With the music industry at a standstill during early pandemic times, it became evident that bands would have to evolve. One band that tried new things and put themselves out there is Long Island’s Megawave. Instead of moping around and packing it in, Megawave emerged as a powerhouse in the digital and social space. With their Megawednesday Twitch series, they accomplished several things. Not only did they promote themselves, but their show served as a launching pad for other independent bands too. One other happy side effect is the community they built along the way.
From a personal perspective, their show led me to at least three new bands this year. The fact they featured so many bands on their show also speaks to their level of commitment to the scene. Seeing that support just makes you want to see certain bands succeed even more. Megawave is one of those bands. They deserve the world.
For the uninitiated, Megawave is a trio featuring Michi Turk on vocals and synth, and two Mikes (Diglio on guitars and McCarthy on drums).
Together, they make an eclectic mix of indie, emo, pop, hip-hop, shoegaze, and progressive rock. The real magic here is how seamlessly they fit their many influences into a cohesive batch of songs on Rainbow Heartache. It’s a dreamy pop, genre-bending masterpiece to be sure.
In celebration of the impending December release of Rainbow Heartache, Megawave graciously allowed Bearded Gentlemen Music to debut their next single from the album.
That song, “Sozin’s Comet,” is partially inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender. More specifically, it’s inspired by Prince Zuko’s growth to the hero he became. On the surface, the song touches on plot points from the Nickelodeon show. But, when you stop to listen critically, Megawave is using the show to draw parallels to present day.
Much like Zuko’s path from main antagonist to hero, Megawave pleads for the listener’s rage, anger, and negativity get redirected to more positive things. Like Zuko, they’re looking for us to shift the course of our lives to one focused more on helping others and being a positive force for change.
“Sozin’s Comet” is one of the harder hitting songs on Rainbow Heartache, and with good reason.
The subject matter just screams high energy. It’s a catchy and urgent call to action. Don’t take my word for it though. Listen for yourself below.
Now that you’ve listened to the new single, stick around to read our interview with Megawave. I think you’ll enjoy what they have to say. If you’re like me, after reading it, you’ll feel like the folks in Megawave are your best buds. Their interview is below.
I first heard about your band when I tuned into your twitch stream to watch a Tape Girl performance. I assumed you played ska music because of your guests. Surprise! You don’t. That being said, the ska scene basically adopted you. How does that make you feel?
Diglo: We have always been huge ska fans and absolutely love it! We have met some of the most supportive, kind and caring people through the ska scene. That stream with Tape Girl’s set was definitely a big turning point for us being “skadopted” as part of the new tone ska world, despite not being a ska band at all. We met Beth from mutual friends in our hometown scene who we had on Megawednesday (Smol Data, Shirt Club) and were blown away with Tape Girl’s music, so we asked if she could be part of our all day Galentine’s Day streamathon back in February.
I think that set being her first performance and amount of sheer creativity, talent and hard work that went into made it a really cool moment in the new tone ska scene, especially during a point where we were still deep in quarantine with no live music. Beth and Kenny really made something special!
We also had Flying Raccoon Suit on that stream right afterwards. Another great ska band who we became really close with. So many ska friendships bloomed from that day! Since then we had tons of other ska bands on our Megawednesday.
We’ve noticed that the ska community is easily the most appreciative, enthusiastic and supportive scene of us giving those bands a space to perform and connect with their fans.
Some of the people involved in this record are amazing people we’ve met in the ska scene. Chris Reeves (Ska Punk International) is handling publicity on the record. Kenny (KMOY) put down some beautiful backing vocals and saxophone on “The Rules.” Beth helped us put out cassettes of our record on her and Jen’s label Broken Camera Records.
Michi: Fun fact: the day Mike and I met he was wearing a Streetlight Manifesto shirt and that’s what made me notice him! I have a really strong memory of our first Big D show together. We’ve always been listening to ska. I can’t even count all the times we’ve been to ska shows in the last nine years together. Being adopted by ska makes me really happy. All of the friends we’ve made because we just really like ska is incredible. It’s truly the most inclusive scene.
Michael: The first band Michi and I were in, we were more of a punky/post hardcore band, but we got accepted by the metal scene, so we have kind of a history of being accepted by other scenes. I think that goes to show that people who really love music aren’t precious about genres.
Since we started with a ska question, I have to ask who your favorite ska bands are these days. So, who are they?
