Victor M. Ruiz: We welcome Margarita Monet to the show. How are you?

Margarita Monet: Hi, I’m doing good. Thanks for having me.

Victor M. Ruiz: It’s awesome to have you on it’s funny because I was looking through my notes and I realized that I haven’t spoken to you since December of 2011. So, it’s almost been 10 years.

Margarita Monet: Oh, wow. That’s a long time.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah, it was when you guys were. I think it was right before Mask came out. So, a lot has definitely changed in the band. Has it? Not since Mask?

Margarita Monet: Feels like a lifetime.

Victor M. Ruiz: Absolutely. It’s funny because I still go back. And listened to a lot of the songs off of that album. And I mean songs from throughout your career it seems like you’re I don’t want to say you’re blushing, but with me saying, going back to that, obviously the band is sonically and from the composition standpoint has in 10 years has done quite a lot.

Margarita Monet: Oh, yeah, we actually took Mask off our Spotify just because, yeah. And then people still, they tried to get that album and we’re like, nah, just listen to the new stuff. It’s just because, well, we sound so much different now and.

Victor M. Ruiz: Right?

Margarita Monet: I didn’t write any of the songs. I started writing songs with our next album with Dave our first song we wrote together, and that was our album and Immortal Waltz.

So, Mask was written with David’s Robin McAuley, but I think it just gave me a chance to discover myself as a singer, I would say because I never, yeah.

Victor M. Ruiz: Oh, wow. I didn’t, I didn’t know that. So, was he looking to record that album with Robin McAuley originally?

Margarita Monet: Well, he had a band with Robin called Bleed and they actually did record a lot of those songs and they released, but some of them, they never released because it was Robin in the band with Greg Bissonette on drums and Tony Franklin on bass.

Victor M. Ruiz: wow.

Margarita Monet: It’s some shows together, but they all, like Robin went on tour with Survivor.

It was back then when Survivor split with the guitar player in Survivor Greg Bissonette starting with Ringo Starr. So, everybody was doing their own thing. And Dave, like, we both wanted to do something and commit everything to the bed and take it, you know, all the way basically. So that’s what we, that’s why we started the band.

 But it took us a few years to really like discover what we want it to sound like and you know, like any band. So.

Victor M. Ruiz: absolutely. And even you’re bringing that up and you’re talking about are Immortal Waltz, but I got to tell you this album here, if I can get it on screen Universe, to me was really a huge leap forward for the band.

Margarita Monet: Oh,

Victor M. Ruiz: I mean, yeah. It, it really, to me was really you guys coming into your own. And really, as you’re saying, kind of finding your way kind of finding how all the pieces finally fit, how difficult was it for you guys to finally get to the point of Universe and realize.

What you wanted to do there?

Margarita Monet: Yeah. I don’t know if it was difficult per se. It was just kind of a natural evolution. And I think we really found ourselves as songwriters because like with our EP Alive, it started heading into that direction. And then we kind of just followed the music because we liked what was developing like we never forced anything ever.

I like whenever I thought to ourselves let’s sound like that, because I feel like that never works once you force something, it’s very hard to make it work. So, I just feel grateful that we weren’t able to find that path and just we also. We’re lucky to start working with Mike Plotnikoff and Jacob Hansen.

I feel like he really saw where we were heading and steered us into that direction. And then I started discovering like more of the cinematic because I could play keyboards and all the songs. So, I really started to discover all the stuff I like to do with a keyboard. Like all the industrial sounds, all the cinematic sounds and we just kind of went with it.

So.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah, that’s kind of neat that you mentioned that because it’s funny when I get press releases about you guys, and they try to describe the band. It really, at least in my opinion, I think Edge Of Paradise sounds like Edge Of Paradise where it doesn’t, you know, people want to say it’s symphonic metal or it’s industrial, or it’s this, I think that you guys have pieces of different things, but I think that you guys do a good job of kind of taking all the ingredients of the recipe and making it Edge Of Paradise.

Margarita Monet: I thank you that’s a really huge compliment to us because from the beginning, that’s what we’ve always strived to do. We wanted to create something unique enough that people, when they hear first part of our songs, they can recognize that it’s us. So yeah. Thank you for saying that. And I hope, you know, we’ll, we’ll keep evolving.

