The Huntington Beach-based four-piece band Mirage Wave returns to highlight the creative year they've seen. This year, Mirage Wave sank deep into reflection for their greatest musical project of 2020, being the EP 'The Last Sunset You Will Ever See.'
A significant achievement that Mirage Wave saw this year was their ongoing participation with the Six1 Music Contest, registering their song "Supreme Summer" and so far, reaching the second round. They've also submitted their single "Wolves" to be a part of the music compilation for the mental health awareness campaign 'It's Ok Not to Be Ok.' Not to mention scoring an interview with The Brew Times Podcast (date TBA), Mirage Wave hit the ground running in 2020.
A few musical highlights on Mirage Wave's EP 'The Last Sunset You Will Ever See' are the anthemic track "I Hear the Lunatic Singing Too," which was inspired by the film 'Your Name,' while also garnering sonic inspiration from acts like Joy Division and Bloc Party. Also touching on their track "Supreme Summer," Mirage Wave paid tribute to their years in SoCal with an ode to Garage/Surf Rock while writing about themes of blatant misogyny.
Mirage Wave also felt inspired by the animated series 'FLCL' when creating the entire EP. More specifically, their song "Nothing Happens Here (Ordinary Day)" touches on themes of longing for growth outside their hometown. Not to mention the emotional single "Wolves," which was created to remind listeners that wolves travel in packs as a family and that our bond with family and loved ones are never to be torn apart.
We're more than ready to hear what Mirage Wave will conjure up in the new year, as they mark 2020 with a giant X through their reflective EP, mental health campaigns, interviews, and ongoing contests.
What did your group learn and take away from the last year we experienced?
Everyone's year has been pretty difficult, and what we’ve learned so far is how much we wished we'd gone out more or seen friends more. For some of us, we used to let anxiety stop us from going to see friends or even leave the house. Now that everyone is hunkered down, we’ve missed that connection with other people. We used the time for granted. We won't have that case in 2021. Would you say that your band has undergone any form of growth since the beginning of 2020 to where we are now?
Ally: As a band, I say we’ve gotten a lot closer and are now writing more as a band and less as different songs from different people. I think we’ve gotten really in sync. It’s been really fun having a new drummer, Steve, who is just adding more to our songs and even helped write some of the synths on the new EP. We’ve all gotten really good at working with one another and it’s been such a treat to see us all meld and write some of our best songs.
Since the release of your EP 'The Last Sunset You Will Ever See,' what sort of opportunities has Mirage Wave seen?
Since releasing our first EP, we got to play a couple of shows, but by then things in the world kind of exploded. We had some shows lined up right when the lockdown happened, but they either kept postponing and moving the date or were very iffy and vague about what they were doing to maintain social distancing or any kind of COVID protections. We’ve mostly just worked on the new stuff while we waited for this to sort out. Could you explain your involvement with the mental health awareness compilation "It's Ok Not To Be Ok?"
Our guitarist, Maria, saw a post about the compilation on Instagram and reached out. We have a couple of songs that deal with mental health and a few of us in the band and in our close circle of friends suffer from mental illness. So being able to help give money to charities that wanna help out others like us was the right thing to do. Seeing that there has been an increased spike in anxiety and depression cases, we wanted to help out in any way we can.
We were going to be on with a lot of really amazing local bands, but we think it kind of fell through. We're not sure, but we don’t know if it’s going to happen.
We've heard that your band is working on a new EP to be released this year. Do you have a title for the project? What should we anticipate from the forthcoming EP?
Ally: We’ve been working hard on our new EP! We’re still tossing around ideas for a title, but so far I think it’s some of our best songs to date and show a real evolution to our songwriting. It’s some of our best pop-punk songs and some really sick harder punk songs. It’s got songs about a failing relationship, mental health, being a snotty brat, and wanting to explore somewhere new.
Noely: I see this second EP as a symphonic movement. The first one was this epic introduction, full of riffs ideas, genre-bending songs to the fan's delight. This EP is the slow second movement. It's moodier, darker, and experimental. It honestly felt like a natural transition and it fits perfectly with the events going on. What sort of themes does your band tend to touch on within your music? What should listeners associate your brand and music with?
Ally: We have a few songs dealing with depression (Nothing Happens, Wolves, Joyous/Thunderous), songs about trans and cis women’s rights (Supreme Summer) others just being jaded by where you are in life and longing for something more (Native Canadian) and others about the feeling of loss of a relationship (Black Hearts) we try to sing and talk about the things we know. Sometimes you don’t feel like getting out of bed because it just requires too much energy, sometimes you just don’t feel well or feel like a person. Sometimes we wanna have fun and really rock and other times, we’re a bunch of sad girls.
Maria: We got themes! That's for sure! Each song is like a little story. When someone presents a song, I get to learn a little bit more about them. It's a little insight into each other's life. Themes of frustration in society, lost love, heartbreak, and new beginnings...it's beautiful! All wrapped in either melodic melancholy or infinite rage! And that's what I love about it!
Where did your band find inspiration to create music in 2020? Was it challenging to find inspiration when staying home for the majority of the year?
Ally: It’s been hard, I haven’t found a lot of energy to practice much. We were getting together to work on stuff, but since California took a turn, we’ve all been on lockdown and are trying to be safe. We’re still writing, I sent a song idea a little bit ago and Noely has some killer songs ready for us to put our parts on. Right now we’re just trying to finish this EP up, and hopefully, once it calms down, we can get back to practice and try to get more stuff out. We’ve all been cooped up and are ready to just get back at it.
Maria: Yeah, it was definitely a challenge to collaborate or practice together, but it helped us focus on our next EP and filter out the noise of inspiration that can sometimes keep you from recording. You know you get a momentum of writing and it could keep you from what is already finished and ready to record down. I'd say 2020 has been a blessing in that way, but I definitely miss playing together.
