Reviews
This review was in In Utah this Week, the first time we read it was at the CD release party for 30 Silver Pieces
Melodramus
A local band that doesn't just make music, it lives music
by: Amanda Chamberlain
Twenty-three-year-old Zakkary Hale trumps down the stairs from his bedroom at a little past 1:30 p.m., flicking his long, blond hair with his neck while buttoning up a black shirt. The singer/guitarist of local progressive metal band, Melodramus, is still sleepy-eyed from burning the midnight oil the night before.
“I woke up at around 3 a.m. and started writing a song, and didn’t go back to bed until 7 a.m.,” says Hale in a voice still soft from fatigue as he cozies into a recliner Indian-style. This kind of late-night guitar session is typical for Hale, who says he carries a guitar everywhere he goes and plays nearly 24/ 7.
“There are 24 hours in a day, so why can’t most of those hours be spent with music or a guitar, trying to be a better musician?” he says.
Since Hale has no typical day job besides teaching guitar and playing in the band, he has plenty of time to better his musicianship, though he hardly needs it with his level of training. The born-andbred Utahn has been playing since he was 7, starting out with a guitar teacher and eventually leaving to pursue independent study, gaining Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine as a friend and mentor along the way. Over his 16 years of guitar wrangling, Hale has picked up what are now some of the signature techniques that make Melodramus stand out in the local scene, such as rapid, technical guitar riffs and ear-reaming solos, which are weaved around Hale’s smooth and anchored, proginfluenced vocals — sung with every ounce of lung power — that would be welcomed in mainstream rock, even with their no-holds-barred presentation.
Hale’s crucial role in Melodramus started in August 2004 when Jonas, a former member of a briefly successful boy band, recruited him to play guitar for a new project, along with current bassist Mikey Collard. After the keyboardist and Jonas quit, and the drummer was fired for lack of commitment, the management team saw potential in Hale and Collard and gave the green light to continue the band. Hale and Collard began recruiting, starting with the literal in-house hire of Hale’s brother Ted “The Rose Phantom” Hale. The Rose Phantom’s extensive background in synthesizer, keyboard and electronic percussion got him hired as the “atmospheric” After a grueling recording and mixing process at Salt Lake’s Boho Digitalia studio (Monarch, Agnes Poetry), which cost the band around $6,000 of their own money, Melodramus first ever full-length album entitled “30 Silver Pieces” comes out Friday, July 20. The band is releasing the album themselves at a listening party at a suburban home in Sandy on the same day — the public is welcome to attend.
Not that The Circuit regulars aren’t a bunch of go-getters already, but they’ve already started working on their next album while they wait for the many labels pursuing them to offer contracts.
“We have about seven songs right now with the music completely done for a new album. Only two of them have vocals, but we’re so fired up. We’re going in a more straightforward direction this time, just to rock your face even more,” Hale says.
Melodramus’ devout group of fans, or the M-Cult, as they call themselves, will be ecstatic to hear about the band’s new material — and that’s not speculation, it’s fact. The fans, who change their MySpace screen names to include “of the M-Cult,” heavily promote and frequent every show, unless extreme circumstances are involved, such one fan’s ID maker being in jail so he couldn’t attend the over-21 show. The Melodramus fan base is so strong, one can’t help notice they feel they’re riding the wave of something big, something that’s about to launch abruptly out of the local music scene real soon.
Predictions of making it big are not entirely outlandish to utter, especially considering Hale’s passion for the band, which he personifies to the greatest extent through everyday life.
Says Hale, “It’s a lifestyle; you either live it or you don’t. There are a lot of people that play guitar, or play in a band, but they’re really not living it. The four of us in the band, we live it every single day.”
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Here is another great article by Amanda in the same issue of In Utah this Week
Sound Space
Inside the room and studio of Melodramus' Zakkary Hale
by: Amanda Chamberlain
Zakkary Hale’s bedroom isn’t a place where many people would feel at home. With a mattress on the floor, a wall of CDs and posters of guitar heroes, it takes a true music lover to be comfortable in these surroundings. But for Hale, whose very life water is music, he sees no reason to decorate beyond the bare necessities, which, he attests, also includes a very special piece of equipment.
“This was my very first guitar,” Hale says, holding up the matte black instrument. “This is the one I’m always playing.”
As guitarist and vocalist for local progressive rock/metal band Melodramus, Hale’s nearly every waking moment is spent playing, writing or gathering inspiration. Thus, his space is simple, music-oriented and comfortable, to give him as much creative legroom as possible.
And it’s easy for the rest of the band members to get creative in the studio, found in the home’s unfinished basement, where Melodramus writes, practices and records their music.
“The whole basement is miked so we can just play and it gets recorded on that computer over there,” Hale explains.
Each of the four members of Melodramus has his own small territory in the studio, as well. Bassist Mikey Collard occupies the space by the amps and half stacks; Ted “The Rose Phantom” Hale’s keyboards sit in the dark corner almost under the stairs, decorated in his eerie photography and other shadowy tokens to suit his style; drummer Andrew Hopkins has his elaborate drum set placed prominently in the middle of the room; and Hale inhabits a very large corner, which hosts a mic stand and neon red-guitar and is draped with fabric posters.
Overall, for the average Jane or Joe, this bedroom and studio may seem a little undergarnished, but for Hale and his gang of progressive players, everything is just as it should be.
1. ZAKK’S CORNER
Hale, pictured here with his neon-red guitar, decorates his corner of the studio with fabric posters and ample equipment.
2. IN THE BEDROOM
Guitar Hero(es). Hale’s first guitar occupies his room, as well as a plethora of posters featuring Megadeth, Steve Vai and more.
3. IN THE STUDIO
Amps: What’s a good studio without monstrous sound? Melodramus’ amps aplenty keep their music sounding loud and clear, and their mother — most likely — pounding the floor with a broom.
4. PROMINENT PERCUSSION
Award-winning drummer Andrew Hopkins puts his drum set front and center.
NOT PICTURED. RECORDING COMPUTER
The whole basement is miked, so when the band plays, their music travels through the mics and into the computer, where it’s recorded.
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here is a really retarded CD review, no one understands it, haha.
Local CD Revue
by Jenny Poplar
Melodramus 30 Silver Pieces
I am convinced that Melodramus graduated from the Rock Academy featured in Yo la Tengo’s “Sugarcube” video (Google it, people!). 30 Silver Pieces proves that Melodramus took notes when a hulking, shirtless instructor in Kiss makeup urged them to create themselves in the image of the goth, metal and hair bands of yore. Zakkary Hale’s commanding vocals complement the many guitar and synth crescendos that would receive high marks from the difficult-to-please Rock Academy instructor who sports a Jem & The Holograms-esque spiky pink wig. Melodramus is well on their way to receiving four highly coveted laminated, all-access, backstage passes for their laudable rock & roll accomplishments. 30 Silver Pieces does, however, get a demerit for length. Seventy minutes 36 seconds is long and unruly for a debut album. But I’m sure Kiss make-up dude and spiky pink wig guy would argue that Melodramus receives high marks for passion, enthusiasm and image cultivation—which the Rock Academy embraces as the primary tenants of success.
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