Interviews

Patrick Miranda - How Movements Moved Through Forests Of Feeling To Chaotic RUCKUS!

Ghaskins13

Mar 15, 2024

7 min read

The past year has been one of the most musically diverse and thematically challenging for Movements, launching themselves into an album cycle made by them, and for them; leaving an open invitation to all that wish to listen, but remaining unshrouded by the creative wants of others.

With New Bloom Festival propelling the band onto our shores this month, we sat down with frontman Patrick Miranda to discuss the early expectations of the album, the dichotomous consequences and freedoms of creative license, and of course, celebrating the body of work down under!

I was a massive fan of RUCKUS!, obviously, and leading up to the release… well even before RUCKUS!, you had ‘Cherry Thrill’ as a single. Then you came in with ‘Leadpipe’ and ‘Killing Time’, which were all these sultry, kind of expressive, heavy, bass-driven, very self-assured, and confident songs. Leading up to the release of RUCKUS!, were these kinds of songs a stamp of how confident you were in your return? Or were they a bit of a facade of you guys being kind of nervous to come back, but presenting this outwardly confident self?

I think it was maybe a little bit of both. There were certainly some nerves, like some anxiety about putting out music that is so wildly different than what we've done in the past. Right. Because of that, there was definitely a little bit of hesitation of just like, “Ooh, is anybody going to like this”? But at the same time, we were all so confident in it. We all felt very equally that this is some of the best work that we've ever created, like, some of the best music that we've ever done, and that it's truly like us taking the big next step in our career. Right? And so because of that, we were just like, now this is going to be sick. Let's put this out, let's make it really pop, and let's just take it as far as it can go. And that has kind of turned into this really cool, special experience that has come from RUCKUS! being so different, but opening up a lot of new doors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlbMn5NPl5o

On that, the lead singles came out as this dual entity, both of them at the same time. What made that a thing, to release them both at the same time?

They just flowed so well together. Also, we just felt like it was a fun idea to have two music videos that kind of seamlessly go into one another. And so, yeah, we knew we wanted to put out two singles right away, just because I feel like that gives the listener more to really dive into. I think when a band puts out a new single, you can listen to one song a few times and be like, yeah, it was a good song, right?

But after that, you're probably going to be sick of hearing only one song. So if there are two new singles out that you can kind of switch back and forth from, that complement each other very well, then you're more likely to listen to both of them and repeat listen to them. That was a big factor for us. We wanted to really push that engagement, and I think it worked.

Yeah, absolutely! I mean, I can speak for myself. One of the singles off that album, within the first four days became my number two streamed song of all time. So they're definitely digestible, but even going along from that, one of the next ones you released was ‘Tightrope’, which was a complete kind of 180, being emotional and vulnerable and a bit slower. It completely shifted what we knew of the album. Were you scared that it was going to deter some people? Because it presented something completely different from what was?

Absolutely. I think there's always a fear that somebody's not going to be into what we're doing. And ‘Tightrope’ especially, is one of those tracks that at first, when you hear it, I think a lot of people are probably going to be caught off guard. What is this? What is this soft, heartfelt, kind of ballady thing that we haven't heard from this band before? So, yeah, that was another test of like, okay, what is the reaction to this going to be?

But it actually ended up being overwhelmingly positive. So many people were like, wow, this song is incredible. We had people telling us, this is going to be your biggest song yet, whatever, blah, blah, blah, which was really cool, really special.

Very validating to know that the hard work that we're putting into making these songs and actively creating something different that is being appreciated and that a wide variety of people are going to be able to appreciate what we're doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLZiVx2PO0SBVRzAdkMeoRTEVMQyqIC19k&v=glYcr99Grkg

I mean, you said, obviously after ‘Tightrope’ was released, a lot of people are saying, oh, it could be your biggest song yet and whatnot. Does that retrospectively make you rethink the whole album process? You just painstakingly thought out what comes first and how it goes. What are your thoughts after that happens? Is it ever like a kick in the face or you're happy it just panned out?

Yeah, never. I'm always just excited that people care to listen. Yeah, I would never take any sort of constructive criticism like that, like, negative. If people think that that's going to be our biggest song, then that's great. We're always kind of surprised, though, at what song ends up being the biggest song on the record. And it wasn't ‘Tightrope’! It didn't end up being like the song from that record, but it's certainly a crowd favorite for sure, going into it.

What was your song on the album? What did you think was going to take off?

