Melee adds flavor to pop punk

By David Chang
Daily bruin contributor
[email protected]

The global music phenomenon or band known as Melee has announced
its plans for world domination.

“We’re going to sell out so we can make it
big,” said guitarist/keyboardist Rick Sanberg. “We hope
you like all the songs we’ve made up until now.”

Realistically, the zany jokesters of Melee are light-years ahead
of schedule in terms of uttering earth-shaking and potential
career-ending statements. No, they are not bigger than Jesus
Christ. They’re not even bigger than Clint Howard. Those
interested to find out just how big Melee is will get their chance
when the band graces the greater Westwood area with its presence
amidst media frenzy and heavy security at the Cooperage on Thursday
night.

Actually, this Orange County outfit would have difficulties
selling out even if it wanted to. Composed of Sanberg, bassist Ryan
Malloy, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Chris Cron, and drummer
Israel Villanueva, Melee has yet to tour past California state
borders. Thus, folks need not worry about hiding the women and
children as they did during Led Zeppelin invasions.

“We don’t have much of a tour life,” said
Sanberg. “We figured it’s a waste for us to spend a lot
of time touring. We want to spend more time making a name for
ourselves in our general area.”

The quartet used to be a quintet with drummer Mike Amico and
keyboardist/vocalist Lina Simpson. Seven months after parting ways
with Amico and Simpson, Melee brought in Villanueva to finalize the
current lineup.

Malloy feels each of the bandmembers has a distinct role in the
band’s overall dynamic.

“(Israel is) shy and quiet, but he has those moments when
he is really crazy,” Malloy said. “Chris is a kid at
heart if you will. Rick is the one who is more focused on the
business stuff of the band.”

Sanberg describes Malloy as the introverted realist that
truthfully tells everyone whether the music sucks or not.

The quest for a unique sound that keeps the sucking to a minimum
is essential to future success. Melee fuses rock with traditional
Chinese and Japanese music to produce something different from
mainstream noise. Sanberg confesses that his interest in sushi
restaurant music prompted him to create the band’s sound,
which appears for Melee’s 2000 self-released debut “An
Existential Guide To Love” and the fourth and latest offering
“Transmission.”

The band’s uncompromising sound struggles at times to
capture the typical youth. Sanberg considers coming from Orange
County, a hotbed for music, both positive and negative. He believes
the easy attention is offset by the area’s overwhelming pop
punk atmosphere. No Doubt no doubt casts a very dark cloud.
However, they have come a long way (but not that long) since the
notorious cover band years.

“We used to do “˜I’m Too Sexy’ while our
old drummer strips down to British flag Speedos and jumps in the
crowd,” said Sanberg. “We also did “˜Mama Said
Knock You Out,’ which we occasionally still do. Now that we
have enough original material, we try not to make ourselves look
like fools anymore.”

The death of the British flag Speedos hardly signals the end of
Melee’s entertaining live shows. The audience will definitely
not see four shoe-gazers going through the motions with all the
energy of a dead fish at a Melee show. These guys have a world to
conquer.