Interview: The Melloncollies re-record debut LP after a decade of personal healing

When his father died, everything changed. Simon Erani was 10, and the emotional devastation was too much. He turned into a wild child, acting out and even “sneaking to take my mother’s car out,” he recalls. He was never into drugs himself, but he did seek companionship with those much older than he.

“One year, right before the summer, my mother said she had to go to New Jersey to set the house up for the summer,” he tells B-Sides & Badlands. “We were leaving in a few weeks, and she said she’d be back in a few days. I was so happy because now I could bring a few guys [to the house] I met from the studio. I could never let my mother see that I was hanging out with 20 year olds, so I would play with them in the drummer’s house.”

During their jam session, Erani soon realized they were not home alone. “I saw someone walking down the stairs in my basement. You couldn’t see them at first because the ceiling was very low above the stairs. This person was dancing, and I thought it was my sister,” he continues. “But as she took the last step, it was my mother. I’ll never forget her face. She was ready to faint because I was really with a motley crew.”

The bass player caught her attention first. Tattoes covered his body and face, and the guitar player and drummer were smoking pot in “their underwear because my air condition was broken,” he says. “At the time, I didn’t know what they were smoking. I was clueless. Another guy just hanging out with us had piercings all over his body; he looked like a guy on crack. My mother’s reaction was something I never saw or heard out of her mouth. She said, ‘Get the fuck out of here right now!'”

Erani shares such a story to set-up the no-fucks attitude of his band’s debut LP. Fronting a New York collective called The Melloncollies, his voice is unfussy but imposing, especially when exposing and peeling back raw emotion on tracks like “Let It Rain” and “Bullet in My Sunday.” The record was initially released 10 years ago (listen on ReverbNation), but Erani eyes a re-recording that elevates the material in unexpected, thrilling ways. “Father, look down, see what you’ve done,” he sinsg on the former track, reexcavating the pain still swollen in his chest. “If I can’t have you, might as well let it rain / Let it wash away my pain,” his rasp calls into a downpour of percussion, strings, and guitar. The hook hits hard, dragging the listener into slothful sorrow.

And that’s exactly the kind of despair woven into the backbone of the record. It’s immense, unavoidable, and leaves you gaping for air. Below, Erani discusses why he’s revisiting the music, why the band stopped making music, and feeling creative again.

What drew you back to re-record this album?

Well, I wrote the songs differently than how I produced it. I felt I didn’t capture the intensity in some of the songs and wanted more of a fuller sound, more in your face. The album wasn’t officially released. You could call it a soft release.

Do you see this re-release as a way to dip your toe back into music again?

Yes, but we also got many calls from music supervisors for film and TV who wanted to place them so that was a major push for me. I felt I couldn’t give them the songs that I wasn’t so comfortable with .

I was reading through old reviews of the record, and a few were… not nice. Did that deter you from moving forward?

I’ll be honest with you. The few bad ones that I read, I was cracking up. The way they ripped into it was very cute. We had mostly great reviews, and I think because of it, I got off on reading a few bad ones. I don’t get deterred at all. People are going to love it or hate it.

Did the band break up? Why stop making music then?

Well, a few reasons. I suffer from depression, and I was hospitalized a few times. I look back and think it was a blessing because of the amount of new songs I have written.

Where did life lead you after this album’s release?

I always kept on writing and recording. I studied a little bit of Dermatology and the aging process. I knew a lot about skin and hair, so I opened a small research company and skincare line from the research that was done. But I always knew that my new songs would be recorded and released. I’m back working full time on the music.

Have you found yourself feeling creative again upon re-recording this?

Yes, but the weird thing is, I’ve been writing for years. I never put that on hold because I knew I’d be back.

In what ways have you changed in a decade, personally and professionally?

I became a better person by wanting to give more of myself to the world. I feel like I can change things, like walk on water, bring world peace, and be a beacon of light to all people. [laughs] I’m freaking adorable, and I don’t even know what I just said. I just needed to write something. I really never changed I’m still a child.

Goodbye Cruel World feels like an apt summation of 2020. What songs hit you in a different way than when you first recorded them?

Well, songs like “Simple Naive Someone” sounds like a happy song, but it’s a very bitter, angry song. It’s about falling in love with someone whose parents are superficial, and everything to them is about money and status. That’s what they teach there daughter. I don’t wanna face the truth that this is life. This is how people are, but I believe in love because I’m a simple naive someone.

“Let It Rain” might be the most provocative of the bunch. What do you recall about first writing and recording this song?

I come from a very close family, and my dad and I were very close. He had a heart attack but was sent home by the doctor because he thought it was just pain from his stomach not his heart. When he came home, a few days later, he had a massive heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. I was told he was going to be alright, and as a ten year old , I believed them. But he passed away that night, which devastated me and the family. I hate to say it but that ruined my life. I never got over it. I became bitter and resentful. I was always angry at him. “Let It Rain” doesn’t hide the hurt and anger I felt. I know it doesn’t make sense, how could I be angry at my father who passed away? It wasn’t his fault.

How has your “real-life melancholy” served your songwriting? Does it permit you to be more honest than you would otherwise be?

It sure has. I go through different episodes of depression, which makes my songwriting a bit different. My style is all over the place. Dealing with the episodes I sometimes go through, like being bed-bound praying to God to take me out of this world, makes me not wanting to hide that anymore.

Your band has been pretty elusive, even in 2009, particularly when it comes to uncovering information about you. Was and is that a conscious choice?

[laughs] Jason, your much too smart. Yes,that’s correct. I suffer from something called BDD (body dysmorphic disorder). Something happened to me many years ago where I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, which is why I don’t take photos, and I don’t have videos. That’s why I put my old photos of me and my siblings on the album cover.

You know, I was very young when I started playing music. My mom bought me a piano and loved pop music and wanted me to learn those songs, and my dad loved rock bands, and he wanted me to learn those. I felt it was some twisted game they were playing amongst each other because the more my mother wanted me to learn pop music, it was bothering my father. So, to get back at my mom, he would buy me big amplifiers, then my mom would want to get him back and bought me a violin. But the last straw was when my dad bought me a drum set. My mom threw him out of the house.

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