We’re big fans of Nocturnal Me at PropertyOfZack, and the band just releasing their brand new EP called Two Faced last week via Apparition Records. Dave and I recently did an interview to discuss the new EP, how Nocturnal Me has changed in the past year, more music from Nocturnal Me, a solo mixtape from Dave, and more. Read up and enjoy, it’s a great piece!

Nocturnal Me released Two Faced a week ago yesterday, which marks the band’s first release of 2011. How has the early reception been to it so far?
I think it’s been great and everything that I could hope for. I know what we’re working with, with Apparition being a smaller label and us being a smaller band. I am just looking for people to be stoked on it and for our friends and families to be able to enjoy it. So far it’s been that way. I’ve always said to everyone that just for us to have a third release is ridiculous. I think a lot of people thought this band wasn’t going to go past the first release unless we got picked up and went somewhere. 

An acoustic EP was released alongside Two Faced. Was that added fun in the studio to do?
It’s something that the label really wanted because people always grumble about how cool the acoustic thing I did 28 years ago was. They wanted something to tell people that they could get the album alongside acoustic versions of the song. They’re really raw, so if people are trying to find something that sounds similar to what I used to do, that’s what it is. It’s a good juxtaposition.

Two Faced definitely marks a shift in music from Nocturnal Me, even though Nocturnal Me is a project without one set musical genre. Can you just talk about the writing process for the EP both musically and lyrically?
What used to happen is that Jeff and I would get together and write a song; he would write the music and I’d write the lyrics. We’d bring it to Mikey, he’d write the drum parts, and our bass player would finish out the song. This time that did not happen whatsoever. I’ve been writing for other artists and other labels and what happened is that I started writing so many songs for these people that weren’t getting picked up and I didn’t want to waste it. So a lot of the songs that I wrote on my own or with other producers made it onto the album, because at the end of the day those were the best songs. Jeff did contribute, but in a different way. He came into the studio this time and laid down some crazy guitar parts, which made it onto the album. As far as the writing process went, all these songs were taken from sessions that I did with other people outside of the band or just by myself.

Was that weird for you to do at all because you’ve never done that in the past?
I think that it needed to happen. With Nocturnal Me there was a large gap from the release of the second EP to this one was because things got stale. We didn’t feel like we were making the progress that we needed to, so I knew I had to change up the way that I wrote. All of 2010 after we released Too I wrote with as many people as I could. It was a little bit different at first and I was trying to shake something up in my life. If I didn’t this project wouldn’t be around right now.

There are even saxophones featured in the release. How was it adding parts like that to songs?
Our bass player’s dad actually came in and stayed up with us all night and laid down the saxophone. I’d sit behind the keyboard and tell our engineer that I was going to find my sound, and we went through thousands of sounds for each song. A lot of it is electronic and a lot of it is sounds from other people. A lot was not tracked during the actual recording process. A lot of the instruments were written and tracked by composers in Miami or Long Island. That’s what’s really cool. They sound very different from track to track because it was tracked in different places by different people.

This release song of seems to solidify that Nocturnal Me is less of a band and more of your alter-ego. Would you agree with that statement?
I completely do. It’s more of a necessity. I’ve always enjoyed having Jeff and Mike in the band, but by their actions and by what they’ve wanted to do they’ve made it very clear that they’re not into pursuing their own musical endeavors as I am. I don’t mean that in a mean way, but some people really need to see a certain amount of success from the music that they’re making in order to justify working on it. Coming from Cute, everyone expected us to just pick up where we left off and go on a bus on tours with All Time Low and do all this shit. It wasn’t like that at all, and it was never something I expected. It was always going to be about the music. The first EP was like that and some of the second EP was like that, and this time around it was just obviously not like that. So I was either going to let it die or turn it into something that was another musical outlet for me. It definitely happened by necessity. If I was in a band with other people that wanted to make music just for the sake of making music, but when people are worrying about paying the bills and moving ahead with their lives and I’m just focused on being creative, it’s hard to get on the same wave-length.

Would you call the other members studio musicians for the actual EPs at this point?
They are always going to be a part of the project because we made such a drastic change. Leaving Cute was very hard for everyone. As much good as it did for us to stand up and say that’s not what we wanted to do in our lives because it was a shitty situation, it was still hard because it was a paycheck. It was blatant for me that that’s not where I was supposed to be. Mike is a big part of the Rochester music scene on the drums and he’s a great teacher, Jeff plays with Cute live, and everyone is finding where they fit in in the music industry. I’m very much about projects and that’s how I’m going to be. I think those guys found out that playing live is something that was very important to them and it maybe signified that they were being productive. Every musician quantifies being productive in a different way and I think we grew apart over the past couple years.

