Interviews By Uma: Freeze the Fall
The Teen Band Sits Down For A Talk With A Nine-Year-Old Fan
For a brand-new band, Freeze the Fall is garnering a huge amount of attention. Formed in Kelowna, British Columbia in the fall of 2022, the band of three teens -Quinn Mitzel (17) on lead guitar and vocals, Aria Becker (15) on bass and backing vocals and Jonah Goncalves (16) on drums – played their first live gig together on Jan. 29, 2023.
What followed has been a comparatively super-sonic rise with an original EP, “Thrones,” coming out soon, three original music videos (to date), and an active and engaged social media fan base, along with a thriving Patreon community and dozens of YouTube reactors picking up the band’s music.
Their first music video, Glitch, has more than 32,000 views in three months. Their newest song, Masquerade, dropped on May 15. The band will be playing its first gigs outside of Kelowna this summer and they recently signed a distribution deal with 604 Records out of Vancouver.
Nine-year-old Uma Szczesny – through her parents and in conjunction with the parents of the band – conducted a weeks long personal interview with band members that covered a wide variety of topics, from how the band was formed, to influences, to favorite foods and even some surprising personal revelations the band shared with the young fan.
Freeze the Fall and their family understand, even at this early stage, the responsibility of being role models and how critical that will be to their future success.
Have a look at Freeze the Fall’s website where you can engage the band through their Patreon or get their latest merchandise or music: Freeze the Fall Band
I began my interview with some questions for the whole band:
Uma Szczesny (US): What are your favorite foods and your favorite colors, and why?
Aria Becker (AB): Greek food! It is delicious and healthy and I love all the flavours. Feta cheese is my favorite! And… chocolate! Also, I eat vegetarian from Monday to Friday because I feel good about the impact that can have on the planet.
My favorite colour is Purple. It has been purple for as long as I can remember. In fact, my first bass was a ¾ purple Jackson – I still have it!
Jonah Goncalves (JG): Meat! I love eating meat like chicken wings, ribs and steak… all the meat!
My favorite colour is Dark Inky Blue because it reminds me of the sky at night.
Quinn Mitzel (QM): Any type of rice bowl or stir fry. And Uma, I have never shared this with the world yet, I have been waiting for the right time so you can be the one to break this. Last fall, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease which means my body can’t digest gluten (this is in anything with wheat, which is in so many things). It impacts me every day, but I am learning to sort it all out and my health has improved so much since we figured it out. I hope that by sharing other kids/people with Celiac Disease or any chronic illness, they will know they still can do REALLY BIG things!
My favorite colour is Icy Blue because my favorite season is winter and it reminds me of winter.
US: What are your favorite animals?
AB: Cats, especially orange cats!
JG: A snake because I like how they move around and their cool colours. We also have a snake on our album cover for “Thrones.”
QM: Donkeys!
US: Where, as a band, do you dream of playing?
AB: My big dream is to play at the O2 Arena or the Royal Albert Hall in the UK.
JG: My dream is to travel the world with Freeze the Fall, especially Europe! I’d also love to play in Portugal because I am half Portuguese.
QM: I would love to play in Norway someday!
US: Do you like Pentatonix? (Pentatonix is Uma’s favorite group, she saw them live in New York in the summer of 2023.)
AB: I love their Christmas albums!
QM: I was obsessed with them in fourth grade and love all their Christmas albums. I still have their Christmas album on CD!
JG: I think their style of music is super cool, but I don’t actually listen to them. But it sounds like maybe I need to listen to their Christmas album!
US: How young were you when you started learning your instruments and how? Did you have teachers?
FTF: We were all quite young when we started playing our instruments, between five and seven! For each of us, it was a combination of lessons and self-teaching. Fun fact – we all go to the same music school called Wentworth Music here in Kelowna. Teachers are a big part of the story for sure but we all also work hard at home learning new things and challenging ourselves with doing complicated covers and things like that.
US: Can you tell us a little about the barn where you film your videos?
FTF: We knew we wanted to film the videos somewhere unique, somewhere that had a dark, kind of creepy vibe. Aria’s mom found the barn through a social media call out and the people who owned it donated it to us for a day of filming! So nice! The barn was unheated, had no door on one end and it was December in Canada. So, it was cold! We had to change costumes 15 times that day because of the way filming was done. In the end it looked exactly the way we had dreamed, we’re so grateful we got the chance to make these videos!
US: Are you famous at your school?
FTF: We are pretty sure all the teachers know about us. In fact, our principal might be one of our biggest fans! Lots of students know about Freeze the Fall now too, but we wouldn’t really say we are famous. We actually prefer to keep to ourselves at school, but if we have a show coming up we’ll put posters up around the school. It’s scary, but you have to be brave!
US: Lastly, with The Warning coming to your hometown in October, I have to ask the question that so many in The Warning Army talk about, would you like to open for The Warning someday?
FTF: Yes! This would be a dream to play on the same stage as The Warning! We already have our tickets for this show but the big dream is absolutely to open for them. We are also really excited to see Evanescence and Halestorm at this concert, all female led rock bands!
Then, the interview continued with some rapid-fire questions for each individual band member.
