brand new chapter.
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  Would you agree with that statement? I think that that's Janine doing her working.
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  Yeah, she's brilliant. She really is, isn't she? And I
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  would agree, I think without sounding cocky, you know, I think she
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  said it. You're just reading what was the question? Sorry, So did
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  you agree with the statement that you are a daring step? I think so,
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  Yeah, definitely, it's it like, I mean, we're all about
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  taking risks here at Camp Relica. I think, uh, that's something we
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  during the writing of the process of this album, we needed to build not
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  only a lot of trust within ourselves, but like that trust is going to
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  extend with our audience as well, particularly sort of releasing a song like Terminal
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  as the debut from this campaign. No one had heard anything from Relica since
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  I Don't Know What I Am, which was twenty twenty two, and then
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  we sort of went I mean not underground. We played some amazing shows in
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  that time, but we when it comes to releasing music, we went underground
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  and we sort of tucked away for a little while. So coming out with
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  Terminal was such an interesting thing because people had to sort of trust the process
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  a little bit, like we placed a lot of faith in our audience to
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  be like, yes, this is quite different, but like, don't worry,
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  there's more where that came from, you know. Like that's how we
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  dropped kill Star after that, as is almost a safety blanket to sort of
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  be like, don't worry, We're still gonna happen, We're still taking We're
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  still us, but it's the leap between Terminal and kill Star was sort of
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  like a trust fall, I think between us and our audience. It's like
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  that one. By the time we caught them and we realized that like they
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  were at the end of that trust ball, they hopefully could sort of understand
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  that we are now taking risks with this album, and we are going to
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  take some going to like explore some new territory. Stay with us, you
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  know, bear with us, and see what you think. Because once we
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  release this album, it's no longer ours, it's theirs, it's yours.
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  So that trust and that like that trust and that risk taking is a very
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  important part of who we are and the album as a whole. I actually
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  think, if anything, did shine increase confidence and maturity with the band,
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  Like considering your last ep stated I don't know what I am, and on
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  this album, The Secrets of the Future, like you've come a long way
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  in twelve months. You're absolutely right, Like, and I'm so glad that
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  you that you see that, because that, yeah, that was a huge
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  part of our identity as well. And even like visually, you know,
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  like through through like the esthetics of the album, like we've come a long
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  way and we want to show people who we are and that we've matured a
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  lot and that we do know what we are now. Like while they're while
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  it's still without a label, because it's very difficult. I mean, the
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  label we call it is progressive metalcore, but even even still, it doesn't
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  completely capture who we are genre wise. So while we are still not knowing
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  what we are in terms of label, we know what we are now in
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  that that that diversity and that identity like that, that's sort of that that.
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  Yeah, the diversity and the not being able to label is the label
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  in a way. I know that it's a little bit better in that sense,
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  but we really embraced that as a part of who we are. Yeah.
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  Cool, Now, we're going to have to wind this up because somebody
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  was late to this today. But I've got one question that I'm really really
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  interested in the answery that I've got to ask you. Like, I read
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  an interesting quote from the band where you said that your songwriting style shifted in
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  twenty twenty three when you started writing this album, right, But was that
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  a noticeable shift at the time. Did you sort of sit back and go,
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  Wow, this is different or did it take into the end of the
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  cycle be looking back on it and sort of sort of when the music's come
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  out and that's when you realized it was different. It actually was a very
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  tangible thing at the time because we were I was terrified by what we were
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  doing because we used to write in kind of a very isolated way. You
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  know, each one of us would have our own contribution and we'd kind of
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  do it sort of away from each other and like just sort of eventually we'd
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  have a song and it would be packaged up and that's cool. It does
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  have our own, like our own little bits of identity along the way.
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  It was written in a very remote sense. But this time with the captain
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  by our dear friend and producer Chris Blancardo, we sort of took intentional strides
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  into experimental territory for songwriting because it was really helpful to have him as an
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  outsider perspective to be able to sort of say, here, here's what I
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  think is working, here's what I think is not working. Can we try
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  this? And we'd be like, okay, great, so yeah, Like
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  I mean, we we wrote in a way that was way more for feel
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  than for parts for this album, like more for like the emotional territory that
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  you that you traverse when you're writing an album. And I mean, for
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  example, like I had never written on pen and paper, but this time
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  I did. I I sort of like set a challenge for myself to kind
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  of scrawl away and to get something out that felt authentic for the moment,
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  not perfect, you know, like because I I'm a bit of a perfectionist
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  when it comes to my lyric writing. But so instead I really tried to
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  exercise this this strategy of like imperfection. And funnily enough, some of those
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  vocals that are in that little notebook are they ended up pretty much word for
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  word on the album, which is I did not expect that. But it's
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  kind of magical looking back on that and having the gift of hindsight and saying,
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  yeah, that really did work out, this this experimental style. So
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  we'll definitely be trying that again in the future. Awesome. Well, we're
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  gonna have to wrap it up now, I Moneau. But it's been a
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  pleasure talk with you. At least. I got some questions left over next
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  time talking of it, of course, always a pleasure, Chris. Thank
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  you. Secrets to the Future is out May thirty first, and like I
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  say, I'm not pissing anyone's pocket here. It blew me away this morning.
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  It was very very quality piece of work made. So congratulations, Thank
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  you. So much. I really appreciate it. The center of the dialogue
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  climate, thank you, pretty pictures, storm up and close your mind.
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  Oh it's always to sit and happen to get them on your side. The
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  huss second to the summer of the dying Mike telling you the first thing from
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  semble the inside thinking the sub fall. It's gonna say just one look in
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  your eyes, step up a bank A promises dramas is honest success, getting
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  to keep up with Collie what you want review your heart or the South Cross
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  gonna review. Don't my god, it's us person, you guss going back.
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  You wish that you could just sta company. It's gonna be big picture
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  to sod like troll the power to come back and so tis by choice be
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  much kcause one of the shadows you can't stay down the friends coming way back
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  round you is that you just the company cannot think you said you can got
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  it back. She thinks she is the sundays to tell you I got the
• 17:56
  fucking that she was staping. And he wants to use my sole sens the
• 18:00
  claimed and probably don't refy mating such a mist hydrogen as system at time to
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  make you as rollback