In a phone interview with The Eagle’s Zach Ewell, Brad Rhodes, lead vocalist and guitarist of rock band Melodime, shared his thoughts on his band and on being an artist in the D.C. music scene.
The Eagle: What are the rewards and disadvantages that come with being a D.C.-based band?
Brad Rhodes: The thing is that there’s a good music scene in D.C. filled with great musicians and lots of cool sounds. However, the problem with that is that there is also just a lot of people who don’t care. You know, the people that moved to D.C. for inner political jobs and stuff like that. That makes it hard to catch people’s attention. There is just so much going on in D.C. that it’s easy for the music scene to get lost in all the shuffle.
E: In your perspective, what has been the most significant change for the D.C. music scene in the last five years?
BR: I’m not sure that much has changed in the past five years. I think we’ve been in kind of odd place. We’ve been together for eight years now, and I think it’s been kind of a fight for us since the beginning to be a part of the D.C. music scene. Overall, I haven’t seen that much change in the scene. In terms of venues, we have gotten a few new music venues, like the Hamilton in Georgetown.
E: How has southern flavored rock progressed through the beginning of the 21st century?
BR: I guess we’ve moved away from that genre through the years. We are more of just a straight up rock band now. I think we kind of struck the southern part out from the name of our genre of music.
E: Why is that?
BR: I guess we’ve moved on. That’s always been a really tough question for us when it comes to putting a name on our genre and the type of music we put out. Our music has just changed so many times over the years. However, I think that’s a good problem to have.
E: What are your biggest influences, and how have they contributed to making your music unique?
BR: I think that kind of varies across the board for all of us, but personally I think Tom Petty and Elton John for sure have had a huge influence on our sound. However, I would say all of us growing up in church and playing together had the biggest influence on the sound of our music. Playing in service forced and taught us to play a little more improvisational. It was always forced us to be on our toes, and that really moved our sound forward musically.
E: Where do you see Melodime in the next three years?
BR: Like I said, we have been together for eight years now, and it seems that it’s all starting to pay off. So in the next three years we’ll definitely have a new album out. Hopefully we’ll be playing at bigger venues along with bigger bands, so we can steal some of their fans too.
E: Compared to musicians in the 20th century, what do you believe are the biggest struggles facing bands in the 21st century?
BR: There’s a lot. I believe everyone in the music industry now kind of wishes how it was like 20 years ago. First, there are so many people doing it now. People are also more ADD. It’s always tough to get someone to cling to your music, and not just that but to get people in general to just listen to your sound for the first time. Financially it is also very tough. It’s something that you have to make a commitment to. Many bands do it for a few years and then will decide to get married, have families and then take up an occupation that will actually pay the bills. I think if you commit from the beginning, like we did in high school, you’ll end up doing it for a long time.
Melodime’s music can be heard on Spotify and bought on iTunes. You can also check out their Youtube and their Facebook page.