For Quinn:
US: Did you take any singing lessons or training?
QM: I started vocal lessons when I was seven and still take vocal lessons every week! By the way, Aria started taking vocal lessons at 14 when she was starting to do harmonies and back-up vocals!
US: How does it feel to be a lead singer of a band?
QM: To be honest, it feels strange, but in a good way. I’m not used to speaking in front of so many people, nor am I used to being in the spotlight. But I very much feel that I belong and that I’m doing something I was meant to do.
US: Is it true that The Warning inspired you to play music?
QM: The Warning were my first big influence and inspiration. It felt empowering to see young people, especially young girls – pursuing something I was passionate about. I taught myself guitar by listening to their album “Queen of the Murder Scene” because at the time there were barely any tabs online for their music.
For Jonah:
US: Do you have a drum teacher?
JG: My teacher has been my teacher from the very beginning and also my biggest inspiration. His name is Justen. He’s a mentor and huge champion for the whole band!
US: In your card (to me), you said you didn’t have a pet. Do you think you’ll get a pet someday? If so, what would you choose?
JG: I would probably get a cat. I like how they are independent but also very cute and snuggly.
US: Do you ever show your eyes and why do you like masks?
JG: I do show my eyes in the videos that are coming out soon actually. The masks for the videos were the videographer’s ideas but I also enjoy playing the drums with masks sometimes. Some of my favorite drummers wear masks and I think that’s very cool.
For Aria:
US: What is your inspiration for bass?
AB: The music of Bring Me the Horizon is what really drove me to push myself on bass. I wanted to be able to play every song from their catalog. Right now, I take lessons from three separate bass players who are all awesome but sometimes it’s the stuff you do at home that advances you the most.
US: Do you have a trampoline and do you like trampolining?
AB: I DO have a trampoline, but it’s quite broken so a little dangerous now but I used it a lot and loved it. Now I really like running. I find it peaceful to run with music. It’s my quiet time.
US: How did you decide to play bass guitar?
AB: I started out playing ukulele. I got a ukulele for Christmas when I was about seven and played it for a few years. But my mom thought a bass would suit my personality. When I was twelve, my parents brought me the purple ¾ sized Jackson bass. After one day with the bass, I never played the ukulele again except to entertain my cat. He likes to sing along when I play ukulele.
Editor’s Notes: I wanted to make sure to reach out to the band’s hard-working team of moms (yes, the dads work hard as well) who call themselves the Momagers, in particular to Ginny who was Uma’s primary point of contact for this story.
I asked the Momagers: When and how did the process come to be for allowing the kids to take this incredible journey? Obviously, they are talented and passionate. Were there guidelines you all decided on? Ways to help them facilitate their dreams and keep them safe and happy? I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on the fantastic journey you’re all on.
Also, can you say a few words about your new partnership with 604 Records?
Momagers: First, it was almost immediately evident that the kids had something special. They wrote their first song, “Insomnia,” about six weeks after they met. They played it for all six of us in Jonah’s basement and no one spoke for about two minutes after – we were all trying to make sense out of how good it was, trying to decide if it was parental bias or not! After that, we all just leaned in, even if it was only going to be for a moment, what a wonderful thing for teenagers to be passionate about.
The main guideline was that we would be involved especially in the social media – we wanted eyes on all of it, that is still true today. We also wanted them involved in every decision, they approve the photos we use, they decide which songs to record and what shows to play so long as it fits into schedules. It truly is a big team. Not one of us ever thought for a second that it wasn’t a great idea, everyone was supportive from the first moment.
The ride is surreal for everyone, every single milestone is so exciting. None of it ever gets old. We are all very proud.
With 604 Records, it’s our way of taking a toe in the water approach to working with a label. This partnership is based on adding the 604’s bench strength to our team to help break down some of the industry barriers to getting the music out into the world, areas like radio play. We have partnered with them on distribution for the EP “Thrones” but have maintained ownership over all the music and kept the kids out of any creative output contractual obligations moving forward. We are thrilled about working with the team from 604, they very much met us where we were and now we get to explore how their team can help FTF reach their goals.
About the author: Uma Szczesny is a young music lover and crafter who lives with her parents, Pip the pup, Lavender the cat and Shadow Fin the fish in Manchester, N.H. She’s the co-author of two field guides about fascinating rocks around the Granite State (NH Rocks That Rock: Famous Boulders and NH Rocks That Rock: Memorial Stones). She can name hundreds of Pokémon off the top of her head and builds animal masks as a hobby. Her and her dad’s books and writing can be found at their bookstore here: Dan and Uma’s Bookstore
Afternotes: Many thanks to the band for being so kind to Uma and to the Momagers, in particular Ginny, for helping Uma coordinate this interview. The band and their team are good people!
We encourage our subscriber base here to share this interview and please leave Uma some comments and let her know what you think. She worked hard on this story and would love to hear from you! In a few days, Day By Day subscribers will receive a personal email with exclusive photos and some behind the scenes material about this project as our way of saying thank you. What a wonderful journey this has been. Click below to SHARE. On we go!
Keep up the good work! I can't wait to read your next interview.
Great work Uma!