 I really like the theme we have going with the band, like this kind of futuristic sci-fi type of theme, and also like the new album. It’s very thought-provoking. So yeah, I just, you know, want to keep going into that direction, but thank you.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah. How, how do you feel that you guys have stepped up your game from Universe to The Unknown?

Margarita Monet: Well, actually it’s a huge leap forward for us again, to this album, just because, well, first of all, the songs are a lot more meaningful. I feel like they’re also more cinematic, like overall, I would describe them as like, if she liked movies like Inception or Inter-stellar or Star Wars or songs, like, I mean, you movie like that they’re a bit story driven.

Also. Each song is very versatile. Like the album is very versatile. Each song is very different, but overall, if you really feel like it’s one album and You know, also we have, we started working with Howard Benson who is you know, multiple Grammy winning producer. He also with Neil Sanderson from Three Days Grace, I feel like working with Neil just because Three Days Grace is so different from us.

Like I always do everything very elaborate, very like. Like, I like to really read into things and Three Days Grace, they have like this approach where everything is streamlined. And I think we found like the happy medium where it’s still us, but it’s, it’s very like, everything is in the song because it needs to be.

Like there’s nothing filler about it. So, I think overall with us evolving as musicians and with our production team growing we stepped up a whole new level.

Victor M. Ruiz: Gotcha. So how important do you feel was it was the input from the three of them. You’re saying that Neil kind of helped streamline things, but you know, again, it’s Howard, isn’t the first big name producer you guys have worked with. You worked with Michael Wagner in the past. You also worked with is it Chuck Jones, the name of the who?

The guy that produced Alive. Yeah. So, I mean, what do you feel that this kind of three-headed team helps do for you guys that maybe you hadn’t been able to do in the past?

Margarita Monet: Yeah. You know, it’s always like Dave and I were pretty much do a lot of it ourselves, but working with other people, even though like a lot of the songs, for example, we’d demo with them up at home. So, the songs are pretty much written. But for example, I’ll, I’ll kind of tell you the process we can. So, we’ll demo it up at home, then we’ll go to Mike Plotnikoff, Mike produced Universe.

Mike is a very he, he really inspires me. The process, because when I record with Mike, he really pushes me to think outside the box. So, on the spot, I really think of maybe some melodies that are set or maybe some new words that are better. So, we really evolved the song, solidify it. And then when Neil was, he knew was coming in from Canada.

During the sessions with Mike and he was kind of like, oh, this isn’t maybe necessarily, maybe this is too many words. Maybe take out some of this stuff. So, Neil was kind of that part of the process where he was taking things out. And then I went to Howard to record the final vocals to some of the singles.

And because we kind of met Howard more later in the game, like the album was released. But then we recorded a lot of the songs with Howard, and he really pushed me vocally because I think he saw a side of me. He saw like this edge I didn’t have before. And he really brought that out and I feel like that’s really made the songs a whole new level.

Plus we put a lot more harmonies. Like the songs got a lot more production with Howard and that also really elevated. The choruses, especially like, I think you can really hear that on Digital Paradise, even though it’s subtle. But when I hear both versions, it’s like a massive difference. So yeah, we’re, we’re grateful we have all these people know kind of part of it too.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. You’re obviously a very creative person. You’ve always uploaded things. Videos of you playing the piano, doing covers. You know, you guys are offering all types of really cool things that people can buy as part of bundles for The Unknown. Universe came out in August of 2019, about two years ago, and a few months later, the pandemic hit.

So things kind of halted for you guys. The Unknown, was it born out of the need for you guys to do something during that time where the song’s already there, or, I mean, with you guys being so creative, did you just need to write these songs?

Margarita Monet: Yeah. It’s a bit of, bit of everything of that because we’ve were supposed to tour a lot 2020. But we knew after we came back from tour in Europe we had, we knew that we had a few months off and we’re always writing. So, what was have that needs to keep making music? So, we were like, well, things are kind of weird right now, you know, but I’m gonna not worried, like who knew a pandemic would, would last this long.

 But we just called up Mike and we were like, you know, we have this one song that we’d like to get in the studio and maybe do a single before the tour, you know, something like that. And he was like, okay. Yeah, that’s good. That’s great. So that’s how we started. And then the, you know, one song led to the other song and then we were, like what’s going on?

Like I was driving on the freeway in LA and it was deserted like whoever sees the empty freeway, in Los Angeles.

