Alex Melia hits Melbourne this month as part of his second tour of Australia. The last year has seen a great rise in popularity for the UK heavy bass music producer. He has released singles bridging Drum n Bass and Dubstep, been touring non-stop and started work on his first album. It’s all quite a lot for a late twenty-something lad from London.
“Yeah man, it’s been pretty mad! I’m lucky enough to sit here in my studio producing what I want to and I’m just glad that people enjoy what I am doing.”
“I grew up in the south-west London town of Morden where absolutely nothing ever happened. It was just a typical London suburb. There’s not a single other musical person in my family, so god only knows where I get it from!” he laughs.
“I definitely discovered music a bit later on, like when I was 15 or 16 and really started to hunt for records and the music I liked.”
Melia’s background is as a jazz drummer. “Up until about 3 years ago I was a drummer who dabbled with making tunes,” he says. “Pretty much everything I’d done was to get into doing session work or band stuff. I started when I was 9 and have been I various bands of all styles. I still love the drums, can’t beat em!”
When I quiz him about his reputed love of jazz he confirms it: “Definitely, although jazz is more a discipline than a style. You really have to practice everyday. Unfortunately I just don’t have the space or time to practice that much anymore.”
It all started quite innocently for him: “I used to mess around on my mates PC’s with logic/fruity loops etc, nothing very serious. Then I got my own PC for my 21st birthday and it kind of took off from there.”
“I was really crap to begin with but since getting into Dubstep, it’s really taken over my life. You can hear how I’ve progressed if you listen to my early stuff (Curse Dub etc). I’ve still got heaps to learn and can’t help feeling I’ve hoodwinked everyone slightly!” he laughs.
I wonder what drives him outside music: “Sad as it sounds music really is it for me. Does Xbox count?! I have been getting into the new Halo game!”
“Honestly, I just love making tunes and drumming – although I don’t get to drum as much as I’d like at the moment. Other than that I like going to see live comedy and watching films. All the usual crap people put on their CV’s.”
Reso injects some great variety in his tracks: “As much as musical styles can differ, production styles can differ too. Really upfront, in your face/over compressed production is ace for tear-out bangers, not so great for more relaxed deeper vibes. The way in which I make a tune, production wise, is just as exciting to me as the “musical” part.”
Reso has collaborated with VENT on his latest release ‘Rumble’ and confesses to me that he would, “really like to get on a few drum and bass tracks, some techno. Who knows! It’s not about making just one thing.”
That cross pollination was evident on his remix for popular kuduro super group, Buraka Som Sistema. Reso’s version of ‘Kalemba’ was a storming rework that set many a dance floor and mix alight. “Buraka originally heard my remix of Two faced rasta and liked it,” he tells me, “so they hit me up on aim and asked if I wanted to do the Kalemba remix. No big story really, they asked, I said hell yeah!”
Melia has also been getting into engineering lately: “I’d like to get into producing other peoples stuff eventually because it’s a whole different set of challenges. In terms of engineering, I help people out sometimes, nothing big.”
And there is an album on the way: “I have been working on an album for a little while. Actually there are some surprises on there – a bit more variety than in my singles. I need to work on bridging tracks and bringing it all together but I am looking forward to getting more stuff out there.”
Reso (UK) plays at Brown Alley on Friday 12th November with Eprom (USA) & Ana’sia (USA).
http://www.myspace.com/corgrimey
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