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MikeFM's Dino Sisto interviews Melina Soochan re Acoustic Nights

• Dino: It is 27 minutes after 9 o'clock in the morning. Sarah Pearson drops by in about 20 minutes time and with Emerging Artists and, of course, she puts together quite the feature where she sits down with the emerging artist, plays a song, and we find out about the emerging artist. And then, when the emerging artist is no longer an emerging artist, and is a superstar, they forget about us. Except for Melina Soochan. How are you, Melina?
• Melina: Hi! How are you? I'm good!
• Dino: You were a featured member of our Emerging Artists profile with Sarah.
• Melina: Right, yup!
• Dino: Did you have a good time doing it?
• Melina: It was amazing. It was really nice to actually sit down with her. I think that had been my first radio interview, actually.
• Dino: Really?
• Melina: Yeah!
• Dino: That's good, that's good. You've done a few since then and I know that you're organizing a series of concerts. Let's begin with Sunday night at the Bourbon Street West. What's going on?
• Melina: Yup! Well, myself and my partner Natalie at Artist Alliance Agency, we decided to start a series of showcases that are going to promote and showcase acoustic singer-songwriters. And it's called "Acoustic Nights" and it's a show that will be every two months with new artists on each show. And the first one is going to be this Sunday at Bourbon Street West at 8 o'clock. Tickets are $8. And it's really just a place for artists in the city to perform their stuff. We've got 5 really excellent artists playing there. A lot of them you may have heard of, some of them you may not, Patrick Lehman, Sule, David Hodges, Sabrina Correa, and myself. And yeah, it's a really great opportunity for the artist to showcase themselves, and its also a great opportunity for audience members to see what's going on in the city. Cuz we have such a great well of talent in Montreal, so I just wanted to start this night with Natalie and this weekend is the first one. The second one will be in April at Brutopia.
• Dino: If I have a criticism of Montreal, it's that it's not as much I should say as Toronto when it comes to club band venues. In other words, Torontonians like to go sit and watch bands and Montreal kinda lags in that department.
• Melina: Well, Montreal is a smaller city, so automatically we have less numbers to fill up venues. So we less potential venues for artists to play in and for people to see live shows at. And also there's a bit of a division sometimes. You know, we've got the French sector, the have a whole set, a whole scene of music in their genre, and then we've got the Anglophone sector. It's a little bit divided, although we're trying to bridge these gaps as much as possible. And also we've got, well just like Toronto we've got genre divisions too, of like rock versus other styles of music. But, I think that's all the more reason for people to come out to every show in Montreal. If you support your artists, you support your local musicians, then come out and see shows, you know? We may not have shows every night of the week, the way Toronto does, but we've got really good shows when we do have have them!
• Dino: Our guest is Melina Soochan. She's s a musician in Montreal. Spiro K is a musician, by the way. And we were both listening to your music. And you know, sometimes when we do listen to some of the newer music, we do see influences of other people. But what I like about your music is that it's quite original.
• Melina: Thank you.
• Dino: What are some of the influences that you feel that you've portrayed in your music and somehow managed to make it original?
• Melina: Well, I think that my main influences come from some of the North American solo women singer-songwriters, you know, in the genre of Sarah McLachlan, Amanda Marshall, Chantal Kreviazuk, both in sort of a more folk and rock genre. But as well into the pop-urban stuff a little bit as well, such as Alicia Keys or Nelly Furtado.
• Dino: And I certainly see that in your video.
• Melina: The fact that there's different influences?
• Dino: Well, no. The fact that its high stylish, also cuz it's awesome, yes that'll work. But you know, when I see Alicia Keys I think of very high end, high fashion, avant-garde.
• Melina: Right. Yeah, well Alicia Keys is definitely one of my main influences. I do, you know, from time to time, when I have shows, I'll throw in an Alicia Keys song because I really admire her. I actually met her at a competition I did when I was a teenager in New York. And she was really really cool. It really, I think, seeing her, and that was at the time when she had her first single, and I think she really influenced me to really push music. You know.And it's really nice to see her path and how she's getting to where she is. What people don't realize is that, you know, these so-called superstars, I mean, they're just regular people who managed to find opportunities and just take them. Right?
• Dino: That's right.
• Melina: And so I think this is what kinda trying to provide to artists here in Montreal. I'm trying to give them an oportunity to play and to showcase their stuff. And, you know, an artist should really take every oportunity they can get and hopefully it's just gonna only help them in their own career, and help me in my career, and everyone will be happy.
• Dino: It's called creating a path for yourself.
• Melina: That's it.
• Dino: Acoustic Nights, Sunday night, Feb 28 th at Bourbon Street West, 5 bands in all. We're gonna play one of your songs, Melina, it's called "X-Ray Eyes". Can you give me a bit of background on the song?
• Melina: The song is kind of artsy, it's a little tongue-in-cheek, it's a little bit, it's cute. But the meaning of the song is that I can see right through someone's real intentions, you know. It's just, the video's interesting, because it portrays some mannequins, like store mannequins, kind of come to life. That was sort of the storyline behind it. IT's kinda got a loose connection to the fact that I can see through people and see through to their real selves. But if you want to, if anybody wants to view this video, they can go check out my website at www.melinasoochan.com, and I've got my two videos up there. One for "X-Ray Eyes" and one for my second single called "City of Love," which is of course about Montreal and how much I love it. But yeah, "X-Ray Eyes" is up for interpretation, so anyone can go check it out and actually leave me your comments of what you think it's about.
• Dino: Or, of course, you can go to the concert on Sunday night at Bourbon Street West.
• Melina: Absolutely!
• Dino: Melina, thank you very much for this!
• Melina: Thank you!
• Dino: And I'm sure we'll be talking to you again in the future.
• Melina: Great!
• Dino: Montrealer Melina Soochan, with her first single "X-Ray Eyes", here, on Mike FM.

