Didn’t your mama tell you never to judge a book by its cover? Well, if you look at the California based band Edge of Paradise and think they’re just another band being fronted by a hot chick, then you are far from the truth. The band came out swinging with their debut Mask in 2011 and lead singer Margarita Monet quickly proved she had the pipes to silence the critics and trolls. The band (Dave Bates on guitar, John Chominsky on drums and Nick Ericson on bass, along with Monet) is back and ready to unleash an assault on your senses of epic proportions with their new album Immortal Waltz. I recently sat down with Monet and talked about the new album and much more.
Hi Margarita, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me. I hope you are well rested after that late rehearsal that you had last night.
Margarita Monet: Hi Johnny! Yes, I am rested and wide awake; I hope you are doing ok as well.
Yes I am and thanks for asking. Well, let’s jump right into this and see what new things I can learn about you and the band. If you were at a music venue, passing out flyers to the people there for your upcoming show, how would you describe the band to someone who knows nothing about you?
Well, we are a hard rock/melodic metal band. We’re very aggressive, while at the same time being very melodic with symphonic elements mixed in. We are all very passionate about what we are doing and that is to try and create our own unique sound. If you like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Evanescence, we are a modern version of all of those bands combined.
I bet there’s also a story behind the band’s name?
Yeah, there’s a little one. We were having a tough time coming up with a really good name because all of the really good ones are already taken. We live in LA and it’s a pretty hectic and weird lifestyle here. We wanted a name that represents the music and be something that we can relate to. I’m the girl in a band with a bunch of guys and we wanted a name with represents that difference, you know, kind of like the light and the dark. We thought that we’re always on the edge of something and everyone here walks on the edge. They see that paradise on the horizon, but one wrong move and you can fall off the edge.
Let’s talk about your new album Immortal Waltz, which is a combination of the four songs from your 2013 EP Perfect Shade of Black plus four new songs. Why did you decide to include the songs from the EP?
We didn’t release that EP to the world. We made 200 physical copies of it and released “Breakaway” digitally because we had an East coast tour that was coming up and we wanted something to take with us that represented our new music because our sound has changed so dramatically since we released our first album Mask. We put it out there on the net and word of it spread quickly, much broader than we anticipated and now we’re out of the EP. We’ve also seemed to confuse some people who are wondering the same thing you just asked me. We just wanted to make those songs available to those who may have missed out.
Have you decided on a first single and video yet?
We filmed a video for the song “Rise for the Fallen” and it’s going to be released very soon, so stay tuned.
Speaking of your sound changing, you seem to be more involved with the song writing process now. I know that Dave wrote all of the songs on Mask. Do you think you’ve played a major role in the way the sound has changed?
The songs on Mask were all written before I joined the band and I came in and did my vocals on all of them; it was something that we released
to build upon. Now, I am more involved with the songs which you can probably tell by the ballads too (laughs).
You’ve worked with Michael Wagener before as he mixed your last EP, but this time he mixed, mastered and produced the new album. That guy has an amazing portfolio and I’m sure that was a special treat for all of you.
Michael is such an amazing person. He’s in Nashville and we’re in LA, so we couldn’t just go over and record with him. We recorded out here and sent the tracks over to him to mix. Then, when we went on our East coast tour, we stopped at his studio in Nashville and worked with him. It was so inspiring that it didn’t even feel like work at all. It can get pretty stressful sometimes when you’re recording songs, but he’s such a genius that the twelve hour recording days went really smoothly. He really got a lot out of us and I don’t think the songs would have sounded the same without his help.
You’ve really seemed to tie in a look with the sound of this album, based upon the cover art. What can you tell us about that?
There are some songs on this new album that are very theatrical and we wanted to have a photo shoot to represent the music. We really didn’t know how it would turn out, but we knew that it would be pretty amazing since we were working with Kevin Estrada. We went to a costume shop and just started looking around. It wasn’t like we had an exact idea and that we were looking for a dog’s head for Dave to wear (laughs). We got a smoke machine and a bunch of costumes and we were hoping that we could put it all together so that the imagery would tell a story. I think it all really came together and it turned out really cool. As for the cover art, Caio Caldas came up with the circus art and our photos matched it up pretty well. He also listened to the music and that was the imagery that he saw as well.
You’re a pretty visual person yourself and have a flare for the arts. I read on your bio that you went to the School for Performing Arts. What was it that got you interested in the arts?
My mom took me with her to everything under the sun since I was about four years old. I was playing piano and then there was ballet and then theater and I loved it all. It was always a big part of my life and I really didn’t know what else to do and the school basically had everything that I loved.
What type of a kid were you growing up? Were you the attention craving, class clown or more of an introvert or maybe even a little of both?
I guess you could say that I was a little of both, but I definitely wasn’t the class clown. I played classical piano my whole life and even when we had competitions or recitals at school, I never told anybody about them. I do love being on stage and I guess you could say that I’m addicted to that, but off stage, I’m not a big loud person at all.
Edge Of Paradise – Break Away Video
[embedplusvideo height=”350″ width=”590″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1vllJjS” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/CUg-jd1q6bU?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=CUg-jd1q6bU&width=590&height=300&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep2714″ /]
What types of challenges or hurdles have you encountered along your musical journey?
I guess everything is a challenge in its own way and once you cross one wall, there’s going to be another waiting for you eventually. We’ve noticed that the bigger the band gets, the higher the walls are. We get presented with a good opportunity and we don’t know which way to go because we don’t want to go the wrong route and make a mistake and end up backtracking. You have to put a lot of trust in a lot of people in this business and sometimes that’s not so easy to do when you don’t really know that other person. Another big hurdle would be touring in the sense that it’s so expensive right now to go anywhere, but it’s not that huge of a hurdle because we do make it happen. We’ve been very lucky to have some great people involved with us and that makes it a lot easier. We talk to some of our friends in bigger bands who are on bigger labels and they tell us that they still have to do some of the stuff that we are doing, instead of the label taking care of it.
I had a question submitted to me on Facebook from Camille L. in New Jersey and she wants to know who came up with what you did on your ALS bikini ice bucket challenge?
(Laughs) Well, it seemed like everyone was dropping ice buckets on their head and Nick volunteered to put a bikini on for the challenge. John wasn’t and he didn’t think we would do it until he saw the video. Dave and I went to Walmart and found the cheapest, most horrific bikini that we could find. I’ve tried my best to erase all of that from my memory (laughs).
It’s on the internet, so it will never go away now (laughs). The other on-line question was from a fan who wanted to know what you thought of other woman in music following trends and how do you stay true to your sound?
I think there are a lot of really cool female fronted bands out there like In This Moment and Halestorm. I think it’s really cool how they’re getting big and paving the way for other female fronted bands. We’ve been really careful how we presented ourselves because sometimes we see the girl up front who is half naked to attract attention. We do want people to check out the band, but not for the wrong reasons. As for trends, I think it happens all the time when something is very popular and then other bands tend to go that route as well because it sells. I don’t think we even make a conscious decision not to sound like what’s popular now because if we did, by the time it came out, then something else would be popular. I think if it is forced and doesn’t come naturally, then people will pick up on that.
I totally agree with you on that part; if it’s not genuine then people will be able to tell. Well, I think our time has come to a close. Do you have any closing words for whoever may be reading this?
I want to thank you and all of the people out there who support us. We think it’s very cool and it’s very inspiring when you see people excited about what you’re doing. Please keep checking on our Facebook page for all the info on the album and we’re very appreciative for all of you.
