paper-deer : a music blog in melbourne: INTERVIEW: The Melodics

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Sometimes bands meld together genres, and it sounds like the sonic equivalent of some dodgy guy welding together two cars in his backyard. Terrible.

One Melbourne band that has been doing it right are The Melodics. Known for their undeniably satisfying mash of electro, rock, new wave and hip hop, these cool kids sold out the Hi Fi last year for the launch of their debut album 4D. One year later, they're back at it again with the upcoming release of Paint It Gold.

Paper-Deer chats to the synth-hoppers about fusing sounds, crazy performances and wearing women's underwear.

The Melodics seem to draw influence from so many different genres – hip hop, new wave, electro rock, synth pop. Does each member listen to very different music?

Driving around in the tour van is often testament to the diversity of taste. The speakers will be blasting Iggy Pop, Shostakovich and Black Star, all in the one trip. It's always been in our nature to play a shit load of different styles, the biggest challenge has been trying to narrow it down. I think our love of the eighties synth-pop and post-punk era has helped us bring it in. Human League, Devo, Talking Heads, Siouxsie & The Banshees and all that good stuff has inspired us a lot.

What was it like selling out The Hi-Fi Bar for your Melbourne launch of 4D?

It was wild! It was great to witness that many crew gave a shit and wanted to come see us do our thing. I guess it felt particularly good because we were entirely self-managed at the time and we weren't sure whether we should book out such a huge room… so to pack it out felt bananas.

Paper-Deer has heard Jeremedy describe 4D as a “best of”. How would you describe your upcoming release Paint Me Gold?

If 4D was a “best of” I'd call Paint Me Gold a psychedelic sampler. If 4D was a lengthily journey I'd call Paint Me Gold a short trip out. If 4D was a complex painting I'd call Paint Me Gold a well refined design. If 4D was an eclectic debut from a cross-genre band I'd call Paint Me Gold a kick in the pants from an electric ninja.

The 4D launch featured some crazy shit. How are you planning on topping your horn section, guest rappers, extra drummer and 3D visuals for the Paint Me Gold launch?

It's much like the difference in the 2 CDs… last time was about emphasising the diversity, whereas this time around it's all about refining and delivering a coherent set of bangers. Of course there’s still a flippin’ huge amount of variance and a bunch of guest artists and visuals but it will be ten times fatter and ten times more direct.

There are some seriously excellent producers on 4D, like Jan Skubiszewksi, Russel Fawcus and Forrester Savell. Did each of them have a different approach to your music?

Jan is the hip as fuck modern dude with a vision, Russell is the master of texture and sounds, Forrester is the super chill visionary with massive sonic balls. The Melodics are just lab rats with synths and drums and a little book of lyrics.

Any embarrassing secrets or funny stories about The Melodics that you can share with Paper-Deer?

Yeah. Our bass player Jamie Barlow likes to wear women's underwear on stage. He says it makes him feel more comfortable - don't tell him I told you.

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