When Eric Joyce answered the door in nothing but bell bottoms and a couple necklaces- I knew this was going to be like no interview I’d conducted before.  I’ve done the backstage thing, the dressing room thing, the street-side thing- and sometimes it’s just cool to kick it at the band’s makeshift L.A. home.  In the upscale car clad streets of suburbia Purple Melon’s giant van seems slightly out of place- but their retro rock is anything but.

 

Old is apparently the new, new- and the London quartet (Tom Hill, Owen Barry, Eric Joyce, Jason Ganberg) are selling out shows, turning the Viper Room into a makeshift sardine can.  The usually high maintenance twenty-somethings of L.A. are more than willing to get a little up close and personal with the most random of strangers in order to hear what all the buzz swarming around the hot little London imports is about.

 

They, as I, were not disappointed.  The vocals spewing from singer Tom Hill’s lips were immediately surprising- nailing every word with his amazing range.  I’d heard about the boys several times, and me being a girl on the go had two other previously arranged engagements that night.  After an urgent text from my brother (fellow music connoisseur) I made sure not to miss the performance- and my god, was everyone right!

 

It’s no secret that I’m slightly obsessed with anything properly embodying the vintage vibe of yesteryear, and Purple Melon was utter lust at first listen- akin to The Beatles and Led Zep in their harmonizing and melodic song strategies.

 

A few days later I found myself on their doorstep, and though they struck me as slightly rebellious rockstars, their utter nonchalance and down to earth nature was immediately as disarming as they were charming.  Outside on a perfect 74 degree day in L.A., we sat and chatted about the L.A. versus London music scene (or, lack thereof!)

BNB:  Okay guys we are on the record!  Introduce yourselves!

JG:  I’m Jason, and I’m head of facebook- and drummer.

EJ:  I’m Eric, I’m the bass player.

OB:  I’m Owen and I cook!

TH:  I’m Tom Hill and I write the songs.

OB:  Some of them.  Most of them.

TH:  I’m singer.

 

BNB:  So where’d you get your name from?

PM:  Eric’s bullocks.  Eric’s got a weird colored scrotum- what is it like?  It’s like the dark meat of a turkey.

BNB:  Well, that’s graphic!

PM:  Well we couldn’t call it purple turkey sac so…we call it purple melon!

 

BNB:  How’d you all meet each other?

PM:  Me (Owen) and Tom met back in school about four or five years ago- we had a suicidal drummer that was in the band back then- we used to have a keyboard player as well that used to wear Hawaiian shirts- he was just not right.  Got rid of him.

JG:  Was it because he wore Hawaiian shirts then?

PM:  Well yeah because he wore Hawaiian shirts.  He wore big flowery Hawaiian shirts and he’d go like this (runs his fingers down an imaginary keyboard and proceeds to finger shoot the audience.) and then point at the audience.  So we got rid of him, didn’t get another keyboard player- and then we found Jason on a sex site.  I (Owen) found Jason in a chat room on the internet.

JG:  You know when you’re just flicking through porn and you accidentally see someone?  That’s kind of what I was doing.

BNB:  Very romantic boys!

 

BNB:  So you guys came over here from London- did you always want to come to L.A. or are you just here touring and such?

PM:  No we’ve always wanted to come to L.A.- sort of check it out.  We heard there was a better music scene here.

OB:  We were talking about coming to America like even a couple of years before we came out.

JG:  Even as soon as I joined the band we were kind of talking about that- that was one of the reasons I joined actually!

PM:  It was actually America that was the initial plan wasn’t it?  We were trying to decide between New York or L.A.

BNB:  Those are the two music capitols- happy with your decision?

PM:  Absolutely.  But we do love New York.  We’re looking forward to going and smashing it in New York.

BNB:  CMJ?

PM:  Pencil us in for that Jason!

 

BNB:  I think the UK has an amazing rock scene- what are some of the main differences you’ve noticed thus far?

PM:  Well- that L.A.’s GOT a rock scene.

OB:  Yeah there’s definitely A scene here.

