[0:00]I got a call from, from Andy saying that he showed him to his buddy Alex and, and Alex was going to add some guitars to it and that was obviously a very exciting
[0:25]Maia Wynne of Envy of None, a band that includes legendary Canadian musicians Andy Curren of Coney Hatch and of course Alex Lifeson of Rush. She joins us today to discuss the new three-track single The Thrill and their latest album Stygean Waves. Maia, how are you? I'm doing really good. How are you? Doing great, doing great. Well, congratulations on the new album. It's fantastic. I've been listening to it regularly since March when it came out. I love the videos and I want to get into some of that when we get a chance, but um, maybe for our listeners that don't know the history of the band. Let's go back a little bit to the beginning. How did Envy of None get started and what's the story behind the band's formation? You know, I was actually pretty young at the time. I think I was 19 when I met Andy. I entered a a song contest and I ended up winning and one of my prizes was a a Zoom mentorship call with Andy Curran. Um, and we got to talking and I offered to sing on any songs that he was working on and um, I'm super happy because he took me up on the offer. We started working on some songs just him and me and and Alf. Um, and then a few songs into it, I got a call from, from Andy saying that he showed him to his buddy Alex and, and Alex was going to add some guitars to it and that was obviously a very exciting phone call for me. Um, and it just kind of blossomed from there. We started working on music and um, just quickly, you know, three songs turned into five, turned into eight, and then we had a whole record and um, we decided to release it as as a band. Excellent. So I mean, you know, again, you're you're probably a generation removed from those guys, but um, like, were you freaking out in the beginning? Like, were you familiar with their history? Like Because it's a huge gap. Well, it's funny because I was less familiar with, with Andy and as we've worked together, I've become more aware of his amazing career and and him as a musician. Um, I was pretty naive at the beginning about him and I think if I had known, I would have been too nervous to ask if to collaborate. But thankfully, I didn't and then it was like, oh, wow, this is really exciting. Um, but Alex, I knew up because my parents are really big Rush fans and I grew up listening to Rush and um, so that was very, very exciting and I was very nervous. I'm sure, I'm sure. Well, yeah, we could talk a little bit about the uh, the news that hit this week a little bit later, but let's say for those not familiar with Envy of None, you know, there's a distinct sound here. I mean, this is, this is not for the faint of heart. I, I like to say, this is really good atmospheric and cinematic type music. It's great when you put your headsets on, your earbuds in, it's so rich with texture. It's uh, a really, really good listen when you listen to it properly, but like how intentional was going into that direction and maybe how much of the influence that you and some of the other band members have on the sound and the way you were going with this. You know, I think from the beginning, it was very open to just about anything. Um, we never really had a discussion on this is what our sound is going to be and this is what we're going for. It was always just completely wide open and when I started adding vocals, um, each track that Andy had sent had a pretty different vibe. But he and Alf kind of established this almost electronic, kind of throwback, almost 90s-ish vibe from the beginning. Um, and I think we each kind of bring a different influence to that mix and then it kind of creates this very eclectic and dynamic range of things. Um, but we very rarely had even conversations about what we want things to sound like and we just kind of somehow arrived there. Wow, that's pretty, that's pretty fascinating when you didn't really have a direction to go into because I mean, especially on the new album. I mean, I know you released the self-titled album in 2022. But the new album Stygian Waves, I mean, it's such a diverse landscape, the soundscape on this. It's dark, it's trippy, it's moody at times. Yet, it's full of brightness and and melodic texture. I mean, you know, maybe from you, I think about your singing style yourself, right? Like, your voice really is a revelation. I mean, it's hypnotizing and at times, you're kind of sultry, you're whispery, you're tender, you're warm. I mean, what can you say about, let's say, the singing style as, as they've brought into the writing with this stuff? Yeah, you know, it's interesting because this is the first project where I'm not really, I'm a songwriter first.
