Introducing Melody Pool (Interview)

Australian singer-songwriter Melody Pool has come out of nowhere…well, actually, Kurri Kurri, in NSW…to produce a debut album of astonishing maturity. The Hurting Scene is full of beautifully intimate songs, many of which reflect Pool’s own experiences. The album was recorded in Nashville, funded by Crowdfunding and released in Australia last year. Now, on the eve of her first tour of New Zealand with Marlon Williams, The Hurting Scene has received a NZ release. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke with Melody Pool about her songwriting and singing with Marlon Williams.

Click here to listen to the interview with Melody Pool:

Or read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: So you’re coming here and we need to find out more about you.

MP: Yes

MD: Alrighty. And you’re coming with Marlon Williams right?

MP: Yup

MD: And so are you and Marlon singing together over there at the moment?

MP: Um, no well, we’ve kind of just hooked up this tour and haven’t really known each other but liked each other’s music. We did a few YouTube videos to promote the tour and sang together on that and yeah. It’s gonna be pretty cool, we gel really well musically so this tour is kind of the start of… yeah, New Zealand’s the start of our big tour together.

MD: Have you done anything like that before where you’ve teamed up with, especially a male singer/songwriter and had him sing your songs and vice versa?

MP: No, I have toured with other bands and male songwriters but never…always as a backing singer more like I’ll always open the shows and play guitar and sing harmonies or something…never as kind of headline tour with another guy and we get to do duets and stuff. It’s really cool. I’m really excited for it.

MD: Yeah I saw the clip where Marlon was singing Pretty Little End. I was wondering how you felt about your song being sung by someone else while you’re right there. I imagine these songs are fairly personal for you and written with your voice in mind so hearing someone else sing it must be kind of interesting at least.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOhTDPQ8QdM]

MP: Yeah it’s actually surprisingly really refreshing.  I really liked it when we were rehearsing them and Marlon was really nervous to sing it to me cause I had written it and I was excited to hear it and vice versa, when I did a song of his as well, it’s on YouTube. Um and I was really nervous to sing it to him but he was really excited to hear it from someone else. So yeah it’s really cool to hear someone else do your own song.

MD: Now we need to go back and get a little background information from you because most folks in New Zealand probably haven’t heard of you. The album is called The Hurting Scene and you’re originally from where?

Melody-Pool_0MP: Um, originally, originally, from Perth but I live, have lived, I’m based in the Hunter Valley, in New South Wales and currently in limbo in moving down to Melbourne.

MD: I see.

MP: So I’m all over the place at the moment.

MD: And when I read the reviews of the album, people have kind of compared you to folks like Joni Mitchell and you know singer/songwriters from that era. Is that a legitimate comparison, is that the stuff that you kind of come from?

MP: Yeah I think that’s fair. I mean I came from country music but when I started writing music it just didn’t come out that way and I remember showing a song to a friend and they said you should listen to Joni Mitchell. And I was like,  ‘Who is Joni Mitchell?’, cause I just didn’t grow up around her and yeah since then I just, I love her like I think it’s, it is quite clear that I draw a lot of the inspiration from her.

MD: And from what I understand, the album came about to be recorded because it was funded by crowd funding. Is that right?

MP: Yeah.

MD: So how did that work for you? It’s still a relatively new thing, especially for an old guy like myself. So maybe you can explain how that, how that got you to Nashville, where the record was made.

MP: I was kind of was really irked about it cause I didn’t wanna seem like I was begging for money or anything, but I kinda set it up like a pre-order system. Like people could buy the record before it’s made.

MD: Right.

MP: And help pay for it with the money that they’ve paid to buy it. And so I put just a goal of $5000 dollars on it cause it was kind of the least that I needed and the most I thought I should get and I ended up doubling it which was really awesome. So I could spend a bit more time in the studio even though we kind of did the whole record in 6 days.

MD: Right. Oh really.

MP:  Yeah, yeah. We recorded live.

MD: And it was recorded in Nashville. Was it the first time in the studio recording?  It Is fairly impressive to be able to cut a record in 6 days so.

MP: Um no. I’ve have been in a couple of times. I had to do two EPs when I was younger but they’re just kind of you know doing a track by track and over dubbing whereas this album was the first time I recorded live so we went in as a band live and recorded the record in about, we recorded every track, all the tracks in about 3 days I think.

MD: Right.

MP: And over dubbed for the next 3 days with strings and harmonies and did a bit of mixing and it was done.

MD: And that was with Brad Jones producing right?

MP: Brad Jones and Jace Everett.

MD: Because Brad seems to have some kind of Australian connection. He’s produced quite a few other Australian acts. Is that the reason that you worked with him?

MP: No, it’s just kind of a coincidence. I just got to team up with him because, so it was kind of Jace Everett who…he toured out here and I went on tour with another girl. I was singing harmonies and playing guitar for her and he heard some of my songs and just said if you wanna come to Nashville and do your record, I’d love to produce it and I’d like to get some friends in on it as well and Brad Jones has done all of his records so he’s just kind of got Brad involved from there.

MD: Okay so, what I’d really like to talk about some of these songs. These fantastic, especially lyrically just amazing

MP: Thank you.

MD: And I get the feeling initially at least that there’s two types of songs that you write. There’s these kind of very personal relationship based songs and then the others are kind of like character studies. Is that how you look at it?

MP: I guess so, I guess so, I don’t analyse it that much but I think that you can tell a lot from what I’m feeling from the songs whether it’s something that’s super raw, it comes out more like the former and if I’m feeling more creative or I feel more inspired it would come out more like a latter.

