Not Enough Space is an upcoming metalcore band from Orlando, Florida that is rapidly gaining recognition in the scene. Comprised of vocalists Lizzie Raatma and Liv Mitchell, guitarist Tristan Kaos Green, bassist Jacob Sawyer, and drummer Maurice Jones, the band is redefining the metalcore genre with their combination of melodic verses and powerful, brutal soundscapes that will appeal to rock and metal fans everywhere. They have garnered over 10 million streams across all streaming platforms, with their hit single “No Way Out” being their breakthrough track. Recently signed to Thriller Records, Not Enough Space is ready to begin a new era that will make them a household name in the metalcore community. Under Thriller, they have released the two singles “Primitive” and “Solace in Silence”, and have their first full length album in the works. They are set to tour with Capstan starting April, after touring with acts such as The Funeral Portrait and Dark Divine.
Kara: Hi my name is Kara and I will be the one interviewing you on behalf of Ultraviolet Magazine. Can you guys introduce yourselves and share a fun fact about each of you?
Lizzie: Hi, I'm Lizzie, and a fun fact is I used to be a horse girl growing up.
Liv: Oh my god
Liv: Um, I can't think of a fun fact. Hi, I'm Metalcore Liv. Fun fact about me. Damn, I'm so boring.
Lizzie: No.
Liv: What is a fun fact about me? Hmm. I'm so bad at these ones
Lizzie: Talk about like one of the impressions you're really good at
Liv: Oh, - I can do a really, really, really good Carl Weezer impression from Jimmy Neutron.. It's bad. I will not replicate it right now, but it's pretty bad
Kara: So congratulations on signing with Thriller Records and announcing Primitive and
Solace in Silence recently. They're both amazing tracks, by the way, like the breakdown in Solace in Silence is like the breakdown of 2025. So far amazing. Thank you. So could you walk us through the writing process for these songs and the meanings behind them? And what made you guys choose Thriller Records? It seems like such a great label. It must be very exciting being under the same label with up -and -coming metal bands like Catch Your Breath, Dark Divine, and like so many other bands. Yeah, so just go into that.
Lizzie: I'm thinking I can do Primitive, you can do Solace? Sure. Okay, cool. So the writing
process, it basically starts off with a demo, so an instrumental. So we start with
that first and then we add lyrics and melody. So I'll go for both songs basically,
but Primitive, the meaning behind it, it's about feeling like you're holding the
other person and yourself hostage in a relationship. So it's not like one person's the villain, it's kind of both parties are the villains because either party could
leave if they really wanted to, but they're choosing not to, so they're suffering
forever together. So in the music video, you can see that like I'm just decaying as
a person and that's like what I was trying to portray. And yeah, so that's like
the main meaning. And if we're going to get really technical, like sometimes I think
like the moan to me what it represents is like kind of like when you are like,
all right, I'm done with this person. And then it's like, oh, we're back to square one. It's like makeup vibes. Yeah, that's what I imagine. But obviously, like everybody can have their own interpretation. For me, my primary interpretation would just be it's funny. and it's a meme.
Liv: And then just to top off like the writing aspect topic, we work pretty closely So our producers are Chris, Link, and then Kaylin Adam from Attila. And then Tristan
and Reese will sit with them and write out the songs and come up with like a good
instrumental and like some cool Chugs and little weedles and all that good stuff.
And then Lizzie and I will sit back and like kind of think of like lyrics as we're hearing the instrumental come through and like feeling the vibe of the song and then with Solace Tristan and I wrote the lyrics for that song together and it's just about like mental health and you know wanting to like quiet your inner demons and stuff like that um, I actually ripped lyrics from "Era," their song "Nigh to Silence." He says, "I saw it in a dream and I passed it on." So I felt that. I was like, okay, this is so sick. So I wrote "Stuck in a Dream" and I passed on and it just goes into how suicide can affect family members and loved ones and stuff like that and how like alcoholism can be a really really big problem when it comes to grief.
