Q&A: MX LONELY Confront Inner Demons on ‘ALL MONSTERS’ Album
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Luke Ivanovich
MX LONELY KILLS THEIR MONSTERS — New York-based band MX LONELY has joined the roster of Philly’s Julia’s War Recordings with the announcement of their debut album, ALL MONSTERS, set for release February 20, 2026. The record is a cathartic exploration of adolescence, identity and the personal monsters we all carry. The first single, “Big Hips,” is a glimpse into the ALL MONSTERS realm.
“Big Hips” captures the complex navigation of gender dysphoria vocalist Rae Haas explains, “‘Big Hips’ is a self-mocking celebration of youthful masculinity. Puberty imbues a sense of dread for everyone, but especially trans people. For me, the onset of feminine curves was met with a sort of voyeurism I didn’t feel I was made to be proud of. ‘Big hips’ were something that happened to you rather than something you owned. The song recontextualizes the dysphoria of my youth in the way young boys would jovially proclaim the size of their phalluses (whether it was true or not). It’s a big dick joke.”
ALL MONSTERS emerged from a place of necessity, Haas says, born from a period of deep, harrowing depression. “That’s how I feel this album came about, from a deep, harrowing depression that didn't feel like I was able to romanticize anymore,” they share. “I think of it like killing your monsters but not letting them kill you. There are undertones and sides to being able to handle them with grace instead of rage and revenge, which is like a guttural reaction of ‘what do you want?’ There’s something that spoke to me in the ether about releasing these monsters into heaven rather than releasing them back into cycles of pain.”
ALL MONSTERS confront inner demons without succumbing to them, transforming pain into art that resonates and uplifts. It’s a vision of survival, growth, and release — a record that challenges listeners to face their own monsters with grace rather than vengeance.
Luna had an exclusive interview with MX LONELY’s Jake Harms and Rae Haas about the making of ALL MONSTERS, what it means to confront inner demons, and their recent signing to Philly’s Julia’s War Recordings.
Photo Credit: Luke Ivanovich
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
RAE: I feel like I would say, being an artist, you're somebody that experiences emotions on a plane that's larger than you can express via words. I think collectively as a band, there's a lot of 90s music that we all were listening to when we met and started making music together and really bonded over — specifically Pixies, Nirvana and Deftones — and those sonic influences really carried over for us. I'm inspired a lot by drag performance in my delivery style as a front person. We're always trying to make a sonic wave that people are riding. I'm trying to get rooms to move. I think about making our music being these insular themes, things that are internal, sort of anxieties or depressions that are brought outwards via the sort of sonic decibel that it's just blared at.
LUNA: The band just celebrated a big milestone. Huge congratulations on getting signed to Julia’s War Recordings! What does joining the roster of Julia’s War Recordings represent for you at this stage in your career, and how has the label supported the vision for this record?
RAE: I think knowing Doug and seeing the success of its bands, we have so many friends on that label. There's just tons of bands that I feel like we connect with on the label. But more than anything, it's nice to have a label that's close to home. Philly's super close to us. I feel like it's a label of sort of misfits. I've always generally connected with that. I like that they don't sign one thing, and they don't sign things that are commercially packaged and ready to go.
LUNA: Your newest single “Big Hips” tackles themes around growing up trans and gender dysphoria. Why did this feel like the right introduction to MX LONELY’s album and what story were you hoping to tell?
RAE: I think we wanted something that had a bit of levity for a single, especially because I think so much of the album feels like an entire story. “Big Hips” felt like one of the strangest songs as far as trying to place it as emotionality, how you feel listening to it, but it's something I feel I've always felt really strongly about expressing. We've incorporated it into the set. It's something collectively I feel people respond to you live, but not to be unromantic about it, but it's a short and sweet one. It’s a good way to open up with a bit of a bang. It felt like one of those songs that felt most like a single and the most standalone.
LUNA: You are about to release your new record early next year. Can you share a bit about the direction of ALL MONSTERS — what inspired you to explore the themes or emotions in this project?