Diglo: My favorites right now pushing the genre forward are definitely Flying Raccoon Suit, Tape Girl, KMOY, Catbite, Stop the Presses, We are the Union, and I’ve been listening to that Bad Operation record a ton lately. I love how much creativity and diversity this crop of bands has and how positive/supportive the scene is. KMOY’s Precure Album is a great record I can’t stop listening to. I’m a sucker for massive concept albums and Kenny really took ska into uncharted territory with this masterpiece.
I’m also really digging the new Big D and the Kids Table album. They have been a longtime favorite of mine since I was in high school skanking to them every summer at Warped Tour. I’m stoked to see them still putting out great ska punk.
Michi: Big D and the Kids Table, No Doubt, We Are The Union, Sonic Boom Six, Flying Raccoon Suit, and Eichlers are some of my favorite ska groups.
Michael: Been listening to Kmoy and The Going Rate lately, and I’m always listening to RX Bandits.
You’ve got a new album coming out in December. What was the recording process like?
Diglo: We did most of the pre-production through self recording demos and sharing them with our producer, which made me feel more prepared than I ever had been since the arrangements were so definite by the time we started tracking. We worked with Nick Starrantino, who we have worked with on every Megawave studio release and have grown with on every record (although the first two EPs didn’t have me on them).
We have always dreamed of doing a full length so we had so much fun really diving into these songs, trying to put forward the absolute best versions of ourselves for our first proper album. It was an amazing experience, easily the most fun I’ve had creating music. Nick is incredible at bringing out the best takes in everyone and steering us towards the best decisions for strong songwriting.
The album has an overall sound to it, but there’s a lot of diversity too. It features everything from shoegaze and indie, to hip-hop, chiptune, emo, pop, and rock. Was it tricky to put all of those styles of music together? Everything sounds so seamless and cohesive.
Diglo: We all listen to a wide variety of music and admire bands that are able to have such a huge palate of influences while still having a distinct sound. We like a lot of pop, a lot of prog, a lot of heavier music, and it all somehow showed up on this record in one way or another. Coheed & Cambria is a big one we look up to in that regard. We love how their records sound like such an interesting, winding journey with tons of genre blending, yet they don’t lose that signature Coheed sound.
Our producer was definitely a big help in sculpting the sound of the record so that everything sounds like it belongs together, especially with the guitar tones and mixing choices. There were a few songs that got cut from the record that were way too off the mark (despite the album being pretty diverse), so the track listing and sequencing was a big part of it as well to keep it from going too off the rails.
Michi: Having our producer Nicholas Starrantino who has been working with us since 2015 really helped make our songs seamless and cohesive. I was also very influenced by how ska and hip hop can mesh. I’ve always admired how versatile rapping can be musically. I also have to say, this is our first release with Diglo on guitar as the main songwriter and his style and teamwork with Nick definitely contributed to that.
Was there a certain theme you were going for on Rainbow Heartache?
Michi: Initially didn’t set out to have a theme, but as the songs pulled together and some of the last few were written, namely “Projector” and “The Rules,” the theme really started to reflect a lot of things in our real lives. Rainbows are a spectrum.
The album is a spectrum of sound and genre and lyrically of my life experiences. Heartache is something unavoidable, but also big and all encompassing.
Although the title lovingly comes as a reference from Sailor Moon, it reflected all of that in a way that made sense.
For the longest time I worked with my spouse at the same place, and it was pretty cool. What’s it like being in a band as a couple? Awesome? Challenging? All of the above?
Diglo: It’s definitely awesome and challenging, but the good always outweighs the bad! It’s running a business with your spouse, so there’s a lot of work life balance to keep an eye on. I love being able to go over band ideas while making dinner, celebrate Megawave achievements together, getting excited to show Michelle a demo I’m psyched on when she comes home. It’s a unique and rewarding dynamic.
There’s definitely a point where we both have to be aware when it’s too much so we don’t get burnt out, which can get tricky with something as big as a full length rollout. There’s an insane amount of things to keep track of!
Overall it’s amazing, and it creates a chemistry performing together that’s unlike anything else. On our stream it makes it so easy to run the show together since we know each other on such a deep level (unless I’m being a scutch).