At home, like that’s when I wrote the title track The Unknown and then Dave came, and he was like that’s a different song. Cause I think The Unknown is probably one of the, like, we never wrote a song.

like that before. So, I think the pandemic just like this apocalyptic atmosphere kind of influenced the process, but I think it’s the first time that we never, we didn’t really have anything. To do like wouldn’t have a tour to prepare for, because like things just got canceled. We were holding out hope til the last minute, but as we knew that everything canceled, we just focused on the music entirely and that did keep us sane throughout the but yeah, we just kind of fully immersed ourselves in this album.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. Could you envision that with how things continue to go you can’t get out there and play that you guys would continue to write as time goes on.

Margarita Monet: Yeah. Yeah. We always try to write in, in between, but like we went to his bummed that we didn’t really get to tour on Universe. I think this album was the silver lining for us because we did, I feel like these are definitely our best songs so far. Like The Unknown to me, that song was so important. I feel like it’s one of those songs you write once in a lifetime, just, just personally how much it means to me.

And then you know, starting to work with these new people. And cause we’re also signed, they have a label now, so we kind of signed by Judge And Jury. So, we have like Frontiers on our team in Judge And Jury. So, a lot of good things happen to the band. And this is what I kind of you know, I want to say with the album as well, because the album is very, it talks a lot about futurists.

topics and just it’s, sci-fi in a way. But like that part of the song is inside the silence of my mind. I find strength in the unknown. So, if we, you know, kind of look in the positive way into something, we don’t know what’s going to happen in a fighting kind of hope. And so that’s.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. Yeah, you, you mentioned that the songs are very futuristic. The videos are very futuristic as well. And one thing that you’ve always pushed as well is you guys have had a certain image with all the videos. I mean, the videos aren’t you guys just standing there, just kind of mining the songs you guys are.

Actually, they look like little cinematic pieces as well. How involved are you guys in creating these videos? Do you guys come up with a storyboard and then look for somebody to. Help you guys develop it or do people come to you to, with ideas for the songs?

Margarita Monet: A lot of it goes like this. I’m like, hey, Dave, I want to make this video. And it’s going to look like this. And he’s like, how are we going to do that? Oh, okay. I’ll just call up Scott. Hey Scott. Like I have these crazy ideas can make it happen. It’s like, okay. Like, okay, let’s do it. Then things like, oh my God, how are we going to make it happen?

And then I’m like, okay, it’s booked. And then like, we just have to figure out how to make it happen. But. Kind of like that. It’s just because I always want to create something that’s really grandiose. And obviously we don’t have huge budgets to do that, you know, as the band grows, I want to do bigger and bigger and bigger.

So, we were able to kind of. Step it up with each video, but yeah, like I come up with some of these ideas some videos, for example, when, when we worked with Scott Hanson, who did The Unknown and Digital Paradise, I kind of talked to him about what I wanted the videos to be like some of the scenes. You know, the overall feel of the video.

And then he kind of helped me along the way to make it happen. And, you know, he brought his crew and we just kind of figure it out together. So, he was really great because he’s a filmmaker. So, he knows how to make things look the way I want them and work with what we have. And then like some videos.

For example, My Method Your Madness. I pretty much did a lot of with myself. Dane Mayan to film it. And then I edited it myself. Like the video that we have coming out, False Idols. That one’s really crazy because it looks like we’re in ancient Egypt. And then we’re also in the future. That one’s like going really crazy.

And that one, I worked with Robin August, who is also a filmmaker, and I just told him all the ideas that hadn’t booked, all the stuff, and then he just was there to help you make it happen. So, you know, a lot of the videos, I am very hands-on, but I also love collaborating with people and I’m totally fine with just letting someone, you know, do it, but so far we’ve been very involved in the process.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. What about your wardrobe? Because you’re wearing some outrageous stuff that obviously you can’t go into any store and just buy I’m assuming that is somebody is either putting this stuff together or you’re doing it or.

Margarita Monet: I do a lot of the stuff myself. I mean, internet is a beautiful thing. There’s so many really cool designers out there that like I’d love to collaborate with. So, I just like, if I see something online, you know, I messaged them and I’m like maybe if you help me customize it this way, so it fits the video better, or it’s something that already fits perfectly.

