When Italian percussionist Riccard Lovotti and guitarist/vocalist Marcello Lega united in 2015, they never imagined that the future of their band would rely on social media and connecting with fans via the Internet instead of during live shows.

From the release of their debut 2016 album Bright Things, which followed the band’s acceptance of bassist turned lead vocalist Riccardo Demarosi and guitarist Marco Benedetti as it’s latest members, what started as a two piece duo turned into a full fledged rock band and Søndag began to grow a steady following from their hometown in Italy through several surrounding countries and even across the pond.

Now, with two full length albums under their belt and coming to the completion of their third, the dark rock quartet are doing their best to navigate the new landscape of the music industry as the 2020 pandemic has shaken up the processes of recording, touring, and being an artist as we know it.

We had the opportunity to catch up with Søndag’s Lega to find out how he is handling the year and what the band are hoping comes from the upcoming new year in regards to the future of the industry.

Second Society Report: How are you holding up during this insane year that is 2020? Hopefully your friends and families are staying safe and healthy!

Marcello Lega: Hey there, Marcello from Søndag here, nice to meet you!

We are holding up as much as is possible during these crazy times, but we are all fine thanks for asking!

SSR: Did you have any big releases or tours that were put on hold because of the pandemic? 

ML: Lucky for us we decided to stop all the gig activities for a while just a few months before this whole thing happened. The lockdown started when we were about to close the voice sessions of the last tracks we wrote between 2019 and 2020, though.

SSR: How has that affected the band? (could be personally, financially, morale wise, etc.)

ML: Well, this thing really hit us strongly because we had to cancel all the rehearsals, future tour plans and gigs in the first place, but mainly as individuals it has been (and still is) a real change in our everyday life, unfortunately not in a positive way.

SSR: How have you been spending your newfound “downtime” while the world has been essentially shut down?

ML: I’ve worked as always (from home this time) so I haven’t gained that much spare time I am afraid.

SSR: Have you picked up any new hobbies while quarantining that you’d like to share?

Besides drinking and eating a lot more you mean??  😊

SSR: Have you worked on any new releases during this time? Any that are already out or that we can get a sneak peak of?

ML: We just released our new single “Titans,” which you can stream here. And we are about to release more singles soon!

SSR: If already out- what was the inspiration for the release? Have you written any songs specifically about the state of the world right now?

ML: “Titans” came up in a very tense moment for us.

In these hard times we’ve seen that social media became (once again) a place where everyone poured out their fears and anger- led by a huge wave of misinformation.

The concept behind our last single lies upon these very moments in time, and when we say “we are the titans of nothing,” we really mean that everyone seems to have the truth in their pockets, but reality is another thing.

SSR: How has it been being an artist in a time when you cannot tour? How have you been working to promote your music and expand your reach?

ML: Well, we have spent more time on social media trying to promote as much as we could for our last works: more stories, more content, more interviews like this one for example 😊 

SSR: Do you have any words of advice for fans that are feeling particularly bummed out about the live music world coming to a halt?

ML: Keep the flame of passion burning guys.. we will all come back touring eventually!

SSR: When the world returns to a safer spot and we are able to (hopefully) attend live shows again- say in 2021- what do you hope to achieve?

ML: There are so many things we’d like to achieve.. The most unreachable one is definitely to be the opening act for a huge tour with bands like Deftones or Bring Me The Horizon! But that’s just a dream I’m afraid… but touring again is definitely on our to-do list when this situation will be over.

SSR: Is there anything you wish your fans would know about you or about the current state of the music world?

ML: We’d like to say that we keep on writing new music safely, because there isn’t anything else in the world that gives us joy and satisfaction like playing.

And, thanks a lot for this interview guys!

You can stream Søndag’s latest single “Titans,” out now, and be sure to stay connected with the band via their social media accounts, linked below.

Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Bandcamp