Michi: There are some challenges, but the motivation and ambition to succeed together makes it both feel so risky and so rewarding. I’ve always wanted to succeed as a musician but knowing that my significant other is also succeeding makes me feel that I can get through rejection and over hurdles I never felt I could before. Before we played together, I did an interview with Tom from Slingshot Dakota for an outlet I used to write for. When he was describing the amount of fun they have on stage and in rehearsals, just thinking about how he will never have to miss Carly on tour, I was sold on being in the band with Mike. A lot of our friends are couples in bands that made us feel we could do this!
What made you turn towards Twitch as an avenue to promote your band?
Diglo: We’ve always wanted to dabble in live-streaming, but when COVID hit we decided to REALLY delve into it since Michelle and I live together. We started to stream consistently to keep the band going, raise money for new music and give people a little entertainment in such a bleak time. We used to multi-stream to different platforms at once, but found the other platforms were a huge waste of time with no growth for us. ESPECIALLY Facebook!
It’s become such a frustrating joke where everything gets buried in the algorithm. It’s terrible for live- streaming since no one is looking for that when they log on. Instagram is also hard to get people to watch you for longer than a few minutes, and it’s only usable on mobile which is severely limiting. It also loses a sense of community when we were splitting the chat into different platforms, just trying to cast a wide net to scrape in anyone we could.
Twitch is easily the most fun. It just took awhile to get really going. It was a little bleak for awhile (as it always is starting on a new platform), but once we started to get a little momentum it became exciting and rewarding. There’s a better sense of community around it. It’s built around live-streaming instead of it being an afterthought. It’s easier to integrate song lists/rewards/tips, etc. Once we invested way more into our stream as the pandemic went on (green screens, special effect programs, special guests) Twitch was the easiest platform to integrate all of that with.
Now that live shows are returning, we’re trying to figure out ways to balance Megawednesday and gigging. We love performing live, but we also really love the community we’ve built on Twitch that wouldn’t normally be able to watch us play, as well as the guests we bring on Megawednesday who live all over the country. We streamed our first show back and it was really fun for our friends who live nowhere near Long Island to be able to share that special moment with us!
Michi: Before the COVID pandemic, I was hit pretty hard with a flare up of an autoimmune illness I have. I was having trouble with some of my mobility, which made the idea of playing live shows seem so painful and tricky. When I’m flaring very badly, sometimes I need mobility aids and standing or sitting for more than 40 minutes can be so draining. I’ve always said that I would get on stage in a wheelchair but also wondered if live-streaming was something that would be best for me.
Right now, I’m in remission, and I don’t need any mobility aids, and my health is stable for the first time in many years. Knowing I have the option of live-streaming makes me feel a lot more safe in case things were to go wrong with my health again. Twitch makes music more accessible to people who can’t stand for long periods of time or feel uncomfortable in crowds, to parents who maybe don’t have childcare every time they want to watch, and brings together people from all different parts of the world for music. I hope more people, artists and fans, turn to it even as venues reopen.
Touring is not back up to speed completely. There are vinyl shortages happening. More and more, bands need to rely on digital and social media. How do you use those mediums for your band?
Diglo: Twitch has been our go-to since the absence of live music and we’ve found that it’s been extremely helpful in reaching new people and performing in new ways. Twitter and Discord have gone hand in hand with that. Both play into the fact that people are the most invested in you when they know you well as a person. Everyone who interacts with us regularly and watches us play in our home every week has gotten to know so much about us personally, as we have learned so much about our fans as we talk with them.
We try to focus on making meaningful connections with people. It’s our favorite thing about playing music.
I think our fans feel a stronger connection with this album rollout since they watched the songs grow and helped us reach the goal of being able to record it. It made us really want to deliver something special for them. A lot of aspects of social media can be exhausting and toxic, but meeting great people and making lasting friendships are what we try to focus on the most.
How can your fans support you while waiting for the world to open back up a bit more?
Diglo: We’ve started playing out a little bit since the fall, but we still plan on keeping our Twitch show going since it’s so much fun. Tuning in, sharing with your friends and tipping/subbing if you’re able to is a great way to support us no matter where you are in the world. Pre-ordering our album is a big help, but if you don’t have the money just telling people about us goes a long way too!
Looking back on the past year or so, what are your fondest memories related to the band?
Michi: It’s so personal, but also very much related to the band: when Diglo proposed to me on Twitch in front of our viewers. All the people that joined us that day in chat and sent Diglo videos to wish me happy birthday made it so special.