MD: So I would guess the song like Henry is a song that is more raw and personal, is that right?

MP: Yeah for sure.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHWwXiSBfD4]
MD: And would we be correct in assuming that these are based on actual incidents that take place in your life or are you making this stuff out of thin air.

MP: No, no. Yeah most of the record is based around real experience. I mean there’s a few songs that are kind of, there’s a lot of the songs that are actually quite embellished and yeah surrounded by a bit more of a storyline I suppose um but yeah the emotions of that still kind of seeps through.

MD: Right. Like a song like Royal Queen (Mary) I assume is something that is more embellished as you would say.

MP: Yeah. Exactly like there’s, it’s more of a, it’s not actually what’s happening in my life but the kind of the feeling still kind of seeps through I think.

MD: So I mean they’re almost like short stories a lot of them because you are creating these characters and is that. Do you do other kinds of writing? Non-fiction writing, fiction writing, short stories, anything like that or is it all wrapped up in songs?

MP: Um, it’s mostly wrapped up in songs but lately I have been writing a bit of poetry. I don’t actually know how good I am at writing, I think I’m actually really bad at it. But I still do it because I think it’s fun and it’s nice to be able to explore kind of just like exploring lyrically without of having to have a musical…like audio to it.

MD: Right.

MP: It’s nice.

MD: So kind of frees you up from the song structure I guess yeah.

MP: Yeah exactly.

MD: So lyrically I mean the songs are pretty intense and quite beautiful so I mean how did you learn to write like that? Did you do any, does it just come naturally or…

MP: Yeah it just kind of falls out. I’ve never really, I don’t  go by any method or standards I just, it’s very impulsive. I won’t force myself to write, I just kind of, it’s actually not good for my health though, let it bubble up inside me…. Comes out through song. But um, yeah it’s, it’s not something I kind of analyse.

MD: Probably best not to, you don’t want to mess anything up.

MP: Yeah. Exactly, I try and steer clear of that because I feel like it’s kind of working for me at the moment and I don’t wanna bugger it up.

MD: Right. So this album was released in Australia almost, over a year ago I believe so.

MP: Yeah, yup.

MD: It’s probably been quite a while. Do you have more songs coming or do they come fairly easily at this point in your career.

MP: Um, it comes and goes. I have a couple of. I can have a couple of months where I won’t write anything and then a time like, this last week I’ve written about 7 songs or something this week.

MD: You wrote 7 songs this week?

MP: Yeah.

MD: That’s amazing.

MP: Yeah. So it’s just like it won’t come for like ages and then it just spills out of me. But I’m almost finished writing my second record. Hopefully to record it at the end of this year and release it next year. Hopefully.

MD: So when you come here to New Zealand with Marlon will you be previewing any of those songs do you think?

MP: Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna you know, test them out.

MD: I like that. I like being a guinea pig so. Um, and are they similar in feeling to the stuff that’s on The Hurting Scene or is there any kind of change in how you’re writing these days?

MP: Um, I think there’s a bit of a progression in maturity maybe and subject matter is gonna be a lot more based around the idea of womanhood and moving past situations like The Hurting Scene or being stubborn and not wanting to move past certain things and kind of battling with becoming a responsible adult I suppose.

MD: Because I notice in the lyrics to especially the songs that seem more personal, there is a certain amount of strength that comes from the character in the song which I guess is you, that a lot of singer/song writers, especially young women don’t necessarily show in their lyrics and you know, you seem to have an attitude in your songs that you’re not gonna put up with certain behaviours and you know,  which is pretty refreshing actually. Have people kind of, have fans picked up on that and have talked to you about it?

MP: Yeah, I’m really glad of that. I had no idea when writing these songs that, that emotion came through. I just thought I was writing sad songs but I think especially if you’re Henry, It can be quite empowering. I’d see it more as an empowering song not a sad song. You know, I think a lot of the time I wrote those songs to convince myself of that more than actually feeling that.

MD: Right.

MP: Um, but you know, it’s my free therapy. It really, really helped.

MD: Well it’s cheaper than the professional stuff, I can tell you that.

MP: Exactly.

MD: And more fun to listen to.

MP: … I can’t afford the professional stuff

MD: So what was the reaction to the album in Australia? Did people kinda catch on to what you’re doing? Did you consider it successful?

MP: Yeah totally. Way more successful than I imagined. Um, it did really great things. I think it got in like top 50 Rolling Stone Records or something and it was in the Australian. It got some really amazing reviews and I was really stunned by it actually.

MD: So the folks who put up their money in crowd funding got their money’s worth and their money back.

MP: I hope so. They definitely got it back.

MD: Excellent, so. When you’re thinking about recording the second album are you gonna go back to Nashville again and do it, similar way? Have you thought about it?

MP: Yeah, I wanna do it, pretty much exactly the same. I might take an extra week or something for pre-production and stuff. But I yeah, I loved recording there and I loved the people that I recorded with so gonna go back there.

MD: Very good. So um, just getting back to the tour that’s coming up with you and Marlon. You’re going to be singing each other’s songs, singing together, singing individually, all the above or what?

MP: Yup, all the above. I think we’re gonna do a set each and then probably half a set of duets at the end of the show of maybe each other’s songs and maybe covers. We haven’t really decided yet.

Click here for more details about the Melody Pool/ Marlon Williams NZ tour.

Click here to read The 13th Floor review of The Hurting Scene.