So, there’s a lot of really amazing people out there on the internet that maybe you don’t see you like in stores or whatever, but they make their own stuff. And you know, they sell it online. So, I love finding, you know, designers that do really unique things. And you know, I get that for the video or like I make some of my own stuff, like a lot of the props I made myself like in Digital Paradise, those was crazy sleeves.

Like the pair of pyramids and The Unknown video, I made that out of lesson. So, I make a lot of it myself. I mean, I liked doing that, but also sometimes when you have an idea and you don’t know where to get it, you have to make it. You just

Victor M. Ruiz: Right.

Margarita Monet: yeah.

Victor M. Ruiz: Part of the problem of being so creative is that you’ve got things in your head, but if, if you can’t have someone else kind of bring it to life, you got to do it yourself. And you know, the way things are now like you’re saying on the internet, there’s so many guides to I mean, this is kind of different, but you see people recreate through cosplay, like things that have been in books or things that have been comics or whatever.

So, there are supplies out there and there are plenty of tutorials out there to build a lot of this stuff. So, it’s just cool hearing that you’re able to make a lot of the stuff come to life.

Margarita Monet: Yeah. And, and it’s, it’s, it’s the fun part of things. The only problem is the time like.

Victor M. Ruiz: Right.

Margarita Monet: Like the new video. Yeah, and I had to upload it and just met the deadline because it comes out on Monday. So, it’s the time that I’m always chasing. But other than that, it’s super fun.

Victor M. Ruiz: Okay. And when did you say the next video was coming out?

Margarita Monet: Monday.

Victor M. Ruiz: Oh, okay. I’m sorry. It cut out there for a second. So, I wasn’t sure if that was the video you were discussing. Are there going to be any other videos for the album or is it just going to be these four for now?

Margarita Monet: No, it’s gonna be more. I wish, I mean, in the perfect world, I’d like to make a video for every song, just because every song is so cinematic in its own way. So, there’s definitely going to be more. And probably before the end of the year. Yeah. So, you know, the more we were able to do the more we’ll do.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. Given that again, you didn’t get to tour Universe properly. What could you envision your set lists to be? Do you already have a set list, worked out more or less of songs that you want to play? Do you want to give more of a chance to those songs off of Universe that maybe didn’t get played as much and mix them with stuff from The Unknown?

I mean, what, what’s the plan at the moment?

Margarita Monet: Yeah, well, like the title track Universe is still doing good on it has a lot of support on Spotify. So, we’ll definitely play that one. I mean, I love a lot of the songs from Universe. I guess the first step is to figure out the, what tours we’re going to get on with a new year. Like we were supposed to tour in the September in the UK.

 You know, there’s still a lot of restrictions and a lot of the show started canceling again. So that’s where we’re holding up there. But yeah, it’s going to depend on like how much time on the set lists we have, because we’re most likely going to be part of a tour. So, we’re definitely going to play a lot of Tthe Unknown album by definitely include some of the songs, maybe three songs from, Universe,

Victor M. Ruiz: Okay, cool. awesome. The band has obviously outside of you and Dave has changed members throughout the years. How much of a challenge is it to find the right mix of people to kind of drive you, your vision and Dave’s vision forward with your music?

Margarita Monet: It’s, it’s very hard just because we really give our life to the band and it’s hard to find people that can offer in a similar commitment. Like David Ruiz who is our rhythm guitar player. He’s been in the band for a while now, too for probably over five years now. So, he’s in it for, you know, for the long-term You know, like over the past few years, like the, most of the changes have been due to us, either touring and someone like Vanya, for example, he couldn’t really commit to long-term touring.

And we had like the whole 2020 plan out. So that was kind of the reason. But now we have Jamie Moreno who is our drummer. And he is, he’s an amazing, drummer, he’s really creative and he’s like in it for the term. So, I feel like he’s really good to be in the band for the, you know, he’s like the, a permanent member.

And then we just got our bassist, Justin Blair, we had Ricky Bonazza play on the album, but he’s a basis for Butcher Babies. So, he’ll tour a lot. So that’s why we, you know, we wouldn’t be able to have the same base. So, we recently got Justin to be the member, you know, he’ll be touring with us and hopefully he’ll be with us for the long-term.

So, but yeah, it’s pretty. And you would think in that way, it’s easy to find people, but it’s so hard to find someone who can commit, who can fit the line up or can have great personality plays, creates. It’s very, very hard.