It's so hard to answer that question because I have so many, but I think right away my favorite song was ‘Killing Time’. I really, really enjoyed that song and writing that song and just like the sonic kind of flow of everything about it was so new and fresh and different from anything that we'd done that I was really, really into it. And I'm a big fan of more pop adjacent stuff. I'm a huge fan of Billie Eilish. And something about that song vibed like a Billie Eilish song to me. And I really was attracted to it and just wanted to lean into that. And I know it sounds nothing like Billie Eilish, but in my weird brain, where I'm thinking of what it feels like to listen to that song, Billie Eilish just kept coming to my mind and I was like, yeah, I really, really like this. So, yeah, definitely ‘Killing Time’. But I think my favorite song on the record as a whole, to play, to perform, and on the album is ‘I Hope You Choke’.

Excellent choice! Very good one! I guess you were saying those alternative influences like the Billie Eilish sounds, all that, is it ever jarring, that in your peripherals, you have all those fans who say you shouldn't change your sound, you shouldn't do any of that. Is that just complete white noise to you, or do you ever take it that in?

Sometimes it gets to me. Sometimes people criticize the newer sound and talk shit about it, whatever. Yeah, sometimes you read a comment or two and you kind of get down on yourself. But for every negative comment, there are like ten to fifteen really positive comments, if not more than that.

The negative comments really are heavily outweighed. And I think those who are reinforcing the positive side of things really remind us of what we're doing, regardless of if it's for everybody or not, because it's never going to be. It's never going to be equal across the board.

Like, people are going to love it, somebody's going to have something bad to say about it regardless. But, yeah, it's one of those things where if you let it get to you, it will get to you, but if you just let it be and stay true to yourself and stay honest with what you're creating, what you're riding, and if you ride for your own stuff, then there's nothing anybody can say that would change that. I still feel very confident in it.

I guess riding on the coattails of what you said there, if you look back to Movements' Feel Something era, there was this massive responsibility on you as a band to continue producing this really truthful testament of vulnerability and rawness that people could connect to. Did that ever become a burden, feeling like you always had to share your whole life story with everyone or be completely vulnerable?

Yeah, it really did start to weigh on me a lot. And that's something that I talk about pretty regularly, is the fact that none of us really ever expected the band to get to where it is. Right. This was always just sort of like a passion project for us because we wanted to contribute something to the scene and to the subculture that we came up in and we wanted to be a part of. With that being said, it became pretty obvious to us really early that our involvement in the scene was going to kind of turn into something that none of us ever thought it would. And really, we were going to become sort of these voices for mental health awareness and advocacy and that sort of thing, which is great.

And I believe that those spaces, they need to be explored, and there needs to be that advocacy, and there needs to be that driving force in the scene. But none of us truly signed up for that right away. And so it was a really difficult transition, learning how to navigate that and learning how to become that voice. But as much as I guess I'm so grateful for it, right, I'm so thankful that people care and that they want to hear what I have to say, and they can connect to what we've written, and it can help them in their personal lives, however that may be. Right. And I'm so thankful for that. But there came a point where I was like, I don't think I want to be just this forever. One, my mental health now is so much better. I've made such serious strides in my own recovery that I am not in the same headspace as I was when I was writing the things that people are really connecting to. And I think a lot of people still expect that from us. And that can become challenging, because I don't want there to ever be a mold that we have to fit that says, like, 'oh, this band sounds like this. They write about this, therefore, all of their future material should be this'. We wanted to sort of branch out of that and actually make an active decision to not focus on just mental health stuff, because there's more to my writing, there's more to my life, there's more that I have to say that I haven't been able to because I've been afraid to break out of what people expect.

And so for RUCKUS!, we were like, let's break that mold. Let's do what is unexpected and let's see what happens. And that's not to say that there's not still density and complexity and emotional value in these songs, because there is and there always will be, but it's just different these days. It's not as blatant, depressing, sad, whatever, it's more like now I'm exploring different emotions. Like with ‘I Hope You Choke’, I'm exploring being really angry. It's not something we put into our music before. It's interesting and it becomes, like I said, sort of difficult to navigate at times, but I really appreciate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DKR_oumtM8

Yeah. I can imagine this immense amount of pressure to have this resonation with people continuously, and also trying to branch out and find something new, and then people feel that they haven't received what they signed up for. Still, it's kind of a two-way street, because you also received something you didn't sign up for. But no, that's really interesting.

The elephant in the room is your appearance at New Bloom Festival. It's in its inaugural year, and hopefully, it will become something that happens year after year. It's been promised as this land for anyone who's ever loved emo and alternative music. What is it like to set the standard for the first show of a festival?

Dude, it's crazy. And this fest is so stacked. It's so important for the scene and for the subculture. There's a lot of pressure, I think, to make sure that we're bringing our A-game, especially because the lineup is like, so intense. I mean, there are so many heavy hitters in this lineup and bands that we've looked up to for a really long time. Touche Amore being one of them. Citizen, obviously friends of ours, but like a band that we really consider to be our peers and in some cases, like competitors, but friendly competition, but similar levels of where we're at in our careers. And these bands are all really fucking good.

