Images by Mclean Stephenson //

Sydney via Manchester act The Melodrones deliver a powerful debut.

Paranoid, overly energetic, yet worn down, a period of mania is not something people would usually suspect to be a very fruitful time in someone’s life. For Rik Saunders, however, such a chaotic spell produced the tracks that would become the basis of The Melodrones, including their ripping debut tune, ‘R.I.P. Hollywood’.

“It was like I was an antenna translating messages from another planet. For months, every time I picked up the guitar a song would fall out of me. Fully complete. Lyrics and all,” Saunders says of the song, which combines the Northern English attitude with a blues progression, pumped out through the megaphone of a soapbox preacher with unwavering conviction.

Saunders’ delivery of his message is so forceful that you can’t help but stand to attention, with his vocal stylings housing the uniqueness and knack for hooks that made many of the musicians rattled off in the tune iconic. It’s an intriguing introduction to the world of The Melodrones, that is only furthered by his charismatic performance in the low-fi video filmed by Mclean Stephenson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xXH0RI8CDE&feature=youtu.be

Get to know a little bit more about this enigmatic character with our interview below:

So we know you’re a huge Beatles fan. What’s your favourite album and why?

With The Beatles is where the fabs really hit their peak. I love the Motown covers on that record. Forget about anything they did from Rubber Soul onwards… Dylan introducing them to pot was the worst event to ever happen in the history of popular music.

I hear a lot of The Velvet Underground in your sound, what other stuff were you listening to when writing the EP?

A lot of the Motown groups. The early rock and roll guys. The Jesus and Mary Chain are a huge influence. The Ronettes. Aretha. Nina Simone. Carole King. Harry Nilsson. You know.. beautiful songs.

You’ve recently been living in Manchester. What have you been doing there? What attracted you to The North?

Running away. The weather of course and the people. There’s a distinctly different attitude in The North. It’s a bit more “we’re in it together” up here.

You talk about writing these tunes in a manic period. How did it feel coming out of it and having these songs? Was it “worth” it?

Well, the songs are good and I’m proud of them. Writing them was effortless but the mania was followed by three or four months of a dark depression which was not particularly enjoyable.

‘R.I.P Hollywood’ is a scathing piece of commentary. Why do you think Hollywood is dead?

It’s more a comment on Hollywood’s irrelevance compared to what really matters in life. You don’t move to Hollywood to be relevant. People move to Hollywood to convince themselves they are relevant.

You took quite a while to record these tunes, do you consider yourself something of a perfectionist?

No. I think we were just striving for quality. There’s a depth to the production that could have only been achieved through time and I thank the producer Tim Powles for all his work.

What else is coming up in 2019?

There will be more songs. I’m looking forward to putting out a track called ‘Eyelash Wishes’. I guess we’ll have to start playing some live shows too.