PM:  In London there’s no rock scene at the moment- it’s all Indie.  Some people do call that rock though, don’t they?  Indie is NOT rock.  Indie is as far from rock as you could possibly go.  Indie used to just mean “independent artist” but now it’s just a genre of music.

OB:  Tight trousers and baggy jumpers.

 

BNB:  So what are your favorite UK bands?

PM:  Led Zepellin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd.

BNB:  The classics!

PM:  Yeah the good stuff!  No one really recently.  Nothing like Razorlight- a fine example of Indie music.

 

BNB:  So those bands are all older, and you really embody that style in your own music- are those your main influences?

PM:  Yeah, yeah for sure!

OB:  We’ve got a slightly less retro vibe now that I’ve gotten my haircut.

(NOTE TO READER:  OWEN IS LYING.  HIS HAIR STILL LOOKS AS ROCK AS EVER.)

 

BNB:  You’ve gained quite a following as a result of your sold out Viper Room shows- what’s up next for Purple Melon Sunset Strip wise?

PM:  We do love the Viper Room, the Roxy’s great- as far as sound and overall vibe goes- the Viper Room sort of tops the others.  But we definitely want to do a big ole Roxy show though.  To be honest, the Viper Room’s almost too small now!

BNB:  Yeah- I was at your Viper Room performance this week- it was a sea of wall-to-wall people!

PM:  Yeah unfortunately people have even got turned away the last couple of shows!

OB:  It was packed in almost as tight as our trousers.

 

BNB:  Word on the street is you’re being signed- which label are you interested in?

PM:  Well, we’re “in talks” with a few.  There’s been people contacting us and our manager.

BNB:  That’s got to be exciting for you guys!

 

BNB:  What are your favorite U.K. festivals- Glastonbury?  Leeds?

OB:  River Fest is one of my favorites- it’s in a small village where I grew up (Essex).

JG:  One that I’ve been to is WOMAD.

PM:  WOMAD’s great it’s like a little hippy festival.

OB:  It’s like a world music festival isn’t it?  Yeah.  Jason’s spent time in Ethiopia!  Jason picked up the world music vibe- along with diarrhea.  You lost about two stones whilst you were there, didn’t you?

JG:  Thanks for that.

TH:  I think Cosmic Puffin tops everything.  It was a charity event for children.

PM:  But headlining the Pyramid stage AT Glastonbury would be awesome.

 

BNB:  Well back on the ranch here in America- what festival would you like to play here?

PM:  Coachella!  Next year we’d love to do SXSW, Coachella, Lollapalooza- stuff like that- as long as we could get good shower facilities.

 

BNB:  When can we expect your CD to drop?

TH:  In the future.

OB:  In the NEAR future.

BNB:  Well that is some specific information right there!

OB:  When somebody finally decides on the highest offer to tie us down contractually.

BNB:  Well, you guys seem to be a hot little commodity right now!

 

BNB:  Favorite pre-show vice or ritual?

PM:  Well, we like to hug a lot.

JG:  Last time we did one of these

(holds out his fist, Owen and Eric immediately join forces- sadly Tom was across the table and thus too geographically challenged to fist bump.)

OB:  One ritual we always do without fail is load the van.  And we do a vocal warm up together.  We’ve got this CD that we all sing along to before a gig.  For twenty minutes before a gig.  Sometimes we just do it for fun.

 

BNB:  Closing remarks?

TH:  How about we give you some facts.  In total- added altogether- our penises are around twelve inches.

OB:  Each.

PM:  Cows have four stomachs.

OB:  Three of us have foreskins- one doesn’t.  Can you guess which one?

BNB:  Seriously?

OB:  Yes.

(THREE TRIES LATER I GUESS RIGHT.  I WILL NOW LET THE READER GUESS AS WELL.)

 

We sat back and relaxed for a bit- interview thus completed.  I was treated with a little poolside serenade exclusively for bestnewbands.com by the four U.K. imports whose hair gives even me a run for my money.  I swear, the sacrifices I make for my job.

 

VIDEO DISCLAIMER:  These boys had zero opportunity to warm-up, practice, go through it once- etc.  They STILL absolutely nailed it.  Furthermore, they actually have fun playing off each other- on and off stage.  Clearly the chemistry is undeniable.