Lizzie: So yeah, and then signing with other Thriller Records honestly, I think it was such an easy decision because we met the team and we were just amazed so Niko from Thriller he came out to our show in LA when we were on tour of the Attila
and just meeting him like I just already loved his vibe, his energy, he's so sweet. And like our show was at 4:30 on a Saturday and he hauled ass to come over and LA traffic. Yeah, like, I don't know, he's the real one for that. And yeah, overall, I think that everybody on the team is super passionate. And I love that, you know, there's only like, I think right now there's 10 bands signed and I just like that it's like close knit. Like it's not like a giant label. So I feel like that would be overwhelming. Like how do you how do you find like your brand and it's like everybody knows everybody and everyone has like their own vibe and like iconic element about each band yeah it's really cool like honestly I listened to all of the Thriller bands because they're just also sick yeah
Liv: Thriller is really great like thrill is really great like we we get to work really closely with everybody now you know that we're signed and it's been a really really good like enlightening experience because they're all super helpful and and getting to like, I guess work with everybody has been super sick. Like we love Bob, Bob's great. Megan, Katie, Nico, Nick, everybody on like the team is like fantastic.
Kara: Yeah, I feel like working with such a small label, it must be really great 'cause with all those like deeper connections, it must be feeling like working with family.
Liv: Everybody definitely is super super close net. So it's it's super helpful for sure.
Kara: So you're a two vocalist metal band, and you both do screams, which is pretty interesting, because most metal bands with two vocalists like I Prevail, for example, they have one person doing the cleans and the other person doing the screams but you both do the screams so I'm wondering like what is the thought process behind who does what kind of vocals for each song does it depend on like the vibe or style of the song how do you decide it?
Liv: So we pretty much go off of like the vibe of the song um we have like an album coming up um I won't say when but um on the I'm like, we definitely spice it up a little bit 'cause typically it was like, I would scream for the verses and Lizzie would sing and then we would layer her screams underneath the chorus and make it sound really cool. And then for breakdowns, we would layer together. But we've kind of gotten to the point now where it's like, we will chop up everything to like fit the vibe of the song. So like, we have a song coming out later. I'm not gonna say when, later, and it is a song just literally all screaming, and so we chop up the verses, we do the chorus together, and then we do the breakdown together too, and it like it came together really cool. I mean like it's the same when it comes to singing as well, like we with some new songs on the album, there's like no screams and it's like it's really cool. Yeah it's like a cool one because for this album and it's like it's really cool.
Lizzie: Yeah it's like a cool one because for this album it's 11 tracks and I think this is the ratio. I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure it's like split where it's like six choruses are me and five are Liv which are in this. I think so yeah
Liv: I think it's like pretty evenly split or something
Lizzie: Or something close to like where like there's a lot of singing parts with Liv that's I think
Liv: This is evenly split because there's one song where her and I sing the chorus together and like layered the shit out of it and it sounds so big and so clean, it's super cool.
Lizzie:Yeah, so overall, I'm excited because now people are going to be able to hear different sides of our voices, like different parts that we weren't even expecting ourselves. Like we are singing and screaming certain styles now that we were never expecting in the first place and really getting out of our shells, it got uncomfy, but eventually it worked out, so it was cool.
Liv: - Yeah, I mean, I definitely took like a, I don't want to say like a hard fall but like learning to just open up as like a full vocalist instead of being like yeah I just scream because I've been singing my whole life but I never really like wanted to show that and then working really closely with like Kaelin and Chris and like my man being in the band too they're all like encouraging me and being like yo just do it just do it just do it and I finally like broke out of that shell so it's been it also goes into the writing process too like it's it's been really cool well whatever the album comes
Kara: I've been listening since No Way Out came out and it's great like seeing you guys like seeing you guys getting more and more popular as the years go on.
Lizzie: That was March 2023 it's a long time yeah yeah almost two years
Kara: Time really does fly haha
Liv: Yeah. - It was the end of January. Wow. - Bonkers. That's crazy
Lizzie: That was around the time we met Tristian!
Kara: So your style is very unique and has a little bit of a spooky vibe to it, like goth girl dinner, very like horror vibes there. So what are your biggest musical inspirations or just like artistic inspirations in general?
Lizzie: Yeah. I would say like origin for like style and sound and vibes would totally be Amy Lee from Evanescence and Avril Lavigne. Those two are so influential. And then when it just comes to like sound in general, I definitely am very inspired from Asking Alexandria and I See Stars. And I'm also, like, huge into post-hardcore as well, like, growing up I always listened to, like, "Sleeping With Sirens," "Dance Gavin Dance," "Emarosa," but, you know, I typically just, like, name drop the metalcore ones first. But yeah, I feel like I'm, like, a hybrid between metalcore and post -hardcore, yeah.
