Busier than a Bee, Less Sleep than New York

It's been a hell of the last few weeks.

I've been working my butt off at the gym in the morning and running to work or band practice at night! And in between all this, managed to hang out with Sam (merch girl) and Jesse (guitarist) and put up posters at the Delta Lion!

If you don't know why we are putting up posters I think I should tell you! It's our CD Release Party for 'Against the Lights'! I can't tell you how excited I am in words, I just hope I can show you on stage on October 8th at the Delta Lion! The doors are at 9pm and we have a couple great opening acts for you before we pop on stage! We'll be partying the whole night through and celebrating with you!

Now this whole CD Release Party thing has sure put a lot on my plate! But I can't complain! I've been working on t-shirt designs with Jesse and I managed to throw something cool together! It only took a dozen or so hours to do (not bad considering this is my first time doing it) and I'm pretty happy with the result! I really hope you like it!

Plus, being a CD Release and all I needed a new outfit! So today I went to the mall with stylist Sumit Prasad, photographer Bella Johnson (who is shooting our next photoshoot on Saturday and will include our new bassist Matt...)

and Jessica White to go pick something out!

Now on this trip not only did I find an outfit for the Release, I got a great on for the photoshoot on Saturday AND I learned...

I have no rockstar fashion sense.

Like really, for some reason I can't conceptualize things until I actually have it all the together! IF I see something on the rack I'm like "This looks cool!" And then Su or Bella comes up to be, calmly takes it out of my hand and says "No."

Then they'll hand me this weird looking thing and for some reason it looks good on me!

I can't win, thats ok, thats why I have them on my GUP productions team. I couldn't try to become a rockstar without them! <3

So we made a record breaking short shopping trip, being only 4 and a half hours and then rushed home (during rush hour) so I could go and have band practice with the boys!

They all came at the same time, all of them 10 minutes late (which really is on time in our GUP world) and the first song we played was The Rain Song, the second...

Our super different new song!

Now why is it different? Well we took a hint from my past love of country music (its what I grew up on) and something Jesse listens to called "Southern Metal"... and put our own twist on both.


It's not country music, its not Southern Metal, its not quite pop rock or metal...

It's Southern Comfort. It's the moment after you've been out with your honey all night and are looking for a bit of love and comfort...

Hmmm....did I say too much?

Listen for it at the CD Release Party! Shout! Be loud! *wink* Because it's debuting there!

Cheers Guppies! I've missed you since writing last!

Mel

CD Release

So how long has it been since going into the studio?

April?

We were ready to get the rock on the day we had a master copy in hand. Did we care about album art and iTunes and all that jazz?

I did.

The boys didn't. Haha!

Not until they saw the album cover. Which... really Bella Johnson did a wickedly epic job so it makes sense that Jesse's jaw dropped and Kevin's eyes pretty much bugged out of his head.

Against the Lights is pretty much why Matt even looked at our band, let alone joined it!

Now we can FINALLY celebrate on October 8th! At our local pub, The Delta Lion!!!! When I contacted Daren from the Lion, I was talking to him about the CD release and I asked him if we could host our show and he goes "I know you... for sure!" I obviously go there a lot. And the pink hair might help.

So now I'm running around like a chicken with no head trying to get the media alerted, the T-shirts finished (omg.... the TSHIRTS), performance perfected, afterparty plans hammered out and door prizes collected...

Prizes?

Hell yes prizes.

For YOU. Our favourite people.

I also bought Kevin a present. You'll all get to see it's awesomeness at the SHOW! :D

Well now I'm off to go make flyers to find some more of you Guppies out there in the world. I'll be blogging more so I'll talk to you all very soon!

<3 Mel

1 Fundraiser, 2 contests and one CD Release

The band has been BUSY. Like, wow.

I've not only submitted us for the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands (please vote here: http://battle.rockstaruproar.com/u/graceunderpressure) but a contest for the Cellar in downtown Vancouver, which have just done and haven't heard back from just yet.

We're also a confirmed guest for a cancer fundraiser "Odies Fight Back Fest" which you can find a link for tickets or donations or details here! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163059800433874

PLUS to top it all off, the CD is being submitted tomorrow to be MASS PRODUCED! OMG! So we've been busy running around finding which venue we want to host our giant PARTY at! Plus T-shirts!

It's all crazy!