Victor M. Ruiz: It’s funny because I’ve through various musicians that I speak to either, you know, that I’ve had them on the show or that I speak to them through, you know, messages or whatever behind the scenes. That seems to be a common theme for a lot of bands where they say that, well, you’d think in LA there would be more people that would believe in doing this, but there’s so many people that are in three, four or five different bands, and then you have others that aren’t sure that they want to commit to it as, you know, as a career.

So it sounds weird, but it’s, you know, it’s obviously a common thing that a lot of bands out there have to deal with.

Margarita Monet: Yeah, I think on some people like when you’re in a lot of bands, it’s almost like. You’re spreading yourself too thin because it’s very hard to keep a band going forward and to bring a band to like the highest level. I, I really have no idea how people can be in more than one band. Like sometimes. You have other projects.

I’m like, I can barely like survive doing this because it takes so much time and effort and dedication to really move something forward. Like I have no idea how people can do more than one band. So, I think part of it is really that finding people who really understand what it takes and can’t commit, so it moves forward.

Yeah.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. Now that, that it makes sense. I mean, when I’ve, when I’ve heard it described, you know, and I’ve had people say it to me, I’d always think, wow. You know, I had, when I was growing up, I couldn’t focus on more than one band because I just didn’t there weren’t enough hours in the day to try to do more than one.

And I think he would want to do the best that you can, you know, if you’re serious in a band. So, I mean, I dunno,

Margarita Monet: Yeah.

Victor M. Ruiz: just weird. We have a Patron of mine who wasn’t going to be able to be part of the show tonight. Wouldn’t be able to be in the chat. So, he asked the question ahead of time. So, he wanted to ask you to describe what your vocal training background is.

Margarita Monet: Yeah, so actually, you know, not a lot because I grew up playing classical music. And I grew up in Russia, so I went to a music school. So, we had choir, we had theory. So, I really know music. And I you know, they taught us about the technique of singing, but I never growing up, never really thought of becoming a singer.

So, when I went to college, like I did some musical theater in my high school, but. You know, in high schools, they don’t really push you unless you find like a really amazing teacher, but no one really pushed me. I actually got kicked out musical theater and they were like; you’ll be better in theater. Like you have this dramatic thing about you, like this dramatic monologues and stuff.

So, I feel like no one really. I saw something in me and tried to develop it. I kind of did it myself. When I went to college, I also went, I went to NYU for theater and we did, we had the breathing class, it was speech class, and we did tons of breathing exercises. Like we really did a lot of speech. And I feel like that really helped me because a lot of what singing is, is your lungs.

Like you really have to have strong lungs to have a powerful voice. So that trained to be a lot. I feel like putting me on the right path to this becoming a singer, but it’s not to, like we did Mask that I really was like, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to have to be the best I can. So, like I heard things in my voice that I wanted because I was a musician my whole life.

So, I know what sounds good. And I knew what I had to do to sound good. And I just like figure it out how to really push myself and really get rid of any limitations I had in my head. Like if I heard something I had, like, if I heard a note that I felt like it was impossible to reach, I just figured out how to reach it and just kept doing it.

Until It felt natural. And with each album, my voice kept evolving because I just never felt like. Like I never said to myself, I can’t do that, or I’m not going to sound good doing that and just figure it out how to make it sound good. So, I feel like that helps me to evolve. And yeah, I just don’t put in, you don’t put in you bricks, you know, in your path.

You see the goal and just keep going towards it. But I feel like it’s helpful to have a vocal coach just to help them guide you to, if you were, if you’re able to.

Victor M. Ruiz: Okay. Yeah, that, that sounds absolutely crazy to me because some of the notes that you end up hitting on some of these songs. It’s really, really amazing that you took that approach to get to where you’ve been able, you know, where you’ve been able to go. There’s definitely melodies and certain things that you do in your voice.

That, again, like I said earlier, you know, there’s, I kind of have something in my mind as to what certain genres of metal should sound like or how they typically sound like. So, when they brand you guys, as a certain thing, the first thing that comes to mind is Margarita’s voice. Isn’t that her voice isn’t this either, it’s your voice, is your voice.

And it’s almost like a lost art where, you know, back in the, all the way up to probably the nineties where you, if a band was good, you heard the singer and you’re like, oh, it’s so and so. Whereas now, you know, we get people get pigeonholed. Oh, well they’re a symphonic metal singer, so they have to sound like this band or the other band they’re, you know, so on, so forth.

