Ramona Clay "The Things We Don't Talk About" Album Release Show, May 31

Saturday, May 31 saw indie rock band Ramona Clay kickoff their album release and mental health campaign at Harrah’s VooDoo Lounge in Kansas City.

Ramona Clay released their album the same day as the show “The Things We Don’t Talk About,” a concept album about mental health. 

Listen to the album here: https://thethingswedonttalkabout.submithublinks.com/

Ramona Clay’s Katerina Jae said about the album:

“When I wrote this album, I actually didn’t start out writing an album. They were individual pieces of music that I started writing, and I realized at some point that they were related to one another. They were all connected to mental health, mental illness, seeking treatment, or other stigmatized experiences within society. 

“What made me want to put the songs together as a concept album was I saw that there was real potential to help people out there - help them access mental healthcare, help people realize that they’re not alone, and also help people develop empathy for things that others are going through.

“I want to have an impact with this album: I want to destigmatize mental illness, increase access to knowledge about how to access treatment, and help people access different resources altogether.”

The Things We Don’t Talk About album release show was put on by Stratgazer, with sponsors and partnerships including Catamount Recording, University of Central Missouri Alumni Foundation and Department of Psychological Science, 90.9 The Bridge, UCM Psych, Midwest Music Foundation, Guitar Center, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Metropolitan Organization Countering Sexual Assault (MOCSA), First Call, Missouri 988, and 4imprint. 

The lineup was all bands and artists local to the area: Sylarin, 93 & Alive, [SPACE] Jockey, Ramona Clay, Park Sessions, and Barrage.

Sylarin started off the night. The progressive metal band featured powerful vocals, two headless guitars, and fierce power.

“In terms of our music, we try to find the best blend we can between the lyrical messages and the emotion the instrumentals bring,” Sylarin said. “These themes - mental health, life experiences, personal struggles - find their way in our music because it’s a reflection of what we’ve experienced ourselves. For example, our first song we released with Josie Watkins ‘Only Human’ speaks about processing a traumatic event. This is just one example, and we will continue to express our lives through creative means and hope other people will find some way to connect to it!”

Up next was 93 & Alive. Aaron Tyler Marmon founded 93 & Alive with the name coming from his birth year and ‘& Alive’ representing “suicide prevention for all those that aren’t with us anymore are living through us.” Many of 93 & Alive’s performers include ‘raging’ related to trap music and upbeat, good times vibes.

This included performances from Flex The Drummer, 3lade, GirlThatsRocco, DJ Pumpkin, and ATM himself.

Flex The Drummer walked on stage and stepped behind his red drum set. “Tonight, we’re going to be leaving behind everything that’s holding us back,” he said as a freewheeling wave of energy surged from the kit into the audience.

The day before the show, Flex released an EP “MELODIES, IN THE KEY OF LOST.” 

“It’s definitely a little bit more lighthearted than some of my other stuff,” Flex told me. “It’s more of a pop EP. I wrote it to encourage people to do better and help treat people better. Also, it represents feeling kind of lost in your own world.”

3lade and GirlThatsRocco stepped on stage to perform a few songs with Flex drumming. 3lade and Rocco recently collaborated on a track off of 3lade’s “DAYWALKER” album.

In regard to the “DAYWALKER” album, 3lade said:

“When I started doing music and live performing after 2019, I started raging and whatnot on stage, and I wanted to embody that into a piece of work. Because I hadn’t done a full album yet, I just wanted to give people something to listen to, like if they had a bad day at work or if they just hated life, to be able to focus on something else for some time.”

GirlThatsRocco shared similar thoughts about music and mental health:

“Not every single song that I do necessarily feels like it has to be attached to mental health, but in some way, shape, or form, everything is kind of based around what I go through mentally. Most of the people I know write about similar things, too, and we try to band together; we try to stay strong and keep our passions alive, especially when we get opportunities like tonight at the VooDoo Lounge with Ramona Clay to show people that they’re not alone in those moments.”

[SPACE] Jockey followed 93 & Alive. The self-described modern alternative rock band reinvents themselves into new horizons every time I’ve seen them. This VooDoo show was the debut of their new singer Cheyenne.

[SPACE] Jockey said:

“Ramona Clay and Cory [of Stratgazer] reached out to us to be involved in the show. We’re always excited to be able to work with either of them; Cory and Kenzie are incredible and put on such a clean show. We love what Ramona Clay is currently doing with mental health, something that we’ve thought is really admirable and something that we’ve always wanted to be a part of. Being a part of this show specifically is an honor, so we jumped at the chance, and it’s the biggest show we’ve played. We love being able to be a part of this community and be a part of mental health awareness.”

