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Living the dream ain’t easy
On stage, band members look out to faces in the crowd, gauging reactions and soaking up the interactive mood the audience has been swept into.
BY AMBER VESEL
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
PHOTOS BY LARAMIE CARLSON / STATESMAN
The band is playing original music for their very own crowd, which by this point is so enveloped in the music that they might as well be playing right alongside you on stage.
This is the goal and slowly proceeding reality for the Melodramatics, a Midwest band based out of Duluth. The Melodramatics are made up of five musicians: Jake Winchell, Alex Galle, Ranelle Johnson, Joseph Anderson and Chad Erlemeier. According to Winchell, the core band members have been a group since March 2006, but the full group has been together since last April.
Among them, they play a variety of instruments including viola, piano/ synth, guitar and drums. They classify themselves as “Orchestral Rock,” although their sound isn’t very heavy.
“We’ve gone through a lot of changes,” said Viola player Galle. “We were playing punk-pop music and it wasn’t that unique and we’ve become something that’s a lot more unique and unusual.”
The members of the band are extremely dedicated to the music and have an overall goal to one day perform for a living.
“We all live and die by writing and playing music that we couldn’t think of a better way to make a living,” said Winchell.
Writing and playing is only a glance at the drive this band has to have to succeed in the music industry. What is really needed to succeed is lots of time, effort and resources.
“Its kind of like a part time job, but its really worth it,” said drummer Erlemeier.
Each of the band members is either a student or has a full-time career. On top of that, each band member puts in about two hours of practice two days a week and devotes four hours one day a week for song writing. Also, depending on the band’s performing schedule, they could have several concerts in any given week.
Another obstacle the band had to deal with was blending their various musical tastes.
“We are all different people — all coming from different backgrounds and like different music,” said piano/ synth player Johnson.
Financially, being a musician isn’t cheap; a pain the Melodramatics know all too well. For starters the band members had to buy instruments and equipment which collectively cost them thousands of dollars.
In order to publicize themselves, the band had to pay for T-shirts, CDs and recording costs.
PHOTOS BY LARAMIE CARLSON / STATESMAN
The Melodramatics playing at the Tap Room.
The Melodramatics playing at the Tap Room.