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CJAD interview with Melina Soochan and Sule Heitner re Acoustic Nights

• Peter: ... to Bourbon Street, and you can finish off your evening with the Acoustic Nights.
• Amber: That's gonna be a spectacular night.
• Peter: Which is gonna be a really spectacular night.
• Amber: Local talent.
• Peter: Local talent, and we're not talking about just like local bands, these are local talent that are on the verge of breaking. These guys have been with involved with...
• Amber: They're on the cusp.
• Peter: They're on the cusp, they've seen success, working in the background of a band, and these artists are now exploring their own thing. They're sorta taking the plunge. And so we have Melina and Natalie in the studio. And so this is what happened when we had them in the studio earlier today...

[interview from earlier that day]

• Peter: So, here we are on the Irish show, I'd like to welcome back Melina.
• Melina: Hi!
• Peter: And Natalie.
• Natalie: Hello!
• Peter: And Melina and Natalie are running the Acoustic Nights at Bourbon Street West. It's coming up on which day?
• Natalie: On Feb 28th.
• Peter: Feb 28th. So at the end of the month, you gotta be out at Bourbon West for a fantastic night! You guys have 5 artists, this is a great community event. Why don't you tell us a bit about, Natalie, how you and Melina kinda hooked up and where the inspiration for the night came from?
• Natalie: Ok, well this is an idea that Melina had and she knew that I was involved in organizing shows and we were already friends before that, so we just decided to start throwing out some ideas and we just realized we wanted to make it more creative and more of a unique experience. Something that stands out from normal shows that you would go see. These artists that are gonna to be performing on the 28th are amazing artists. I've seen them all live, I've studied with some of them in music. These are people that perform on a regular basis, so they really know how to work the crowd, they write their own music, they've gotten accolades in other radio stations, newspapers, have won competitions. So I mean we're really dealing with a really high calibre of music here, so I'm really really proud of it and it's gonna be an awesome show!
• Peter: Yeah, there's some great support I'm seeing online and in the music community. And it's fun to see that some of the artists have been in other bands and they're getting to come and do a solo project and do a stripped down version of some of their music.
• Melina: Exactly. It gives them a chance to perform in a different way that they wouldn't normally get, especially if they usually play in bands, for example, suddenly they can be on a stage, just them and a guitar and it becomes a whole other experience. A very intimate experience. I think that's important. We're gonna get to see some never-before-heard things on this stage, I think. Looking forward to it.
• Peter: In terms of developping a musician's style, how does an event like this really benefit the artist?
• Melina: Well, it could benefit them in several ways. For one thing, you're on a stage with four other good acts that also have a decent fan base. So on the one hand, for an artist who's looking to increase their fan base, you have access to a lot more people than you would by yourself, for example. On another hand, it gives the artist a chance, like I said, to explore their music in a more acoustic, quieter, sorta setting. We don't allow, for example, distorted guitars, or drums, or tracks. So it really pushes an artist to develop their live stage style to a point where they can perform, just themselves on their instrument, and maybe one other person, two other people max. And they really have to connect with the crowd. It's gonna really be a connection thing, I think, for most of these artists. Which means that, you know, people in the audience will be listening very carefully to the lyrics, they're gonna be listening very carefully to the musicality of it and it's not gonna be a lot of flash dance type stuff. So it's really all about music to the core.
• Peter: Strip away all the bells and whistles and bring it down to the real meat and potatoes of music and force them to really develop their style that way and get the message out.
• Natalie: Yeah.
• Melina: And just to make it clear, this Acoustic Nights thing is gonna be a series of showcases. It's going to be every two months. It's just that the first one is at Bourbon Street West on Sunday Feb 28th. But we want everyone to stay tuned for the Volume 2, Volume 3 of this event, cuz it's going to get bigger and bigger and I think it's gonna really expand in the city too.
• Peter: And there's a waiting list to get into this event, so the quality of music that you guys are bringing to the event is not just your standard open mic night. These are really talented artists who are on the verge of breaking, have been with successful bands and are exploring their own projects now. That, for me, is really exciting as someone who is involved in the music scene and just as a music lover to see an opportunity for people to grow and to do their own thing. So we're gonna have, you're gonna perform for us tonight, Melina!
• Melina: Yes, I am! Yes, I'm gonna be one of the artists in this show, so I wanted to showcase a little bit what I can do too.
• Peter: So what's the song you're gonna perform for us tonight?
• Melina: The song I'm performing is called "City of Love". It is my second single that is produced by Sule Heitner who is also in the studio today and who will also be doing a performance. And this is the acoustic, stripped down to the core, version of it.
• Peter: Excellent, here we go.

