Paul and Andie very kindly indulged me and answered my twatty questions so here`s the score:
1. When, where and why did you form?
Andrea and myself (Paul) formed Melys at the end of 1996 as a £10 bet. I was playing in a guitar based band and Andrea used to come and see us. She bet that I couldn`t write electronic music, and so I bet her that if I did, she couldn`t sing it. We made a rough demo and then Gorwel Owen (producer for S.F.A + Gorkys) gave us free studio time to record it properly. He passed the song to Ankst records and we signed a 2 E.P. deal with them. After we released our first one 'Fragile' we got loads of record company interest and after our 6th gig, decided to sign to Pinnacle. We formed in Betws-y-Coed and as to why, well, we wanted to write music together that expressed how we felt and summed up different situations that we often found ourselves in. The biggest influence being our community and a lot of narrow-mindedness and back-stabbing that you find in a close-knit, small town where everyone knows everyone else's business.
2. Were you all friends before hand or did you just get together as a group because you knew Andrea could sing and Paul could play the guitar for example?
Gary - our drummer and Carys (keyboards) were brought into the band when we finished recording our 2nd E.P on Ankst "Cuckoo" as we were playing live and needed them. Gary is my brother and Carys is a long-time friend of all of us. So you could say we are a very tight unit.
3. How do you pronounce your name Andrea? Is it An- dri- ah or An- drey- a?
Andrea pronounces her name An- dri- ah.
4. What made you call yourself Melys?
We called ourselves 'Melys' - (sweet) because Andrea and I used to put Welsh bands on at a local venue and the name of our promotions company (If you could call it a company) was ............ SWEET PROMOTIONS. So we just used the name from that.
5. Is the current line up of band members the original one?
No, it was just Andrea and myself at first.
6. Are you pleased with the position you are in now? or do you think it has taken too long for people to notice you, considering you did release the Fragile EP ages ago.
Yes, we're pleased where we are. The fact that we released Fragile 10 months ago, we agree seems like ages, but it took about 6 months to finalise the record contract and that was because we held out on a lot of points that we wanted so the lawyers had a right battle on their hands. We fought for every point on an 140 page contract, so as you can understand it did take a long time.
7. Do you feel exposed when you perform your songs as the lyrics are so personal, and so totally audible?
When I write the lyrics, its almost like purging yourself and Andrea and I work very closely at this. We wrote about ourselves and our relationships and we are determined not to make shit up that we know nothing about, It`s very important to us. That was how we started writing, just being honest and maybe writing about parts of our feelings that some people don't like admitting they have. It does get a little bit scary when people ask what specific things we are writing about in different songs. Which is annoying too cos we we think they should work it out for themselves or even relate to it in a way that makes sense to them. I think people like to dig up the juicy details though, I s'pose.
8. How does it make you feel when rude people talk all the way though your set?
It doesn't bother us too much, especially when we are the support band. It may be a bit different if we were the main act but people can talk because we try not to blow their eardrums away with a huge soundsystem.
9. Paul, has anyone ever told you that you look like Richey from the Manics, circa Gold Against The Soul> Are you annoyed that I just said that?
I have had this a couple of times, but it doesn't bother me. I've also had Brett Anderson too, and no I'm not annoyed.
10. Do you like Gorky`s? Are you friends?
We love Gorkys, they are very good friends of ours and they often come up to chill out with us. They are very precious, lovely people who deserve better, they should be MEGA HUGE, they have more passion about music in their little fingers than most bands have in a lifetime.
11. Who do you listen to most and why?
Andrea and myself listen to all kinds of music, our fave stuff at the moment is Nick Caves greatest, Delgadoes, Gorkys, Len. Cohen, Massive Attack - Mezzanine, Primal Scream - Screamadelica and the remix album LP Echo Dek, also by Primal Scream + Adrian Sherwood.
12. Who does the photographs on you record sleeves? I really, really love the Fragile one. I think it's beautiful.
We do all our own artwork. A good friend of ours took the actual 'Fragile' photo but it was our own idea. All the photos on our singles and LP are of people associated with Melys. 'Fragile' was Andies belly, 'Cuckoo' was my dad and a neighbour on the back cover. 'Diwfr' was Gary from the band wrapped in barbed wire and 'Lemming' is our sound engineer Geraint. The LP is a friend of ours who lives upstairs. Only 'Fragile' wasn`t taken by myself, I think 'Cuckcoo' wasn't either, but we tend to all mix and match photos and they are mostly taken by either me (Paul) or Gary/Andria.
13. Where do you think think you will be in five years time? Does it match with where you hope you will be?
In five years time we hope we are still making music. Even if we have no record deal then, I think we will be releasing music on our own label (which we are setting up at the moment to release music from other Welsh bands) As long as we are enjoying ourselves we don`t mind.
14. When are your birthdays?
Paul = 31st May Andie = 11th Feb Gary = 5th Sept Carys = 15th July
15. Do you like Leonard Cohen? Are you of the opinion that he makes people suicidal?
We love Len. Cohen. Its great music to chill out too late at night when you can sit back and listen to the pictures he paints with words. Our favourite is ... 'Hey, that's no way to say Goodbye' It`s Top!
16. How do you write your songs? Do you do the lyrics first and make music to go with it or vice versa or is it a joint process?
I usually write the music before words but occasionally t happens together as I get a feel for the mood of the music.
17. Are you alright?
Yes, we're O.K, 'Rumours and Curses' was Myself and Andie getting some unpleasant episodes off our chests, I`ll tell you about them sometime.