Feb. 7: Fiesta Melon brings multi-dimensional sound – and some friends – to Shaskeen show

MANCHESTER, NH – Hailing from Lowell, Mass., Fiesta Melon exhibit a dynamic approach to music that touches upon a variety of styles. The quartet consisting of bassist Keith Valcourt, keyboardist Mark Fabrizio, guitarist Justin Pilat and drummer Ryan Allgrove, pull this off in emphatic fashion with their predictably high-octane performances. It’s the kind of jam band stuff that’s experimental and engaging rather than being formulaic and boring. On February 7 at The Shaskeen Pub in the heart of downtown Manchester, this talented band is going to be taking the stage. Local fusion rock act The Hot Chocheys are going to be kicking the night off with the festivities starting at 8 p.m.

Fabrizio and I had a talk ahead of the show about how Fiesta Melon came to be, recording live performances, special surprises that’ll be happening at The Shaskeen this Friday, and looking to get back into the studio to make a new album.

The Shaskeen

909 Elm St, Manchester, NH 03101

Tickets: $15 at the door

More from Fiesta Melon on BandCamp

Rob Duguay: What’s the story behind the forming of Fiesta Melon? How did you, Ryan, Justin and Keith get together in Lowell to start this project?

Mark Fabrizio: I’m actually the latest addition, but that’s been about 10 years now. Keith and Justin have been playing together forever, they both grew up together in Tyngsborough [Massachusetts] and Ryan is also from there. They’ve been playing together since high school, and Fiesta Melon is kind of Keith’s project and then Justin got involved. It’s just fun original music, they made an album called “Frenetics” and I gave it a listen. I had known them for a while through the music scene in Lowell, I ended up jamming with them and I became part of the band.

RD: Musically, you guys have a groovy sound that incorporates funk, soul, R&B and progressive rock, so when you initially started hashing out ideas for songs, what did you all bond over in terms of styles and approaches?

MF: Before I joined, the sound was more rock based, and I think the keyboard brings an extra dimension of funk and groove when it’s done right. That brought in some different soundscapes that led to a different style of songwriting and our songwriting process varies. We’ve done a few songs where we all collaborate on together and others come from one band member due to each of us writing songs, so it’s kind of a mish-mash. We usually work out some of the details and everything so it’s a joint effort when it comes to the arrangements. Our singing is one of our key aspects, we have pretty strong three-person harmonies and that sets us apart.

RD: Very cool. On Fiesta Melon’s Bandcamp page, you guys have a ton of live recordings, with the most recent one being at the Newburyport Brewing Company in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on New Year’s Eve. How do you go about planning these out?

MF: We just bring our recorder with our own open-air mic to record shows when we remember to do it. (laughs) We try to do it for as many shows as we can and once we have the recording, we go back to the studio and I throw it into Logic Pro to tweak the levels a little bit to make it sound appropriate for Bandcamp. Anything that we can put out there in terms of new recordings, we’re trying to do it.

RD: Are there any plans to record your live performance at The Shaskeen?

MF: Yeah, we’re definitely going to try to get a good recording of this one because we have a couple horn players coming and some friends sitting in to sing, Chrissy Cunningham and Sarah Bird. Sarah is from Dog 8 Dog and Chrissy is from the Tumbletoads, so we have some fun new songs planned along with some fun collaborations. We definitely want to get this recorded and it seems like a good opportunity to showcase a few things.

RD: That sounds wicked cool. In terms of studio recordings, can we expect a new record at some point this year from Fiesta Melon?

MF: We’ve gone into the studio a couple times, which has kind of stalled a little bit, but we’d like to go back in and get some recordings professionally done for this year. It’s definitely on the radar and it’s definitely tough to do as we get older, but we’re trying our best to get in there and get the time to make it happen.