Interview: Mellor on their new EP
Originally published on AltReading on 10th March 2016
Our pop-smack local musical heroes Mellor recently noted as one of the emerging acts of 2016 on the Glastonbury Festival Longlist will be taking to the stage this weekend at the Oakford Social Club to launch their new EP Damage/Joy. We catch up with their cheeky-chappie, happy go lucky drummer Sam Igoe who bring us up to speed on all things Mellor related.
What have you guys been up since your amazing launch party for your last EP ‘I Know Where You’re Sleeping Tonight’ last year?
The back end of last year was heavily focused on writing new material so that we have a live set that we’re all happy with, and to have four solid tracks for our new EP. We spent a couple of weeks tucked away in a studio in Hoxton with Mo Hausler getting our EP recorded and played as many live shows as we could.
Mellor underwent a big line up change at the beginning of last year. Has the restructure and revamp of the band been beneficial for everyone?
Yes definitely, everything has felt fresh and the new material has had input from everyone, it’s definitely been an exciting shake up.
Towards the end of last year you guys introduced your social media fans to a feature called ‘Mellor Mondays’ which proved to be very popular. How did the idea for the feature come about?
We were having a drink or two on a Monday night and it kind of just come about in conversation. Mellor Mondays seemed to roll of the tongue quite nicely so we went with it to have a bit of fun, rest assured it’ll be back very soon.
Who determined what tracks you chose to cover on ‘Mellow Mondays?’ And are there plans to do any future covers through the feature?
It was a joint decision on what songs to try and butcher. We all settled on choosing tracks that were current, and ones we thought we could put our own little spin on. You’ll have to keep your eyes peeled.
Do you guys promote your own gigs?
Of course, if we’re playing live then you’ll know about it.
How easy or difficult is it to do?
There’s only a certain amount you can do obviously and it’s up to those people coming to your gigs to actually turn up or not. We just try to put on a live show that leaves people wanting to come back and see us again.
One of the bands you have chosen to perform alongside you guys at your forthcoming EP launch party is ‘Haize’ who happen to be one of the acts on our AltReading Sound of 2016 list. How does your band decide who they would like to support them at their headline gigs?
It’s always in our interests to support other bands from Reading, and to have them support us. Haize keep getting better every time we see them, they’ve certainly got a big future in music, no doubt. In terms of choosing support, it’s a joint decision again if we’re putting on our own gig. If it’s a gig being run by a promoter then 9 times out of 10, they will already have support acts sorted.
What else can we expect from your forthcoming gig in your set? Obviously tracks from your new Damage/Joy EP? Perhaps we some of your classics thrown in for good measure?
We’ve been writing a lot since we recorded the EP so there will be plenty of new tracks in there with a few old ones thrown in for good measure. Most of all, it’ll be energetic, loud, and sweaty.
If you guys perform ‘Ruby Love’ a favourite of ours at Alt Reading Towers, will Gary be dressing up as a woman again like he did in this video?
Gary only cross dresses on Sundays now. Our launch gig is on a Saturday so I don’t think it’ll be happening unfortunately.
Can you give a brief synopsis of what each of the tracks are about on your new EP?
Win Me Over — It’s sort of an anti-social media song, in the sense that everyone seems to compete to be the funniest or really just want people to see how great their life is; hence the lyrics “you put your words upon a page, who likes it?”. We all have social media, but there’s a lot of aspects we strongly dislike — way too many people live their life looking through a phone.
Dolly Daydream — It’s basically about a chronic day dreamer.
Going Nowhere — Pretty much about a difficult relationship and whether certain problems are pointing towards an inevitable break up.
Schadenfreude — Schadenfreude is a German word literally meaning ‘Damage Joy’ (hence the EP title). It means gaining pleasure from one’s misfortune. So the song is basically just based around that meaning.
Mellor hosted their EP Launch for Damage/Joy at the Oakford Social Club on Saturday 12th March 2016.
The new EP ‘Damage/Joy’ is available to pre-order online.
