All-female band Plush hopes Allentown show is part of eye-opening road to the top

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Moriah Formica, singer/guitarist for the rising all-female rock band Plush, knows that at 23, she has plenty to learn out there in the world of popular music.

But Formica already has experiences on the TV singing competitions "American Idol" and "The Voice" — on which, at 16 in 2017, she was one of the youngest competitors in the history of the NBC-TV show to have all four judges turn their chairs for her.

And her band already has had the Top 40 Mainstream Rock chart hits “Hate” and “Left Behind.”

So Formica said she hopes Plush's stop Thursday, June 6, at Maingate Nightclub in Allentown as part of its first headline tour is just another step toward the top.

“I hope that we would continue to play as many places as we can, put out as much music as we can," Formica said in a recent phone call from a truck stop in Chicago.

"Hope for people to be able to connect with our music and apply it to whatever they’re going through in their lives. Just like the music that helped us when we were growing up, and still now."

Tickets, at $20 in advance and $28 at the door, are on sale now atwww.ticketweb.com. The show is for ages 21 and older.

Formica formed Plush after her run on "The Voice," which she called "one of the best experiences of my life."

"I met some really great people," she said. "And I learned a lot of things about myself, picked up a lot of new skills and some new confidence.

“‘American Idol’ wasn’t as great, but that was shorter, but definitely a different atmosphere than ‘The Voice.’ But nonetheless, both of them were great learning experiences and I would never, ever, regret either of them.

“And also the exposure from those shows is priceless. It’s a really amazing opportunity."

Pushing past the pandemic

Plush — which also includes lead guitarist Bella Perron, bassist Ashley Suppa and drummer Faith Powell — released its self-titled debut disc in 2021.

That album saw its single “Hate” hit No. 24 on the Mainstream Rock chart before the coronavirus pandemic quickly doused any momentum the band had gained.

But Formica said, “We look at the pandemic as, like, kind of a blessing and a curse for us."

"The curse is obvious — it changed the whole entire world. It changed society, it was horrible.

“But it really kind of gave us time to, you know, think and build a plan and write some songs and think about what we wanted to do when we were able to hit the ground running again when the world opened back up.

“So there were a lot of positives that came through that that gave us an opportunity to plan that we would not have had the pandemic not happened.”

During the pandemic, Formica released cover versions of rock songs, with several getting millions of views. One of those, Heart’s “Barracuda,” with drummer Brooke Colucci, got 7 million views across both of their social media platforms.

Then in 2023, Plush released its sophomore disc, the EP, “Find the Beautiful,” with its first single, “Left Behind,” peaking at No. 33 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

It also includes a formal cover of “Barracuda.”

"Heart is just absolutely legendary and [singer] Ann Wilson is just someone who I really looked up to as a vocalist," Formica said.

"And she’s just amazing — she’s one of the best voices in the world, period, regardless of female voices or rockers or not. Just a legendary voice, period.

“And so we kind of wanted to pay homage to Heart for paving the way for young female rock bands. And then also, it was one of the first songs that we learned as a band together. So it was kind of a sentimental feel."

The song got so much positive feedback that Plush included it on its new EP.

"We were, like, ‘You know what?’ We been covering this song for a little while now. Why don’t you try to do a studio version,'" she said. "So that’s how that came about.”

'Soak up all that I could'

The rest of the seven-song EP is "a pretty good reach," Formica said.

"We tried to expand from the first album a little bit and incorporate some more elements, some more influences from different areas. And also some maturity in some of the writing, as well.

“I think we definitely feel that with this new EP. It’s definitely the next step in the Plush evolution, if you will,” she said with a laugh.

While this is Plush's first headlining tour, it has opened for KISS, Bush, Breaking Benjamin, Alice in Chains, Evanescence and others, and toured with platinum-selling chart-topping metal band Disturbed and Falling in Reverse.

“That was incredible — that was, like, pretty surreal," Formica said. "They are all very nice guys. They were super welcoming, super fun, funny people.

"And not to mention, both bands put on a crazy freaking show. It was insane to watch every night. And we were just super honored to be out with them.”

It also was another of those learning experiences, Formica said.

“Simply just sitting back each night, watching how [Falling in Reverse singer] Ronnie Radke and [Disturbed singer] David Draiman both as frontmen, how they command the stage and just seeing how they completely – they really do just command the stage," she said.

“And I just wanted to be a sponge and soak up all that I could,” she said with a laugh.

While the tour is keeping Plush busy enough to prevent them from writing, the band is now about at the halfway point and expects to get down to making new music when the tour is done, Formica said.

The tour has “been, honestly, so amazing," she said.

"We didn’t know what to expect going into it. You never know if 15 people are going to show, 100, you never know. So we’ve been really pleasantly surprised with the support and the turnouts and just the energy on the tour.

“It’s definitely been a grind for sure," she said, laughing again. "But it’s worth it. It’s all worth it, and we're just so grateful. This tour has been amazing so far.”

The next step, she said, is “I would hope to go overseas. I would hope to go to Europe and hopefully get to play some of the festivals there. That would be amazing.”