Interview with Wake Chen (guitar)
Ramblin’ Roze’s latest album, Moonfall（月落), is a kaleidoscopic journey through psychedelic rock, stoner grooves, and Eastern-influenced mysticism. The record marks a noticeable evolution from their previous work, Howl of The Coomb, blending heavier riffs and hypnotic melodies, with tracks shaped over several years.
Along with festival experiences ranging from black metal to blues, and a collaborative production process with Jun Zhou, Yiding, and Alexandr Vatagin, Moonfall showcases a band pushing the boundaries of their sound while embracing experimentation, chaos, and cosmic energy.
The album took a while to make, which is evident in the quality. When did you start writing the material for Moonfall?
Yeah, this album definitely took a long time to make. For example, the intro track, “Sonic Temple (圆缺),” actually started taking shape back in 2021. The original version was almost six minutes long before we trimmed it down to what you hear now. Along the way, we also had a few songs that didn’t quite fit the vibe we wanted for the album, so we left them out.
You co-composed most of the tracks on Moonfall. How did the songwriting process for this album differ from your work on Howl of The Coomb?
Most of the songs started from a guitar riff and then slowly built up from there—pretty similar to how we worked on Howl of The Coomb. But take “From My Rib（肋骨,” for instance—That one actually started from Chenxi Hao’s bass riff. We were going for something with a Jack White-style garage rock feel, but when we jammed to the bass and drum tracks in the studio, new ideas came up on the spot.
The verse ended up with little kind of jazzy vibe. On the last album, I wrote most of the music and lyrics with our other guitarist, Tong Zeen. But on Moonfall, most of the lyrics and vocal melodies were done by our singer, Hanxuan Peng—It’s also our first time writing in Chinese. We tried adding some Eastern elements too, and there’s a stronger psychedelic side to the record, which sets it apart from the last one.
Ramblin’ Roze have shared the stage with bands from a wide range of genres. I remember you being part of Plaguefest, surrounded by black metal bands—Did experiences like that influence your writing?
You actually remember that show! That was such a fun experience. We were literally the only band on the poster whose logo wasn’t super spiky—kind of like Party Cannon. A week after that, we got invited to a blues festival, so within two weeks we went from playing a black metal gig to a blues event. It was hilarious but also really cool. And we got a great reaction at both shows. That kind of thing definitely influenced our writing. I think the festival organizers liked our heavier, more stoner-doom side, and that side really shows up on the new album.
“Melting” features lyrics you wrote. What inspired the themes of inner chaos and mental fragmentation in that song?
At first, the lyrics for “Melting (溶解)” were going to be written by our vocalist, Hanxuan Peng. He tried out a few versions in Chinese, but none of them really clicked with the melody. So I took over, because I felt like the song had this kind of chaotic, brain-melting energy—something like The Mars Volta—and that matched how I was feeling at the time. That’s basically how it came together.
Musically, how did you translate the intensity of the song’s lyrics into guitar riffs and melodies?
Most of the time, I write the guitar riffs first and then layer everything else on top. It’s hard to really describe that process in words. I think riffs themselves carry their own emotion.
“The Shadow” blends hypnotic rock energy with Eastern mysticism. Was that style intentional, or did it develop organically?
A bit of both, actually. We used to write more in a blues rock direction, but later on we got into more psychedelic rock and Eastern music, and we wanted to explore something different. So “The Shadow（影子)” came about quite naturally. But blues rock is still super cool to us!
With multiple instruments featured on the album, including acoustic guitar and mandolin, how did you decide which parts to play versus leaving space for other textures?
Usually the main songwriter decides that. For example, “Bottom of the Lake (水底)” started from a riff by our other guitarist, Tong Zeen, and he used acoustic guitar on that one—so naturally, I wanted to add some other flavors to balance it out. And for the last track, “Happy End (圆圈),” it originally had an acoustic guitar part too. But about a week before recording, I suddenly imagined how it would sound on mandolin. I immediately went online to look for one and bought it from a guy for 600 RMB—like 84 bucks—the very next day. We used it in the final recording, and it sounded great!
Working with producer Jun Zhou, mixer Yiding, and mastering engineer Alexandr Vatagin, how did collaboration shape the final sound of your guitar tracks?
Every one of them was essential! Jun Zhou, besides being our producer, is also an amazing bassist and electronic musician. He brought a totally different perspective to our arrangements and gave me tons of feedback on the guitar tones. We even used a bunch of his gear during recording—including an ‘80s Roland RE-202! Yiding, our mixing engineer, is someone we really like too. We didn’t give him any reference tracks or bands at first, but his first mix blew us away. And the mastering engineer, Alexandr, is actually Yiding’s friend, so communication was very smooth. The end result, both the guitar tones and the overall sound turned out exactly how we hoped.
Looking ahead, what directions or experiments are you excited to explore in your guitar work and Ramblin’ Roze’s future music?
Lately I’ve been discovering so many amazing bands—like Kikagaku Moyo, All Them Witches (I’m a huge fan of Ben McLeod), and Slift. They keep me really inspired to keep exploring stoner and psychedelic rock … and all kinds of effects pedals!
Once the album is released, what are Ramblin’ Roze’s plans for touring?
We’ve already confirmed a nine-date China tour for the end of the year. It’s been years since our last tour, so we’re really looking forward to it! Hopefully we’ll get the chance to play in more cities, both in China and abroad, in the future.
