Passport LEE MELLOR
Lee Mellor – Ghost Town Heart 
Lee Mellor is een jonge Canadees die klinkt als een oude Canadees vol met levenswijsheid. Daarnaast heeft hij een gave om die, al dan niet verzonnen, ervaring in fraaie zinnen op te schrijven en te voorzien van heerlijk meelopende melodieën. Ghost Town Heart verscheen een paar maanden geleden en is bij Mellor thuis opgepikt door students, blue-collar workers and folkies. Dat is niet verwonderlijk. Het is eerlijk, oprecht, slim geschreven en erg meezingbaar. Mellor is een hardcore troubadour met een hart van country-rock-goud. Gravedigger Blues is een drankorgie met Johnny Cash, Robert Earl Keen en Steve Earle aan, op en onder de toog. Opzwepend en angstaanjagend, samen in één glas, als de worm in de Mexicaanse tequila. Opener Liberty Street is overigens direct al raak. Stoer en robuust, de standaard is direct gezet. Na de eerste helft van Ghost Town Heart is de pijp wel leeg maar tegen die tijd is het statement al gemaakt en heeft Mellor laten horen dat hij een liedjesman is waar we rekening mee moeten houden. (Patrick Donders)
1. What’s in the name/what’s in the title?
Lee Mellor – Is an English name. “Lee” is an alternate word for “field” in English, and “Mellor” is a town in the north-west where I suppose one of my ancestors came from. My grandmother’s maiden name was actually “Holland” but whether that has anything to do with the Dutch or not I have no idea. I certainly hope it does.
Ghost Town Heart – It’s in the liner notes. You’ll have to buy the CD to find out!
2. What’s your first musical memory?
When I was about three my mother used to sing a lullabye she made up to send me to sleep. Seventeen years later when I started to get into folk music I remembered the melody and realized that it was actually really cleverly constructed. It has a very subtle Irish flavour that would work incredibly well with what I’m doing. I plan on rewriting the lyrics for a bluegrass/Celtic album to be released in the next few years called “Different Waters.”
3. First cd/lp you bought?
This is going to be painful: to be honest it was probably Weird Al Yankovic’s Greatest Hits. I found the guy hilarious when I was about seven years old. I suppose it took me awhile to really emotionally connect with music. The first CD I bought for a serious love of music was Jimi Hendrix’s The Ultimate Experience when I was about twelve. “All Along the Watchtower” blew my mind the first time I heard it. “Dad what’s that!”
4. At which moment did you decide that your music had to be heard?
At about age fifteen I played some songs I’d written to a couple of friends. They were really impressed and told me I should pursue music seriously. I agreed, figuring it was probably my best chance to get lots of women and money. Ten years later I’m still waiting for the pay off! Fortunately, over the years the integrity of the songs has become much more important to me. It is my only real concern anymore- making as many great albums I can before I drop dead. It’s an addiction.
5. What was the biggest musical step you took so far?
Forking out the $10,000 I needed to record a great album. Until then I was always trying to take shortcuts and was never happy with the results. I would record on friends’ computers, at home or in university recording studios after hours with inexperienced engineers. One night I was either drunk or high, and wallowing in the depths of a huge depression. I was frustrated about my music career and how I never seemed to be able to attain anything. Suddenly, I had a life-changing epiphany. I can only describe it in the words of Colonel Kurtz in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now: “It was like I was struck in the forehead with a diamond bullet.” I realized that if I wanted to seriously do this with my life, I had to do whatever was NECESSARY to make the best album possible. The songs were there but I had to go further- spend way more money than I could afford, find the best possible musicians and work with somebody who knew what they were doing. If I didn’t I was never going to be able to live with myself. Once this realization became cemented in my mind I went through probably one of the hardest years of my life: recording an album, working my ass off at a shit job and attending university full time. In August 2007 I received the first albums in the mail, and have had relative peace of mind ever since. Now I have to find money for the next record which is already written and is fantastic.
6. You won a contest. First price is: a master class in song writing and you can choose the teacher. Who would you ask and what should the lesson be about?
To be honest (which I prefer over false modesty), I think I have got it figured out. I already learned everything I need to know from listening to Springsteen, Earle, Seger, Dylan, Parsons and all those old soul and motown records. If I WAS to choose a teacher it would probably be Springsteen, although I’m not sure what I would ask him to teach me. My weaknesses tend to be in writing parts for other instruments, rather than the songs themselves. 40% of the time I consider the “The River” to the best song ever written.
7. Best concert you ever saw?
TIE: The Wailers on McKay street in Montreal OR Steve Earle at the Kool Haus in Toronto (that show changed my opinion on the death penalty overnight).
8. Who of your musical friends is going to change the world? And how?
As individuals our efforts and actions all influence the course of human thought and progress at some level. I think the more important question is “are any of them going to effect it positively?” Many musicians succeed in making people feel hopeful and inspired, which are positive traits, but they fail in steering that hope and inspiration in a direction that will actually produce any lasting and positive change. The idea of revolution driven by rock and roll has become almost a laughable concept, because entertainment has only served to dumb people down and placate them rather than educate and politicize them.
I can’t speak for my friends, but I am certainly trying to do something a bit more serious with my music than “let’s all have a party.” I believe in moving forward.
9. It’s the end of the world and everybody knows it and they ask you to sing one more song for the whole wide world ! Which one are going to pick?
My song “Gravedigger Blues” from Ghost Town Heart
Lee: So now that you’re standing in the mouth of death, do you finally know what you want?
The World: We want life!
Lee: You had that and look what you did with it. Now prepare to be truth-fucked!
(Enter guitar riff…world blows up!)
10. What’s up for the next couple of months?
I’m hoping to get into South By South-West and Canadian Music Week, planning a European tour for summer or autumn of 2008 (yes we will DEFINITELY be coming to the Netherlands and Belgium), and trying to get money together for my next album. Lots of drinking, jam sessions and gigs in between. I’ll probably write ten songs or so in the next few months.
