Meltybrains?: 'We were chaotic people'
Brian Dillon aka The Line and one fifth of Meltybrains? talks about their debut album You, why it took them over a decade to release it, and how close they came to breaking up
Brian Dillon from Meltybrains? was one of my first interviews of 2023. They released their long-awaited debut album You on January 27 via Strange Brew. Meltybrains? started out around 2009, and I would’ve seen them a heap of times in Cork’s Pavilion in its heyday and at festivals - you couldn’t miss them and their spraypainted white masks. There were EPs and singles over the years but they seemed to disappear for a while in the late 2010s, before finally re-emerging with singles in 2022 and You in January.
Of course, the five members of Meltybrains? never stopped making music: Brian himself released a solo album under the name The Line in 2021 and has a new one on the way on November 1, again via Strange Brew. Ben Bix does a lot of production and is part of Sim Simma, as is Tadgh Byrne aka Jr Spesh, Micheál Quinn plays drums for Dermot Kennedy, while Donnacha O'Malley also has his own solo project.
Me and Brian had a great (ahem) chat about the album, so below are some highlights from the interview, focusing on the Meltybrains? trajectory, a little about the line, and talking about You and its themes. The full interview is about an hour long and can be heard on episode 248 of the TPOE podcast.
Some of the songs were written - I think one of the songs was written in 2013.
Oh, wow, 10 years.
Yeah 10 years! Yeah, we are not the most - I don't want to say we're not the most prolific because we write a lot of music. We're not gonna get things finished, I guess. Prior to the pandemic, we had been out in Killyon Manor, you know where Another Love Story is. And so had a bit of a studio setup and we're staying there, and bits and pieces, the winter of 2019. And I remember the four of us - Micheal was touring with Dermot Kennedy at the time - but the other four of us met in Dublin. And like March 15th, or 14th, one of the last days of life, and we're like 'God, the album's nearly finished.' I think we would have finished it that month if it wasn't for the pandemic. Maybe not. Maybe we would have gone back at everything over and over again. But yeah, the workflow was broken up, and then it took a while. But actually, it's coming out now January 2023. We finished it and sent it off to be mixed nearly two years ago. It's just these things take time. It's coming out on Strange Brew, and I think we spoke to Gugai about releasing it in March of last year.
Do you have more solo stuff incoming as The Line?
I have an album done as well. It's a collaborative record I made during the pandemic. So basically, I acted as producer/composer. And then I got singers or songwriters to feature on every track. The guys God Knows and Murli are on a track, the Melty guys all did something on it. Eoin French did a thing. Sorcha Richardson, Sarah from Pillow Queens, a bunch of people! So I need to figure out what to do with it, though.
Like a snapshot of the scene, I guess? Is that how you enjoy working, more collaboratively? Though I guess the first album was like that...
Yeah. So in some ways, the second record was a reaction to that. At the time, maybe it was good for me to to bury myself in a room on my own for a year writing sad songs. But after it, I was like, maybe I should do the opposite now... Before the pandemic, at one stage, a bunch of the Meltys moved to a rural house out in Louth. And then one by one, they all went back to the city and I was there on my own for a year.
In Louth?
Yeah rural Louth, living on a beach. Which is nice. Up to a point. So I dipped into the isolation pre-pandemic. With that, I had come to the conclusion that actually, community is one of the things I value the most. So I decided to make a record that is about that. And then also the form reflects that. So it's all collaborations.
I expected a Meltybrains? album, maybe in 2015 or something like that? So are you surprised that you have an album done and finished and coming out, ultimately? Did you think that ye had broken up maybe at some stage back in the mid-00s?