So, it’s cool to hear you describe not only how you guys came upon a lot of the music, like describing how you wrote The Unknown, but just describing how you kind of transitioned from being, you know, someone in theater to someone that was a, a full-on singer. That, I mean, you honestly just blew my mind with describing all that.

So, I, I think it’s really cool.

Margarita Monet: I mean sometimes I feel like I’m almost replica, cause I always share melodies. Like I write a lot of melodies on the piano because I’m like, that’s what I’ve been doing, my whole life so it’s supernatural for me. And then I think I just kind of replicate that with my voice. But you know, it’s a really good point that you made that everything kind of gets into a box and I feel like it’s harder now.

To be more original these days because of how the music is marketed. Because if you don’t fit a certain mold, it’s much harder to break through. And we kind of faced that a little bit ourselves just because it would be much easier to sound exactly like this band or exactly like that band. Cause you’ll get on those tours.

You’ll get on those Spotify playlist or, you know, that there’s just because. It’s already so familiar and you just kind of following the carved-out path. So, if you kind of carve your own path, it’s I feel like it’s more rewarding at the end, but it’s much harder to carve it yourself.

Victor M. Ruiz: Right. Yeah, I agree. But if we look back at all of the classic bands that all of us listened to, or that we grew up with, or that we still listen to. The majority of them don’t sound alike.

Margarita Monet: exactly. Yeah. Like back then, when the bands were like imagined Black Sabbath, like, or Metallica or Led Zepplin, like who are they? Who do they sound like? They sound like themselves, you know? And I feel like back then it was, you know, it was just a way to be, or you create something you know, you strive to create something original.

So, I don’t know. It’s music business of, I feel like it’s the business end of things that kind of pushed you. Do you know, to do something that’s a little more, I don’t want to say copying other people, but. I feel like it’s just the way, the fact that it is harder to be more original, puts people on a path to kind of follow any trend.

But I don’t know. It’s, it’s so hard to say these days because it’s just not an easy thing to do being in a band, so yeah.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah, no, I, I agree with you there’s there, there are a lot of things and it is it’s from the marketing standpoint where oh, well Margarita is a female singer. So obviously she sounds like another female singer and other band with another female. And it’s like, no, it doesn’t matter. If you’re a female or not, it doesn’t matter.

And I had a conversation with the guitar of, a band that’s out there in LA called the Tetrarch. And they’re a guitarist is an African-American female. And I asked her, I said, you know, you’re a, you’re a female in a male dominated genre B you’re also African-American. Do you feel any pressure with having to represent or be this or be that?

And she said, no, I just want to be known as being a musician. If people recognize me for being a female, that’s great. If people recognize me for being African-American, that’s great, but I want people to appreciate me for the music that I make. So, like you’re saying a lot of it is marketing where, oh, we have to point this out, but I think at the end of the day, do you really have to point it out?

As long as the music is good? I don’t think you need that extra. Like thing too, you know, again, back in the day, if someone just had a great voice, you didn’t have to point out, oh, well, he’s from Scotland, you know? No, the bank is good, you know, to me, it’s kind of the same thing. It just, it’s adding other things that kind of doesn’t make sense that isn’t anything that’s going to accentuate the music.

Margarita Monet: Yeah, I think it’s just part of the society we live in now. Everything has to be labeled, so.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah.

Margarita Monet: No. When I first started the band and someone asked me for the first time, what is it like to be a female in a band? I thought it was such a weird question because like, when I grew up in Russia, all the girls played piano.

Like it was just a thing to have to do. So, I always saw musicians, other women musicians, I just didn’t put the two and two together that in rock music, it’s more male dominated. Like yeah, of course. You know, I knew that, but I just never thought. That way. So, I just, I always felt comfortable. I just wanted to really let the music to the talking.

So, I always thought it was weird. People ask me like, well, you’re a female fronted band like, why does that matter?

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah. I agree. Circling back to The Unknown, I mentioned previously that you’ve put a bunch of different things together that are available on the site, different bundles, different things that you’ve handmade. What are the, some of the, in your opinion, some of the neatest things that you’ve made as part of these bundles,

Margarita Monet: Well, I’ll show you a one thing, but I’m painting. So, for example this is actually a painting for the title track. So, I did a painting for each song and as bundles. It’s a canvas print of the original painting and the paintings actually ended up with our producers Digital Paradise went to Mike and My Method To Madness went to Howard, but this one I’m giving away.