Plus Kaveman and Jesse just moved into a house and we had their housewarming party. Let's just say I don't think the boys remember even having the party!

All I can say is being a wannabe rockstar is a lot of work and no sleep!

I hope you all get some sleep! <3 Mel

This (Not Yet Last) Friday Night

Ok so I've got to admit, this whole trending with #Friday has got the day on my brain.  I mean there was Rebecca Black, then Katy Perry and well, whenever we go out on a Friday night my friends love to scream "It's Friday!"...

Maybe that's why this Friday night's show at the Biltmore kind of fell in my lap. Just goes to show you repetitive/positive thinking really CAN work.

See isn't he cute?

So back to Friday, more specifically the SHOW on Friday! We're playing at the Biltmore Cabaret downtown with a punk rock band from the Yukon by the name  of Speed Control! Sounds exciting right? Well I expect to see you there then!

Especially since I just got the show Monday morning while I was working out at the gym! Haha, it left me 'breathless'!

With such short notice we had to schedule 3 emergency practices. So last night Matt (the new bass player) and I ripped through all 9 songs we'll be rocking out on Friday. Tonight is practice minus Jesse, so our resident Caveman will be banging away on his drums in what we can only hope is in time and to tempo. Then Thursday night is crunch time! Jesse will be back from Whistler (where he is dutifully attending to his international spy duties) so we can jam for 3 hours. Potentially to a click track, so if we look a bit tweaked on stage, you'll know why-

Click, click... click, click...

You'll know what I mean if you've ever had to listen to a metronome for more than 5 minutes. You start to twitch.

Oh! I also got my in ear monitors so I should be able to hear myself sing @ practice now! Yay!

Anyway, I just came back from then gym and I'm STARVING so it's time for-

TUNA MELT!

Peace,

Mel Dante, GUP

Blood and Bass Players

So another few weeks have gone by and because I have not blogged lately, people have yelled at me.

Well not yelled, more like Facebook harassed.

So in order to save my eyes (and potentially my ears) from another onslaught of rowdy complaints, I'm taking a vow of blogging. I shall henceforth blog twice a week, even if my life is boring. That way I'll satisfy my crazy friends, AND bestow upon the world some level of not only excitement, but monotony.

Told you I wasn't a one trick pony.

So to start off my little excursion into my world. I did three main things since I last spoke to all of you.

1. Photoshoot
2. Auditioned a Bass Player
3. Fell off my mountain bike

The photoshoot started at my place, in front of what I can only say was a $6 dollar sheet from a thrift store. It just so happened to make an excellent replacement for a $400 an hour white room studio. So we brought in my good friend Bella from www.bellajohnsonphotography.com and took some shots for the official website. The boys ended up ruining most of the pictures by making stupid faces. Sometimes I feel I should beat them...

Yet, I won't, because scarely enough, one of my favourite photos is of the two if them in my lawn chairs, beer in hand, making almost gangster faces. Oh boys... I don't know how I'll ever be able to use that photo but it's pretty amazing.

My aunt decided to join in posing us as well, claiming "I watch all those weird runway shows. I must have retained something!" Well Aunty, looks like it so far!

An hour or so later, we trek out to Crescent Beach for a few, more intense shots as the tide is out. The sky was a perfect overcast and we got some pretty awesome shots. But I won't give them away because they're part of the ALBUM SURPRISE!

So that brings us to number two. Bass Player Audition.

All I can say is so far so good, Matt is turning out to be a great addition to the group, and we may be out playing a show with him July 16th. I'm just super glad that last Saturday when Kevin, a case of beer, 4 shots of gin and a few swigs of melon liquer later... didn't scare him away with his half an hour attempt at explaining his interpretation of the rain song. Which we have partially transcribed thanks to our resident Guppie Sam, so that's COMING SOON!

Lastly, and most recently, I had a pretty fail bike fall today, resulting in a deeply cut hand and road burned elbow. My shoelace was untied to I pulled over to the side of the road, next to a stop sign. Said shoelace got stuck in the bike chain and WHOOP "to the left to the left" Mel fell, in slow motion, to the left onto a curb. Somehow I not only cut a very deep line in my palm, but scraped off a bunch of skin there too, and on my elbow. It burns as I type.

Nanu stop laughing.

Peace!

