Melismatics to play Rok Bar on Oct. 15
Written by Brandon Wray | | news@toledofreepress.comThe Minneapolis band that will play at Toledo’s Rok Bar Oct. 15 is led by happily married husband and wife team Ryan Smith and Pony. Having a female in the band is good for the Melismatics, Smith said in a phone interview from his hometown.
Melismatics
“When you just have four dudes going around the country things can get kind of weird sometimes,” Smith said. “It changes a lot, but for the better.”
Pony helps give Smith and the other guys a more positive attitude, Smith said.
The band’s founder said he it does potentially raises a question about songwriting. Rock songs are typically about getting girls, breakups or make-ups with girls, myriad other problems with girls, and, uh, private activities with girls. What about when your wife is onstage next to you and also singing co-lead?
Smith said his band is in pretty good place on that issue.
“You want to be honest as a songwriter and write about what you know and what’s going on in your life. But also you don’t want to become Fleetwood Mac. So far no problems to write about. Pony and I get along really well.”
Other big bands with husband and wife teams leading the way include some of their influences, alternative icons New Order and Sonic Youth.
Smith and Pony were dating before she joined the band. He actually first saw her when she fronting another band in Minneapolis, 100 Flowers.
“When I saw her I thought: ‘She’s a rock star,’” Smith said. “I wanted her in any band in I was in.”
He became friends with her and finally got his wish a few to play music for real with her a few years later.
The band has been together in different forms since the late 1990s. The current lineup band also features drummer Ron Caron, who is from Marquette, Michigan, and bassist Mark Wade. They have been releasing albums on independent record labels since 2001.
The group just released their new disc “The Acid Test” on CC Entertainment, run by Prince’s former drummer. It was produced by high profile indie rock producer Ed Ackerson, who also worked with Jimmy Eat World. Songs and the available in stores and on their website Melismatics.com and their myspace page, as well in stores.
Smith describes their sound as power pop with a punk influences. They like to credit the fertile Minneapolis indie-rock scene as an influence. The sound of “cold” can heard in the work of eighties and nineties stars like the Replacements, Husker Du, and the Jayhawks.
“Growing up here was huge. You pick up the influences almost through osmosis,” Smith said.
The Melismatics’ songs are very catchy and high energy, as is their live show. He promises Toledo concert-goers a good time.
“When we play we put everything we’ve got into it,” Smith said.
Smith said the band loves touring and has played Cleveland, Cincinnati and Youngstown before. This is their first gig in Toledo.
The band is building momentum through touring and radio airplay but also is getting exposure on the tube. Its songs have been featured in “Laguna Beach” on MTV and on NBC’s “Windfall” starring ex-90210 hunk Luke Perry.
Oh, and it where does the name come from?
Smith said the band has just started and did not have a name when a club owner was hassling about needing a name to put on a flyer. Smith said he was stumped, and so turned to a textbook and told the club owner the first thing he saw.
Melismatic means “a melody in which each syllable of text is set to several pitches.”
“I didn’t think it would stick. Its probably a bad choice because its difficult to spell and remember but we do like it,” Smith said.
The show on the 15th at the Rok Bar is all ages. It is located at 128 Main Street in East Toledo.
