Exposed Vocals Interviews Mellotonin
Miles Saunders… Mello Miles, one half of Mellotonin, 19 years old. Born in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2006. Miles has been writing since the age of 8, composing raps, poetry and stories. Until a year ago, Miles has had to push his true passion aside for sports. He played football and swam since the age of 6 and throughout high school. After graduating high school, Miles attended Queens University of Charlotte to swim. In his freshman year, he was a member of the National Championship team and elected to leave his sophomore year to pursue his real passion, writing. Miles is currently putting the finishing touches on a project with his sister, who’s a DJ. They are planning to release it this summer, all while juggling school.
Madison Saunders… Dj Lo~Easy, the other half of Mellotonin, 17 years old. Born in Baltimore, MD and moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2006. Madison followed the footsteps of her brother by swimming her freshman year of high school. Always having a love of music but not knowing where she could fit in she decided to deejay and dance. Madison will be graduating high school this coming June and has decided to end her swim career and focus solely on music. She has been busy working on Mellotonin’s upcoming project with her brother, mixing and adding effects to the instrumentals used on the mixtape.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Mellotonin: We lived the first-half of our life in Baltimore, MD and the other in Raleigh, NC. We’ve always loved music and it got to a point where we had the urge to try it.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Mellotonin: It kind of describes what direction we want our music to go. We want our music to be mellow.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Mellotonin: It’s a great way for the public to listen to music. We really enjoy what we do so we don’t mind sharing it for free.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Mellotonin: You just have to be persistent and do research. Those are the two biggest things.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Mellotonin: Definitely studying and listening to artists that we like from different genres. I think I’ve gotten my best writing results when my sister and I are secluded in the room working. Having her there helps me know where I need to be as far as effort.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Mellotonin: We currently use YouTube, SoundCloud, and Twitter.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Mellotonin: Travel and use it to further our career.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Mellotonin: We’re still trying to find out what works best for us, but for now we’re spreading it to friends, building our Social Medias, and searching for PR’s.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Mellotonin: We’re putting the finishing touches on our first project, Unlock and brainstorming for the second one.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Mellotonin: We’d probably be miserable college students.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Mellotonin: We’re both procrastinators but it helps us get things done and it seems to work.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Mellotonin: Getting an idea of who we are through our music.
Soundcloud link: https://soundcloud.com/user-