Ok, well it's been a little over two months since I've updated the Road Journal, which again, like in every post, I apologize for the lack of updates. But it's with good reason. Alot has been going on over seas, and there hasn't been too much action to update with other than we've been home and practicing alot. BUT that doesn't mean nothing is going on with Melee, which I'll explain now, and then I'll write in detail to the best of my capability our week in Holland.
So, things have been going extremely well for Melee. After pretty much conquering Asia with our single Built To Last, we are about ready to release our next single, Frequently Baby, which Ryan and I made a music video for (from live concert footage and random Melee silliness from our travels in Japan, much in the vein of the Built To Last video, we home made) So keep an eye out for that, and if you life in Japan, PLEASE be sure to start requesting Frequently Baby to your local radio stations, especially J Wave in Tokyo!
Now, on the other side of the world, we have begun expanding the Melee Nation in Europe. We hit top 5 radio charts in Belgium, Holland AND Germany (which is the second biggest market in Europe!!!!) We actually got all the way up to number 2 in Germany, which was an amazing email to receive, seeing our single charted higher than Madonna's newest single! I'm pretty sure my mom printed that out and put it up on the fridge next to my SAT score. haha.
I also know in Denmark we are about one spot away from breaking top 40 there, so if you live in any of these countries, please keep requesting Built To Last to your local radio station!
Our album "Devils and Angels" has been released in all the above mentioned countries, so go out and grab it and rock it out all summer long!
With the success we're building in Europe, we managed to grab an amazing opportunity with MTV Europe. A priority push, where, to my understanding, they play our video for Built to Last so much, you will probably get sick of it haha.
All this leading us up to our UK release of our album and single in June!
And this following week, we are making a music video for our second single in Europe, Imitation! We're really excited, and Me, Chris and Ryan wrote a treatment for the video , that we're very proud of, and found a great director, Shih-ting Hung, who we know will bring the video properly to life!
Ok, so last week, we got invited to play at the Queensday festival in Amsterdam for radio 538, which was a big honor, considering we were the only American band, AND considering bands like Linkin Park and Greenday have been turned down in the past to play it. So we grabbed Gabe (our fearless tour manager, who I'm sure many of you reading this are familiar with, and if you're not, make it a point when you come to see us in concert to find Gabe, because he is definitely apart of the Melee experience) our Sound guy Anthony (who many of you have also met, and is also very much part of the Melee experience) and our Manager Adam, who we believe used this as a great excuse to get out of the office and party with the band. haha. Anyways, it was so exciting that after years and years of touring in a van all over America with these guys to bring them over seas with us and experience a whole new world together.
So we got to LAX very early, anticipating a long security check in, which ended up being a fast security check in and we sat around forever, spotting various members of the pussy cat dolls while we waited. The flight was good, and we were full of excitment, until my Ambien kicked in haha. With my blanket over my head I passed out for a good portion of the flight. One point I woke up as Chris was walking towards me, and a lady a couple seats ahead of me stopped Chris and pointed to a magazine she was reading. Turns out, it was like a German magazine, much like Cosmo, and there was a nice little article about Melee and she had recognized Chris. I think we were just as excited as she was haha. Anyways, it got a little awkward when I realized she was standing in front of me in line to check in and I had accidentally dropped my guitar on her foot haha. Oh well...
So several hours later and a lay over in Germany, we finally landed in Amsterdam! We were definitely tired and jet lagged already, but we had to rush to our hotel and get ready for an MTV interview for Holland and for MTV Europe (what I was talking about earlier in this post) So we all rushed into our rooms, got showered, dressed and went down for MTV. It was a really cool interview, and very much a dream come true for us. Though considering the hours we just traveled we were all a bit loopy, but that made for a genuine Melee interview, complete with goofiness, which I'm sure many of you our now familiar with if you've spent any time on our youtube page. The only moment when things got a bit "awkward" when was the VJ asked us if we were a put together pop band. Which I obviously don't hold against her, and I understood why she would ask that, or why anyone would think that, but we were quick and happy to explain WE ARE NOT A PUT TOGETHER POP BAND.
