Rock and Pop: Interview - Brixton 6-piece Melodica, Melody and Me.
Published: 17 February 2011
by ROISIN GADELRAB
THERE'S a lot to learn about Melodica, Melody and Me.
The Brixton six-piece have as many facets as the eclectic range of instruments they employ.
Take singer Huw Williams. On face, he’s a polite singer and musician who formed a band with his schoolmates – a band which has toured with Mumford and Sons, Laura Marling and Bombay Bicycle Club among others.
Enquire further and you find he’s a philosophy graduate and special needs teaching assistant.
But it’s not until much later that Huw reveals he’s just completed his tree surgeon qualification, is a bit of an environmentalist and used to grow vegetables on his own allotment – all at just 23.
And he’s not unique. Among the group are a mental health worker and a sports journalism student who has somehow managed to rope eminent political philosopher Noam Chomsky into an email exchange on his thesis on the socialist nature of American sports.
They have at times referred to their music as folk-step “but it never stuck”, said Huw.
Central to their sound is the melodica, but the Kora and the Charango (Latin American lute) are also in there as their harmonies and folk finger-picking are laid over Andean sounds, reggae skanks and African rhythms.
Legendary dub producer Augustus Pablo’s work defined their sound at the start.
Huw said: “He plays the melodica on dub and reggae tracks. When we first got one we thought it was special, but it turns out they’re used all over the world to teach kids how to play the piano. In some places it’s like the most annoying instrument in the world – the equivalent of the recorder.”
They’re haunted by their choice of band name, inspired by Roald Dahl’s The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me.
Huw said: “The amount of times it’s been in reviews and billings as something completely different, like Medolica, Medallions and Me. They’re coming up with better ones!”
They record in guitarist Rudi’s old bedroom, converted into a home studio, with the help of Rudi’s father, Bafta-winning sound editor of The King’s Speech, André Schmidt.
Huw said: “We’ve got access to good equipment but without having to pay the hourly rate at a studio – it’d bankrupt the whole thing.”
The four boys only really began playing instruments aged 17, later bringing in Rudi’s sister Anna (vocals) and drummer Greta.
They play the Lock Tavern on February 22.
Huw said: “Whenever we play in Camden, we always try and find food first, struggle really badly, eat those cheap pizzas and end up feeling really ill. And we get enticed by the Chinese foods – it always seems like such a good idea.”
How does he compare Camden to Brixton?: “Brixton’s a good place for music, there’s The Hootenanny and The Windmill, it’s one of the few places in south London where you get to see live bands.
“Camden’s good but there’s a more relaxed, gritty, grimy atmosphere in south London. But it’s changing. Brixton is getting so trendy these days that it kind of feels like east London sometimes.”
They’ve just toured with Johnny Flynn.
“We did an acoustic line-up with only four of us so we all crammed into one car and were driving round the country,” said Huw.
“Luckily, in every town we had a friend of a friend who let us sleep on their floor. It was in the height of the winter and the snow and we were sleeping on kitchen floors, having the worst sleep, but it was good. The most glamorous it gets is staying at the Holiday Inn. I prefer to be at a mate’s house.”
Huw described Bombay Bicycle Club, who they toured with in July, as “really nice, quiet, really gentle guys”, adding: “You get very few windows to hang out and get drunk because you’re always driving to the next gig, but we did our best. On the last night we had a big party at one of their houses.”
And he revealed they are yet to select an album name: “That’ll be a big discussion, that might lead to a fight. You don’t want to name it after one of the tracks or maybe you do, but you don’t want a name you’re embarrassed about for the rest of your life.
“Our band name gets derided enough, we’ll have to balance it out with a good name for the album.”
Single Come Outside is out on April 4.