Exposed Vocals Catches An Exclusive with ‘Three Seats’

Three Seats is an experimental pop & trip hop band consisting of Singer-Song Writer, Mel Rose, vocalist, composer-instrumentalist, Ripdae La Wise, & composer-instrumentalist, Nickk Dropkick.

Mel Rose was born in Montreal, Quebec and grew up mainly in Waterloo, & Nickk, who is from Tampa, Florida, moved to Canada before the age of 20, & met Mel in high school. Ripdae was born on the island of Saint Thomas, but spent a lot of his youth moving from city to city, within the stateside existence of the United States. In late 2013, he & Nickk met in a Facebook forum called Left vs Right. Nickk & Ripdae started talking & developed an artistic friendship which led to the 2014 creation & release of the transgressive graphic novella called MOAP (Mother of all Parties) & the 2015 birth of the experimental, & noise hop band called Plebs & Fuckboys.

Long after high school, Nickk & Mel kept in touch even though Mel moved to Toronto for school. During that move from Waterloo to Toronto, Mel was introduced to Ripdae through Facebook. After a year & some months of talking with Mel, Ripdae approached her with the idea of forming a band with Nickk. Mel accepted & immediately after she accepted, Ripdae & Nickk started composing instrumentation for Mel Rose. Mel would freestyle lyrics, refine them, record them, and then she would send them to Ripdae & Nickk to mix & master.

95% of the album ‘Aurora’ was written in freestyle lyrics. That’s how the band name came up. Mel was writing ‘Too High (for your shit) ‘ and she was free styling and she said “three seats higher than you”. Melanie explains ” When I was thinking of that I was in a sad place where I didn’t have many friends in college. Majority of them had graduated and I had no where to sit because I was new to the classes and I didn’t have a set group of friends I would sit beside. But when I came home I would talk to Antonio and Nick, & when I did, I felt like I could be around them. They understood me and I wished that I had three seats waiting for me in my class for them. Then I thought this is also for our fans to know that we are like them.”

• “Our band is a mix of the most different, odd, yet interesting group of people and that’s what we want our fans to relate to. Having someone to sit with on a bus or in a classroom where you feel alone or strange and knowing that someone knows how you feel makes the situation less scary. A lot of the lyrics are inspired by boys and people who did me wrong and just life growing up. Everyone’s life is different. I think it’s okay to be sad and scared sometimes. It levels you as normal to everyone else. You can talk to anyone and they have a sad story that would make you cry. We want fans to embrace experiences and grow from them.” – Mel Rose

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Mel Rose: I was born in Montreal and moved around until my family chose to stay in Waterloo, Ontario. When I was looking for school I decided to move to Toronto to study Graphic Design. I was very shy growing up. I would never show anyone my poems or songs but I did love to dance and lip sync with my friend and her brother when I was 6. We would dance to S Club 7 or whatever the 2000’s regurgitated at us. I really liked performing and dancing and we would do that in front of our parents every time we choreographed a new song. When I was 12, my parents had surprised me with a guitar. I had asked for all kinds of instruments growing up; it went from guitar to drums to saxophone to piano and violin so my parents wanted to make sure I would stick to liking an instrument. And I never swayed from guitar. I took lessons for 8 months til my mom couldn’t afford it anymore, so I was kinda on my own. I remember the last song I learned was basic chords and a song I loved at the time. It was ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ by Green Day, and I used to call my friend Brooke all the time and show her what I learned. When I learned that song, the only way I could remember how to play it was to sing along. So I played the song for Brooke and softly sang. She said it was really good and had asked if I was playing a CD in the background singing to the song. And I said no it was me and she said “Mel that was really good. I honestly thought someone else was singing. You should sing more” this was the first time I had sang in front of anyone. Again I was shy and again yeah it was over a house phone but that is what kinda started it. In high school, I used to hate academic classes. English was like really hard for me. Especially since I was in ESL (English Second Language) because I was born French and all. Anyways I thought my poems sucked I didn’t know many words; they never sounded happy or rhymed and I would get my friend to help me make them. Until one day my teacher pulled me aside ( I didn’t want to participate that day) and I told her I can’t write and she said I could, and poems don’t need to be happy or rhyme so I went to my desk, put on some heavy metal and wrote the sadest thing ever. I wish I had it still because I remember I even swore in it and I showed it to my teacher and she said she was about to cry and it was good just bleep out the swear words. But I loved writing more at that moment than with guitar so I wrote songs. I think I wrote 5 poems back to back after that and showed my teacher all of them that day. After that I would write songs all the time, never showing anyone but my close friends. At work I would write them in the drive thru on receipt paper. Or record lyrics on my phone when I’m outside alone at night or cleaning a toilet. Then I started putting some of them on my YouTube channel “hellomelaniee” and Antonio and Nick saw them and you know that story already.

Nickk: I grew up in central Florida actually, in a town called Brandon, outside of Tampa Bay. I had a pretty good childhood, then I wound up moving to Waterloo, Ontario. The change in climate and isolation from the people I grew up with and who were, for all purposes, my extended family really got to me. Honestly, I got pretty down for a number of years.

