Artist Spotlight
In this month’s artist spotlight we bring to you Violent Melody...
Violent Melody: Art Through Duality
A Quick Conversation with April Maher
Edward Crossman
My assistant, partner, and emergency contact, Jennifer, has introduced me to a lot of new things since we've gotten together: Sushi, Animal Crossing, that warm fuzzy feeling you get waking up next to the love of your life, pegging. Not everything was well received (Animal Crossing is boring), but one thing she did get me into is the music of Violent Melody. A singer, songer-writer, musician, artist, and all around fantastic creative, Violent Melody asks the question, 'What would you get if you took AJJ, Operation Ivy, The Dance Hall Crashers, ABBA, and Midtown, threw them all in a bowl, and smashed them together?' Probably life in prison, because that would be murder. But, when it comes to creating awesome music based on some fantastic roots, Violent Melody has you covered.
I got a chance to sit down with April Maher, the beautiful mind and heart behind Violent Melody, and had a little chit-chat about their music and their art.
Eddie Crossman: Okay, so I'm sitting down right now with April Melody Maher, better known as Violent Melody. Thank you for sitting down with me and talking with us here at Black Noise about your music. You release music under the name Violent Melody. Is it just you, or do you have a backing band?
April Maher: It's just me.
EC: What instruments do you play?
AM: So, I play guitar and I sing. Originally, I was doing drums on some of the earlier ones too, but I just got really into adding samples. So, I'll normally just play the guitar and sing and then have samples behind it for the beat and for anything else I want to put in there.
EC: Your music is all self produced; You do all of it yourself, the recording, writing, mixing, producing, all of it is done by you.
AM: Yep, it’s all just me.
EC: Do you have a home studio?
AM: Uh huh, yeah. So, I just have my laptop. I have one of those, like, pop mic things. I have the, what do you call that? Like the audio interface thing. Just like, some basic things. And so basically, what I do is: I will find some samples online first, and kind of make a beat. I'm like, 'Oh, I like where that's going.' Then after that I play the guitar, and then after that, I'll usually come up with a melody, then I'll turn that melody into the lyrics, and then that becomes a Violent Melody song,
EC: How did you come up with the name Violent Melody? What's the story behind it?
AM: So yeah, I like the idea of a contradiction. I mean, like my songs, they can be fun, but they can also be raw and emotional. They can be kind of poppy and catchy, but they can also be kind of, you know, raw and rock or punk and so, I think that just sums up what my music is. You know, it's like that mix between being kind of catchy, but also inaccessible, but also very experimental and raw.
EC: You have five albums, one EP and four singles. You've been releasing music since at least 2021. Almost every year you've been dropping a new record. What drives such an export of music?
AM: So, I will put out an album, I'll be really excited about it for the first month or whatever, and then I just got to make more. It's just what I do, you know? It's my self care, too; It's just what makes me feel good. The minute I put out one album, I get excited about a new idea for another album, and I'm like, I gotta just get going on it.
EC: On all those albums, I hear a lot of different influences, including heavy layers of punk, ska, and hardcore, all of that with a pop dance groove. How would you describe your sound?
AM: Uh, it definitely does vary based on the album. One thing I like is that when I make my albums, it is like a snapshot of what I'm listening to at the time. So early on, there was definitely... I mean, there's always pop punk in the music; But I would say, yeah, that there's ska. There's punk. There's some songs that are, like, funky, kind of. There's some electronic, there's even some, like, emo rap or hyper pop kind of influences on some songs. So yeah, it is all over the map, all kinds of influences.
EC: That leads me to my next question. Your sound shifts vastly from album to album, at least on the last three: your newest 'Between Comfort and Chaos' is very emo pop punk. 2024's 'Dance Hall Party' that's heavy ska punk. Your album 'Rose' was very dance, disco heavy. And your first, 2021's 'Hyperpop Punk' is very electronic; Why the shifts between every album?
AM: Yeah, I could kind of break down each one for you. So 'Hyperpop Punk' was definitely when I was listening to a lot of hyper pop, and I was trying to recreate it. Because it's my first album, I don't know that I necessarily had those skills yet, but I was getting towards that. The next one, 'Spring', I was listening to, like, some pop punk, but I was listening to Lil' Peep and he, I think he kind of, like, is the one who got me into the idea of doing samples. So there's definitely a lot of that emo rap kind of influence on 'Spring'. For 'Rose', I was listening to Of Montreal a lot, especially their albums 'Hissing Fauna' and 'Skeletal Lamping', which is a lot of punk and disco; and I'm thinking I really like this stuff. I want to do something that sounds like this, and you know, has that kind of party kind of energy. After 'Rose' was 'Dancehall Party'. That was when I was listening to Operation Ivy a lot. So I definitely was going for like, punk and ska, for sure,
EC: Yeah, you can really hear it.
AM: Oh, yeah, yeah. That is super Operation Ivy inspired, and then the newest one... definitely, I was listening to a lot of emo bands and pop punk bands. But I think also, like, another thing I was trying to do on this newest one is put a little bit of each album into it. So, there are songs... there's one song called 'Starlight Diva' that sounds like 'Rose', um, there's ska songs on there that sound like 'Dancehall Party'. So I definitely want this newest one to be a little everything.
EC: Nice. And it is. It's a really good album, because you do take a little bit of all your past albums and put it together, so it gives a nice mix of everything that you can do. It's really good. You deal with some heavy topics, including depression, trans rights, and self acceptance, just to name a few. But the sound you make is pretty upbeat. Is this duality on purpose?
