PREMIERE: The World Over Deliver Tantalising New Single ‘Bittersweet’

We’re heading over to the United States to bring you a new rock band to jump on the hype train for called The World Over. The band have been honing in on their sound since 2014 and have let us join forces to bring you their latest offering ‘Bittersweet‘ with is going to turn heads and grab your attention from the second it starts.

They’ve been doing the rounds in America for a while now and we think it’s about time they made the leap down under so I had a chat with frontwoman Tiaday Rocke to find out more about the band’s conception, forthcoming new material and the bands that motivate and inspire them on a daily basis…

G’Day Tiaday! It’s taken us some time to find you (sorry) but for those just discovering you too, tell us how you all came to be?

Hey gang, thanks for having us on! We’re super happy to have been discovered by you! We were originally established at the L.A. Music Academy (now known as LA College of Music) in 2014 by me (Tiaday, singer) and lead guitarist Ryan Knecht. Our bassist, Juan Arguello, also went to LAMA but we weren’t in the same quarter so I only knew him through mutual friends. He came on a few tours with us and it just felt right so we brought him on board permanently. Our drummer Alejandro (Alex) Mercado, who went to Musicians Institute, was soon inducted thereafter and we were a four-piece band for a couple years. It really worked well with just the four of us but in 2020 we met Christian Rivera (rhythm guitar) through another music project we were all in so we decided to switch things up and give our live performances a little more beef by throwing him in the mix. So here we are!

On social media your tagline is “your new favorite rock band” and that’s a pretty spot on statement! Hearing ‘Bittersweet’ for the first time had me captivated instantly!

Thank you so much and we’re stoked you’re jamming along with our new music!! This song (+ the rest of the songs on the EP this will feature on) was originally supposed to be on our former release, “Elements”, but we decided to rework it and give it its own identity. It really feels like a more refined version of what we’ve released in the past so we’re happy to finally get it out there and keep moving towards our next goals.

With this track in particular, I’m hearing similarities with bands like Tonight Alive, New Years Day, Halestorm and Stand Atlantic – are they in your peripherals or are there other bands who inspired you and your sound?

Those are all really great female fronted bands in their own realms of the rock world, so thank you! I listen to Tonight Alive and met Jenna a few times when we played Warped Tour with them and she’s an angel! As for Halestorm, our rhythm guitarist, Christian, is actually good friends with Lzzy Hale and has been wanting to get her on a future track with us…hehe!

As for our influences, they tend to vary per release but the main consistent ones in writing are Deftones, The Mars Volta and Bring Me The Horizon for overall track sound. My vocal influences have consistently been P!nk, Frou Frou and Rihanna, lyrical influences are Catfish & The Bottlemen and Now, Now.

‘Bittersweet’ is a genre-crossing killer track with powerfully crisp vocals and riffs that’ll appeal to prog fans, metalcore frothers and pop punk jammers. Is this an example of all of the styles you’re honing in on or did you just have fun making this in studio?

You’re too kind! Well I would say it’s a bit of both since we’re always pulling from our influences and musical backgrounds naturally. Since all of us went to music school, we’re very well versed in blues, jazz, R&B, pop, rock, etc. so we can’t really help it! But we definitely had fun putting this one together. Half of us actually weren’t fond of it at first but as we reworked it over time it grew on us pretty fast. Ryan’s jazzy guitar solo has always been the best part of the song, in my opinion!

And what’s the story behind it? Who drove you wild and made you sick – so much so you had to write a song about them?

Hahaha it’s funny you say that because when I was writing this to be on the “Elements” record, I was on a writing challenge spree of personifying elements in the world or other things around me. So “Bittersweet” is actually the personification of alcohol as a toxic relationship. It’s as if you’re wanting the girl who makes you feel terrible about yourself but when she gives you a drop of affection you savor every bit of it. In the same sense, alcohol can give you that same feeling – it almost tastes even better when you know you shouldn’t. I’ve had family members who struggle to realize their own problem and I nearly succumbed to it too.

Writing about it helped me face something within me that could have become much worse. I do want to point out that I don’t necessarily think alcohol is bad but like the Circa Survive song goes “The Difference Between Medicine and Poison is in the Dose”.

You’ve been upcoming since 2014 and even scored the chance to play the Final Vans Warped Tour.
Would you say that’s your biggest “holy shit!” moment to date or have you got more brewing that we’re yet to see?

Being on the Final Warped Tour was such a blessing and a moment we’ll never forget in our lives for sure. But almost each time we’re on tour we make such awesome memories that seem to top the next that it’s hard to compare! I think becoming friends with the dudes in Simple Plan on Warped was one of our biggest holy shit moments for sure because I grew up listening to them and they’re some of the most humble guys we’ve ever met in the industry.

As for what’s coming…We’ll be announcing in the next few days that we’ll be going on tour [in the States] with Powerman 5000 starting September 16th-October 5th!

Your forthcoming EP Artificial is going to make waves across the globe – what’s the latest update on that?

Any success to come its way we’ll be grateful for! Just having you guys enjoy it and give us the time to discuss it has been awesome. We’re working radio on this single to get it out to SiriusXM Octane, Liquid Metal and many more so you all can tune in and jam on your favorite local stations as well.

After Bittersweet releases, we’ll be dropping a few more songs more frequently after this which is super exciting! As mentioned above, this song will be on an upcoming 4 song EP called “Artificial” (as the yin-yang to our last EP “Elements”) that we’ll be releasing single by single. And we can’t wait to rock these songs live finally with Powerman!!

Okay, time for a Fun One: If you could take 3 bands with you to tour the world over (ha!), who would they be and why?

Ayoooo! We would love to someday tour with Paramore, Bring Me the Horizon, PVRIS or Twenty One Pilots. Any of the top pioneers of the pop rock world right now as they’re making such huge waves and paving the road for us youngster bands to come. They’re all so incredible each in their own right that it would be an honor to be out with them. And I think we’re different enough that it would bring some fun variety for a tour package someday as well!

COVID stopped the world in 2020 – were you all hit badly by the shutdown or did you use that time to plan ahead for the band?

Oh definitely, we were all affected by this since we all work in the music industry in some shape or form. But it also gave us a lot of time to reflect and work on our craft internally and take the time to hone in on our skills as well! But it’s been long enough I’d say – we’re all itching to get back on the road!! For me, performing is a form of stress relief and exerting energy that I keep inside as I think goes for a lot of my guys too. Just the same as going to a concert and experiencing music together is also a stress relief for people. We all feel it in our bones and luckily all of us are vaccinated so we’re ready to get back to it!

Great to hear! Bring on the future in that case… Any final thoughts?

Just wanted to say thanks again for having us and if you want to stream “Bittersweet”, please follow us on Spotify, Apple Music or any of your preferred music outlets to keep us going! And if you want to stay updated on shows or even just see what we’re up to and chat with us, check out our socials.

Interview by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul

Stream ‘Bittersweet‘ here

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