It’s been a long three years for ROMAN CANDLE, but they have taken it all in their stride.
Pulled from the underground and placed on the world stage at a pace that is impossible to prepare for, the band have seen, done and experienced more than many bands who make music as cathartically crushing as them ever get close to seeing, doing or experiencing.
Though it’s all been easy, it’s given them plenty of ammo for their long-awaited debut album. ‘Unadulterated’ in sound and stature, it sees the quartet pushing the ante up to new levels of sporadic aggression and timeless brute force. A blistering, bile-drenched and emotionally buoyant listen, one that leaves no stone unturned in its pursuit of honesty.
To find out more about the route here, Rock Sound sat down with vocalist Piper Ferarri.
Rock Sound: It feels like this record has been a long time coming for the band, not just physically but also emotionally. What does it mean to have finally made it to this point?
Piper: It feels crazy. I mean, we’ve been working on the album for three years now, so it’s crazy to try to look back and think, ‘Where was I when I wrote this song’ and ‘What were our plans when we wrote the first song’. I think the way everything happened and the way the whole album came to fruition, like, we never imagined it would, it would be like that. Like, even Sumerian being a thing. The same with the first, and currently only time we have played in the UK, I couldn’t believe I was there, and I was there because of music. I don’t know how people could ever get jaded by that or stop geeking out over it. It’s a truly insane feeling.
RS: What would you say your intentions for this record were at the start of the process, and how do you feel as though that adapted as more and more songs were written?
Piper: It feels very different, and I feel like that was very intentional. The first EP that we made was very emo. It was really sad. Jonas and I were both in a band together previously called So Without, and it was just a shitty skramz band. When that broke up, I still wanted to play music with him, and that is how ‘Discount Fireworks’ happened. It was very much a case of us keeping on doing what we know. All the shit we managed to do just off five songs still blows my mind, but it wasn’t the sound I wanted for this album. I wanted this album to be angry. I wanted it to be a little more fun and in-your-face than ‘Discount Fireworks’. I didn’t want to carry on the crybaby stuff; I don’t know how else to put it than that. It will always have a special place in my heart, but I wanted what was next to be bigger.
RS: There’s a sense of defiance within that, but it feels as though that defiance has also stretched into the context of this record. The position you’re in is amazing, but you’re not looking to gloss over the fact that being a hardcore band making your way through the ranks isn’t difficult or frustrating.
Piper: Yeah, and it’s tough. We’re good at playing the game. But in the time between ‘Discount Fireworks’ and now, we went through a lot as a band and a lot as people. We went from the highest highs to the lowest lows in like a week, and that sucks. Seeing how all of that played out and how quickly things and people change. There are so many weird, parasocial things that happened that just really change your perspective on music as a whole. I look at the industry differently now, and that really inspires a lot of the songs. That feeling of ‘Whoa, this is not what we thought it was, but we’re here, and we want to be here regardless.’
Rock Sound: A big part of that is perception, isn’t it? And all of a sudden, there are more eyes faced your way than you’ve ever had before, and that comes with its own set of challenges.
Piper: That’s something that I’ve really struggled with for a while, especially when we first started touring. It’s a really weird thing just to see people that you’ve never met before talking about you on Reddit threats, or on social media, and like they’re using my first and last name. I’m like, ‘Dude, I’ve literally never spoken to you before, and you’re saying I’m such a fucking bitch, and I don’t think that’s true. If you actually went up and talked to me, I’d hope I come off as nice. I don’t think I’ve ever in my entire life gone out of my way just to be fucking mean to someone for no reason. I know we’re in a heavy band, but I’m not that kind of person. I feel like we as a society have forgotten how to have conversations with each other.That was really hard, but I found I could sing about it and put it into our music, and that was a good outlet. It also helped me process a lot of those emotions. And I feel the best way to do that, rather than hiding behind poetry, is to say it. This is exactly what this means. That was a very freeing thing.
RS: Is there anything within that release that took you by surprise in terms of what you were conjuring?
Piper: I think a specific track from the album I could pull is ‘Fire In The Night Sky Forever’. That was the first single that we dropped. That song is just angry. I had just gotten out of a really abusive relationship, and the breakup was really, really bad. I had to get a restraining order. And I wrote that song, and we recorded it around the time all of that was happening. So I look back on that song, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I was fucking pissed.’ I cannot believe I said those things, but at the same time, I’m glad that I did. When people talk about the bad things they have been through in songs, they usually approach it from a sad, poetic perspective. I’m happy I didn’t do that with this album.
RS: What effect does writing like that, and existing in the space you’re in right now, have on you in your life away from the band?
Piper: Without the band, I would be a lot angrier in my day-to-day. I think I would be a lot more in my head, and I don’t think I would be as well-rounded as an individual. And I feel like everybody in the band feels the same. But also, seeing how things work behind the scenes in the music industry has been really interesting. The number of people who are involved in the process. But then you also see bands that you’ve always looked up to and musicians that I’ve idolised, it’s just like, ‘Wow, like you’re literally just a person.’ You’re a person just like me, and you feel the same way I feel about a lot of things. That was really cool to see, and it has changed my perspective on a lot of things.
RS: And now you have vaulted this hurdle, how are you looking forwards? How are you feeling about what the next year, two years, five years will be for ROMAN CANDLE?
Piper: I don’t think it’ll take three years to write the next one, I’m sure of that. I think a big part of the reason it took so long to make this one was the uncertainty before we did the EP. Then all the touring we did was so unexpected, and we weren’t prepared for that in any way. We went from playing an empty pool in Vegas to blowing up because of a video someone had of it. Then from there, there have been so many weird twists and turns, and we were just riding it. All I know is that there will be another album, I am sure of that.
RS: Saying that, is there anything that this journey has shown you that you are sure you wouldn’t have discovered about yourself if it weren’t for this band?
Piper: With everything that we went through over the last three years, I came out of it, ultimately, a lot more self-assured. It made all of us collectively a bit more confident. I speed ran what would have taken, like, years of therapy. I stay, ultimately, positive about everything, because it’s really easy to look at the industry as a whole, at heavy music as a whole, at everything, and it makes you angry. It’s so easy to stay jaded, and it’s so easy to start fucking hating it. I don’t want to do that. I try really hard not to do that, and it ultimately makes me a more positive person. If 16-year-old me knew back then that I’d be doing this now, she would be so fucking stoked. And I hope. I wish there were more people with that perspective, for sure.
