Syzygal On Their Debut Album, What’s Next For the Band, And Which Chicago Venues They’d Marry, F*ck, Kill

*Syzygal at Sacred Rose Festival, Photo by Josh Druding*

Syzygal caught up with BAND Magazine at the inaugural Sacred Rose Festival last weekend. The new electro-pop outfit is made up of Anna Soltys [vocals], Mickey Kellerman [synthesizers] and Darren Heitz [drums]. Saturday’s Sacred Rose set was their first show ever as a band as they ramp up support for their debut album, Right Path, which was released this past February.

BAND music writer Andreas Aristides asked the trio about the new album, what’s next for the band, which Chicago music venues they’d marry, fuck, kill, and more.

Would you classify yourself, with the combination of Future Rock, Anna and this new venture, as a supergroup?

Mickey: Haha, oh wow, I didn’t think about that. I’m going to go with that, yeah.

If you, as Syzygal, wanted to make another supergroup, we’ll call it a superduper group, who would be your dream band or musician(s) to collaborate with?

Anna: This might throw you guys off a little bit, but I really am appreciative of Billie Eilish. I’d just love to have her on stage for a few songs. That’d be really hot to me. If me and Billie could do some harmonies together, I think that would be really hot.

Mickey: I would love to have Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman from the Trey Anastasio Band. They play trumpet and trombone and our amazing singers. I’d love to have them come on stage to be part of our superduper group.

Darren: I guess for me it would have to be Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee from Rush. I know they just played with the South Park Tour. They might be available, you never know.

I’m sure you've been asked this many times, but I’d really like to know. How did you come up with the band name Syzygal?

Mickey: So, we first came up with the idea for the project before we had a name, which I'm sure that’s what happens to most bands. Anna one night was just looking through the dictionary and just finding words that looked cool or sounded cool and just started texting me words.

Anna: I love how lovely you make that sound. I was obsessively, like insomniaticly, for weeks freaking out about finding words. Polish is my first language, French is my second, and English is my third. So I was going all over the different spectrums and you know trying to find the right thing. So anyways, syzygy popped up.

Mickey: Syzygy, which is an astronomical term, is three celestial bodies in perfect alignment. But like, specifically the sun, moon and earth all being aligned perfectly together. We really liked that concept. The word syzygy was already used by too many other bands and businesses so we needed to come up with a variation on it. So we just kind of came up with Syzygal. There wasn’t really any other band or anyone using that word, so I was like alright and grabbed the website.

Anna: And, Syzygal rhymes with physical. So, for anyone that doesn’t know how to say the name, which was a thing that we were concerned about, it’s like well Syzygal it rhymes with physical.

Darren: With Anna being the lead singer, ya know the lyricist and the star of the show, she’s the sun of the band.

Anna: Syzy..”gal”. I put the “gal” in Syzygal

Here at BAND, we’re very interested in band names, and I was wondering if you would rate some band names for me. No bands that exist, just names that I’ve thought of while being here at Sacred Rose. On a scale of 1-5, with five being the best and one being the worst, how would you rate these band names:

Amanda’s Crush

Mickey: Amanda’s Crush? I think it’s pretty good. I would say a three or four.

Darren: Three and a half.

Anna: I’m like a three, and already I see the Crush soda can, ya know? That’s like your logo. That’s your branding.

Beer Tent

Mickey: Oh, I’m going to go with a one on that.

Darren: 2.5. What kind of style of music would that be? Frat party music?

Anna: Yeah, I’m not into it. Like .5 for me.

The Septic Dominators

Mickey: I like that. I’ll give that also a 3.

Darren: Ohhh 3.2.

Anna: I’m going to improve on the name a little bit. Septic Dom…at a 4.

Mickey: That’s definitely an improvement. I knocked you a little for the word dominator.

Anna: Septic Dom though…that’s all types of weird.

Where are you headed next? Where’s the next Syzygal show?

Anna: We don’t know! We were kind of leading up to this. We released a record in February and were then invited to come play this, so we were thrilled. Now we’re going to decide what happens next. Expect to see us out and about.

Mickey: So, I’ve been living in Columbus the last 6 years, and I’m moving to Chicago on Tuesday. Getting ready for this set plus getting ready to move has dominated my life. So, once I get up here, we’ll now all be in Chicago. Then we can kinda plot our next steps. We want to play a club show in Chicago at some point soon. We want to try to get on more festivals for next summer. Maybe do like a few runs on the weekends, you know like a Thursday through Sunday here or there, as well. Start to get in front of people and start to build a fanbase.

Darren: I’m just looking forward to the next show whenever that may be.

Now that you mention Chicago, I have a game for you. It’s marry, fuck, kill: Chicago venues. It’s a hard one: Thalia Hall, Schubas, Empty Bottle. We love all of these venues by the way.

Anna: Okay. I’m going to marry Schubas, I’m going to fuck Thalia Hall, and I’m going to kill Empty Bottle.

Mickey: You’re going to kill Empty Bottle?!

Anna: I’m sorry. I mean, not that I don't…..listen, it’s hard, but I’m sticking with my plan. I mean Thalia Hall? I wanna fuck Thalia Hall. It’s not a dog on Empty Bottle. It’s just a tough choice.

Mickey: Yeah Thalia Hall is pretty sexy. I mean, I don’t want to have the same answer as her, but I think I might have to. I think I have the same answer.

Darren: I’ll have to get back to you on that one!

Anything you’d like people to know about your new album, which was released in February. How would you describe your sound?

Anna: I can let Mickey talk about the sound, but as far as our album goes I think what we really want people to connect with, or understand, is that we’re the kind of band that wants to create the kind of music that’s easily relatable. And, the kind of music that sort of helps the individual feel not alone. We’re really into mental health and the idea that we’re all struggling, especially after this 2020 pandemic. The work really focuses on that quite a bit.

Mickey: As far as the sound goes, the bass synthesizer is kind of the foundational part of the sound, and Darren's live drums work together with the bass synthesizer to create really powerful beats…dance beats. Then, Anna’s kind of ethereal vocals fit in with that. So, it’s those three things: the vocals, bass synthesizer and then the live acoustic drums.

I have one more question. In the Syzygal band bio pic, who would play each of you?

Mickey: I have an embarrassing answer for this one because I’ve been accused of looking like two famous people before. I think we’re both….oh man I shouldn’t say this. I'm really digging myself a hole here. I think they were meant to be insults, so that’s not very nice to these people. So, when I was in college I was walking down the street and these people were driving by and screamed out “Pauly Shore!”. I don’t know if he’s still acting and can play me. So, I’ve got that and then I've had other people tell me I look like John C. Reilly. I think it’s the nose, maybe? I don’t know. I would want for John C. Reilly to play me. I have mad respect for him. He was Jerry Buss in that Winning Time show, the Laker’s show…incredible. It’s probably my favorite role he’s ever done.

Anna: Haha, wow your questions, I love them. Jesus. This is really tough for me, because I have no fucking idea - excuse my french. If she was a little bit shorter, I’d love for Uma Thurman to play me…with the wig. I think she would do really well. Um, and yeah, outside of that, people say I look a little like Fiona Apple sometimes without my wig, but she’s not an actress. She could be!

Darren: Well, I get Brad Pitt all the time. No no…but seriously, I’ve been told on numerous occasions I look like Tim Robbins. So it would be Tim Robbins, hands down.

Check out our photographer Josh Druding’s photo gallery from Syzygal’s Sacred Rose set below. Listen to Syzygal’s new album, Right Path, which is available to stream on Spotify. For news on the band and upcoming tours, visit their website: www.syzygalmusic.com.