I have very eclectic music tastes with favorite songs in country, pop, punk but sometimes I need a really good metal beat to fill my soul with the energy to keep going and so when I found Sonja on bandcamp I was very happy. I was even happier when the lead singer Melissa Moore agreed to talk with us about the band, writing music and her coming out.
Q How did the band get started?
Melissa: Sonja called to us from the nothingness with the urge for us to craft her manifestation into the physical world. We played through cover songs of our predecessors to feel an intimacy with the legendary songs that have always provided for us. This was also a chance for me to start the process of learning how to sing as I’d never done it before. Our rock fates call for expression of a certain fiery magnitude, and nothing we were involved in previously seemed to have the ability to meet this need.
Q I saw that when the band first started you did not have previous experience as a vocalist, what was important that you got to be the one to perform as the singer?
Melissa: I didn’t look forward to difficult process of learning to sing, but I also knew that no one but me could be trusted to vocalize the sacred rock n roll knowledge from inside that has guided me. It’s a cliche to say this (especially in metal) but I think that most people are “false”. For what Sonja demands, I am the one who is True. It is a great gift and a great curse.
Q How did coming out affect your musical identity?
Melissa: Everything I had done in the past had instantly become irrelevant. Especially to myself. It was as if I had washed up to a foreign shore, naked and unable to speak the language. Having this band now is like finally having clothes on. But I definitely feel like a ghost just floating around.
Q You also have a line of clothes call Toxic femme, What was the inspiration behind its creation?
Melissa: That is actually not mine . My friend Mattie has solely owned and operated this for a few years. I did help them start the company in the beginning but I shifted away. Some designs such as Thicc Lizzy, ZZ Bottom, and Dykethrone-Transfeminine Hunger were my ideas. But currently I have no involvement with the brand besides having been there at the beginning. They actually handle Sonja’s order fulfillment from our bandcamp so there is a current connection.
Q When you are writing songs does one band member come to the band with a piece or is It a collaborative venture?
Melissa: The lyrics are me, but the musical idea can come from anywhere or anyone. We cultivate it into a song over time. I sort of think that it’s the care we give things that allows the music to work. Although we do start with musical seedlings that have a certain specialness from the beginning. I’ll spend 8 months on one single vocal line to get the right words. Or sometimes it’s immediate.
Q Who are your biggest musical influences?
Melissa: personally I find value in Lana Del Rey, Mercyful Fate, Kiss, Danzig, Accept, Scorpions, Manowar, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dio, etc. None of our music comes out like them but it’s all ripe for loving subversion.
Q} if people want more info about you or to pick up your music where should they go?
https://sonjaband.bandcamp.com/album/loud-arriver
https://instagram.com/sonjaphilly?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Final four questions –we ask everybody
Q) When the zombies take over the world where will you be?
Melissa: Wandering aimlessly, hiding from those with an unholy hunger for my flesh. Or just trying to stay cute somewhere safe. Not much different than my current day to day tbh.
Q ) What is your favorite Fandom
Melissa: I actually don’t have any. All of your heroes will let you down.
Q) What piece of art, be it in the form of a piece of music, a book, a film or picture, do you think people must experience before they die?
Melissa: Danzig’s first album
Q) Give one fact that most people would not believe about you?
Melissa: I’m extremely shy