P.S - Shout out today goes to www.bellajohnsonphotography.com Check her out, she's been amazing for us!

My New Puppies Name is Lucinda

Sometimes I wanna call her Lucifer.

She steals my shoes, wakes me up at 7am to try to play and attacks my other dog Bunny when she's sleeping too! Then there is the perpetual crying when we put her to bed. That dog only likes to sleep in someone's arms.

But she's also insanely cute, selectively smart and an excellent arm warmer.

Unfortunately I can't take her on Sunday to the 'Against the Lights' photoshoot. Which I can safely say - I'm bouncing off the walls for! Our photographer is a good friend of mine and she's definitely going out of her comfort zone to help me capture our image. Which, I'm still trying to picture in my mind myself. I love my music, and I love art - but my brain doesn't have the capacity to create images in my brain. This is something I must work on.

Ah and there goes Lucy again - finding a loose baseboard to gnaw on. Oh dog...

So anyway. Short but sweet. I'm making a resolution to update you all faster! 21 days until it becomes a habit!

Love you all!

Mel, GUP

Day 1 of the Apocalypse

So it's recording day numero uno and it's already been a whirlwind!

This whole story kinda starts last night when we played an acoustic fundraiser for my brother's school band @ the firehall center for the arts. We were testing out a couple new songs to see how the audience liked it and so far people LOVED it - so I'm hoping that means we're doing something right.
Then in the guise that 'we're gonna play another show @ someone's birthday!', the boys dragged out band butt's out to a house party where- I'm sorry liver - we partied it up a bit too much.

I was surprised by Kevin though when he had one beer and even when goaded by a group of rambunctious partgoers- refused to drink anymore! Especially since Kevin's favourite food is beer.
Jesse and I weren't as responsible and so here there we are at 11am - Kevin slamming the door open, jumping up and down with two drumsticks in hand, ready to pack up his drums and all Jesse and I can think about are an Advil and glass of water.

We manage to make it to the studio early and sit in the car blasting some death metal out of Jesse's car. It's a few minutes past noon and we load everything in and all is set up by one. Then comes Jay from Edges of Seven to give us a hand fine tuning the drum sound and all I can say as I listen to Kevin banging away at the tracks is HOLY NO WORDS. It's way too amazing. The drums sound 100x's better than what I expected. They're meaty and sharp all at once and super clean. We've done Dekadense and right now Kevin is one take into My Yesterday.

I'm so excited I could cry. Actually there are a couple of tears in my eyes right now (but it just might be an eyelash). Keep checking back!

As Tim, our producer would say! Chow for now!

Mel GUP

Bonfire Bonanza!

So yesterday's practice was pretty lax- I've got a feeling we're really gonna kick our asses next week. Only about two weeks until the studio! Ah! So, a few friends of ours came by and listened to our jam and totally invited us to a bonfire party tomorrow night. So here Jesse and I are frantically texting each other cover song ideas to try to pull off with a couple pages of TAB and a slight inclination of what the song sounds like... this is gonna be interesting!

I also met the event planner for Guilt & Co. Bourlesque, Jazz and hangout lounge. She's a super nice young lady and I can't wait to contact her about some exciting openings for bands in May. Keep checking'!

So that's all I've got to report except for the fact our website's gonna be in the works soon and Kevin hit 154 beats per minute for our song SHUT! Only another 10 beats to go caveman!

Cheers Guppies,

Mel, GUP

I'll Do Anything in the Name of Music - photoshoot #1

It's been a pretty odd three weeks. I've gotten the new pokemon game (black, yea I'm a bit of a dork), gotten drunk off one cooler and watched more musicals in a row than numbers called on a 649 lotto draw.
And I can proudly say its been because I've been seriously ill for 22 days, and finally I have been given anti-biotics so here's to hoping my crazy gets put on the back burner in favour of my workaholic tendencies.

Unfortunately I'm on the fourth gym leader so I've got this feeling the pokemon might not go away... it might end up being a 1am addiction when I can't sleep. I can't win 'em all I guess...

Onto better things:

GUP had our first photo shoot courtesy of my good friend, Bella Johnson! The funny part about this both Jesse and I were still horribly ill last Saturday and we had the shoot outside in Burns Bog... and it started pouring rain just like good old Vancouver usually does.

