Mel's Blog

Changing Pandora

By Mel on 12 January 2009

It's been a while since I wrote something here, ok....it's been a REALLY long time. I'm not sure if it's cause I was busy, slacking or maybe I just sometimes find prose much harder cause my mind starts thinking about a million things at once and my writing becomes complete gibberish....I'm just impulsive and put everything down at once. That's just how I work.

Anyway, it's been hectic these past few months!!!! 2008 ended fantastically and there's nothing I would have wanted more. To start, we remixed our debut album "Mocking The Mocking Bird", ended up re-doing all my vocals again because we all thought that I sing much better now.....I finally feel like I found my voice. The production is a whole lot better and I just keep asking myself why couldn't we have done this in the first place....but as they say "all good things come to those who wait"...plus this new mix will be released in the UK ...this year!!! How exciting is that! But don't be disappointed my fellow Maltese/Gozitan Chasing Pandora fans.....you will be able to purchase an exclusive UK edition "Mocking The Mocking Bird" from our website!! I promise you, it will be worth it!!!!

In the summer we went to London for a couple of shows and had a great time. Overall it was a wonderful experience. We had great feedback from the public and met quite a lot of interesting people. The audiences were completely different. People in England go out - have a drink or two - but DON'T chat while the artists are on stage. They listen and it shows what total respect they have towards performers with original music......we all came back a lttle wiser - I must say.

The new EP was released in November - with my daughter Asia on the cover - titled "Wide Eyed Beautiful" which was also the first single. It's probably my favourite release, because it's fresh and full of creativity. At first I was't too keen on releasing a single....well it was supposed to be a Christmas single and I just couldn't see myself liking the 'Christmas Mixes' and I just know that when my heart is set on something I know what's right and wrong. Thankfully our producer and manager completely agreed with me. Instead we released "Wide Eyed Beautiful" and I'm happier with the way things turned out because it gives balance to the whole EP....that on the whole deals with human issues. "Wide Eyed Beautiful" is a more personal lyric.

Then there was ACOUSTIC ROOTS, held every Friday at ChiaroScuro in Valletta, sponsored by Jack Daniels. At each event we would have an aspiring singer/songwriter as a support act to open the show....then we'd have a well known Maltese artist do an acoustic set of some of their original songs for half an hour , followed by us doing another half hour of our own material. Finally to close the show we would collaborate with the other artists on 2 or 3 cover songs. The concept was to attract a listening audience while doing something a bit different and to give artists the opportunity to perform thier work in a more intimate and quiet atmosphere.

The guests we had were - Daniel Genuis, Tony Grimaud, Eliza Borg, Ira Losco, Carrie and Ivan Filletti. All of them different and all of them truly incredible in their own way. We enjoyed every second! It feels like, during performances like these - you just get to know the artists better both musically and personally. We are all different, but I guess we - as artists - all want the same thing - to have our music reach people who appreciate original songwriting and not just cover versions.

Personally, from Acoustic Roots I have learnt to be even more confident on stage, it even felt a little more like I'm living a dream as I got to gig every week, instead of one every month or so - since we have to be selective about what concerts we do. During Acoustic Roots, I saw myself evolve in many ways, where I got to communicate in a very personal way with the audience and even got to read one of my poems each week, which to my suprise, were warmly welcomed.

Then there were the awards - The MMA's and the BMA's, where we were nominated for Best Image, Best Website, Best Songwriters, Best Band (MMA's) and Best Song for "Memories" (BMA's). We didnt win anything this year....however our performance at the BMA's was great; people showed us that they really loved "Memories" our single that we released last June. They even lit up sparklers during our show...whaich was truly incredible! Both Keith and I didnt expect that type of reaction. So it was totally worth not winning any awards. Keith breaks the trophies anyway :) hehehe

So Christmas came and went so quickly, all that craziness for one day! My first Christmas with my daughter Asia. That time I got to spend with her was what I was looking forward to - she's too young to understand what a present means, or who Santa Claus is but I enjoy giving her all I have and it was also her birthday on New Years Day. Her first and her Lucky Birthday.

Time goes by so quickly, I'm not getting any younger, I look forward to seeing her grow up but not seeing me grow old....I'll miss her as a tiny baby but I want to see her grow into a young woman who enjoys life. I want to hear her sing a Chasing Pandora song all by herself. I want her to start having her own personal taste in music and maybe, just maybe she will start her own little band. Who know's! Whatever life throws at me, I will always remember 2008 as the year I became a mother for the first time, which has brought me joy like nothing else...the year I found my voice as an artist, the year where I had a couple of shitty gigs and also had the best gigs I could ever dream of having. I travelled to London for a couple of shows, released two EP's that I am so proud of - all in a year!

Tickety-Boo (our management) have become the pioneers of Acoustic Roots, which will be having a second series this spring - So I must say this over and over, we have the most hardworking and strong willed management team in the Universe. I mean it. If it wasn't for them working their asses off - who knows what would become of Chasing Pandora.

2008 was truly special ....but what will 2009 bring? More music that we are currently working on - something totally different for a new album - a new vision we all had. More learnning and evolving....becoming more motivated, getting FIT, being more patient, always being KIND and more music, music, music.