Yeah, it never got to that stage where we had the breakup discussion. But yeah, it certainly felt like it ran its course at one stage. I think probably 2015, 2016 was when we were at our busiest. 2016 we did an EP, Kiss Yourself. And we did a pretty, not massive, but we did a handful of UK dates with a bunch of Irish dates. We did Iceland Airwaves and a couple of other festivals and things. So it seemed like we were in a good way. And then Tadgh got a new job, Micheal started playing with Dermot, a lot of things happened. And actually funny, one event, which I wonder would it have changed things: We were booked to do a tour in India in March of 2017. Yeah, it was weird, bizarre, but it fell through. I wonder what would have happened. Maybe we would have just got an album done then. So did we think we had broken up? It certainly crossed my mind? Yeah.
That you just weren't talking? Weren't talking about the band?
Yeah, that. We were still hanging out. But just not rehearsing, In 2017, as well, we stopped. We got rid of our rehearsal space, basically. It was great for me and for Ben, because we were in there all the time, but for the rest of the guys who were supplementing that, it wasn't so good. So we stopped having the rehearsal space, and that, along with various commitments, like Dermot touring, and so on and so forth, slowed things down big time. Then in 2019, we got momentum again. So there was a couple years where we weren't really doing a whole lot of Melty stuff, or nothing focused anyway. And then in 2019, not sure what happened or what changed. No, I am sure: Myself and Tadgh both quit jobs at the same time and were just unemployed and had time to work on Meltybrains? music.
Was that a kind of a pact? Like 'If I don't quit this job, am I going to do anything in music?' Was it dramatic in a way?
I don't know. The job I quit is one that I'm back at again, in BIMM, It was in music and it wasn't full time. Basically, for me anyway, at that stage, I was really busy teaching. And I burnt out very badly. I finished correcting exams in June, maybe. And I got out of bed in July, more or less, and I said I needed a break. And that opened up time for me to do Melty stuff. And then Tadgh had been working in the Sugar Club. So also in music, but I think he had a similar experience where the work put in wasn't worth the reward. So he also left. Things kind of aligned, Ben was talking, randomly, to the woman who owns Killyon Manor, who lives there. And she said, 'If you ever want to come out here and set up a studio and work you can, and you can stay wherever you like.' And so all of us were there for a bit and just yeah, the stars aligned for a brief period.
So you didn't really talk about breaking up. Did you talk about getting back together and finally, finishing an album?
We probably did, yeah. Like we talk about everything. There was a period where we didn't rehearse, we just chatted. We just didn't use the breakup, the B word, but it was pretty said in other ways…
We had this plan. I forgot to mention this. When we started working properly again, in 2019, we made a decision that we were going to get three [albums] done. My thinking was that, I think three albums is a good amount of records for a band. There's enough of a legacy then. And I thought, if we did one and it didn't go well, we'd all be defeated and it'd take us fucking years to get working again. So it was like, 'let's get three done, at least if the first goes terribly, we can just put the second one out'. So we didn't quite get there. But there's the bones of a second one there. Obviously, a lot of time, all of our time has gone into release stuff for the last six months or so. So hopefully, when this is done, we'll be able to get the other ones on and all move forward.
Tell me about the album as a whole. Is it a collection of songs written over the previous 10 years? Or is it more cohesive than that?
I think it's more cohesive, though, all the songs weren't written in one period, they've come from different places, but we've really tried to make it like a journey and to make it a unified body of work. With that in mind, you were asking about our chaotic 20s; I think, and what we talked about, was that this would be a reflection of our chaotic 20s and the kind of chaos that a lot of young people and younger people go through. And hopefully by the end of it, there's some sense of clarity or contentment or maturity. I don't want to say there's a message, because that kind of ruins music a bit, but if there is any message - not that we necessarily went into it thinking this - but listening back to it, that's what it seems like. And as we got through the songs and talked about what they all might mean and where they come from, it seemed to make sense that we'd push it in that direction.
I guess that's one of the themes of the album. The first single is 'Worth', about someone's self-worth. That seems to be something that ye had back 10 years ago as well, were always talking about the mental side of things.
100% I mean, as I said, we were chaotic people. And so it was something that was personally important to us. Because we had to deal with it. Now having said that, I don't want to overstep that because we're fine, you know, ultimately like we don't have any real major problems. But yeah, it was always something in our minds, it's just that mental health is hard to get right. And we all found making music cathartic and a really good way of finding happiness and contentment. So it was an outlet.