[5:17]And then I kind of got into the singing side because I loved writing and, and so it was really a different shift for me to go from playing all of these instruments. I play a lot of instruments and I produce my own stuff and to go from that to just focusing on vocals, and I think it really opened the door to focus on the dynamics of the vocals that I wanted to create and how I wanted to produce those vocals. And I ended up recording, you know, anywhere from 20 to 50 vocal tracks for each song, all of these little pieces, all of these little harmonies that come in and out, all these parts that build and um, I use my voice as an instrument on a lot of these tracks and I'm so focused on the delivery and the performance and the harmonies and um, it's funny because I it's something that I find as I go and and I'm recording in my studio and just really trying to hone in on a feeling. Um, and it's almost indescribable in words. It's just I know what it is in my body. And I'm trying to find that. Um, as I go and I think Alex has a very amazing sense of of harmony and textural layers and and all these things that kind of flowed in and out. And we kind of do this dance with the vocal layers and the guitar layers and how they kind of intertwine and um, I'll carve out space in the vocals and he'll carve out space on the guitars and we'll kind of do this almost dance together that's really fun and we've never really had a conversation about it. It's just something that naturally kind of happened. I think because we approach it in such a maybe a similar way musically. Wow. Did you guys have enough time together in person or was some of it really just exchanging of files and working individually? We do almost everything remotely. Um, it's now our tradition to like we'll work on the whole album um for like a year, two years and most of that's just remote.
[7:22]And then sometime towards the end we'll schedule some studio time and it's really just an excuse to hang out. Yeah, well that's that's the the modern way of things, right? Yeah, I mean, we've all got kind of busy schedules in our own different ways and um, it's the way we've been able to make it work and um, and it makes it really exciting when we do get to see each other in person because we're kind of celebrating all of the work that we've done up until that point.
[7:54]Sure, sure. Yeah, makes sense. Um, before we get into some of the songs and the singles and the videos, I I just wanted to ask about the title. It's sort of an evocative title and then there's like, let's say the artwork on both albums, you got these pairs of twin females. So, what is the title mean and what are what's the twins represent in terms of your imagery? Um, it's very much open to interpretation. Okay. Um, the, the title of this record comes from the same quote as our band name, which is a an Ovid quote. Um, and Stygian Waves refers to these turbulent waters on your way essentially to, um, the underworld after death and, um, and so we kind of liked the imagery of these Stygian Waves, this sort of like,
[9:23]turbulent journey to um, death. And, um, it just kind of like, we were trying to come up with an album title and we were really struggling and we're like, well, why don't we go look at that quote again because we, we really loved where our band name came from. Um, and that that was a the thing that stuck out or stood out to all of us and and we just really really dove into that imagery.
[10:07]Um, and the the title track did you and waves kind of, we really leaned into that musical journey and the sort of turbulent and like,
[10:30]I like to say that that song is this very, um, turbulent journey to inner peace. Um, and there's a lot of themes on the record that touch upon like death and endings and and introspection and growth and all these things that you're working through in life.