Cause we’re doing a guitar give away to everybody that pre-ordered the album, and this is going to be another giveaway item. So, the original painting someone’s gonna win it. But yeah, I’m gonna paint a pic, you know, an art piece for each of the songs just because I really like to visualize the song. And I also like in The Unknown, you see that pyramid I made that myself and I’m actually making more of that for some of the bundles that’s going to come later on.

And it’s kind of like, it’s almost like a night lamp because I put a light inside so you can actually turn it on and see all the crazy things inside that pyramid. And then I made some coasters with the artwork inside. That’s kind of like immortalized because it’s not pleasant. But yeah, those are some of the things.

 Like last for Universe I did box sets where I painted a picture on the box for every song and it was like a limited edition thing. So, I think I made 20 of them. Yeah. So that’s fun. I think eventually like towards the end of the year, I’m going to put together an arts book with just of these paintings and the lyrics for the album.

 Cause I have an art book of all my past paintings and people seem to like it. I think I have to make on but this album so dedicated. So yeah.

Victor M. Ruiz: Awesome. As far as the, the actual vinyl it’s being released in multiple colors, if I’m not mistaken

Margarita Monet: It’s actually just released in blue, but. I love because the artwork inside is really cool. So, I really can’t wait for people to hold it in their hands. And like, we really have her own alien language that was created by dress and seven. And we like, for example, in this painting, if you see like, see, these are like, these symbols.

So, if you have the cipher, which comes with everything you buy from us, you can decipher all of these hidden messages over right and onward. Yeah. So, yeah, and then we have cool t-shirts but yeah, it’s fun.

Victor M. Ruiz: Cool. Where should people go to pick the album up? Is there a preferred spot, your website? Should they go to Frontier’s site? Where do you guys prefer?

Margarita Monet: Yeah, well, we have one link that if they put to a website or just Facebook, you can find the link pretty much everywhere. And it gives you all the places you can get. One. I could you know, if you obviously want something signed for example, all the vinyls that come from us, we’re including a poster inside.

Everything is always signed and personalized. We’re always include some gifts. And so that comes from our store, which is edgeofparadisestore.com. If you live in Europe and you don’t really want anything signed, just want the album. You can get it from Frontiers Europe store because then you don’t have to pay for shipping from the US.

So, you can get that from Frontiers store on vinyl or the CD then you can also get it on Amazon iTunes pretty much anywhere. It just depends. If you wanted to sign or not, if you want it signed, get it from us. If you wanted to just regularly get it from wherever you get your music.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah, there, there were a few of us that are in Europe. I’m sure it’s not a case of us. Not wanting it signed. It’s just that the shipping is usually just so much that.

Margarita Monet: Yeah. It’s crazy. Like a lot of the bundles for the last time. Cause we don’t want to charge people so much for shipping. So we try to. Cover the cost of it a little bit, but I feel like the prices keep going up

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah.

Margarita Monet: crazy. So.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah. It’s crazy. I w I went to go pre-order an album. The other day was only gonna released in the states. It was 21.97€ and the shipping was 29 something I’m like, okay, I’m not going to be paying more for shipping than the album.

Margarita Monet: Yeah, it sucks. It really sucks. Yeah. So that’s why I’m in, we’re really grateful to have Frontiers. So, people are able to get the physical CDs without paying the shipping costs. So.

Victor M. Ruiz: Okay, cool. That’s where I’ll, that’s who I’ll be giving my money to.

Margarita Monet: Also like we always send out postcards because postcards are easy for us to send out. Cause you just pay the stamp. So, if you order it in Europe, just message us your shipping address. And we love to send like an autograph postcard or like band photo or something like that. We love to do that for people.

Victor M. Ruiz: I, I believe, and I have to look through, because I have a box with all the promo stuff that I’ve been sent over the years. I believe that when I interviewed you 10 years ago, you actually sent me a bunch of postcards.

Margarita Monet: Oh, yeah, that’s cool.

Victor M. Ruiz: As far as where people should keep in touch with you or in touch with the band to know whether there’s going to be touring, whether there’s going to be more bundles or more things available. If the book comes out in the future, things like that, where should people go to keep up.

