Review Fix Exclusive: Emerald’s Jeff Melin Talks Origin, Goals And More

Review Fix chats with Emerald’s Jeff Melin, who discusses the band’s origin, goals and the creative process behind their new album.

Review Fix: How did you guys get together?

Jeff Melin: We originally met through an ad I found scribbled on a scrap of paper and posted in a Tucson, AZ music store way back in 1984. My partner and bass player Duane Hollis had been playing with a drummer friend of his trying to get something started. I had been looking for a band, but nobody till then I met was willing to take any chances or be different. I immediately felt a kinship with the guys and musically we hit it off as soon as we plugged in and started to rip. We played for a couple years then some other life stuff got in the way for many years. We remained friends all along and and though it took us a while to get back to it, we did eventually and here we are.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Melin: Duane and I both write music and lyrics so we get a lot of different things going into the idea pool … It varies from song to song, sometimes I write the music and Duane does the lyrics, sometimes the other way around, or any combination. we start passing things back and forth, and somehow they just come to life.  If one of us gets stuck, the other always pulls out the final piece. As the singer, I find sometimes that I’m a bit self-conscious when singing lyrics I wrote, but when Duane writes it I can really let go and get into the perspective of the character so I’m always thrilled to get lyrics from him.

Then, there is our amazing drummer Will Jones: he’s a super solid player but also always adds something new or unexpected to a track, or ideas from a production standpoint that we then build from. So each of us makes contributions, and if you can be open to listening to everyone’s ideas, it really elevates the entire song crafting process.

Part of the objective for me is to not overthink it too much once you have a song working. We like to be creative and do throw in some strange stuff, and it’s easy to talk yourself out of anything that’s not standard. As long as it serves the song and the story, we are always going to go with those ideas because otherwise there’s no point in doing your art if you are going to hold something back out of fear of not having be accepted or understood.

Review Fix: What do you think makes this band special?

Melin: As I mentioned, Duane and I have known each other 33 years, and while we did write a few songs back in the early days, only five years ago did we begin writing and recording in earnest. We remained friends all along, but had a long lull in between working together, and had each been through a lot of different music situations. When we came back together, by then we knew our strengths and what we were going to sound like. Our writing styles had developed and since we tapped into the well that is “our thing”  there’s just been so much material and we are having a blast putting it together and getting it out into the world. Another thing is we don’t live anywhere near each other, like thousands of miles apart! Aside from getting together sometimes to write and hang out, the bulk of the recording work is done in our own parts of the world and files are sent to me for mixing. And while Duane and I have spent a lot of time together though the years, drummer Will we’ve never actually met but we communicate well and often, and he absolutely gets us and what we are going for. I think when you hear the music you would not have the sense that we’ve never been in the same room because we are so much on the same page. That’s a pretty cool aspect of it all for me. We share ideas and listen to each other as musicians should do, and also improvise and play off what the other is doing just the same as if we were doing it in some recording or rehearsal studio.

Review Fix: How would you describe your style?

Melin: We consider ourselves to be playing in the style of “classic” hard rock and metal. We are heavily influenced by bands such as Sabbath, Priest, Iron Maiden, Accept, UFO, Thin Lizzy and the like. So more of a 70’s to early 80’s vibe. Back then, what we do would be called Heavy Metal, but compared to a lot of what I hear now I don’t know if we still qualify! Labels are tough and I’ve never been able to explain my music too well because everyone has a different perspective on it. Certainly our music is often heavy, but has a lot of melody and dynamics too. We try to throw in some interesting and unexpected sounds, change tempos and time signatures here and there, telling stories and making it almost theatrical in a way rather than just trying to make it super heavy all the time.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?

Melin: It’s our 3rd album since we got back together a few years ago, and just making it to the 3rd one was a win in many ways! We learned a lot in making the first 2 and our aim was to dial in the sweet spot on this one and gel into getting our sound as we hear it in our heads out onto the final product. In addition to writing and playing everything, we produce, record, mix and master as well. And Duane even does the artwork! So it’s all very self-contained with a lot of moving parts, which hopefully each time out we improve on every one of them. I had been doing recordings for years, but our first CD “Metal Redemption” was the first time I ever mixed an entire CD from start to finish and there was a steep learning curve there for sure but I feel like I improved a lot on this one. We are also trying to reach out to people a bit more this time out with the final product. We were amazed with our first couple releases at how many people from countries all around the world found us through the internet and got in touch. And that was without really trying at all. Our main focus to start had been just in the creation of the music, but we did almost zero promotion once it was finished, then we’d move onto more writing and recording. So we thought this time we ought to make an effort to get it out into the world a bit more, with some very good response so far.

Review Fix: What’s the standout song? Is there a story behind it?

Melin: Well we like them all! But the first track seems to grab most people pretty good, it’s called Devil’s Law. Its an excellent example of all the things we are trying to do by keeping things interesting all the way through and not letting it get too repetitive. It kicks off with a heavy riff that’s in 7/8 time, which is slightly unusual and gives it a sense of urgency and tension, then resolves into a nice heavy 4/4 verse section. The chorus has some super cool snare drum fills that add punctuation to the vocal. The bridge section adds a whole new dimension by introducing a new melody and some 12 string guitar behind the heavy guitar to give it a different vibe…but it all works together and gets back to the original themes. It has some weird and noisy but musical guitar stuff, a strange one-off female guest appearance for 1 magic word that adds another unexpected “why not?” moment…and then I’m really pleased with the main solo, done in 1 take so it has a sense of searching for the right idea in real time. This was the last song we wrote for the album, and even though we already had enough material, as soon as Duane played me the intro riff I went “wow”…and said it again when the verse came in. I added the bridge section and melody, the lyric idea was Duane’s, then Will added his massive drums and more fresh ideas. So its a great example of what I was saying earlier, of how we continuously pool our ideas and perspectives in a constant quest to make the other guys say “wow”!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Melin: Another CD is in the works for spring or early summer 2018. We are so energized right now by the work and the creative process, and getting to express ourselves in a way that a few other people seem to enjoy as well. We are having fun, feeling grateful for each other and to be making the music we want to hear and to share it. There’s so much music out there, and for someone to take the time to listen to a song we created and find something that they connect with in some way…it’s an incredibly rewarding feeling. And you never know… our expectations are not that we’ll become rich or famous, but taking the chance to put yourself out into the world you never know what might happen or who you’ll meet… these things keep life interesting and full of possibilities.