Introducing: Rila’s Edge

Image Credit: Helena Rose Coma

Bringing box-room energy to festival stages and fuzzed-out guitar lines to indie-pop heartbreak, Rila’s Edge are a band that sound like they’ve finally hit their stride — and they’re not slowing down. With their new single ‘Undone’, the Berkshire five-piece deliver a raw, high-octane anthem that grapples with love, self-worth, and the chaos in between. It’s a bold statement from a band steadily climbing the ranks of the UK’s alt-rock scene — earning praise from Clash, 1883, Earmilk, and building a cult following through sold-out shows and relentless DIY spirit.

We caught up with guitarist and lyricist Ollie Hedin to talk about depression, delay pedals, and why Undone might just be their sonic turning point.

1. ‘Undone’ feels both emotionally raw and sonically explosive. Can you talk us through how the song evolved—from the initial lyric idea to the final full-band recording in the studio?

The track started as a voice note with the verse riff, after having that on loop for a few days I sat down to make a demo and pretty much wrote the whole instrumental in one sitting. It's lovely when a track comes together that quickly. I spent maybe two evenings refining the lyrics - which also came quickly. I had a few really strong lyrics and I just built the rest of the track around that. I wish all of the tracks I wrote materialised as easily as this one did. After that I took the track to the band and everyone added their own flare to the parts, but overall the song didn't change very much. The main thing that changed was the lyrics for the bridge. In my original demo, I had lifted the lyrics word for word from a U2 track.

2. You’ve mentioned wanting to capture the energy of ‘1979’ by The Smashing Pumpkins, but with an early U2 feel. What is it about that era or those bands that resonates with you, and how do you balance nostalgia with keeping your sound fresh?

I think those bands resonate with me because it's what I grew up listening to and lots of their music is very positive. They are from an era when rock music was mainstream and I still hold onto that. I think for this track, the nostalgia comes from the actual sounds and effects used as well as the melodies. The freshness comes from the way we recorded the tracks and the way the guys from Numen and Max Helyer produced the track.

3. The lyric “you need to love yourself before you can love someone else” gets challenged in ‘Undone’. Was it important for you to subvert that message, and how have your fans responded to the vulnerability in the track?

I don't really know whether the saying is true or not, I had just never heard anyone question it before. I think it's the kind of thing people say and don't really think about, like when people say 'It is what it is." That means hardly anything and sometimes life can be a bit more nuanced than that. No one outside the band has mentioned the vulnerability of the track which makes me glad because I would probably feel very embarrassed and try to change the conversation. But I really enjoyed discussing the lyrics with the other guys in the band. I don't write many lyrics by myself so It was fun explaining what I meant to the others.

4. You recorded the track using Max Helyer’s gear and described going “a bit crazy” with delays and tones. What’s one piece of kit or technique that completely changed the direction of the song?

We absolutely did! For the lead guitar in the chorus we had a Roland Space Echo and one of the older EHX memory man pedals from the 90's - both great sounding delays which got everyone in the room really excited when we recorded that part. Aside from that, I think recording the song in drop D tuning was a first for us and made us sound heavier than we have in the past. But nothing which massively changed the direction of the song, our demos are usually pretty representative of how we want to sound and we spend a lot of time getting feedback from the producers before we actually record a track. We can't really afford to go and mess about too much in the studio so we are always completely prepared.

5. With headline shows, festival crowds, and over 280K streams under your belt, how do you feel your sound—and your chemistry as a band—has evolved since your debut in 2021?

As a band, each new track just gives us more of an understanding of what we sound like and what we want to sound like. It would be pretty tricky to listen to one song from an artist and feel like you understand exactly what they sound like. Over the years, there are tracks we have stopped playing live and tracks that don't excite us anymore. We are still learning and just trying to make what sounds good to us at the end of the day. I think we have embraced being a rock band in recent years. It's more fun for us to play heavier songs. In terms of chemistry, we have all been friends now for the best part of ten years so I feel like I can completely be myself around the rest of the guys and I feel like that is such a great gift, especially when we are writing songs together which can force you to be honest. We laugh a lot when we are together, and I've always said, the band feels stronger than normal friendship to me because we are also sharing our dreams and expressing ourselves together.