I also really enjoyed getting to interview people that I haven’t had the opportunity to meet IRL and having the time to really get to know them. Chris Reeves, Eichlers, KMoy, Get Tuff, Chris Songco and so so many more people that live all over the country. This past year having a Twitch stream gave us the opportunity to make new and really wonderful connections.
Diglo: My proposal to Michelle is definitely the most special memory I have in this band’s history. Even though it was a personal event as Michelle said, I had always wanted to propose in a way that was related to our love for playing music together, so I cooked up a plan to do it at the end of Michelle’s birthday stream. I secretly covered one of our special songs (Jason Mraz’s “Who’s Thinking About You Now?”) and paired it with a video compiling happy memories of us throughout the years. I played it at the end of our stream after everyone else’s birthday videos were finished, and after the video was done, I popped the question.
It felt perfect to be able to propose in the room where we play music together, while being able to share the moment with our friends and family. Some knew ahead of time, and some were completely surprised!
Recording the album was also a huge milestone for all of us. In all the past projects we’ve been in, none of us has put together a proper full length and the timing felt right to make that step in our career. The writing and recording process was just so exciting and we’re all so psyched with the result.
For bands looking for new ways to get themselves out there, do you have any tips or pointers?
Diglo: Looking beyond the scope of your hometown. For many years, all I cared about was our hometown draw, which can be exhausting and feel like you’re running in place sometimes. Even though we have a great music scene on Long Island, there’s only so many people you can reach when you only hone in on your area. Realizing there was a whole world of people to reach when we started delving further into streaming felt so refreshing, and I wish we had done it sooner. We wrote cards inviting people to our music video/album announcement stream, and seeing the addresses from all over the US was the most heartwarming and amazing feeling. It makes me excited to tour one day so we can meet all of the friends we’ve made!
For folks not familiar with Megawave, what’s your elevator pitch to get them to check you out?
Michael: If you ever dealt with anxiety, watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, or like the idea of chill ska-adjacent music with a focus on musicianship, you should check us out.
Diglo: Your new favorite STREAMO band.
After they’ve checked you out, what other bands do you think they should know about?
Diglo: I’d suggest Jhariah, Necter, Eichlers, Barely March, Tape Girl, Smol Data, Bad Mary, Flying Raccoon Suit, Devon Kay & The Solutions, I could go on forever! We have a playlist of all our Megawednesday guests and it’s rich with great bands and friends we’ve made across multiple genres, I’d check that out! There’s something there for everyone to enjoy.
If you could book the ultimate tour to support your new album, who’s playing in the support slots for you?
Diglo: This is a tough one that I think about often. From our area, my pick would be Smol Data. They are all some of my favorite people in our music scene and have one of the most brilliant, creative debut albums I’ve heard in years. We share a lot of influences and both have our own strange brand of indie rock, it’d be a perfect pairing. From out of our area, I think I’d pick Flying Raccoon Suit. We listen to Afterglow so much, and I feel a kinship with the weird prog elements they blend into their music so perfectly. Plus they’re all such kind and fun people, I feel like it’d be a great time.
What new songs are you most looking forward to playing live?
Diglo: I’m really excited to play “Sozin’s Comet” live. We haven’t played it yet and it’s got so much energy and fun riffs. We’ve played “Mood Poisoning” live once and I’m excited to integrate it into our set more. It’s a little tough, but a blast to play. Both show a different side of us that people who are maybe more familiar with our old material might be surprised by. In general, I’m excited for our sets to be reflective of who we are as a band now and for people to be able to get familiar with them once the album is out.
Michael: It’s been so long since we’ve gotten to play new music live that every new song is super exciting.
Any last words?
Diglo: Thank you for the bottom of our hearts to our little community of friends and fans for making this record possible. We wouldn’t be able to make our first length without you! We truly appreciate all the support we’ve gotten and it has pushed us to make the best batch of songs we’ve ever done. I’m so excited to show you all this album we worked our butts off on! Much love to you all and to anyone who’s taken the time to read this, check out our music or pre order the album. It means a whole lot! I hope everyone finds something to enjoy and connect with when Rainbow Heartache drops.
Michael: Every single person that takes the time to read this interview or check out our music means a lot to us. Even if you check out one song on a streaming service, it means you gave our music a chance, so thank you so much!