Let quickly take this moment to recap a brief history of Melee for any of those not familiar. I met Ryan when I was 5. We met Chris when we were 14 and have been playing music pretty much since that point. We started Melee and played and learned how to be a band all throughout college, where we finally met Mike and he completed the band, and in complete Pinocchio style, we became a real band! We played a relentless amount of local gigs in LA and OC and signed to the indie label Hopeless Records, where we put out our first album "Everyday Behavior" we then toured for two years non stop, in a small van, sleeping on friends floors and the shadies hotel rooms imageinable, definitely good times. We then got signed to Warner Brothers, wrote and recorded and released "Devils and Angels" and then toured for a year non stop, in the same way we had toured in support of our previous release. Then like a dream come true, we started to break in Japan, and that leads us to where we are today. Very excited, dorky, kids in Amsterdam haha.
So after our MTV interview, we hung out with them for a little bit in the hotel bar and then met up with our Holland label reps and went out to dinner and at amazing steak house where we were able to eat on our laps haha. They gave us little mats you put on your lap and you get a little cutting board, with tons of meat, and go to town. It was great to be able to relax a bit and catch up with our label people and party with the gang. Another surreal moment was when a little girl came up to me and Mike with her mom, and asked us for our autograph! She said she recognized me from my hair, which I took as a compliment, but the other guys took it as a joke, which I am constantly teased for by them, but its ok haha. It's just so crazy to us that we get to travel all these great places and people know our music. Like I was talking with Mike about, it feels like our van is right around the corner and we're about to get back in it and the dream is all over haha. We're definitely all more than grateful for every ounce of success that comes our way.
So after dinner we made it an early nite and all retired to our rooms to pass out. I woke up early the next day and took a stroll around town with Gabe and picked up some Orange souveniers for the family...for Queens day, EVERYONE wears Orange. We also made a quick stop in H & M, but nothing cool. We then met up with Ryan, Chris and Anthony and contuined our little tour of the city and grabbed some lunch. Some really good hot dog stand lunch! Anyways we met back up with everyone and made our way down to the festival grounds. SO for those of you not familiar with the holiday, its pretty much like Mardi Gras times 10000. It's a day off from school/work and EVERYONE is out, hundreds of thousands of people filling up every inch of the city, drinking and celebrating life. Definitely something I was thankful to experience in my life time. So we go to the festival to find out we'd be playing in front of about 150,000 people, a big sea of Orange. We were all very, very veeeeryyy nervous, and spent the time before we played calming eachothers nerves, and cuddling one another haha. Everything was going smoothly until Gabe and ANthony came running up to me, to let me know my pedal board was broken. The connection from USA voltage to European had blown out the board. SO under alot of stress, and Ryan filming it all non stop, we all got it fixed.
Finally it was time to go on stage. My hands were literally shaking out of control I was so nervous. Well, we made our way on stage like the family we are and played our little hears out. It was surreal, it was amazing, and it was beautiful to hear so many people sing Built To Last along with us. So that ended and went by way to quickly and we hugged and celebrated, and made our way back to the hotel, managing our way through a crowd of people all who were jumping on the van and stickering it haha.
We all chilled back at the hotel for a while and unwinded and went to dinner with a band called Voicst. It was a really cool restaurant right on the ocean front, which Gabe described as "Artsy Fartsy" Oh Gabe. We then made our way back to the city to enjoy the rest of the Queens Day festivities, and found ourselves at a really cool, loungey bar. And hung out the way we do at home. It was such a nice nite. After that at about 3 am, it was time for McDonalds, which made for one of my funniest obsverations. It was closing at 3 am and they had tons of McDonalds security because people were storming and practically rioting to get in (for obvious reasons, which if you know anything about Amsterdam, you can figure out) Definitely a hilarious moment.
So the nite ended and we all went to bed with big goofy Melee smiles on our faces. We woke up early the next, hit up the airport, and made our way back home concluding our whirlwind trip. Definitely beyond amazing times. Which lead us to where I am now, sitting back in Orange County, in my room typing this up. Cant wait for this week.
We have TONS of concert and festival dates that we're about to announce for this summer so keep an eye out!
AND check our Santo Gold, she's an amazing singer.
AAAANNNND please join our newly created buzznet page
http://meleelist.buzznet.com/user/profile/
Ok well have a good day!
and thanks for becoming a part of the Melee Nation
Peace and love and all that funky stuff
ricky sans
