PLUSH is composed of four talented musicians, all under the age of 21, whose accomplishments and talent eclipse their age. This female rock force is fronted by singer/guitarist Moriah Formica, drummer Brooke Colucci, lead guitarist Bella Perron and bassist Ashley Suppa.
Moriah skyrocketed to national recognition when she appeared on NBC’s The Voice. Miley Cyrus referred to her as a “Rock Goddess.” Brooke, also known by her moniker Rock Angel, has even earned a nod from John Lennon’s official Facebook page, as she built her social media empire. Together, Moriah and Brooke have over 28 million views on their videos across social media platforms in 2020.
Bella is a freshman at Berklee College of Music and a guitar virtuoso. She adds to the band’s ferocious melodies with amazing backing vocals and a no holds barred brand of uncompromising leads. Ashley adds an undeniable bass undertow to PLUSH’s sound. She has been noticed by Ace Frehley (KISS), who requested her skills on backing vocals for his Anomaly solo album.
PLUSH’s first single “Hate” dropped on all digital platforms on February 9, 2021, via Pavement Entertainment. The song is very personal for frontwoman Moriah Formica. She says, “It’s about somebody who broke my heart in a very bad way. I was just so angry and sad, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually say ‘I hated you’ to that person, because the truth is I really, really loved that person, and I just hated that I loved them.”
We recently sat down with frontwoman/singer/guitarist Moriah Formica who gave us some insight into the origin of the band, expecting to lose as she went into The Voice and even her wrestling name!
Every super hero and villian has an origin and a band is no different minus the secret government experiments and radioactive spiders……hopefully. What’s the origin of Plush?
Moriah Formica/Plush: I’d been doing the solo thing for awhile. I knew music was what I wanted to do. I started playing out when I was around 11. I had some amazing opportunities. At 14 I got to open a show from Michael Sweet from Stryper. He ended up taking me under his wing. He and his wife, Lisa have been just so kind to me and so helpful. So I was able to kind of get into that crowd and hookup with some friends. Then I was fortunate enough to be on NBC’s “The Voice” at 16, which was an amazing and life changing experience for me. It really helped lay a foundation for my career.
We got to play with Joan Jett and Halestorm. It was a lot of fun, I had some amazing experiences with my backing band at that time. I turned 18 and we all just kind of got older and realized we weren’t all exactly happy with where we were. It just so happened that right at that time is when the pandemic hit and at the same time I actually found Brooke (Colucci/drummer) on social media. I was like “There’s no way this girl is 16!” She’s incredible; I have to jam with her. I found out she only lived 40 minutes away from me. It was weird how it worked out.
Turns out we both played a venue near us and we had a mutual friend that worked at the venue and was able to put our dads in contact with one another. We ended up meeting up and jamming for the first time at Brooke’s house and the chemistry was so undeniable. I was just amazed at how it felt. And we decided maybe we should start a new band together and be able to start a new chapter for us. Then she told me about her friend that was really awesome and plays bass. That’s when I was introduced to Ashley (Suppa/bass). So then the three of us started jamming together.
Again, the chemistry was undeniable, it was ridiculous. Not only as musicians, but as people too. Once we decided we wanted to be a band, Brooke and I put out the “Barracuda” cover right in the beginning of quarantine starting. I was fortunate enough to be signed to Surface Management and that really helped solidify this whole band thing. They believed in us and wanted to help, so they posted about us looking for a guitar player. Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) got ahold of that and ended up retweeting it. That’s where our guitar player Bella (Perron) came into the picture. She saw Lzzy Hale’s post and ended up reaching out to Surface Management. We fell in love with Bella.
The four of us got together and the rest is history. The stars aligned perfectly in a really weird and just undeniable way.
Nothing like getting an endorsement from Lzzy Hale. What a sweetheart!
Yeah! Right? She’s been so helpful! She will really go out of her way to be helpful. I just really, really appreciate it.
Even as far as they’ve come in their journey, she has remained so grounded. She’s more like a fan in the audience than a rockstar up on the stage.
At the end of the day, we’re all just people. It’s just really refreshing to see somebody just be so humble. Especially nowadays.
So all of this came together during the pandemic?
Yeah, yeah. Seriously. Really it just all came together during the pandemic. It really is such a blessing. Nobody expected this to happen honestly. Obviously the pandemic has halted a lot of things, like live shows, and created a lot of missed opportunities. But at the same time it’s really been a blessing because I really don’t believe this band would have formed the way it did, and as strongly as it did, or maybe even at all if it weren’t for this.
So the first single is “Hate” and it’s been out for about a month-ish now? I’m such a fan of Johnny K and so much stuff he has done. Had any of you worked with him before?
This is our first time working with him. Our managers knew him and they thought that he would be a perfect fit. And he is! (laughing)
It’s amazing. It was our first time working with him, but it definitely won’t be the last. He’s incredible. And it was just amazing to see our visions kind of come together. Although we had some differences, our whole collective vision was just the same. It’s not always that smooth with an artist and producer.