[10:59]Um, so yeah, I think it kind of it ties it all together, but we're never super literal with anything. Um, same with the imagery is kind of like, it's, there is a through line there, but we like people to kind of interpret things in their own ways too and to leave it a little bit open and a little bit mysterious. Um, the, the image, the image of the two women, uh, we were looking through photos to try to choose an album cover and that was one that really stood out to all of us. It's just so striking. Um, and so we kind of wanted to continue with that theme with the same vibe with the second record. Um, so we went to that same photographer and he had a similar kind of feeling again with two women and we're like, well, we should just continue this theme with this these two women on their on their journey, wherever they're going. And it's it's really fun. I like that it's sort of, um, a little bit mysterious and open to interpretation. Sure, sure. I I couldn't figure it out so that's that's good to know that. So, um, Maya, are you the, are you the only lyricist? Is this all your all your story lines? Are you the only lyricist or do the other guys contribute as well? Um, Andy does contribute as well. It's for the most part, I'm writing the lyrics. A lot of the songs I'll write all of the lyrics. Um, but there are quite a few songs where he will have a whole chorus written and then I will kind of build the verses around that chorus. Um, and he's really great with sort of these these hooks in the songs, um, like liar. And there's a few songs that had a lot of lyrics, especially at the beginning. Liar was mostly written. I rewrote some of the verses, um, to make it something that I connected with a little bit more. Um, but that hook was exactly what it was. Um, and sometimes, especially with the first record, I would take inspiration from the temporary song title, like Look Inside, it was just called that and so I took that and used that as inspiration to write the the lyrics from that title. Um, so it kind of, it ranges and and Andy does, um, write a lot of little hooks or full choruses. Um, and it's really fun to kind of, uh, have that back and forth together or to have this sort of almost like a writing prompt for me where it's like, okay, I have this starting point. How do I fill this out and um, finish the rest of this song around this starting point? Okay, okay. I I would say like, you know, you you mentioned it at the top, you said, you know, there's a lot of introspection, right? There's there's a lot of themes about identity, blending vulnerability into strength into the narratives. Um, and that ties into the videos. So, right, you've released a lot of videos so far. The title track, not that yet was the first single, the story under the stars and of course, the newest single, The Waves. But, you know, I've watched all of these videos and they're really enjoyable. And they're almost like a very cinematic in their own. So, maybe, um, you know, when versus listening to the song in your car, let's say, versus watching it. To me, you can connect so much more to the song watching the video. So maybe talk about the visual importance to your brand.
[14:24]Yeah, you know, I think it's been an interesting topic for us because I think we've almost struggled a little bit to figure out what our visual identity is as a band. Um, aside of these sort of very striking album covers, you know, um, we're almost hesitant to do band photo shoots because we don't feel like we're like the visual of the the band. Um, but we still have fun doing them, but, you know, music videos, we've all kind of had very different ideas for those. Um, the music video for The Story was one that I had more influence on creatively. Um, and Alex and Andy, I believe, had found, um, a visual artist to work on these sort of visualizers for Stygian Waves that are really trippy and and have lots of movement and, um, they're really fascinating to watch. And then Andy found this animator that does this almost comic book style animations for some of the other videos. And so they're, there's a wide range of visual, um, kind of references for these songs, but I think we all contribute to them in different ways and they all have some sort of connection to the songs for for for us, yeah.
[15:44]And it, and it's true. I mean, listen, you you're the star in the story. I mean, I absolutely love that track. I I and I say this sincerely. When that came out, I must have played that for weeks straight. Even my 11-year-old daughter was loving that song. I mean, it's hard to connect with it's hard to connect with a 10 or 11 year old daughter on musical themes and she says, Dad, this song is really nice. She's got a beautiful voice and she, you know, she's so pretty in the video and that kind of thing, but, you know, the lyrics in that one to me, it's it's very emotional and touching and yet it's very relatable because it's indicative of the human condition. We all have insecurities, we all have or vulnerable in our own way, but like the lyric, if I could be a better version of me, I'd step into the mirror and come back clean. If I could turn the deadfall into green, I'd be the hero of the story. I mean, absolutely stunning. So maybe just comment on on the message of that story and just the brilliance of the video. I think of the part where Alex is soloing and it's right at that point where you start pirouetting and it just matches together perfectly. It's absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much. That means a lot. That that song on this record is the one that I am most proud of lyrically. Um, and that is one that I, I sat down and I wrote the lyrics for that song in about an hour. I just, I had the instrumental and I was just instantly inspired and it just took me to this place and I think I was just feeling a lot of that message. At the moment, this sort of struggle of how often we are the villains in our own story because we want to be better, but we don't quite get there, we don't put in the work or or we we stop ourselves from from growing. And I was really feeling that just this this wish that I, I could grow and get out of the place that I was in and just feeling so stuck and then realizing that I I was the problem there.
