We also had a short chat with Ragana at Cascadian Midsummer Festival in June 2025. Check it out!
Is this your first time playing Cascadian Midsummer? What drew you to this festival?
Both: First time playing, first time attending.
Maria: I just moved here a year ago from California. We were an Oakland band for many years, and then Noel moved to Washington, and then I just moved back. But we started in Olympia.
Noel: It’s a festival that I’ve known of for a really long time, and we live in Olympia, which is pretty close. A lot of bands that I like have played here over the years, and it has always been a really cool thing that is happening out here.
Having met in a Grocery Outlet in Olympia, they started jamming together after realizing they both wanted to be in metal bands.
Noel: I was playing music for a long time, but was never in any bands that played more than a couple shows.
Maria: I was living at a house called Grammas House that was hosting shows every weekend, and we had a room for band practice, so there were a lot of bands happening, and I was probably in three of four bands for a while, and Ragana as one of them.
What has changed the most over the decade-plus that you have been making music together?
Maria: We’ve both moved a lot; Noel went back to school
Noel: Maria became a personal trainer. Music-wise, we’re signed with The Flenser; we started out in Olympia just DIY. I was hosting house shows. One of our first shows, I was like, “Great, we can play my living room,” and that was kinda the vibe. We used to screen print our own shirts, but now we sell too many shirts to do it ourselves. We definitely have reached a really exciting level of being a band that went far beyond what our dreams were in the beginning.
What impact do you hope your music will have on your audience?
Maria: I like to have a strong message. For example, the song “You Take Nothing,” I want people to walk away from the song with a phrase stuck in their head or an emotion. Often people cry at our set, and they’ll confess this to us at the end of the show. We put a lot of vulnerability in our lyrics and in our stage presence, and I really want to move people. I want them to take away some inspiration for making their own art or learning how to deal with hard things through music.
Noel: I want to connect emotionally with people. Something I think it really special about live music is the feeling of catharsis among other people. It kind of feels like it’s one of the only remaining rituals that people are able to be part of. So it feels good to have that experience, and I hope people at our shows are able to have that communal, cathartic experience together. I think it still feels really rare—although less rare than when we started—to see people who are not men playing metal or heavy music or any music. People have told us that it inspires them to learn an instrument or start a band, and I feel like that’s the coolest thing we could accomplish.
What thoughts or advice or encouragement do you have for young people navigating the shitstorm of a world we’re living in right now?
Noel: try to find the people and things that make you feel connected to life and to the earth, and really cherish and nourish those relationships. I think the only thing that helps any of us survive is our connection to other living things. It’s really bleak out there, and it feels important to recognize that but also to let yourself experience joy and peace when that happens because it’s not always happening.
Maria: I would learn how to play drums if you can. It’s really important to find rhythm in your life; rhythm can help you feel connected to the earth. I feel like we’re really just dissociated from life and trying to not focus on being in the world right now, but trying to find ways to connect to rhythm through music will help you survive.
What’s next for Ragana?
Maria: We’re writing a bunch of songs. We’re not touring for a minute; we’re focusing on a new album that will come out on The Flenser, hopefully next year.
Noel: And we have something that’s coming out later this year, a collaboration with the artist Drowse, a song that we wrote for the festival Roadburn. They commissioned a song from Ragana and Drowse, so we recorded it, and we’re going to put it out with The Flenser, and that should be out soon.
Instagram: @raganaofficial