And so there's that standard, and it's really incredible that we were given the opportunity and we're super fucking stoked to be a part of it and to be considered on the same level as those bands, that's not a small thing. That's a very special feeling for us. So, yeah, I mean, I'm hoping that they continue to do this fest and assuming that it all goes well, being asked to do it again in the future is definitely something that we would consider and probably want to have offered to us. We'll see how it all goes. I'm very excited. I think, honestly, I'm just going to watch the whole show every day. I'm just going to watch every band.

At the roundhouse, they've got a cool little mezzanine that you can float around without being bothered too much! I guess, for you, what's the biggest difference between playing a festival set versus a headline show?

I mean, one, they're shorter, obviously, so it's a little bit more chaotic. For fests, we really focus on energy. The set is short, the crowds are big. Not everybody's there for you, so you got to turn on that fucking star power a little bit and you have to win over a lot of the crowd. So when we're playing a fest, we'll usually stick to all the hits, we'll stick to fast songs, and I'll typically put on the frontman hat a little bit and I'll work a little bit harder to get the crowd excited, get them involved.

I don't think that I'll have much trouble with that in Australia, but playing fests in the States, there's often times you have to work the crowd. Yeah, but I think it's a fun break from only playing full sets as, like, a headlining act.

Full sets are great, but they're obviously very tiring. And there's also a lot of jar and flow in a full set. It's a lot of, like, we're going to play these high energy songs, we're going to play these lower energy songs, we're going to give the crowd a break, bring it back with some high energy stuff, do some mid temp. It's more well rounded, and the best setting is just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Sets over.

Absolutely. I'm so excited! You were saying before, it's not that hard to pump up Australian crowds. You guys were only here like a year and a bit ago-

Literally a year to the day. We got here a year ago. Wait, is today the 7th? A year tomorrow to the day was when we flew in for our first show of that tour!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q6ePpOKwJU

I was there for the Sydney show! It was the first Movements show I ever went to. You know, you were saying it's not too hard to pump up Australian crowds with those shows. Was it kind of easy to see that the fan base here is kind of crazy?

Oh, man, Australian crowds are the fucking best! Yeah, yeah, I love it. It reminds me a lot of shows at home in Orange County. The energy is there. And it really does feel like Australia kind of has become a second home for us because it feels so welcoming, it feels so inviting. Not to mention the fact that it's beautiful here and it just kind of vibes like California.

Whenever anybody from home asks me what Australia is like, I just tell them, imagine if California were giant and that's Australia. Pretty much similar climate, similar nature, region-type stuff. Yeah, it's really interesting, but, yeah, there's something special about it here. People are like, there's no need to try too hard to work up a crowd because Aussies are just going to fucking pop off regardless. We've never played a bad show here.

Wow. Well, I know you said, obviously the festival set is kind of honing into the big hits and the energetic hits, but this is now also the only time or the first time the whole of the RUCKUS! album has been out when you're in Australia. So is the set also going to lean towards a RUCKUS! adjacent set list, or how do you find that balance?

Most likely, yeah, it's going to be a lot of RUCKUS! songs for the fest set. I think it'll likely be most of the fast songs on RUCKUS! and then the hits from Feel Something. I doubt that we'll end up playing anything off of No Good, which is, (cue a very sad Georgia face) I know, a little sad. But again, it ties into the fest experience where you don't get to explore all of the avenues during a fest.

You really have to pick and choose what you're playing in order for maximum… What's the word I'm looking for? I don't know. Impact, I guess. Yeah. So, yeah, probably going to be a lot of rocky songs, a lot of Feel Something songs, and then, yeah, during the headlining shows that we're doing around it, obviously we'll play more.

So, like, if I snuck you a cheeky $20 for ‘Skin To Skin’…

…Off the table, this probably wouldn't happen. I'll take the 20, though, just for your time.

Another interesting one, I found a lot of the bands on this festival kind of have their anthem. Like, if you look at Citizen, it's ‘The Night I Drove Alone’. If I look at you guys, I think a lot of people would say ‘Daylily’ 100%. They find that as the pinnacle. But for you, out of your whole discography, what would you find the pinnacle when you're up there on that stage performing it?

Yeah, it's usually ‘Daylily’, which, much to my chagrin, because I'm so tired of playing it off. Yeah, no, it's usually ‘Daylily’. And that is the moment during our set where everything is just so... I mean, the whole set is kind of like building and building and building and building, and it's a culmination of everything. And at the very end, you get this big anthemic moment. It's the song we end with every time. There's definitely something special about it. It's kind of like the payoff at the end of everything. You've watched the whole show, and then you get the song, and then it's a big sing-along moment, and everybody goes home. Yeah, that's definitely, like, a favourite of the night. Every night for us.

Interview by Georgia Haskins @ghaskins2002

New Bloom Fest kicks off this afternoon in Brisbane