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Melwood's one of the most anticipated bands of 2020. With a brand new EP out and a few shows booked for this year, you'll definitely hear more from the Liverpool band.
When we spoke to Tom, lead singer of the band, the EP was about to come out, it's actually now available on Spotify (and all streaming platform) and you can hear it here.
Here's the "tea" on the band and the new EP.
How did you guys start the band?
I left university with a degree in a totally different sector, but I’d always wanted to be involved with music, but hadn’t really sung in front of anyone apart from my bedroom walls. Firstly, it was anxious, then it got easier, now its second nature. I met Benny on a website where you start up bands and we instantly connected. Had known Josh through our emo phases but hadn’t met properly until our first practice. We had an old guitarist Danny who isn’t in Melwood anymore, but we keep in touch. Then shortly afterwards I met Nathan our bassist. Ed was a late appointment after Danny’s departure. The rest is history.
Why the name Melwood?
Well we started with the title Evergreen, but it just didn’t stick and felt too Pop Punk for where we were going. Then it was Melwood Drive for a while and this name just came in passing. However, we wanted to be one-word titled band, so drive was to be gotten rid of! Melwood.
You got to play a lot of shows in 2019. What can we expect this year?
We did! And after analysing the full year I was so shocked just how many shows we did as a band our size. The bands we have toured with we are now close friends with, and we just seem to click with whoever we get paired with, so it just makes the process ten times more enjoyable. As well as the self-power of the difference of playing in front of 5 people to 150 people is a massive change of mindset but its never phased us.
This year you can expect more from us, we have the record coming out and this has already helped us with support slots, and we are only just reaching March. We have a few months off now until around May because we want the EP to just do its thing and hopefully people like it!
You’ve recently played a show with Woes, one of their last shows ever. How was the experience?
Honestly, from my opinion it’s my favourite show I’ve ever played. Emotionally and performance wise. We had a ton of family, friends and even fans there so it just really makes everything more homely. Overset opened whom we are good friends with, Bronnie is a sister to us all and she just absolutely kills every show that she plays. Woes were phenomenal and it was a great send off in our hometown for them. With 160 watching us and reacting to our tracks, goosebumps man.
Self Worth is one of your latest tracks. What is it about?
Ahh Self Worth, it’s the most technical on the EP I think, and I wrote this song when I was heading into a rut mentally. Picking up the pieces that you sort of left when you felt lost. Cause sometimes when you are feeling down and you feel like your running underwater (excuse the pun) you hit a timescale where everything becomes slower, and its easy to get into that mindset but hard to escape it too. That emotion and feeling I was trying to capture. The song builds around self-preservation and acknowledging you have issues, embracing them and finding ways to fight these feelings.
What was the writing and recording process behind it?
Being honest, before Ed and before we did a demo of this song it was entirely different, especially Ed's part in the middle eight, that was none existent until he came in and it turned out to be a fan favourite now, mad. He was a big part in this track coming to life I think because originally, we had a few people in mind to do guest vocals but we went against it and kept our own soul into the track. We wanted to be experimental with it too, find synths and guitar tones that stand out, I think specifically with the lead guitar tone. I think it came out nicely in the end, right?
You have an EP out. Can you tell us more about it?
We do! Unreal considering, we recorded in March 2019. What a long year waiting. I think the best way to describe it is organic. We wrote this with no solid motive of theme that was consistent throughout. These are five tracks that are entirely different to one another. We have Self Worth and Sombre which you already know about. Wither is released, recorded and remastered, its completely different to the original that was released. This is tiny bits of You Me At Six vibes in it and its our oldest song so we brought it back in a different light! Heavy Breathing is our heaviest, I don’t mean very heavy but heavy for us. Its fast paced, big chorus, and a nice healthy breakdown. We always open with the track live too! At last but DEFINITELY not least is Amsterdam. The first full song lyrically I ever wrote. It’s my favourite from the EP and we shot a really cool video for it too! Our sister Kiani Geldard features in the track and we just bounce of each other. The whole is about serious matters but delivered in such a happy way that you forget how deep it really is. This is the song I’m most excited to show you!
What’s next for Melwood?
What’s next? Well after a year of playing five songs live, we are writing now which surprises me too because we’ve just not had the time to sit and do it. But the new stuff we have going is cool and different. Not too different but we get a bit more technical! Some shows to announce soon as well, some exciting ones too! It’s a slow start to the year for us show wise but we are building up for a busy summer and end to the year, trust me!
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