[... Melina performs "City of Love"...]

• Peter: Thank you very much for that wonderful performance, Melina, it's always a pleasure to see you and hear you sing.
• Melina: Thank you.

[audience applause]

• Peter: So, with that said, Feb 28th, Bourbon Street West. Where can people get more information regarding Acoustic Nights, how to submit their demos to you guys, how they can get involved with the nights, or how they can just buy tickets and come down?
• Natalie: Ok, well here's the million dollar question: Who has access to Facebook?
• Peter: What's Facebook?
• Natalie: We do have a Facebook Events page, it's called "Acoustic Nights Montreal". We have regular updates, you can submit your band or, you know, you can submit a link and we'll check it out if you're interested in being part of our future shows. We do have some every two months. The next one's April 13th at Brutopia. So far, I think we're already booked for that one.
• Melina: Yup, that one's fully booked.
• Natalie: Yeah, so we will be taking submissions for the future ones. We're open to, you know, anyone. Just give us a shoutout.
• Melina: Any style! Diversity of style is what we're going for, as long as you can perform acoustic, you can be on this show.
• Natalie: Yeah, and also you can check out, I have a company called Artist Alliance Productions. The website is www.artistallianceagency.com. You can send me information there. And you can also check out my blog.
• Melina: And you can also, if anyone's interested check out my website at www.melinasoochan.com and I put up information for all upcoming shows, including the Acoustic Nights that I'm very involved in clearly, and for all the future installments there. You can definitely read up on all the bios of the artists upcoming and all that kind of stuff.
• Peter: Cool, well we'll have all of that information available on our website and on our Facebook page too, cuz we do actually have a Facebook page.
• Melina: My cat has a Facebook page.
• Peter: And we look forward to hearing a bit more about Acoustic Nights and seeing the success of the show. Is it possible that you might do it more often than every two months, if the crowd demands it?
• Melina: Well, I think we want to keep it exclusive enough that it gives us time to really put this kind of effort into the promotion of it for each and every one of them. It makes it a little bit more harder for artists to get on. I mean, if it was every month, it would be great too, but every two months gives people a chance to crave it. And then they get their fix every two months. It'll be good for us, good for them, and yeah, great for everyone.
• Peter: Fantastic. Well thank you so much and I guess we're gonna have Sule on now. So the music keeps rolling on.
• Melina: Stay tuned.
• Natalie: Thank you.
• Peter: Thank you.

[... Irish show theme song plays...]

[... "X-Ray Eyes" plays..."]

[... Sule interview + performance... ]

• Peter: So you're playing on Feb 28th as well, Acoustic Nights.

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