ION INDIE MAGAZINE September 2016, Volume 28 | Page 27

By JB Bridges
Photo credit: C7 Photography

This Rocker from Rochester is definitely deserving of this month’s ION Indie Magazine’s
REVERBNATION “Artist of the Month”--with edgy vocals, ripping guitar licks, excellent
songwriting skills, and a stage presence that catches and holds your eye.
MELIA has become known as one of the top female indie rock artists
on the music scene today. This musical prodigy is considered one of
the top female lead guitarists of this generation, being compared
to the likes of JOAN JETT, BONNIE RAITT--and other female guitar
legends. And the industry is being held at rapt attention…for not
only is she the winner of 3 awards, including "Best Female Rock
Artist", as well as "Best Rock Song" and "Song of the Year" ("Just a
Bride") at the 2012 Indie Music Channel Awards and 2013 "Best
Female Rock Artist", held at House of Blues in Hollywood, but Melia's
EP, "Soundproof Walls", has received rave reviews.
Melia began her music career as a guitarist at the age of 16. She had been trying to get her
parents to let her take guitar lessons after going to her first GREEN DAY show during their
“American Idiot Tour” two years earlier. They made her wait two years before taking up lessons,
which she feels propelled her motivation. She excelled at guitar very quickly, practicing 6-8
hours a day, and within eight months of taking up the instrument, she had formed her first band
with a couple of high school friends. Although she had always written poems and lyrics, while
with her first band she also began writing her own music and lyrics and started playing some
of that original music at shows.
After graduation she became serious about pursuing her musical career. During that summer
after graduation she had the experience of a lifetime when she attended another Green Day
concert and was chosen by lead singer, BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG, to play guitar for the song
“Jesus of Suburbia”.
She is still splitting her practice each day between guitar and vocals, in addition to becoming
a guitar teacher at the school where she began her lessons. The music is a guitar-driven
alternative rock style with message-laden lyrics that come from her personal experiences--or
of those close to her.
She completed working on her new EP "Skeletal Remains" with Grammy-winning
engineer/producer/mixer KEVIN KILLEN (PETER GABRIEL, SHAKIRA). It was recorded in NYC at
THE MUSIC SHOP and was released in December 2015.
Melia has played with THE OFFSPRING, EVE 6, GASLIGHT ANTHEM, OUR LADY PEACE, WALK THE
MOON, OBERHOFER, THE TEA PARTY, THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH, LOVE AND DEATH, BIG WRECK,
STEVE VAI, TWENTY ONE PILOTS, NEW POLITICS, FUEL, SICK PUPPIES, BLACK STAR RIDERS, LACUNA
COIL, ASIA, THEORY OF A DEADMAN, THE MISTFITS, BUCKCHERRY and HALESTORM.