Liv: And then, for me personally, when it comes down to, like, my cleans, I would have to say, like, Hayley Williams meets Miley Cyrus, so very, like big like open voice and I love like their stylistic choice when it comes to like music. They're both super talented and then I guess when it comes to screams like Mitch Lucker, the vocalist of Chelsea Grin, like they're all so great. I was a big deathcore kid so my vocal influences and like stylistic choice comes from all the old like deathcore greats so like Jopper Cowboy, Chelsea Grin, Suicide Silence and Emmure, stuff like that and then obviously like Asking Alexandria. I love the shit out of them.
Kara: All very great bands. I love the variety of like the genres that you're inspired by for your music.
Liv: Dude, Paramore is my all time favorite band and I will forever preach that. Like they're so good.
Kara: So you recently toured with the funeral portrait and Dark Divine and you have an upcoming tour with Capstan, which I will definitely be going to.
Lizzie: Oh, yeah, which city?
Kara: Philly!
Lizzie: It's sold out, that's a sold out one. I think, no, no, no, it's close. It's close. No, I think in the chat it's said that it's sold out. I don't know. It's close to selling out, I don't know.
Kara: So what is the touring experience like for you guys, especially in a mostly male dominated environment?
Liv: I would have to say like genuinely, even as like women, it's no different than like what a guy has to go through on tour. Like genuinely, I have all the highest praise to all the men in the scene that like paved the way for us to be doing what we're doing as well and all the women obviously. I would have to say like our touring experience is very like eat sleep repeat eat sleep repeat. We like typically are like up all night sleep all day like kind of vibe so Lizzie and I will be up and like I'll be driving and all that good stuff and we'll sit and like listen to music or play a fucking movie and like just chill and vibe out. Tour life is honestly like an experience that I could never take for granted. Like I, there's something about like being with all your closest homies and like obviously like I tour with my partner so it makes it so easy. But like being able to be in a van together and like just like embrace the sock, like honestly, it's pretty great.
Lizzie: Yeah, I definitely think that it's really fun, just how every night feels different, even though it's the same set. Like that's one of my favorite parts is just like, oh, I can never get sick of this. Even though I thought in my head maybe I would, I don't. I think that every night the people are different, the vibes are different, the venues different, and the food is always different, which is always fun. So overall like it's like kind of just like a really fun way to travel like it's probably my favorite honestly because you know at least everything's planned out like we get a itinerary every day; so it's like we don't have to like freak out and be like what am I doing? It's like yeah we know what we're doing. There's nothing there's no surprises most of the time and yeah, so I love it I think that honestly every tour gets better and better
Liv: Yeah, and to reel back to like even like Lizzie said like meeting all different kinds of people like meeting all of like people from different walks of life and people that like love every kind of music like it's it's cool to be able to meet all of our fans be able to talk to everybody and like feel out like the different states that we're in like everybody who has really good like food recommendations and they're like yo after your set go here and like it's it's cool it's cool for sure.
Kara: Yeah, touring sounds so fun, just getting to meet like so many different kinds of people, going to so many different places. It just seems so great. So you guys have come a long way in only a few years. Like I mentioned before, like before you guys even like have a full length album out, which is very impressive. So how do you think your music has evolved over time and how have you been handling this like very quick um virality like just like so early in your career?
Liv: That's such a good question um I would have to say when it comes to like music stylistically, we've changed so much because originally we were going for like post-hardcore meets like metalcore and crunkcore and like and like that whole vibe is so sick because you think back to like Attack Attack and like the whole like crunkcore scene and how everybody was like super tight-knit. I think stylistically when it comes to our music just going through like having like our official like solid group of people like none of us are going anywhere so it's like it's cool to know like we all everybody in the band has a different style of music that they like. Like Tristan likes post-hardcore, for Reese likes Midwest Emo, Jacob likes hardcore and like Midwest Emo stuff too and like Pop-Punk. And it's like, it's cool to see how all of it like comes together back before I even joined, like it was a big like post-hardcore project and then I joined and we had decided like to take a, like a heavier approach and you can definitely see like through the years of like the band where it's like kind of like gone up and up and it's cool and then I guess with like like how quickly we've like popped off it's a humbling experience I will say that because you go from like working a normal job and like you know just being an everyday human being to being like whoa we're going on tour we're in the studio and like genuinely it's just been like a really good experience. Like I am so grateful for everybody that's been a part of it, honestly.