[18:22]And so it was really amazing to to get to work on that song. Um, and the solo that Alex added just so amazing. And it makes me want to tear up every time I hear it. Um, and it just, he just meets that emotion so well with his instrument and it it one of my favorite moments on the whole record for sure is that solo. Um, and then getting a chance to work on the music video. Jaiden who filmed the music video, we kind of co-directed it together and had a lot of ideas about light and shadows and this sort of like meeting the dark side of yourself and the lighter version of yourself and this sort of this like dynamic and this dance you do between those two things and and then trying to visualize that. And then Jaiden had this inspiration from the Joker where he goes into this into this really gross bathroom and puts on this makeup and then does this interpretive dance. And I liked the metaphor of that and I kind of took inspiration from that and also from the crow and this sort of like, is she a villain, is she a hero? What is and kind of finding that dance in between those two and kind of using that dance as this metaphor of like fluctuating between the hero and the villain, um, in your story. Um, so I'm really happy you liked it. Thank you. No, it's it's and it's it's just you knocked it out of the park with that song. I absolutely love it. But um, now your latest, uh, single, The Thrill, I mean, it's a video as well. And as you're talking about the variety of videos, I mean, first of all, this song is very melodic and upbeat, it's catchy. Um, but the, to paint the picture, the video is you guys as dolls or puppets, driving around in this red Corvette. I say from the Rush fan, that's got to be the red Barchetta car. Um, I don't know if it is or it isn't, but, you know, you're following around this green goblin that I think is named Rupert Mcnebula. And then at the end, it kind of says, well, he's nowhere to be found on the on the newspaper. So I'm like, wow, what a, what a stark contrast compared to the story. So, what's the story line behind this one and then tell us a little bit about the single where you have a demo and then there's a charitable factor to this one as well, right? I didn't know he was called Rupert Mcnebula and I'm really excited to know that. It's at the end of the video, you see it. I think it's Rupert Mcnebula, so I hope so. Or I got it wrong. That's great.
[21:08]I'm sure you're right. Um, you know, we really wanted to do something fun for this video and I think because so much of the album is kind of dark, introspective, brooding, heavy, and thoughtful, um, this song was one that came together so quickly. And I took on this other character and it has such a fun vibe to it. And I think we were just ready to do something that was light and a little bit silly. And there's definitely inspiration from Thunderbirds and Team America in there. We were like, oh, it'd be so great to do a puppet video like that. Um, but those original puppets from those shows and those movies are so expensive and it takes a huge team of people to make that work. And we're like, okay, how do we do this with the budget that we have? And um, Andy found this, this guy that does children's shows in Bangladesh and he does puppets and, and, um, he reached out to him and and he did such an incredible job. We put a team together, they built the little supercar and and the aliens and I had this sort of like rough story line in my head of like, um, aliens and sirens and, um, they kind of took that and created such a a cohesive story and we're, you know, a little, our little band of of musical superheroes off to save the day from from the aliens. So it's just so cute and they did such an amazing job and I remember Andy telling me, he's like, yeah, he did too good of a job. I had to tell him to make it look worse because we wanted it to kind of have this very like, you see the strings and, and we're kind of flopping around vibe. Um, so I'm really happy that we got to do that and again, everybody just did an amazing job on it and so, um, it's pretty fun and I'm glad we have something out there that's just really silly. And what's the charitable factor behind this? The sales are going towards the proceeds of help for Ukraine? Yeah, UNHCR, um, United Nations Refugee Agency, um, uh is this organization that helps refugees, not just from Ukraine, but all around the world. Um, and it's really important work, especially right now. There's so much going on in the world and so many people in need of support, in need of legal help, in need of, um, immediate assistance, refugees who are trying to get to better places and this is what this organization does. And so I think especially right now, there's so much going on in the world. It's easy to feel helpless in that. Um, and they're doing