Interview with Danny Mellin: ‘Sam Fender inspired me to get a bigger sound’

Oxfordshire-based singer/songwriter Danny Mellin has the kind of infectious enthusiam for music you would expect from a 17 year old still riding high on the success of his recent release ‘Beaten Up Nikes’.

Mellin, who started playing guitar at the age of seven, penned his debut single, ‘Without You’, when he was just 14. In 2016, he started his own YouTube channel, covering popular chart hits whilst continuing to write his own songs.

‘Back in January, we recorded ‘Beaten Up Nikes’, and also managed to get the drums down for two other new songs before lockdown started,’ he said. ‘We’re now finishing those new songs that will come out later this year. I can’t say much about them yet but one is a song written from the angle of an observer on a night out and the other one is about chilling with your mates, so not your typical love songs.’

Initially, Mellin composed acoustic tracks but last year he formed a band with three friends from school – Hamish Irving (guitar), James Guild (drums) and Elliot Bolton (bass). ‘Now the sound is more indie-rock,’ Mellin said. ‘James and I have been mates since we were four. Actually, when we were 10, we were in a primary school band together, I was singing and he was on the drums! It’s interesting to see a picture from then because there are only seven years between then and now.’

For Mellin, ‘what’s good about being in a band is that they might have ideas instrumentally or structurally that will make the song better’: ‘I write the songs – the music and the lyrics – but the band certainly help with the final sound. Sometimes I have the lyrics first but sometimes the melody comes first. James came up with the drum opening on ‘Beaten Up Nikes’, it makes it a stronger song. It’s very collaborative, we have a great camaraderie together.’

‘Beaten Up Nikes’ came about because he was wearing them at the time.

‘I looked down at them and thought it could be the start of something different. We’ve had a really good response to it, it’s been great. The interest in it is still there after two months.’

One of his biggest influences has been Sam Fender: ‘Sonically, he’s been such an influence on me. I saw him at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire with my dad in May last year and he inspired me to get a bigger sound, which is how I came to form the band. Locally, I’d like to collaborate with Willie J. Healey, I think he’d be fun to work with. He has a strong 60’s influence, so people like John Lennon and George Harrison.’

Mellin cites The Beatles as his all-time favourite band: ‘I remember spinning around to some of their more obscure tracks aged three in the lounge! The Magic Gang’s debut album is also another favourite. Revolver is my favourite Beatles album because it’s the perfect mix between their early stuff and their full-on psychedelia! There’s a lot of different stuff of it. It never seems to get old.’

When it comes to his own music, Mellin says his favourite song is normally the one he’s just finished.

‘Often there’s really good stuff on the demo. Of the ones we’ve released, ‘Beaten Up Nikes’ is my favourite. For that one, we went up to a massive studio in Oxford for the first time. It was really fun. We wanted to have fun with the video as well, so I put on the worst shirt I could find in my wardrobe [laughs]! Some of my previous videos have been more serious, but ‘Beaten Up Nikes was like the one we did for ‘Emily’ – just having some fun with it.’

‘Emily’, funnily enough, isn’t actually based on a girl called Emily: ‘I just thought the name just went well with the melody but since I wrote it, I’ve met loads of Emilys!’

For now, he says he wants to concentrate on releasing singles because it’s a better way to distribute the music to fans ‘because we can put music out more regularly’.

He’s been writing a lot of songs on lockdown and is relieved that the band will be able to meet up again over the summer holidays.

‘We were in the studio earlier this week (21 July). We would have been playing festivals etc. had they not been cancelled but when we’re able to play again, we’ll be a lot better, with a stronger set. I’m really looking forward to playing gigs again. We do some covers, too, such as Sam Fender’s ‘Play God’ and ‘Mardy Bum’ by Arctic Monkeys.’

Gigs can have their challenges, though: ‘We played one gig before lockdown where we couldn’t park nearby so we had to lug all the equipment there and then upstairs. Try lugging a drum kit up the stairs! It’s fair to say that we weren’t the most attractive bunch by the time we got off stage! That was the day we ended up having three meal deals to celebrate, so not very rock ‘n’ roll!!!’

Mellin’s debut EP, Wake Me Up, was released in January 2018, with his second EP Holding On  released in September of the same year at a launch event at the Rapture music store. This was followed by playing to his biggest audience to date – 10,000 people at Oxford’s South Park for the Firework display on the JACK FM stage .

He has also opened for Jake Clemons, sax player for Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, on his solo UK tour at the O2 Academy Oxford and played alongside Rowan Atkinson on the bill of a charity concert at Christ Church Cathedral.

(Photo credit: Mike Berry Photography)