Izzy Reign Is Ready to Play Upheaval Festival — Interview

On Tuesday (June 30), Izzy Reign joined Loudwire Nights to take listeners into her musical journey as she gets ready to perform at this year’s Upheaval Festival. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“After band after band after band that I’ve done, I decided to kind of just go off and do my own thing and have the responsibility solely on myself,” Reign shared with Loudwire Nights‘ Chuck Armstrong.

“Nothing got taken very seriously as far as putting stuff out consistently until about 2024. I put out an album and it was multiple things coming out rather than one song a year.”

Having played in bands before, Reign knew that it was a big risk to start creating music on her own, but she also knew it was a challenge worth pursuing.

“I think it’s exciting, being in bands and playing shows all the time, I enjoyed every second of it,” she said.

“However, I feel that I’ve been placed in so many different situations that my reasoning for doing what I’m doing didn’t align with a lot of people, like where I wanted to go with it, what I wanted to do with it. It was just kind of one of those things that I’m like, if I am the only one who is responsible for all of it, I know which direction I’m wanting to go. I know how I want to go about it and I know what I’m wanting to do with it.”

That passion and attitude has paid off for Reign as her fanbase continues to grow thanks to her self-titled full-length album and her consistent delivery of cover songs to celebrate Halloween, like her take on Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl” and the Doors’ “People Are Strange.”

Now, she’s gearing up for the biggest show of her career as Izzy Reign: The Upheaval Festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“This will be my fourth [show] now, I just started doing live shows,” she said.

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“I can’t believe it. Honestly, I’m so excited. I’ve been doing this music stuff for so long and it feels like finally I have the momentum that I’ve been trying to do and have the ability to grow everything that Izzy Reign actually is. I’m super stoked and very grateful to be in the position I’m in.”

Reign will perform on the first day of Upheaval, alongside bands like Magnolia Park, Story of the Year, Poppy and Gojira.

“The number one feeling I have is excitement. This will be the first time that I’ve ever played anything like this in my entire life … What a thing in my life, a moment that I’m never going to forget.”

What Else Did Izzy Reign Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What runs through her head when she sees the lineup for Upheaval Festival: “I cannot express to you the excitement that I have from knowing so many of the artists. Both days, 10 out of 10. For me, specifically in the things that I enjoy, I am so stoked I’m on that day. I’m so excited because there are so many musicians on that day that I go see for fun. I go to your shows because I enjoy them, so obviously, I’m so stoked to play, but I’m also excited to watch them. This is top tier for me, goals and hopes to be able to someday make myself have the ability to go on tour with artists like that.”
• What’s on the horizon following her self-titled album: “It’s such high-demand, everybody’s wanting something. They need something new, right away and the attention span of people has kind of gotten pretty horrendous. But I wanted to give the opportunity for [the album] to live and to exist. I do have the intention of putting out, 100-percent, at least one original, one Halloween song and then one more thing that I can’t necessarily talk about. Possibly more, but that would be it for the rest of the year. Other than that, we’re heavily focusing on getting out and playing shows.”
• What else has her attention these days: “I do this. This is my job, this is my only job. This is all that I do. If I’m not doing this, I’m on Twitch, [which] is also still Izzy Reign. I’m a big gamer. I do that three times a week and then I’m doing everything Izzy Reign, whether it’s writing music, showing up to shows, playing shows, making the connections that I need to, building the community. My Discord is huge and full of some of the coolest people you’ll ever come across. Izzy Reign is all about community. That is in itself what I’m doing all that time. That is it. That’s all I do.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Izzy Reign joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, June 30; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.