One of my solaces and only friend for awhile was a guy who used to go by the name “Chris Dropkick”. It was his idea that the only way we would get out of where we were in our lives was through out music. Desperate and somewhat romantic, I embraced this. During this period of my life I looked at rock stars and musicians as almost God’s or saints- they were my ultimate ideal, both as a means of escape and as an engine to transform and reconcile one’s tragedy or suffering- or just any expression really- into art. To be honest I’m a pretty socially awkward guy- and not in the romantic wallflower kind of way- but after a lot of vandalism, violence, and other stupid teenage rebellious stuff I finally got a bass guitar, joined a few bands, went on a few tours and followed an art style which had inspired and almost dictated much of my life. I learned to be a bit cooler, and had a lot of fun originally getting into music and it’s been a definitive part of my life. After some fallout with my band, I took some music courses in university, and in one of them my professor was at one point talking about how crazy music was becoming- that right at that moment we could be on our laptops producing a hit track that millions could be listening to an hour later. This got me thinking, why can’t I do what he said and produce my own music on my computer as well? So I got a computer, produced a few tracks, released a few albums, got into the forefront of dubstep, witch-house, or what have you, and then internet culture exploded and now I’m here I guess. At this point, I do art because its habit, I’m not so sure what inspires me any more, but sometimes the habit coincides with greater concepts and my mood, and that’s when I work best I think.

Ripdae: To sum up my adolescence growing up, I developed moving around here & there. I think I’ve been an artist since I knew what the word artist meant, but what made me want to create music, & what not, was a want to bring something artistically great to my generation. I think myself & the other 2/3 of Three Seats are doing quite well so far to be honest.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Ripdae: Three Seats? Well, I like the way Mel tells that story.

Mel Rose: I freestyled a lot of the lyrics on the album. When we formed we didn’t have a name and we were still making music trying to figure that out. And I was writing for ‘Too High’ and I said “three seats higher than you” and that came from a sad place when I said that. I was in school and I didn’t know anyone because all my friends had graduated the year before so I was in a class where everyone had their own groups of friends and they would sit in their spots. I didn’t have that, so I tried sitting in the corner away from people so I didn’t fuck up their seating plan. I just wanted to be out of their way and I hated that I sat by myself sometimes and when I would go home I would talk to Nick and Antonio and they would make me feel wanted and needed, so I would wish that they sat beside me in class. I think that’s what I wanted for our fans.. it was that no matter what, you can sit with us. We understand you and you can relate. I think it’s important to embrace sadness to move on and grow from it and that’s what I try to do when I write songs.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Mel Rose: Our album ‘Aurora’ is out now for free or donation. I think free music, especially for people like us who aren’t big stars, it’s important to have free music out there. So then everyone has a chance to listen. I think it is important to support artists especially if you like them because sales matter and they want to know if you like it and if you want more.  And supporting them allows them to tour or get merch or make a dope album. But yeah money is a fuckery. But that’s how it goes. We need money to get noticed.

Nick: I love it to be honest, its the greatest thing and it really democratized the music industry- no more is what people listen to necessarily dictated by major companies or even access to a studio- literally anyone can make music, and what pushes music today is the masses and what they decide is good. Advertising and old music techniques of selling still work to a degree, but by and large, online music sharing has more of the power into the hands of the average musician.

I share my music a lot for free, not just in Three Seats. Honestly, I rarely pay for music out of the necessity of buying something to listen to it. If I like an artist, I’ll try and give them money even if I already have their album, and if I don’t like them, then fuck them. I feel if people like what someone makes, its up to them to pay for music at this point. If you wanna see an artist go on tour, continue making their music, and be in a better situation to make their music, help them maintain a lifestyle to do so. If not, no worries. I don’t know how long I can continue making music for, but I’ll probably continue until I’m on the streets, dead, or otherwise occupied trying to survive. If someone likes my stuff and wants to push me in the opposite direction, and if I’m worth it- they’ll help out. If not, there’s a million other people trying to make it big just like me, and sharing your art isn’t that bad. Honestly, forget what I said, just having an audience is pretty dope.

Ripdae: I think online music sharing is interesting, entertaining, & delightful, even when I’m being spammed by artists who fiend for my feedback. Yes, we give our music away for free, but we also provide the option to purchase.

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?

Mel Rose: Try and get as much exposure by gaining followers on social media and making friends with other artist and learn from them. Everyone is different. I don’t think we knew what kind of music we were making so it was hard to imagine the listener to direct out stuff too.

Nick: Make a lot of shit, release a lot of shit, do a lot of collabs, and just fuck with the internet in general

Ripdae: Yeah, I definitely can. 1. Sell yourself short if you feel that’s the best thing for your artistic career. 2. You are your dictator, I suppose.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Mel Rose: Oh man. Antonio knows this. But usually boys. I’m not going to call them men. Because they act like boys. I usually try and gain from shitty experiences by writing about them or becoming inspired by them and write whatever. Usually it’s the beat tittle or whatever I’m thinking maybe. A thought I had wrote down or a sentence that gets stuck in my head. Antonio or Nick will send me a beat and I’ll listen to it, put it on audition and hit record and just sing what I feel should be said on the beat. And if I get stuck on words I’ll hum the melody and then write over that. It really depends but I find that works the best. It sounds more organic and if I need to change things I can. So I’ll do that till the song gives me chills and I’ll record vocals and send it to one of the guys to master it.
Ripdae: We gather inspiration from the internet, & other crap & sexiness within humanity.