Ramona Clay was the next band to play. Their set had some new, interesting elements that added to the theatrical atmosphere, including silk string performers:

“I think we had a very good night,” singer Katerina Jae said. “The crowd was fantastic, full of energy and support. I really thought that as a band we put on a great show. I really love how we’re trying to level up each time we play a big show like this. For the album release set we included a new element with Cloud Nine Aerial Arts and they performed on silk strings during three of our songs, and I’m really excited about this because this was just the first show that we’re doing with them. We have kind of a partnership thing in the future that I can’t discuss quite yet, but I am very excited about that. . .”

As the band performed, they had storytelling visuals and lyrics on the screen behind them. 

“I was really excited that we were able to add multimedia components with video and our lyrics, so people could see and read the words of what we’re doing,” Katerina said. “I really like that for a couple of reasons: we’re trying to help make music more accessible. We couldn’t afford to get an interpreter; we were going to try and pay for an interpreter but when I realized we just didn’t have a budget for it, we decided to learn a program that we can use to put up lyrics on the wall. And I was excited that one of our former bass players - Brad Padley who’s also with the band Stone Eagle - came out and ran the multimedia show for us. It’s always a great time when we get to hang out with some of our old friends and work on things like this together.”

Park Sessions followed. They describe themselves as ‘just your friendly neighborhood rock n roll band.’ This was the first time the band had played at VooDoo:

“This was our first experience at the VooDoo Lounge and an absolutely amazing one at that,” the band would later tell me. “We went into this show knowing it would be the largest one that this project has been involved in to date, and we were so happy with the results.

“Connecting with an audience during a live performance is something we take great pride in; and being able to connect, sing, and support each of the fantastic stories brought by both artists and audience made for a really unforgettable experience. This was the kick-off to our summer season, and we truly couldn’t have asked for a better show.”

While the bulk of the band’s set was cover songs - including an absolutely smashing version of “The House of the Rising Sun,” this young band packs a lot of talent. Their live performances are a powerhouse with a prevalent hard rock and blues influence highlighted in the groove present.

Park Sessions just released their debut single “Scream.”

“Though we don’t have a ton of original music at this time, the music we write is often deeply personal. Telling stories in a format that transcends regular conversation and communication and finding a way to tell such raw stories in a way that we can share with a live audience has been so fulfilling,” Park Sessions said. “‘Scream’ deals with many feelings of inadequacy, anger, fear, and abuse."

“As for our cover music, it’s often very cathartic for each of us in the band - a way to broach a wide array of topics through our art and performance. Music speaks to people in a way that language can’t; and often we choose songs that put into words or music the emotions and feelings that we often can’t describe ourselves. Our live performances are a cyclical exchange of energy between audience and artist.”

Barrage closed out the night. 

The day prior to the show, the band released “Tombstone,” the first single to feature Rylie McFall on vocals.

Every time I have seen Barrage, there is such a POWER to their music. The hard rock/metal band from KC describes themselves as being for fans of Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, and Gojira. 

The band’s energy captivated the audience, building a spell of soaring, contagious fascination. 

They dedicated their set to Adam Ramey of Dropout Kings. 

“We have been friends with Katerina from Ramona Clay for years and were honored to be asked to celebrate the release of their album and support their cause,” Barrage said. “Mental health is something we are all very aware of and work on all the time. It inspires our writing immensely, and it's something we are very open about. Everyone has to manage mental health, and talking about it is the way to feel seen and understood.”

Ultimately, The Things We Don’t Talk About album release show was more than just a night of awesome local music. It was a time to start conversations, to erase stigmatization, and to show people that they are not alone in the struggles and challenges of life.

“If people could take one thing from this concept album release show, I would want it to be that no matter what your skills and talents are, you can use those things to make the world a better place,” Katerina Jae said.

“I don’t think people actually know how many people are behind this project, because this concept album was just one tiny piece of an overall multi-faceted mental health campaign. We had photographers working on this, we had people who are savvy at social media, we had marketing people, we had public relations people, nonprofits; we had people using their skills with video and photos. Almost everything that you could imagine helping put this together. 

“And I think people don’t realize how much power they have, no matter what the skill is. You don’t have to be a lawyer, you don’t have to be a doctor, you don’t have to be a politician. You could be a photographer, you could be a musician, you could be a comedian. Really, you could be anything in the world. And you can use those skills to help other people. Because as one of my friends says all the time, ‘We belong to each other,’ and we do. And so if people could take just one thing is that: together, we can do this.”