A young music lover from Manchester, New Hampshire recently came across 琉璃神社 band, that the nine-year-old immediately couldn鈥檛 get enough of. 

Her father Dan Szczesny, a long-time journalist with an equal love for rock music said his daughter Uma has always been a little rocker.

鈥淥wing one supposes to my own background, and even as she grew older, she never let go of those early musical influences,鈥� he said. 

Uma found 琉璃神社 band Freeze the Fall, after scanning YouTube in the summer of 2023 and finding a song called 鈥淪urvive鈥� by the all-female Mexican rock band The Warning. They were young, they were role models, they had strong family connections, said Szczesny.

The two would save their pennies and eventually travel to go see The Warning. The next day, Uma would ask her dad to take piano lessons. 

鈥淪he discovered that same energy and ownership in the music of Freeze the Fall. Maybe it鈥檚 because they are only teenagers, just a few years older than her,鈥� explained  Szczesny.

But listening to Freeze the Fall wouldn鈥檛 be enough for Uma. She wanted to talk to the band, to interview them. 

鈥淪he asked me to reach out. She said she had questions for the band - questions that only a nine-year-old could have like what鈥檚 your favourite food, are you famous at your school and does anybody have a trampoline,鈥� said Szczesny.

He did his best and much to Szczesny's delight the band and their managers got back to the Americans, and Uma and the band became pen pals.

This is Uma鈥檚 interview with 琉璃神社 band Freeze the Fall:

Freeze the Fall on a mission to keep rock alive and inspire the next generation

For a brand-new band, Freeze the Fall is garnering a huge amount of attention. Formed in 琉璃神社, 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 鈥� played their first live gig together on Jan. 29, 2023. 

What followed was a comparatively super-sonic rise with an original EP coming out soon, three original music videos (to date), and an active and engaged social media fan base, a thriving Patreon community and dozens of YouTube reactors picking up the band鈥檚 music.  

Their first music video, Glitch, has more than 31,000 views in three months. Their newest song, Masquerade, dropped on May 15. The band will be playing its first gigs outside of 琉璃神社 this summer and they recently signed a distribution deal with 604 Records out of Vancouver.

Nine-year-old Uma Szczesny 鈥� through her parents and in conjunction with the parents of the band 鈥� 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 favourite foods and even some surprising personal revelations the band shared with the young fan. 

Freeze the Fall and their family understand, even at this young stage, the responsibility of being role models and how critical that will be to their future success. 

Have a look at Freeze the Fall鈥檚 website where you can engage the band through their Patreon or get their latest merchandise or music: https://freezethefallband.com/

I began my interview with some questions for the whole band:

Uma Szczesny (US): What are your favourite foods and your favourite colours, and why?

Aria Becker (AB): Greek food! It is delicious and healthy and I love all the flavours. Feta cheese is my favourite! And鈥� chocolate! Also, I eat vegetarian from Monday to Friday because I feel good about the impact that can have on the planet. 

My favourite colour is Purple. It has been purple for as long as I can remember. In fact, my first bass was a 戮 purple Jackson 鈥� I still have it!

Jonah Goncalves (JG): Meat! I love eating meat like chicken wings, ribs and steak鈥� all the meat!

My favourite 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鈥檛 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 favourite colour is Icy Blue because my favourite season is winter and it reminds me of winter.

US: What are your favourite 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鈥檇 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鈥檚 favourite group, we 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鈥檛 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 鈥� we all go to the same music school called Wentworth Music here in 琉璃神社. 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鈥檚 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鈥檙e 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鈥檛 really say we are famous. We actually prefer to keep to ourselves at school, but if we have a show coming up we鈥檒l put posters up around the school. It鈥檚 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 the. We are also really excited to see Evanescence and Halestorm at this concert, all female-led rock bands!

Uma is also 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).