Nick: I usually watch a lot of occult stuff, but honestly, a lot of what I do in music production is based either around replicating a mood, or otherwise trying to showcase a concept or ideal within an ideology (for me typically something transgressive, absurd, nihilistic, or occultist). I usually binge in an almost manic-depressive like cycle when producing stuff.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Mel Rose: For now we have threeseats.bandcamp.com and that’s where you can listen to the full album for free or donate. We have Soundcloud, with a few songs from the album on there: www.Soundcloud.com/threeseats  I made all the covers for each song and Nick and I collaborated on the ‘Aurora’ album cover.  He did most of it; he came up with the actual artwork for that i just did the text. We are pretty active on our Twitter (@threeseats) and Facebook (Facebook.com/threeseatsmusic). We post our stuff on there too, but it’s not as fun as Twitter. Cinnabon loves us on Twitter hahaha.

We are going to get Instagram when we start doing shows and selling merch.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Mel Rose: I’d pay off my student debt first lol then I would probably invest in studio time.. get Antonio and Nick new equipment and computers. Get me a little set up as well. Meet Kid Cudi ahah I would definitely put time and effort into the band with all that free time. Maybe go on a vacation or get Antonio down to Canada to meet us for the first time lol that’s right. Haven’t met Antonio ever haha he’s real though we FaceTime. I would give some money to my mom as well. Buy my friends some presents and get some merch for Three Seats. Invest in some business.. maybe a bar, clothing store I would probably open up (hope2cure), maybe a strip club haha.
Ripdae: I would use it to create & open up a restaurant/art gallery, somewhere in Toronto, or somewhere in Colorado, maybe.
Nick: I’d probably weep to be honest, get a bunch of tattoos, maybe hit up Japan or Miami, and just enjoy life for awhile for once. That and buy a lot of video games. I’d probably also get studio equipment too that I desperately need.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Mel Rose: Twitter and Facebook are a good way of promoting. And just getting your stuff to blogs as well. I think it helps to have good artwork. I think we are lucky that we are all artistic and creative and push each other to be different. It also helps that I’m a Graphic Designer so that artwork and branding isn’t something we need to worry about. Design really helps. And just talking like a human on social media helps too. In a month alone we gained over 400 followers just releasing music and interacting with people.

Nick: idek tbh, usually I just message various outlets I think are cool and match my style, or share stuff with some friends or similar artists online as well. Collaborating helps too.

Ripdae: Right now, Facebook works best.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Mel Rose: It’s been a couple of weeks since we released the album. I miss writing songs and recording. I have been just listening to the album thinking of what we can do better for the next one. I think that’s what’s exciting, that the next album will be a different version of us because people change everyday. And my dating life just gets harder and sadder hahaha I think the next step is to keep promoting and get some gigs in Toronto.

Nick: I’ve always got a few that I’m in, N3rgul, Vāmācāra, Plebs & Fuckboys, possibly an album under a group called Division Sonic-Transgresif, doing a split with a group called Red Giant.

There will be more Three Seats in the future, though of what nature, that’s up to inspiration

Ripdae: Yes, but that’s a lot of information to discuss in such a short interview.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Mel Rose: Dead or I’d be just a Graphic Designer. But honestly a lot of people’s music saved me (Kid Cudi A lot of times) from a lot of shit. Whenever something bad happened I would write a song to get my mind working differently. And when Antonio and Nick approached me to make a band, I was mentally in a bad state of mind. A lot of traumatic things kept happening to me and I was about to just give up. They saved me.

Nick: I’d probably be off halfway around the world fighting some crazed war, maybe I’d join the French foreign legion, maybe I’d be dead, maybe I’d be doing artwork instead- I love doing artwork. To be honest though, I’d probably just live a n33t lifestyle and play video games, but also be a better gamer- the kind in the anime “no game, no life” possibly. I feel my video gaming has fallen in favor of making music, which kinda sucks too tbh.

Ripdae: Ghosting, probably.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Mel Rose: I’m lucky I work freelance so I have time here and there for music. I was recording when no one was home so I would record early mornings in the afternoons I would work on graphic design things for work and then at night I’d work on band branding or getting followers on Twitter, gaining listens in SoundCloud or writing songs. And I did that almost every day for a couple of months before we released the album. I think after we released the album I felt really relieved and reborn because it took a lot of work and energy to make this album. We even left one song off album.

Nick: Ha, ha, no.

Ripdae: With focus & determination.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

Mel Rose: More music and shows! I’m excited to see what kind of people listen to our music and meet them.  I’m excited for people to relate. I think that’s the coolest thing in the world.

Nick: So much

Ripdae: More music from all of us.