Margarita Monet: Well, we’re very social band, but we like to spread out the world. So, Facebook, Instagram you can also get on our mailing list, which is on, if you go to a website, edgeofparadiseband.com you can send out for the mailing list, but yeah, I’m very easy to find and we’re very social. Like we love to hear from people and love to meet them at the shows.

Like we always come out after show. You know, hang out with everybody. Cause it’s just, it’s part of what we really love to do is like sharing the music with people and just, you know, kind of building this world of Edge Of Paradise. So yeah, just message us on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter. If you just search Edge Of Paradise, we should come up with on all the platforms.

Victor M. Ruiz: Gotcha. Okay. And the last thing I wanted to ask you about a few years ago, you were involved in something with foundation that Kevin Estrada had put together for human trafficking. I actually know Kevin from when I was 19. When I worked in college radio, he was the metal director at Hollywood Records at the time.

So, I knew him from way back when, and I’ve kind of kept in touch with him over the years. He’s an extremely busy guy. Can you tell me a little bit about your involvement in that and what that foundation was all about?

Margarita Monet: Yeah, Kevin is such a great friend like he, he helps us out a lot and we just became really great friends along these years of we’re probably known him for like eight years now. And he he has two daughters and it was called Rockers. It’s still, you know, it’s still active Rockers United Foundation.

 And he’s very passionate about You know, human trafficking, especially since a lot of it happens right. Under our noses in Los Angeles. So, the foundation was to raise money, to help rescue some of these victims because a lot of the times they were private investigators had to be hired. And like the money that we raised actually saved two girls.

 So. Yeah, it’s something that’s really close to his heart too, because he does have two girls and it’s something he really cares about. And like, we have some of the shows that I think Papa Roach played one of the shows and he, we did two, two or three shows to raise money for it. Yeah. It’s always great to see that people, you know, they come out and support and all the money goes straight to, you know, helping to rescue these victims.

Victor M. Ruiz: Such a shame and it’s a great cause obviously, you know, you would think that in 2021 things like that wouldn’t exist, but

Margarita Monet: I

Victor M. Ruiz: unfortunately it does.

Margarita Monet: because of technology and I feel like it’s yeah. And it’s just like right under our noses. Sometimes like the police can’t even approach these people. So, like people have to go undercover to really like, you know, try to save these girls. It’s really crazy.

Victor M. Ruiz: Yeah, there was a case here in Spain. I actually met the person before this actually happened to them. There was she was like a Pamela Anderson lookalike, but she was a DJ and she was hired to DJ. She was supposed to be doing a tour of China. And once she got to China, they locked her up in a room and they like cuffed her neck and her hands and ankles the whole deal.

And she was in there with someone for like two months.

Margarita Monet: Oh,

Victor M. Ruiz: they were able to escape. And the whole thing was that they were going to be sold off to, to someone else within the country. And it was brought to light that, you know, that there w there are like groups in Asia specifically that target people that are, you know, semi celebrities on the internet and invite them to partake in events or things like that, and their ideas that they’re going to go to some, you know, posh hotel and they end up, you know, in a dungeon somewhere and being sold off.

So this,

Margarita Monet: So crazy.

Victor M. Ruiz: yeah, absolutely. So, anyway, I appreciate your time Margarita. I really wanted to talk to you when Universe came out, because I enjoyed the album so much. I am very much looking forward to The Unknown, and I know that a lot of the people that I have in the chat right now are as well. I’ve been posting the videos.

Up there on my Patreon page and I’ve been getting a good reaction back from the patrons regarding the songs. So, I think that there will be more than one of us that will be checking the album out when it comes out. So.

Margarita Monet: Yeah, I really appreciate that. Thank you so much for the support. Now we’re super excited to share this music and hopefully see you guys live at the shows. So, thank you so much, Victor. I really appreciate it.

Victor M. Ruiz: Awesome. Thanks again for your time. And I will be, I’ll send you the links along when this posts it’ll probably post within a week. So.

Margarita Monet: Awesome. Love shared everywhere. Thank you.

Victor M. Ruiz: Awesome. Thanks margarita again for your time.

Margarita Monet: Thank you for your time. Great talking to you.

Victor M. Ruiz: Likewise. All right. see ya.

Margarita Monet: Bye.