RAE: Both Jake and I are both the primary songwriters. I think this period politically, like watching everything unfold environmentally and with the genocide overseas that we fund as American people. We have very little power other than just word of mouth and supporting boycotts. It’s about navigating the evils of the world. There's a sort of depression or sense of hopelessness that kind of comes over yourself that stops you from interacting with people in your direct community. As I was unpacking this, I was trying to talk to other people and get out of my own head, I realized that everyone's feeling similarly, like, there's nobody I know that's totally thriving.
I really feel like this album came out of a necessity. A lot of songwriting, for me, feels like I'm more of a vessel. Words and stories need to come out and it builds into a tapestry, and I see the image of what I'm trying to say at the end of it. That’s how I feel this album came about, from a deep, harrowing depression that didn't feel like I was able to romanticize anymore. I think of it like killing your monsters but not letting them kill you. “All Monsters Go To Heaven” is the idea that like, every bit of evil that haunts you, there is a nuance in it. I think there are undertones and sides to being able to handle them with grace instead of rage and revenge, which is like a guttural reaction of what do you want? There's something that spoke to me in the ether about releasing these monsters into heaven rather than releasing them back into cycles of cycles of pain.
LUNA: Did you take any creative risks or experiment with new approaches on ALL MONSTERS compared to previous releases? What felt different about your creative approach or mindset this time around?
JAKE: I wouldn't say it's necessarily more experimental, but it was more the record was totally engineered in-house. We rented a studio, and our bassist Gabriel Garman, did all the tracking on the record. I think there's something to be said about that we weren't trying to produce a record that sounded like you're trying to produce a record that really sounded like how we think the band says. When you work with other producers outside of the band, you always get their version of what the band sounds like. I wouldn't say it's more experimental than other stuff we've done in the past. If anything, it's probably a little more raw. I'd say that's intentional. I think we really tried to do something that felt honest and big and true to the band.
RAE: I would say it's definitely experimental in tone. All of the songs are a very ambiguous mesh of wanting to mosh and move around and maybe have a dissociative moment with it. It's a mix of so many different emotions and feelings and also just speeds to it. So many of the tempos of all the songs are a little bit all over on the record.
LUNA: Do you have a personal favorite song on the album — one that feels closest to your heart or most revealing of who MX LONELY is right now?
RAE: “Shape of an Angel” is one of my favorites and one of the most spiritual songs.
LUNA: How do you hope listeners — especially your queer and femme audiences — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?
RAE: I think there's like this pressure of trans people to not feel like they can have toxic femininity or toxic masculinity, and I want to imbue people to embrace the monsters or darkness in them, and also allow it to be released. The point of this whole record really feels to me about accepting and acknowledging those parts of yourself that maybe you don't want to. Themes of addiction, themes of BPD or feeling like you're a bad person. I'd like people to hear the record, and feel a sense of not being alone. I think women and queer people in particular, are not immune to toxicity, or not immune to all of these things, but also can hold themselves with grace and address these things within themselves with grace and dignity.
LUNA: What is fueling your fire right now that’s pushing you into this new chapter in your career?
JAKE: The state of the world. I don't think we make political music necessarily overtly, but I do think music is a form of activism, and I think it's important as artists to go out. I think it's one of the worst times historically, from a financial perspective, to be a musician, but it's one of the most important times historically, to go out and bring music to people. I think that really motivates us.
RAE: It was revolutionary to have people connect with one another in a space. I'm always so grateful and feel so rewarded to have people come together and move, dance, and connect with each other outside of the internet culture. I think bringing who we are — all queer, neurodivergent people — I think it's important and valuable for people to see that and connect with that. I'm always proud to be able to bring myself, even if I am in a really dark place personally in my life, but I'm able to still show up and do something. If I can do anything, that's what I want to be for people, is just be able to be somebody that shows up and allow other people to feel like they can do that too.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the upcoming year look like for you that you would like to share with Luna?
RAE: I'm feeling so excited for the totality of this record to come out. We're recording B sides right now, which also feel very exciting. I'm really stoked to figure out and expand the stage show to really include the audience in it, which it does. We're hoping to go out with friends and tour as much as humanly possible.