Kara: Yeah, I can't imagine what it's like just like becoming popular like so quickly, just like having everything changed so fast. I can't imagine.
Liv: It's definitely scary for sure. Like you get in this groove of like, okay, like we're going to the shows, you'd be so sick and like getting to meet everybody and then you're like oh my god there's so many people here for us like I don't know how to handle that you know what I mean because you just want to meet everybody and be like ‘hi it's so nice to meet you guys’ it's, it's super cool.
Kara: So speaking of touring, what's your dream tour lineup or collaboration?
Lizzie: Ooh that's so hard, well how many bands? I just don't want to go too crazy. Like a standard tour?
Kara: As many as you want. It's chaotic.
Lizzie: No, no, no.
Lizzie: Liv, whenever you want to jump in, you can jump in. I'm just thinking. My dream tour is any tour that's going to be like an arena, genuinely.
Kara: Very valid.
Liv: We make the joke of Taylor Swift. laughs and like none of us in the band like her music but it'd be kind of cool to be able to be like ‘yo we're on tour with Taylor Swift like that's so hard’. Um my dream tour. because we genre blend all the time um would definitely be like a tour with Chelsea Grin or like, if Paramore wanted to tour with us like I, we would take that in a heartbeat like that would be so crazy um, and I get shit on for this one but Sleep Token like I love Sleep Token. I think they're great and I think their live presence is very very good and it'd be cool to like tour with them and learn from them. But yeah, I'd have to say like Asking Alexandria too, like genuinely all of our like inspirational like bands or who we would obviously love to tour with.
Lizzie: Yeah I would say like top three just to keep it simple. So I'd say Asking Alexandria, I See Stars and Bring Me The Horizon. I think that'd be really cool. I feel like I'm very influenced by all three. So that'd be super sick.
Liv: Bad Omens and Poppy, too would be so tough. That would be so cool.
Kara:These are all amazing choices. I would go to all of these shows.
Lizzie and Liv: laughs
Kara: So enough with the serious questions for now. We made some funny questions for you guys. Some silly goofy questions.
Liv: Of course. That's our favorite.
Kara: What is your guilty pleasure band or song that you love listening to?
Liv: guilty pleasure band or song, Damn, oh my god, I just have to pull it up
Kara: laughs
Liv: It's a stupid song I mean like my guilty pleasure is Sabrina Carpenter like I'm not I'm not gonna lie about it, I love the fuck out of her. She’s so great.
Kara: Honestly, it makes sense. She's super catchy.
Liv: Yes. Her vocals are so floaty too I'm like oh my god but I'd have to say ‘When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong’ by Emmure is like my guilty pleasure song like I listen to it when I need like a like like an ass beater vibe.
Lizzie: So hard! I'm still thinking um I don't know, I'll say what came to my mind um growing up my mom played a lot of Josh Groban and I will say like I won't skip a Josh Groban song like they're all good and they're all bops and like they just make you just want to like stand from like a balcony and just like have a bunch of birds and like it's great!
Liv: Yeah when you're wearing like a really fancy robe and you're like ‘yeah’. laughs
Kara: That is so valid
Lizzie: Yeah my mom had like a poster of Josh Groban like on her door like behind like she was like kind of hide it like it was like and like it's funny like she'll be like in a drive-thru and I'm so sorry she like watches this video. It's like ‘you don't want to throw me under the bus’ but we'll be like going through a drive-thru and like Josh Groban's playing and then she'll like turn down the music and she'll go "shh Joshy" so she can order food.
Liv: laughs Your poor mom.
Lizzie: I'm sorry! She does not call him Joshy, that was a joke. But yeah.
Kara: Your mom sounds amazing. So do you guys have any random useless talents?
Liv: My voice impressions, genuinely, laughs
Kara: Is it a Carl Wheezer impression?