So there we are, desperately trying to not laugh in the photos- my 1 hour hair ruined, make-up thankfully intact but skin red and full of goosebumps underneath my uninsulated white leather jacket with two friends scrambling to try to hold umbrellas over Bella's head as she's scurrying around changing angles. And dude, I don't even get an umbrella! (Who's the rockstar here?)

But somehow we got a ton of awesome photos! The theme was post-apocalypse (because I'm a zombie apocalypse movie junkie) and we shot with random props we found on the ground at the old peat mill - a pipe, a golf club, some sticks and some kind of shelter Jesse hunched under trying to get outta the rain.

So after being outside for two hours in the pissing rain, I can't feel my hands and we decide to go, pick up some pizza and hang around the house for a while. The next day I'm hacking up a lung and the world seems tilted to the right constantly. I guess I'm gonna be sick again... all in the name of music. The things we do for the things we love.

If I haven't convinced you I'm crazy yet, stay tuned for the next blog!

Cheers,

Mel Dante, GUP

(Wanna see some shots?)  It's GUP! with more @ Bella's blog 

30 Days and Nights

I don't think I've ever been this busy. Not even when I was juggling school and work and music while still finding time to walk the dog, eat, sleep (sometimes), hang out with friends and catch Glee every Tuesday night.

And I thought THAT was hard.

Now there's no school. But there is more work. I've not only started working for a Biotherm, I've starting working in conjunction with Bella Johnson Photography, Sumit Prasad Fashions AND making time for the day job.

And don't forget the music. The whole reason I live and breathe and exist! I've got recording to organize, new songs to memorize and notarize... and how about practice? And T-shirt design!

In good news though we've got the logo prototype! Can't wait for the world to see it!

Anyway again I've worked til almost two in the morning and I should be off to bed! More updates soon! I've got lots to talk about.

Sweet dreams

Boredom, I challenge you to a duel!

Unfortunately I lost the duel. Boredom won over.
I'm sick and it SUCKS. And I don't understand why that, whenever I get sick it has to affect either my throat or my ears... irony much? So its been about 5 days and I've gone to work screaming "WHAT? WHAT?" every two sentences cuz I can't really hear on my left side. Curse you sinus infections! The rest of the time I'm in my snoopy PJs either staring at the TV or my computer screen as I kick some serious rear on Starcraft II (yea, I'm a chick who likes videogames, whatcha gonna do about it :P) or asleep for 14+ hours trying to boot out this bug.

The only good I've got out of these 119 hours of nothing is we auditioned a bass player! He was good, here's to hoping he lasts it out! And I got a bit of a kick into designing the GUP t-shirt and web design. I've got an awesome feeling everyone's gonna love it! Can't wait for our band release in the Spring! Yea baby, we're gonna bring it!

Anyway, in other news, cuz my buds and I find interesting stuff all the time, the scientists' on this great big planet found an organism who doesn't rely on the 6 elements required for living! Its a bacteria that substitutes Arsenic for Phosphorus! The arsenic just reminds me a bit of Chicago. Sometimes things just defy logic!

I hope you all are enjoying the festive cheer right now! There's lots of Red and Green going around!

Cheers!

Quote of the Day.

"Without fame, he who spends his time on earth leaves only such a mark upon the world as smoke does on air or foam on water." - Dante

I plan on leaving a giant mark. It'll be a crater etched into the minds of many with only a few knowing how it  got there or who made the impact. I want my actions to echo through the future, far past when I'm breathing and far past the day anyone remembers my name. I want to change our thinking and our culture. I want people to love themselves and love their lives. I want to promote gratitude, confidence, love, acceptance, kindship, action, initiative, grace and catalyst a pursument of passion. No dream is too large and no step too small. Negativity stems from idleness and Positivity from initiative and creativity and action.

Go for everything you want to do and believe in yourself, because it won't take long until everyone believes along with you.

Life is short, so take advantage of every minute and seize every opportunity. Live your life outside instead of living someone elses life inside. Do it. Because you are the only one living your life right now and it'll never happen until you do it yourself! I believe in you and I hope thats enough to make you believe in you to.

Three Cheers to Living Life to the Fullest!

Rockstars Can Like Country Music To!