Are there any obvious themes to you that come through in the album?
I don't know if the lads will agree with this. so I want to caveat that, but I think gender is a thing that comes up, strangely enough, just because we're a bunch of lads. I don't just mean we're five men - we're a bunch of lads like, that's how we behave. But there was a couple of times throughout the album where I suppose there's a concentrated effort to be a bit less laddy and even with that tying hand in hand with the mental health thing, when you think of stereotypical ideas of male and female, basically I suppose one of the themes is trying to get beyond toxic ideas of masculinity. Hopefully not in a an overtly cliched or quote unquote 'woke' way. Just that we ourselves like, we had that gang/lad attitude going on. Absolutely not that we're ashamed of it, but we're aware of it. And it's not always a good thing. And I suppose, there's more to us than that. And even you hear throughout the record, the dominant vocals on it are Ben and Donncha. But then about halfway through, we have a girl, Sophie Malikai, singing the female backing vocal or female choral vocal on 'Space Ghetto'. And then, on the second last track, 'Listen to Me’, there's a robotic female vocal, which seems I don't know, it wasn't, again, not a definite decision, but it seems interesting that this female voice comes in and says, 'Listen to me' over and over again. And then the final song, the opening lead vocal is taken by Jofridur. So there seems to be this gender arc thing going on, wasn't necessarily planned, but I find interesting. And even that idea that like, as we reach contentment, there's a bit more of a balance between like, masculine and feminine identities or something. But I'm probably overthinking it.
Are you happy with the album?
I think I've kind of moved on a little bit. Because it's been so long, but it'll be nice to have it in the world. The day we got the records was a good feeling. That was great. I liked that. The artwork came out great, they sound grace. I think with anything I've been involved with, whether it's an album or any long drawn out project, by the time you get to the finish line, you're not that person anymore and maybe you don't necessarily feel as strongly as you did in it. So I've kind of moved on a little bit, but there's definitely satisfaction there.
Here’s a little from the press release about The Line’s second album, Red Blood Cells and Righteousness:
The 13-track collaborative LP focuses on the importance of community and communal values. The intention of the record was for the creative process to reflect the themes and content. As a result each song was a collaboration between Brian and some of his favourite Irish musicians, friends and most erstwhile collaborators. This includes Godknows, Loah, Sorcha Richardson, Dan Fox (Gilla Band), Sarah Corcoran (Pillow Queens), Caoi de Barra (Wyvern Lingo), and a range of others.
The sonic landscape of the album is varied, as each track came from a collaborative writing session. As a result, there are a multitude of reference points and influences. The influence of dream-pop acts such Beach House and Cocteau Twins, as well as noisier acts like My Bloody Valentine and Skunk Anansie is felt throughout. The songwriting continually pays homage to greats of contemporary alternative songwriting, including the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Frank Ocean, Phoebe Bridgers, Villagers, and Big Thief.
Speaking about the album, Brian says “This is an album built on personal relationships and communication, dedicated to playing a small but significant role as a part of a world so much bigger than any of us are willing to admit. After all, maybe we’re all just blood cells, swimming through the veins of the earth, serving a much higher function.”
Tracklisting:
Nothing W/ Lullahush
Communion W/Loah & Fehdah
Earth Died Streaming W/Feel Bad Music Club
Hero of Coincidence W/Sarah Corcoran
I Know This Is Water W/Eamonn Dillon
Everything We Know in An Instant W/ Lullahush
Patience of Saints W/Godknows and Murli
The World Told No Lies W/Dan Fox and Nevv
Fruit Peel Path W/Caoi de Barra
A Trail, Thin but Beautiful W/Lullahush
Collar Bone W/Sorcha Richardson
Light Work W/Ben Bix and Micheál Quinn
A Crack Becomes a Crevice, A Foothold Becomes A Foundation W/ Eoin French