It’s so easy for an artist to go into the studio and just say “here’s the song” and the producer say “okay, we’ll do this and that and that…” and come back with a whole different song. His was a whole different song, but it was in a great way. Our visions really just aligned with each other.
So what are you guys planning on doing? Are you going to do some singles or are you looking at an EP or album?
We have two other singles, which are ready to be released. We don’t know when we’re going to be releasing them. But people can definitely expect to hear more music from us. Then hopefully within the year, the goal is to have an album out. So hopefully we’re going to be pushing an album out sometime within the year. Definitely 100% more singles and more music.
It’s got to be kind of surreal to have these radio stations like Octane for example not only just playing your music but the bands they mention you with. Is it mind blowing to have you mentioned with bands you probably all love playing right along side your music?
Right! It’s completely surreal and just really weird turning the car on and hearing your song. Then next you hear something like Papa Roach or Love And Death, it’s really really weird. It is a dream because I’ve listened to Octane for years. Because you know, all my favorite bands are on it. So it is completely a dream.
Do you remember where you were the first time you heard “Hate” on Octane?
I was in my house because they were playing it on Test Drive. Since we were gonna be on Test Drive, I thought we’re going to be with other bands that are kind of just getting on the scene. They played “Hate” by us and then a song by Lacey Sturm that used to be in Flyleaf and then it was something by The Pretty Reckless. I’m like “Are you joking right now??” We’re sandwiched in between these two amazing bands! I was just so thankful they played it that one time. But then they actually added it to their rotation, that was a whole other thing. I thought “What else can you hope for?” You know?
So I know a lot of states are starting to loosen up restrictions. Do you think you’re going to be able to play live soon?
I do think there’s going to be some live gigs in the summer. Governor Cuomo’s been talking about it, so… that doesn’t really mean much. (laughing) But he has been saying basically we’re going to try and open New York up. Finally. After all this time. Now whether that really happens I’m not sure. But it seems more sure than it has been in the last year. So, I’m hoping. I do think there’s going to be at least a lot of outdoor gigs. But I’m not really 100% sure yet.
Fingers crossed. I’m sure the four of you are itching to get out too.Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I read when you entered “The Voice” you had actually said you entered not expecting to win because you’re rock. Even as good as you are, you didn’t expect to win. That’s a pretty mature vision at 16.
Yeah. The reason I didn’t expect to win was me being rock, but also… you know, I just never went into it thinking that. I just told myself there’s all kinds of other amazing singers here and you’re just going to go out and be yourself and whatever happens happens. I just went in there expecting to be myself and do my best.
I just feel like if you’re so hyper focused on winning it loses a bit of the meaning of why you’re there. You don’t enjoy the experience as much. And I wasn’t necessarily there to win, I just wanted the amazing opportunity. I also kind of understand that it doesn’t really matter if you win the shows nowadays, it just really doesn’t. I don’t think anyone comes off of those shows anymore a Chris Daughtry or a Carrie Underwood, a Jennifer Hudson, a Kelly Clarkson. That just doesn’t happen anymore.
So I went in it with that understanding too. I think if you don’t have a healthy understanding of that, I saw it just completely break people when they got eliminated. I felt really bad and thought people should really mentally prepare themselves and tell yourself this isn’t the make or break moment of your career. That’s the mistake I think a lot of people make is if you don’t win, your career is over. When that’s really the furthest thing from the truth.
What’s really the benefit of the shows nowadays is the exposure you have. Then it’s up to you what you plan to do with it after.
True. I thought it was such a great way to look at it. You have such a seasoned approach. I see that our time is about to come to a close. What can we continue to look forward to coming from Plush?
Fans can definitely expect a lot more from us. We’re in the process of writing new music and we have some new music that’s ready to go. I don’t have a release date yet, but we definitely have songs ready to be released. Hopefully if live shows are available within the summer, which I think they will be, we’re definitely going to be playing a lot of live shows. And hopefully within the year they can look forward to an album.
We really want to build our fan base too, so we’re expecting to do a lot more interacting with our fans and be able to connect with them. So they can expect a lot more of Plush!
We end all of the interviews with what we call “3 for the road” to help us learn a little bit more about you and your personality. And I know you’re still young, but who was your first childhood celebrity crush?
Oh man, I think it was Ashley Tisdale from “High School Musical” (laughing) That’s the oldest I can remember, but I was probably about six.
If you could have any person/character/anyone be your inner voice, who would you want it to be?
Um. I feel like maybe, probably, my mom. (laughing)
If music was over and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Oh my gosh. Man, I don’t know. Probably like “Mofo the Machine” because that’s my initials “Mofo” (laughs)
I love the questions! Thank you so much for having me!
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
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