meloD

I sat down with the electronic music composer and talked about the link between music and science, ditching prom to go to Coachella and the road to a self-produced album.

Q: How did you get into music?

A: Music has been a part of my whole life. My mom is always playing music, so it’s always been around me. But what really changed my life, I guess, when I fell in love with electronic music, is I went to Coachella music festival instead of going to my junior prom. It changed my life. I really didn’t know that that whole live-music world existed, and from there I just fell in love with it. I didn’t go to my senior prom, either – I went back to Coachella, and I’ve gone every year since.

Q: Is (music) what you’re going to do? I saw in your bio that you have a degree in molecular biology?

A: I got a degree at Fort Lewis in cellular and molecular biology, but music is my passion. I don’t regret at all getting that degree; everything was such a learning experience and brought me to where I am now.

Q: It seems like science would play a really big role in – especially doing electronic music – do you feel that your scientific training ...

A: There’s definitely deep thinking that goes into both. A lot of what science and what I’ve studied these days is about like looking at cells and trying to figure out new medical and research-type things, so it’s cool with music, too. There’s anything you can do and so many possibilities, so there’s definitely a lot of deep thinking that goes into it

Q: Tell me about your music.

A: My music is high-energy, aggressive electronic music. It’s all house-based, so there’s a beat on every quarter note. I love house music; that’s where it all stems, I love the driving beat. So, everything’s kind of based off that. Really, the goal of what I’m creating and trying to do is I want people when they come to my show to almost feel like they’re in an action movie. I want it to be an intense experience that you can’t really get anywhere else.

Q: You released your debut album “Brain Spiders” last summer.

A: I’ve been working on “Brain Spiders” for ... it was about three years in the making. I kind of started meloD in 2013. I found music as my way to put my feelings toward something. What “Brain Spiders” is – I’m so afraid of spiders; it’s like my only weakness. I made up my own metaphor because everyone has these thoughts in their head they wish they could just stop thinking about that are crippling to life. ... That was the whole concept behind everything, and the whole album was a learning process.

Q: Is it self-produced?

A: Oh yeah. Every single sound, every single note on the album, I made. I organized, composed, the vocals are all me. I composed it, mixed it, mastered it. I got all the art ... I did it all by myself.

Q: Was it fun?

A: It was super-fun. It’s what I love. I think about music all the time. ... It’s what I like to talk to my friends about. I just knew that no matter what, if I did something with music, I’d be happy; it’s just what I love.

Q: Was it a pretty easy process once you got down to it?

A: There were a lot of things that were difficult. What was actually really cool about the process was, going along, I kept running into things I never even dreamed I’d have to know. I was like, ‘I just want to make music.’ But then when it actually came to releasing the album, there was a lot of stuff, as far as artwork – I had to learn how to do my own artwork, and promotion, formatting stuff ... there was just a lot.

Q: So what’s next for you?

A: I would love to continue playing shows. I’m also always working on music. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to come out in the future, but I’m really excited about it. ... One more thing: I’d like to just say, kind of give a shout-out to the community because there’ve been a lot of people in the community that have stepped out and helped me along the way. ... It’s really been this town, honestly, this community that has given me so many opportunities to be where I’m at now. - The Durango Herald