I grasp that, and I’m sure many other fans do, but what about those who don’t?
They can take it as personal, but it never has been. I want everyone to do what’s best for them. I never said anything mean about Jeff playing with Cute again and I was more than happy with it. I don’t think that we have enough fans for them to be bummed out about anything. We’re the best of friends and it’s just life.

How will you be differentiating your solo work and Nocturnal me in the future?
Nocturnal Me, by the name of it, is very much about who I am when I’m not myself and I know that sounds weird. The Dave Melillo stuff is always more heartfelt and I’m always thinking a little bit more when I write that stuff. Nocturnal Me is the complete opposite of that; most of it is electronic and in your face and a lot of the subject matter is very cocky and much more pop and mainstream. That’s kind of where the two separate themselves. Nocturnal Me is about having fun and releasing tracks. Dave Melillo is something that I’ll always build on my own and is something that will always have a unique sound and will always be very close to my heart.

How has it been working with Apparition Records? This is their first release.
It’s been great. I’m sure a lot of people questioned that whole scenario, but I knew from when I started talking to the guys that they were hungry. They showed that through this whole process. Denis has done so much for this record and has kept me motivated. Just to fit it into the whole picture, I had band members that weren’t pushing me or doing anything else besides recording and playing. Any motivation happening had to come from myself and I had to make sure I got everything done. When you’re an artist that is so difficult to do. I thought I was superman for a very long time and then I grew up a little bit and realized I needed some help. Apparition came in and I was very skeptical at first because they’re young guys, but they proved themselves over and over and over again. They freed me up to do exactly what I’m supposed to do, which is write music, sing, and make sure that we have the best product. I didn’t have to once think about merch or the artwork or anything. It made it easy for me to do what I have to do.

Do you see yourself working with them again in the future?
I would love to. We have a gentleman’s agreement to take this step by step by step. If this is successful to the point where they want us to do another release, I would most definitely love to work with them again. That’s still up in the air though.

Are there any plans to record new music for Nocturnal Me by the end of the year?
This new EP came about from me writing for other people and taking songs that weren’t picked up. I took those and put those into the EP. I think that’s what I’m going to continue to do. I write music for other people on a daily basis and I get amazing tracks 24-hours a day. It’s a really easy way to produce music because I don’t have to go into the studio for two months and cut everything. I can produce a record in two weeks. I’ve always been all about EPs with Nocturnal Me and allowing this project to keep developing. I would really like to explore other territory. Bright Eyes did a cool thing where he did Digital Ash and I’m Wide Awake. What I see Nocturnal Me doing is a lot more mood-setting stuff with pop things. A pop EP that has some great top 40 songs along with a crazy time travel EP that’s based on music and is space-y. Nocturnal Me is going to be my guinea pig for my crazy fucked up ideas people tell me I shouldn’t do.

What’s the status on releasing your own solo work?
That’s a much bigger fish to fry because I haven’t released anything in six years so now the pressure has mounted to the point where whatever I have to release has to be awesome and genuine. To do that it takes time. I am actually more than halfway down with the mixtape. The mixtape is going to have some covers, some pop tracks, and then a large part of it is going to be acoustic. Right now I’m in the process of tracking the whole acoustic element to it. That’ll be out before the holidays. Before Thanksgiving and Christmas rolls around there is going to be a mixtape out there. It’d going to be a statement from me to everyone else. It’s going to be free and this is me now. The EP was great, but this is going to be 20 songs about who I am in 2011. There will be 15 to 20 songs: 5 acoustic tracks, 5 produced pop tracks, and a bunch of cover tracks as well.

Is the rest of the year for you going to be you continuing to collaborate with other people?
I’m always doing that. Writing sessions happen at least two to three times a week for me. Now that I’m close to New York City they happen even more. When I do those sessions I get ideas. I would say that on top of the mixtape there is going to be another release from me by the end of the year. I’d love to reinforce the Nocturnal Me stuff with a free release or something, but there are so maybe ideas going on right now that I’m just going to keep releasing music.

Last time we spoke you mentioned you’re not opposed to touring, but you just don’t see it happening. What’s the status on that?
I would love to tour. It would be cool, but my goals are not the same. My goals are not to get laid and wasted and to get free drugs. If that was the case I’d be on the road. I’m also not an ego-maniac; I don’t need to get on stage and have hundreds of people on my dick all night to be happy with myself. The only reason for me to go out on tour would be if it was financially lucrative or if it made a lot of sense in support of a record. Both of those things aren’t really happening. Nothing I do on the road could be financially lucrative and the releases I’m releasing don’t necessarily need a tour in support of them. If there is a day that I need to tour I will.