Mellor:The Dark Web, dressing in drag and their hatred of their comparisons.

Above:Gary(left) and Josh(right) playing at the Monarch in Camden.

Moments after walking through the doors of the Monarch in Camden, I am met with a warm welcome by Gary, the lead singer of Mellor. He introduces me to all the other band members as well as some friends they have brought along to the gig.With it being only an hour before the guys get up on stage, I ask if it's alright to get the interview underway. When asking this question I was completely unaware of the intense game of pool going on behind me, between band members Sam and Josh.I find myself becoming transfixed in the heartfelt affair,in which Sam came out on top. Now I have the bands full attention we move over to a giant sofa and get things underway. What followed was a great conversation in which the guys talked about;The Dark Web, being a DIY band and their hatred of their comparisons.

Hey guys, please introduce yourselves and state your role in the band!

Gary: I’m Lead singer and play Guitar

Sam: I play Drums!

Kris: I play guitar!

Josh: I play bass!

You’ve got tonight’s show and then you’re playing in Winchester tomorrow, are you excited for the busy weekend ahead?

Gary: Yeah we are always excited when we’ve got gigs on, it’s what we do it for. The busier the better!

Who is responsible for the lovely artwork for the singles for ‘City is a Monster’ and ‘My Intentions are Good’?

Gary:(Laughs) It was me, I’m glad you liked it! If I’m honest it really wasn’t too difficult to do. I had a curveball idea on what the songs are about, thinking about standout images that come to attention within the songs. I just wanted something simplistic that stood out. With the new stuff there’s like 4 songs with similar artwork, but different colours for each song.

Sam: I think it’s nice man because we do everything ourselves. We have the freedom to do what we want!

Above: The impressive artwork for City is a Monster

You guys seem to have a real D-I-Y mentality with the band, what other stuff are you responsible for?

Sam: It is always fun getting music videos out, we’ve had some whacky ones. There is one that is no longer on the internet, it’s of Gary dressed as a drag queen.

Gary(laughs): It’s probably on the dark web somewhere!

Kris(Jokingly): I like sending emails to people who don’t reply.

In regards to promotion for events are you responsible for that as well?

Sam: Yeah obviously you have the people holding the event, who help us promote. But most of the promotion is done through us, we are in control of all our social media platforms.

Gary: We like it to be fair, I think it’s something we will always want to do. I never want it to be that we have automated replies online, I hope to always be in touch with our fanbase.

Tell us about your single ‘Fire on Fire’ coming out! Is it like stuff we have already heard from you guys or can we expect something a bit different?

Gary: I think it is a little bit more ballsy, a lot of influences shine out with this single. We drew a lot of inspiration from U2 and Echo and the Bunnymen. We have a lot of songs coming through with a bigger sound, I think that’s something that has come quite organically to be honest. The more gigs we play, the more we want to try to make a wall of sound. I think we are just growing within ourselves.

Do you think developing the sound you now have is because of all the shows you’ve done?

Sam: Like Gary said earlier, I think it is something that has come organically. Since we have had Christian on board, the sound is really getting there.

Gary: We really don’t want to force the sound, it is far better for us if it comes naturally. We have a studio in Reading which we are in24/7, so that’s where we develop the sound.

'Since we have had Kristian(left) on board, the sound is really getting there.'

I’ve seen you guys being compared to the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and the Coral, are there any other comparisons people have made that surprised you guys?

Josh: Girls Aloud

Gary: I absolutely hate comparisons, nowadays it is almost impossible to sound completely original. All comparisons weird me out, I think it’s just so common in the indie scene.

Sam: It is so common nowadays because of social media, people trying to plug themselves compare themselves to a band.

Gary: It’s the first thing people do now, they try and listen out for different stuff. We had a song ‘The Visitor’ released a couple of months ago, a guy tagged The Strokes in the comment section. It took us back a bit, the song sounds literally nothing like The Strokes.

A friendly affair:After a great chat the guys from Mellor take a photo with the BabyStep Team,

Is there anything more we can look forward to from you guys in the future?

Gary: All sorts man!

Sam: We have just released ‘Fire on Fire’, we also have home others coming out soon! We are on tour in August, so we have plenty in the diary! We are also going to be spending some time in the studio trying to rustle up some new tracks.