AM: Yeah, that definitely does have to do with the idea of Violent Melody. You know, I like songs that are fun and catchy to listen to, but when you dig deeper you realize there's a lot more. I kind of think of it like a spoonful of sugar to let the medicine go down. It's like, you have these deep messages underneath the song, but, you can enjoy it just on the surface, too. I think some of the best music is like that; when the first time you hear it, you're like, Oh, this is cool. Then you listen more and are like, 'Whoa!'.
EC: You get them in with the melody and the music, then you make them think when they hear the lyrics. Yeah, I get it.
AM: Absolutely. That's definitely again, the name Violent Melody is definitely like that.
EC: That’s good, I like it. So, you're not only a musician, from what I've been hearing, but you're an artist, as well. You do all the cover work on your albums as well as illustrate a comic too? Am I correct?
AM: I used to do comics a lot. I have one I made called 'Silly Bagel'. I thought about bringing it back again, but I don't know.. I mean, my focus is mainly Violent Melody. So, you know, I'm in college; I'm studying graphic design, and I think a lot of those skills go into my album covers. All the album covers are drawn by me.
EC: So the art, by illustrating the cover work, does go with the music. But does it go the other way? Do you ever get influenced by your music to create art?
AM: Oh, yeah. So when I make my album, the way that I come up with the album art is: I've finished all the songs and I'm listening to them back, and I kind of visualize in my mind what does this sound look like visually? I guess, that’s how I would explain it? So, yeah, If I'm listening to 'Between Comfort and Chaos', I would picture like this: you're on the couch, and then there's this atomic bomb outside, so it's like, you're right in the middle. So, yeah, every time I'm visualizing, that's where the art comes from. So, yes, the art is always after the album.
EC: Awesome. Your music, your art, how has doing all this helped you personally in your daily struggles, not only as part of the LGBTQ+ community, but as a human being?
AM: Um, yeah. Making music, for me, has always allowed me to express emotions that can be kind of hard to express. Interpersonally, sometimes, a lot of times, music actually helps me get my feelings out there. So it helps me in the sense of, it's like a catharsis. I mean, the act of making music and art is itself really comforting, you know? Just doing my passion and then hearing it and being proud of what I made. I mean, it makes me feel good about myself every time I put out an album. Like, wow, this is, like, it's my best one yet, you know? So all of that helps me, really.
EC: How do you hope that your music will help some other kid out there struggling with the same problems as you? How do you hope that you're gonna touch somebody? How do you hope that your music's received by somebody in your same position?
AM: So as far as like other trans people or other LGBTQ people, I would just hope that they hear my music and they realize that it's okay to be who they are, and that there's someone they can relate to, someone that they can identify with, and maybe inspires them to want to write their own music. Because I do want my music to be universal, I want anyone to be able to enjoy it. There's definitely a lot of just my emotions in there that I think that anyone can listen to and be like, 'Okay, this! I feel seen because, you know, April's going through this, and I've been through this too.' So that always makes me feel good.
EC: The human connection. Not just queer or trans or straight, but just the human connection is what you hope to achieve.
AM: Yes, definitely. And I also think that allows people that aren't queer to be like, 'Oh, wow. People that are trans are just like us.' You know?
EC: That's awesome. Do you have any new projects? I'm sure you must, because you've been dropping albums every fucking year. So, do you have any new projects in the works right now?
AM: Right now, I'm just kind of focusing on finishing school; but I have some basic ideas of stuff I want to do. My last single that I put out was very, just, silly, and I wanted to explore some music like that, too. So, there'll be more stuff . I don't really know what direction I'm going to go in yet, but I am definitely getting there.
EC: If people are interested in hearing your stuff, where's the best place to hear your music?
AM: I would say my Spotify. If you don't have Spotify, you can check it out on my YouTube channel. Just look up Violent Melody on either Spotify or YouTube. I mean, you can check it out on all platforms, if you have Apple Music or whatever.
EC: Are you going to be doing any live shows anytime soon? I would love to see some of this live.
AM: I would love to and maybe I will…yeah, maybe. That's something to look into for the future. So far, I've only been on the internet, but I would really like to get out there more.
EC: Well, Black Noise Magazine is all about creating community, and we would definitely be willing to help get you in touch with other musicians, if you were wanting to. If you want to get a drummer, or if you want to get in touch with guitarists, we would more than willing to, oh you know, hook you up with people in your area that would be willing to play. That's what we do.
AM: We should definitely talk about that. Because I was thinking about maybe for the next album, this is one thing for the future, I was thinking, like, maybe I would want to get a band together, because I do think that would make it more fun to play live.
EC: Would it be okay to print your email address, so anybody reading could be like, 'Hey, I'm a guitarist. I want to email this person.' Would that be okay?
AM: Yeah, I would love a guitarist, a drummer, a bassist. (Aprilmaher90@gmail.com)
EC: Awesome; I mean, no promises, but we'll put you out there, and we'll see who connects with you. Because we're all about doing that. So, do you have any final words before we wrap this up? Anything at all that you want to say to anybody reading? Any of your fans, any kids out there? Any final words?
AM: Yeah. If you are passionate about music, then just do what I did, you know, don't worry about it; you don't need to necessarily find a band to get started. Just start putting stuff out there, put it online, and the more you make it, even if you don't feel good at it at first, the more you're gonna enjoy it, and the more you're gonna get better. Even if you're bad, if your stuff in the beginning sounds kinda bad, you get to laugh at it later. It's always a good time. So everybody who wants to make music should make music.
EC: Awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time and dealing with my fumbling with the technology and all that shit. I really appreciate you sitting down with us. You've been awesome.
AM: I had a great time, it was good to meet you and everything. Thanks.