Liv: My Carl Wheezer impression, I can do stitch pretty well, like, it's just all over the place. I would have to say a useless talent is like, I have a really good arm. I used to play softball. So like anytime someone will say ‘yo you want to go play catch?’ I'm like ‘dude I will freaking destroy you.’ I think that's pretty much it on my end.
Lizzie: I would say that my kick is very strong so I guess it could be like handy but the only time I've ever like caused damage was when I wasn't supposed to, but I've broken two of my friends fingers.
Kara: Oh, no.
Lizzie: One, I was playing soccer, and then one was just play fighting. But yeah, I think it's the horse girl legs going back to the horseback riding. So yeah, life's a steal. laughs
Kara:The horse girl life always follows you.
Lizzie: It really does. When we track vocals, hers says, ‘Liv’ on it, and then mine says, ‘horse girl’. Just so because - Lizzie and Liv is too close together.
Kara: That is amazing. Okay, so to close things off on a more serious note, what can fans expect from your next release and how soon can we expect it?
Liv: Looking at like March for when you can expect something else and then my like biggest thing is that everybody is gonna be just shocked, like everybody's just gonna be shocked I think, I think it's gonna be like like oh ‘whoa I didn't know they could do that’ like yeah it's it's our deathcore song on the album so I think everybody's gonna like lose their shit.
Kara: That sounds great
Lizzie: Yeah it's one of our personal favorites yeah but yeah it's a bop, super excited.
Liv: Yeah it's super cool I think, I think like you can expect like definitely like, like ass beater shit vocal styles that you haven't heard from Lizzie or myself yet um and just some really heavy chugs and really crazy like drum patterns for sure.
Lizzie: Yeah and we're also gonna be playing it I think on the Capstan tour yeah so it'll be exciting to see how that goes and it's kind of funny because it's like the ass beater one but like we're like opening the show and like you're the heaviest band. We're going to scare families and stuff, but it's okay.
Liv: It's like kids with their moms are like, "Mom, I love Capstan," and I was just like, "Hey, we're about to blow your freaking mind."
Kara: I'm very excited to see you guys go deathcore. And one last question for you guys. What advice would you give to any up and coming artists trying to break into the scene today?
Liv: My biggest advice would be to just hold your scene close. So the scene that you come up in is a scene that never leaves you. And we will always have a home in Orlando. And we have a lot of friends and family and fans that are here that we've become super close with. Never forget where you came from it's it like I can't stress enough that the rockstar mentality only gets you so far um and you have to be a humble, kind person to people.
Kara: definitely
Liv: Being in like a like powerful position I guess I don't even know how I would like like what word I would use um but being a bigger band like just learning like, it's okay to set boundaries, but it's not okay to be an asshole and like it like treating your fans and the people that helped you come up is super important because like, those people deserve to be treated with kindness. They pay your bills. Like, you know what I mean?
Kara: Exactly.
Lizzie: I would say, yeah, a big part of it is community and building a team that you trust and you believe in it. I think that having a team is so important because when you first start off, you think that you can handle everything and do everything yourself, but then you realize you're exhausted and you get really burnt out. So it's really important to figure out like, "Okay, well, if I want to create a demo, who am I going to go to? Who do you think is going to make this sound the way that you envisioned, but even better because they have their own ideas?" I feel like one of the biggest mistakes is sometimes just being stuck in your own closet, trying to produce stuff and then you've realized ‘wait I ran out of ideas and I'm tired.’ laughs So it's important to have a producer that you trust, a manager that you trust, bandmates that you trust, you know. Don't be afraid to be like okay this is not the vision that I'm going for and like figure out some arrangements where they actually do work.
Liv: Yeah
Lizzie: You know because at the end of the day like your band is a representation of you so it's important to make sure those morals and values are all like appellate for sure.
Liv: Make sure that like you have good bandmates to back you and like people that you love to work with and love to be around all the time. I can't stress that enough. Like everybody in our band is so, so close with each other. Like me, Tristan, and then Reese and Jacob all live in the same house. So I, and Lizzie is over all the time. So we're like always together, like always cooking on new ideas, just making sure that like you're with people that are you know, super creative and are gonna help you know to make your creativity proactive and stuff like that.
Kara: That's all definitely amazing advice. So thank you guys for sitting down with us today and talking about new music and everything else and we can't wait to see what you guys have cooking in the future.
Liv: Of course, thank you for having us. We're excited to meet you!
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