Mel's Blog

This has been the most productive year yet for Chasing Pandora, we've been writing the second album for months now and it's in its final stages. I must say that I am relieved but I'm kind of sad too, I do enjoy the birth of new songs but on the other hand, in the studio, where all the hard work is done, everyone is rejoicing for being at the final stages. Having these new songs are like having new born babies, you want to handle them very carefully as they were made out of true love. That's exactly what music means. True Love.

Having been to London again this year has made my drive stronger.  I have a constant craving inside of me to keep on going no matter how hard things get..I know that at the end of this journey I will be pleased.

We released our latest single 'Time' in the UK on the 3rd of August, firstly being released in Malta in June, and the promotion leading up to the single was very exciting.  We have an interview coming out in the September edition of Acoustic Music Magazine, which has featured the most pretigious musicians in the acoustic scene. It's not just a review, it's a whole feature! Just for us!!!! It's not every day that people from the tiny Mediterranean island get a major interview in a well known magazine.

Apart from that as part of the promotion was traveling to London (thanks to our wonderful sponsors Air Malta) to perform our set to the invited media and a new audience.  I came back a different person.  I mean, it's like my vision was clouded with many things before and I could finally see. I always knew the music scene was incredible in London but being part of it there was exhilarating, I felt like I was breathing music every second of the day. Being in Gozo has it's downfalls, our gigs are scarce as there aren't many venues that are appropiate for a listening audience and so we have to limit our gigs.

We played the 12 Bar, Soho, where a lot of our Maltese and Gozitan fans came to watch us...that was very nice of them indeed.  The place was grungy, just the way we like it. The guy that manages the place was so happy with us he asked us to come back and do another gig, which we're doing in October, and this time we are headlining. Wohooooooo.  It's so nice to hear people encouraging you, especially when they have never heard you before and are totally objective. 

We also played 'The Enterprise' in Camden.  Really lovely people were running an event there and we managed to fill up the room again. The crowd were into the music and enjoyed our set. The next day we played at 'The Water Rats'  Kings Cross and on Thursday it was the famous Cobden Club in Kensal Rise, which turned out to be the best gig yet!  We ended up being the headline act and the crowd didn't want us to leave the stage!  It felt good to make these people feel good. I never wanted to leave London...it felt like home there.

So the whole point of these gigs was a showcase for the media and were so excited to hear that the journalists that came were very impressed. We got two reviews out already, one in Acoustic magazine and the other from the edgy magazine 'The Fly'.  Like I said it's not every day that a Gozitan girl gets to be in these cutting edge magazines! So I'm speechless..  Apart from that we have others that are out soon.  "Rock n Reel" have two reviews, one live and the other of our CD also others are in the pipeline. What more could I ask for! 

These things make me get teary..for God's sake I'm supposed to be a rock n roll child, coming from a past that should of made me hard as nails...heheh, but I just cry out of happiness.  I didn't know I was to grow up and be what I wanted to be. I thought it was just a phase to dance in front of the mirror with bangles and sing in the bathroom cause the reverb is really good in there  I never got over it..the child grew up with me and I just can't let her go. Writing this new album just made me realize I am exactly where I should be, I love what I do... I am more myself than I every imagined myself to be. 

One of the songs on the new album is called 'The Driver and the Dancer'.   I called it that because so many things made me see clearly in London.  Being in a taxi I wondered what taxi drivers were thinking when they heard our conversation.  They keep driving on, sure about where they are going, hardly every getting involved in a conversation.  That was the driver.  The dancer...ahhh how could I ever forget her...  While staying at our hotel I came across a chambermaid that caught my attention over and over again. She was petite and very smiley, cleaning the room while listening to her iPod.  Michael Jackson had just passed away and there she was belting out 'Beat it' and 'Bad', dancing away in the room.  At one point she even danced on a table, she was so caught up in the moment she hardly noticed I was looking at her..in awe. A true performer I thought - that's the dancer in my head. And I will never ever forget her.

The album is very different from Mocking Bird both lyrically and musically..of course its still Chasing Pandora...but the debut album was heavy, meaning it's not for the faint hearted.  It was a personal journey I had to take, to get out of the way, grieving for my brother. Now this is the rising up part - My resurrection...where every aspect of life intrigues me - humans...trees...insects..womanly ways..I have discovered that I have dealt with things and it's satisfying.  I am darn proud of it. If I were a painter I would have to have a very big canvas and many colors to come close to explain what this album is like.  I don't go to sleep feeling an empty space anymore..I do believe it used to kill me.

One song that just makes me cry is 'The Tree'..I wrote a song about a tree, the tree is giving us it's perspective of life...observing humanity.  The song just puts a lump in my throat and I just wanna cry..in a good way.. Crying is good. True Love makes me cry..my music to me is like True Love...you know you feel it, it gives you shivers and it never ever fades away.

I guess what I really wanna say is that it's not always so bad to cry a little.  Hell I have cried a river for a number of things, for my brother's untimely demise, leaving my daughter behind on tour, people hurting me with their wicked ways, even for silly little things...but it's not all bad to feel some aching. Pain is real so you can't deny it.  It makes you wander, probably haunts you and can even make you shed a tear, but there is no need to be afraid  as no matter how long a painful journey takes and how long the hurt will take to heal if it ever does, there is always some good that wins over everything.  So cry ..cry and cry...it's all worth it in the end.