such amazing work. It it really helped. I think just feel like we were doing something instead of just sitting around and and feeling helpless. Um, and really they're the ones doing all of the work, but it's nice to know that we can at least help raise some funds and in some small way make an impact. Um, and so I'm excited that we're doing it again. Well, that's good. It's very uh, very honorable and and very good for you guys. And so the charitable function is always coming in. So Maya, before I let you go, I have to ask you one more thing about one more song under the stars. I mean, this is a heavy, dark, romantic song and there's a lot of, there's the cars, the motorbikes running down the freeway in the video and all these phrases like, like brave, live bravely, I'll be by your side, Big Brother is watching, think poll. And then you kind of trying to outrun the man, the government, the police or whatever, but as if as the video is going on, all of a sudden there's a Rush billboard that pops up and that caught me by surprise. So of course, early this week, we got the wonderful news that Alex and Getty announced that they will be touring in 2026. For you as your bandmate, how did you react to that and how did that make you feel when you heard that news? It's very exciting. Um, I think, you know, it's such an exciting announcement and we didn't even, well, I didn't know, um, until the day of the announcement. I knew there was some announcement, but they have to be so secretive about it because, you know, they didn't want the news getting out. Um, Andy knew but he he was like sworn to secrecy, had to sign an NDA and all this stuff and he's like, I really wish I could tell you but I can't. Um, and then, you know, the news came out, but I think I had kind of suspected that maybe something was going on from hints that Alex had kind of given. Um, but it's very exciting and I'm really, really happy for him and, um, I think some, at some time, I hope that we have in the future space to do an Envy of None show. Um, but realistically, like, that's going to take us a lot of work to prepare that because we've never performed together live. Um, and so I'm excited that we get to, I, I hope I get to go to the shows and at least a couple of them and, and just see him play live because I've never gotten to see Alex play live. So I think that would be an amazing experience for me and to just get to see him in his element and, um, very, very excited for him. I was going to ask you that question because again, this is a gift for you. You get to come back and see him for the first time. Somebody like me, I've seen them 30 something times dating back to the late 80s, so I can't wait for this, but, um, you know, my, I would say I feel like in a sense, maybe Envy of None helped re-energize his passion for music. And, you know, there's there's stories that he would go to Getty's house and rehearse secretly, but I really think Envy of None was maybe a platform to get excited about music again. Have you had a chance to talk to him since the news broke? A little bit. He he sent us a really sweet email and was like, I would love to catch up over Zoom soon and my phone's exploding and he's just getting so many messages from so many people. I think once the once the explosion kind of, you know, fizzles out a little bit, then we'll, we'll have a a band Zoom and wish him a proper congratulations. But yeah, he's he's so sweet and so kind and, um, sent us a really nice message the day that they announced it.
[28:39]Well, that's that's wonderful. Well, my, you've outdone yourself with this album. It's a great piece of work and I wish you best of success with the promoting this album and I look forward to more music to come. So, um, you know, is there anything else you would like to leave us with? Anything you'd like to promote on your own? Any of things for your solo albums or anything like that? Yeah, I mean, I I do have out of the dark is out on platforms and I have a lot of videos out and things that I've been working on in my own. Um, so definitely check those out if you if you are interested. Okay, okay. We'll make sure to link have all the links to that. So for more information on Maya and Envy of None, head over to Envy of None.com for all of their news and links to their socials. So Maya, really appreciate your time today and uh I wish you the best of luck. It was great to talk to you. Thank you so much, Lance. It was great to talk to you. Thank you. Have a good one. You too. Bye.
[30:36]Metal for life. Thank you for listening to Metal Mayhem ROC. Check out our website at Metalmayhemroc.com for information on podcasts, archives, links to all our live radio shows and all sorts of info. Please like, follow and share with everyone. Even your non-metal friends and always remember to keep it heavy.