No one believes me when I say I grew up on Cher, Shania Twain, Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw (not to mention his superstar country lady Faith Hill). It wasn't until I hit high school that I realized rock music was the best of all worlds and that GIRLS COULD DO IT TO. It was a changing point in my life and I'll always remember it started with Treble Charger and Evaescence, progressed to Saliva and Aerosmith and right now it's somewhere in between Apocalytica, Breaking Benjamin and Queen (a staple in ANY rockstar's influences).

But country music still influences me! I can sing every word to every Martina McBride song on her greatist hits album. Cry by Ms. Hill is my favourite country ballad and dude, Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy? Even if you don't like country music you've got to like that song! Cheeky and catchy. There are so many more I can't name them all.

Anyway, what brings me to blogging this is I think I resparked a bit of life into my love of country music and its all Aaron Pritchett's fault. I went to the Roxy tonight for his CD release with a good couple friends of mine and found out that his song's "Hold My Beer" is amazing and "Pinch", off his new album is pretty rockin' and different. I really love that song. You should listen to it, the riff in the chorus is pretty sweet.

"Baby, it can only go up from here!"

Anyway, it's really late and I had one too many whiskey sours before my business class in the morning so... Goodnight y'all!

It's a Long Way Forward, but a Long Way Back.

As I've mentioned before. I've been doing the whole music dance for a good part of my memorable life. I've written countless songs about the journey and its trials and difficulties but I really want to write one to compose the whole party of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the fun, the boring, the mistakes, the successes... And I'm having a really hard time of it. It's not easy writing a catchy fun beat that picks you up and throws you around the room, banging your limbs into walls and your head into the ceiling but somehow causes you to crash onto the ground, laughing, your sides aching with the fun of it all. Cuz this ride has been like a rollercoaster with no seatbelt. I've held on for this long, terrified and thrilled all at once, and it wasn't until recently I realized that even if I fell, I would have been having the time of my life.

And I'd love to say thank you to all the amazing people who have made the journey thus far so awesome and memorable. You'll always know who you are.

And as in the words on P!nk! RAISE YOUR GLASS BABY... Cuz I'm just gonna get this party started! You wait world, Melody Dante is here to bring you something else!

Cheers my little fishies.

MelDante of GUP

Find me on Twitter @MelDante for all the updates on my rollercoaster journey.

P.S - My Good friend Bella Johnson of BellaJohnsonPhotography read this and totally made my day with this regurgitated quote. ""rather to fail at something you love, than suceed at something you hate". I hope you all succeed at that you love. Don't give up just because a few doors close, stay focused, work hard and use that passion. You only live once.

Post Number One!

Hey everyone!

I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Mel and I'm the singer, guitarist and primary songwriter of Grace Under Pressure, a Vancouver based, female-fronted and male-backed hard rock band who's in this to get famous.

And this is my blog in which I'll dictate anything worth knowing and a bunch of stuff that probably isn't, during our journey to rockstardom.

Two things that you should know about me? I'm passionate and I'm dedicated. So far I've been on this journey for 6 years and I'll continue in this direction until I'm old. Or maybe I'll keep going like Madonna. Who knows. I've been told a thousand times in a million words and a hundred eyerolls that 'getting famous' is like winning the lottery and it won't happen to me. It's a good thing I believe in a more positive view of the world. And I will never know until I try!

Another few things you'd probably like to know... I'm friendly (so give me a holler!), I'm open to ideas, I love impromptu parties and small-time gatherings. I watch anything from the Discovery Channel to Manswers to Dexter and Glee and I try my hardest to stay wickedly (and I've been told scarily) positive.

Some things you might like to know about the band...

Kevin's the drummer and he's been with me since the name Grace Under Pressure was thrown out into the world. I usually call him caveman cuz he likes to hit things, make lots of noise and speak improper English. He pretty much rocks.

Jesse's the lead guitarist. He joined in the summer and auditioning him was probably the best decision we've made so far. (Here's to a ton more good decisions to!) His riffs are always melodic and as a bonus, they're catchy to. We recently wrote our first song together and its definitely in our top two favourites. I can't wait for you all to hear it world! He's usually quiet but he knows everyone and quite a lot about random things and he's always got a story to tell... usually something crazy he did the last weekend.

And _________ you haven't met cuz he's the invisible bass player. As soon as he's corporeal and pokeable I'll tell you more about him!

Anyway, look forward to more updates on our journey through life!

Cheers,

-Mel Dante. Grace Under Pressure.