Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melody Caudill. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Melody, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
While everything I have created holds a lot of personal meaning, my single “Nemo” featuring Hannah Telle is the one closest to my heart for a variety of reasons. I originally wrote the song as a poem about being an only child, missing my mom in my first dorm room freshman year of college, feeling as lonely as I’ve ever felt while surrounded by strangers in my new “home” that didn’t feel like home at all. I remember the metaphors coming out naturally, not really understanding what they meant at first, but slowly coming to understand them: “like the ocean holds the water / I am my mother’s favorite daughter.” Writing about love that large and natural was powerful, especially during that time of isolation.
Almost a year later, I recorded the song professionally, after having released the demo I recorded straight into my laptop mic, with Alex Dezen, who has produced many of my songs and I look up to as a musical mentor and cool dude. Meanwhile, I have been following the work of Hannah Telle, musician and voice actor of my favorite character and video game Max Caulfield of Life is Strange, for years. I knew I wanted to make a song with her, and this one felt like the natural choice. So I reached out to her via instagram, and she said yes to the feature! I didn’t realize this would mean getting to meet her and record it together in person, but the next thing I knew I was sitting in a room with Hannah and Alex, bawling my eyes out telling her how much her art has meant to me, and then watching her sing my lyrics back to me. It was one of the most emotional musical experiences of my life, and I sometimes don’t even believe it was real to this day.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Melody Caudill, I am 20 years old, and my songwriting project is called Career Woman! CW’s recording and performing band consists of myself, Jackson Felton, Allen Moreno, and Joey Chavez. For the past two years, the four of us have been recording and touring around the West Coast, primarily playing in the bay area as we are based in Berkeley and Santa Cruz.
Career Woman wasn’t always a group effort. I have been writing and recording since I was 14 with the help of my dad, Jeff Caudill of Gameface and Low Coast, and encouragement of my mom, author Kerby Caudill. I was lucky enough to be born into a musical family with ties to the indie rock scene of the 90s, which I could not be more grateful for.
I grew up etxtrememly shy, and performing was my biggest fear, but now that I have a supportive and talented band by my side, being on stage is my favorite thing in the world. Songwriting has always come naturally, but now I have the team to back me up and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.
I would categorize my music as inspired by indie rock bands and singer songwriters like Snail Mail, Mannequin Pussy, Samia, Lomelda, and Frankie Cosmos. But the music has never been the most important thing to me, as I focus mainly on lyric writing. I tend to write whatever comes out naturally, and call my songs diary entries. I don’t have much of a goal with releasing music because I want to continue focusing on the opportunities that come naturally to me and the band, but I do hope it reaches audience that relate to it emotionally. I don’t want music to ever not be fun, so I am taking my career as far as it can go, as long as its fulfilling.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Turning inward to your own local community is the best thing you can do as an artist. Focusing too much on social media and audiences out of your physical reach is a never ending journey with little reward. There will always be a better competitor, higher number, and new unattainable goal to reach if you are only looking to expand your presence online. When I came to college and started engaging in my local DIY music scene, my life changed and I started to make connections the good old fashion way–by going to shows and meeting people in person. This networking turned into becoming successful as a band on the local level, which gave us the resources and confidence to reach further than that. Don’t get me wrong, an online presence is also important, but its nothing when not backed up by a solid foundation of in-person fans and band communities. This focus on my local scene also resulted in meeting my best friends, which is so much more valuable than any level of commercial success.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Songwriting for me is genuine catharsis, and it only happens to me in natural moments of emotional distress. I write songs to deal and to express myself, like most people do, so being able to channel that process into a craft that reaches other people and provides a fun time at a show or a song to listen to is the best outcome I could have asked for. I have been writing for almost 10 years, since I was about 12, and for my efforts to finally pay off and become a tangible career is insane. I know every musician could probably say the same, but that doesn’t discredit how crazy and cool it is!!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melodycaudill/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBc75RqGaWeL68hZUTpWNFg
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/17RK5BpOKQ4YVtCHFWKK3y?si=Sy7Cik6_RguVuc_eKYlFTQ&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaa7ky_NTyGE6NZnQTqcQYQ_rdJGlH9WTAe6M5sPoUZJ4ILDZbU8mPF2uYc_aem_dZn-N0txL2-wxLa8Hk_9VQ&nd=1&dlsi=1a6638e743dc41c7
Image Credits
Tristian “Treestamp”
IG: https://www.instagram.com/treestamp_/