Meet Melleefresh, label owner of Play Records and deadmau5 collaborator…
Well hello Melleny, over at DMC we think that you were way ahead of your time in your idea of diva queendom when you opened up your Toronto Bubbalicious Lounge where I once saw you in the most outrageous costume…Burlesque has hit Europe BIG TIME now, what influenced you to wear the wigs in the first place?
“Well somebody’s done their homework – have we ever had sex? In order to be a total showgirl it helps if yer’ a drag queen trapped in a female’s body. Yer lips must be red and yer legs must be long, you must have the glittery jeweled costume and very tall commanding hair – preferably a double flipped brightly coloured wig in order to hold the attention of yer audience!”
So your label Play Records, cutting into cool house, deep house, dirty house, disco, beats, techno, drum n’ bass, hip hop – fuck…everything! Who were your musical heroes that you jumped around your bedroom to in your pyjamas?
“First of all, I must tell you, I never wear pyjamas. My musical ‘bed jumping’ has actually mainly been car dancing… that’s where I’ve always had my most musical inspirations. From Pizzicato 5 to Madonna to Rick Astley. And wow, the first time I was cruising down the 401 and I heard Shirley Bassey belting out ‘History Repeating’ with the Propellerhead… my ears just perked up. What an incredible collaboration! Not to forget Dimitri of Paris and his pure cocktail loungy, old movie mash ups with a twist, Norman Cook… everything was crossing over, what was old was new again and what I was wanting to do with lounge and dance 1930 and electronica all of a sudden seemed totally possible.”
How did the collaboration with deadmau5 come about?
“I was producing a remix project for Canadian rock queen Carole Pope that was rock music turned into dance mixes spearheaded by DJ Iain. He suggested using this kid, Joel Zimmerman (aka Deadmau5) from Niagara Falls to do a remix. I said sure, he remixed ‘Americana’ as an adult contemporary somewhat orchestral piece, which I liked. I finally tracked him down in Niagara Falls and told him I had some money for him. When we did hook up he asked me if I had anything else he could remix, so I gave him the Melleefresh Dirty30 track ‘Beautiful Rich n’ Horny’. This version was played like crazeeee for seven weeks in that summer of 2006 by Judge Jules on Radio 1. The response was so exciting and our working relationship was great. We solidified our arrangement with a management and publishing deal with my label, PLAY RECORDS and I started a new company called PLAY DIGITAL. We started to upload tracks to Beatport. The first bunch of tracks was the Deadmau5 solo project ‘Full Circle’ and a bunch a singles including ‘Faxing Berlin’ which had a lot of people eager to add to their latest compilations. His more progressive project BSOD’s ‘This is the Hook’ was then made into vinyl. The Melleefresh and Deadmau5 tracks started with our Juno nominated track ‘Afterhours’ which was No. 1 on Beatport for the first quarter of 2007. All our other tracks were close behind!. We were one happy family!”
Why did he run off to Europe shortly after?
“I think you need to ask Joel that…”
The Electro House sound, it’s the sound of today don’t you think?
“I love Electro House, the dirty bass lines, the thumping tantric beats, the nasty lyrics. It’s great for doing the dishes and having sex, don’t you think?”
How important do you think the performance part of your act is?
“Performance is everything. It’s when the audience can finally connect a visual experience with a dance event. I sing my hot n’dirty trashed out Electro House and look really sexy, whist DJ Spydabrown spins on two or three turntables using vinyl, computer programmes, Serrato, SL Video Plugins and a dozen other devices. It’s exciting and a visually stimulating combination of projections and stage antics, costume changes – and gogo dancers with the occasional wig thrown in when necessary!”
Okay, one minute you are one cool kid on the block, the next you are doing voice overs of Cheer Bear and Baby Tugs in the huge kids TV series The Care Bears – an explanation please…
“From the age of seven I was doing amateur theatre. At 16, I started commercials, TV and film – and at 21 I went to acting school in NYC ’till they kicked me out. I had a ‘Neighborhood Starlet Leaving For Hollywood’ sale in my 95th St. apartment and hitched a ride in a red Mercedes to L.A. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite blonde enough, so I moved back to Toronto and started doing radio plays which led to cartoon voices. I have done many of those, including 65 episodes of Care Bears for which I did two characters, Tugs (a boy bear) and Cheer Bear (a girl). Bi-sexual? Talk about confusing! Spending a lot of time in the studio prepared me more than anything for singing, and whilst doing a groupy voice on the cult film ‘Rock’n’Rule’, I wrote and performed a song called ‘Hot Dogs and Sushi’ which was used right after the Earth, Wind and Fire track in the disco. I believe this was the beginning of my singing career. One thing always leads to another, which eventually leads to coolness!”
Betty Boop! or Lady Miss Kier? Both big influences to you…
“Well my first album was Melleny Melody and the Syncopated Symphonies Of John Henry Nyenhuis. It was a cross between Betty Boop, Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple on acid. It was Big Band 1920’s cartoon ridiculous music. My first hit was ‘I’m So Happy Just To Be Here With You Me And My Sequin Shoes Are Happy Too!’ Clive Smith made a fabulous video for that track and we won best new artist at the Huston World fest.”
You have released some amazing dance tunes, which do you think is the best?
“Just one? It’s impossible to pick. As a vocalist, I’d have to pick all my tracks and say they’re the best. All of Deadmau5 tracks have been brilliant and as the president of PLAY RECORDS, I have to say all the music we put out is unbefuckinbeliveably good!!”
Have you ever snogged a Canadian Mounty?
“I own a policeman’s uniform, which I wore in the new Afterhours video, but that’s all I’m going to tell you!”
Tell us about the music and club scene in Canada…
“Canada is a huge country. The Electro scene has hit here in a big way. Young producers are crawling out of their bedrooms from the Western shores of Vancouver, over to the Rockies, to the mid Prairies of Saskatchewan, through the Great Lakes into Ontario and the French Quarters of Quebec and on to the East Coast, the clubs are jumping. I’m in Toronto in the East, which is a big city. We have our late night clubs with multiple rooms of different music like the Guverment and Circa, with big names such as Armin Van Burren and Tiesto. There are grown up supper clubs like Ultra – a Deep Dish favorite and London Calling, and a thousand clubs and bars too many to name. And “Afterhours “which I cannot divulge about, along with underground events every night of the week.”
What will 2009 see from yourself on your label…?
“Most definitely 2009 will see PLAY RECORDS discovering the next young hot ‘top 100’ DJ / producer. I always find them. Likely many more collaborations too…possibly something special with Paul Oakenfold, David Guetta or Benny Bennassi.”