Start Listening To: Melanie Baker

Newcastle-based indie grunge slacker-rock songwriter Melanie Baker talks sarcastic break-up anthems, queer joy, DIY visuals, and making space for both tears and laughter.

Originally from Cumbria and now based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Melanie Baker’s songs move through anxiety, rage, joy and everything in between, but with a sharp sense of humour always cutting through the heaviness. In this Q&A, Melanie opens up about leaning into sarcasm on ‘Bored,’ finding freedom in not overthinking, and why live shows should feel cathartic in any way you need them to. She also dives into the spontaneous, behind-the-scenes cover art that ended up fitting the record better than any grand plan, the importance of real people making real art, and how her journey into queer confidence has shaped both her music and her community.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

I’m Melanie Baker! I grew up in Cumbria but now I live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I make indie grungey slackery rock music about trying to navigate the emotional rollercoaster of the modern world and all the joy, fear, rage, anxiety and complexities that come with it.

How did the process of creating “Bored” differ from your previous songwriting experiences, particularly in terms of mood and themes?

Bored is meant to have this kind of sarcastic tone within the lyrics which I guess is very different to the usual feel of my songs. But I really leaned into having fun with this one. I’m not all doom and gloom! I don’t want my songs to just feel like I’m saying the same thing in the same way all of the time. So this was me letting myself be a bit petty and annoyed and write this break-up song. It’s meant to feel very non-serious amongst my usual emotional songwriting. It’s also me giving myself permission to have more fun within my writing. Even though I usually write a lot about my own struggles, especially with mental health, I also want to write stuff that feels silly and playful because that is still a big part of who I am.

What role does humour play in your songwriting, and how do you balance that with more serious themes you explore?

My songwriting is an extension of my personality and I just happen to be depressed AND funny at the same time. It’s me poking fun at kind of serious topics because there are some things that are really hard to say. A big part of the way I deal with my own shit is by making jokes about it. Obviously it doesn’t work in every scenario but it makes things feel a lot less scary for me anyway. I also like the idea of my songs and live shows giving people permission to be emotional and feel things deeply but also for it to still be a joyful experience. And that’s important to me right now in the way I want to deliver my art. I like the idea of people leaving my show having cried and then laughed. I want that experience to feel healing.

Could you tell us about the visual elements of your album’s cover art, and how they connect to the music within?

To be totally honest, the plan for the cover art was very different to what we ended up with. I’d planned for it to be this crazy, visual circus-like feast to represent a lot of the chaos within the album. But at the last minute (the day before the deadline for the final artwork) we actually ended up going with one of the candid, behind-the-scenes photos that Ellen, my partner, had snapped right at the last minute on their film camera. And it felt annoyingly relevant to the album theme of “spontaneity” that even though I’d jumped through all of these hoops and planned this extravagant shoot to portray “what’s real and what’s pretend”, we ended up stripping it right back to just me. Not playing a character, not trying to be anyone but myself. It feels quite “meta” because you can see the light in the background and the edge of the backdrop. I wanted to have real fire because I thought it would look really fucking cool WHICH IT DOES. I also like that we went to a lot of crazy lengths to get that fire as part of the shoot because obviously I could have used AI and saved myself all the time and money but the whole point is it’s real art made by real people and I will never give that up.

How do you feel your music reflects your personal journey, especially in terms of queer joy and experiences?

Going back to The Truman Show for a second, another reason I seriously related to the film was through my own self discovery journey, especially within my queer identity. I didn’t really come out until my early twenties and up until that point I felt like I was like Truman, living this phoney life not knowing who I really was because I was never given the tools to really understand myself. As I’ve grown in confidence with my own Queerness, and the joy I get to experience through that and surrounding myself with the most incredible community, my music has grown too. I’ve been writing music for a long time now and I was sharing my music right when I was starting out as a teenager. So there are some people who have watched me change over the years into who I am now which is absolutely terrifying to me for some reason. I feel like we are all constantly learning and changing and becoming ourselves over and over again and art helps us do that. Music helps me do that.

What have been some of the most memorable moments from your recent live performances, and how do they shape your music?

My favourite part of any show is when the band is fully locked in together and we get to jam and play around with the songs a bit. It keeps things feeling fresh because we try not to over-rehearse so sometimes there’s really fun impromptu moments when Jon will start playing a guitar riff slightly different or I’ll sing the vocals with a new twist. We trust each other enough to let the songs go in the direction they need to in the moment.

Can you describe your songwriting process when collaborating with your bandmates Adam and Jon, particularly on tracks like Bored?

My songwriting process almost always begins with just me and my guitar, alone in my room, then slowly but surely the songs evolve over time in the rehearsal room with my band. Adam and Jon always know exactly what it is I’m trying to go for. I can hear exactly how the song sounds in my head and they help me bring that to life. A lot of the time they also suggest ideas that I never would have thought of. So we produce the songs all together, there’s never any judgement. When I wrote Bored, I’d tracked the chords and used one of those really boring, repetitive drum tracks on Logic and then demo’d the vocals. I knew it had potential and it was already really fun and playful but I sent it to Adam and said “what do you think?” and within the same day he sent me the track back with his drums and the riffy-guitar in the verses and the solo. I replied back with “YO THIS IS SO SICK!” and we actually just left it like that because it didn’t really need much else. Some songs are hard to write, and they take a lot of going back and forth but this was one of those speedy, fun, let’s not overthink this too much because that’s not the point of the song.

What do you hope listeners take away from the energy and spirit of your debut album when they hear it live?

I want it to be cathartic. Live music makes me feel so alive, when I’m playing and also when I’m in the audience. I want people to come to our shows and leave feeling inspired or joyful or emotional or any emotion at all. It’s just an opportunity to feel something, ANYTHING. Laugh, cry, dance, headbang, sway side to side, stand super still, I literally do not care as long as it makes someone feel something. That’s all I can really ask for.

What do you love right now?

Hugging my friends. Listening to Mitski’s new song on repeat. Going for walks with my headphones on, listening to Die Spitz on FULL VOLUME. Playing shows with my band and getting 1am pizza afterwards. Sleeping in until 11am.

What do you hate right now?

Facism. Racists. ICE. The fact that Trans rights are being stripped away from my friends. Genocide. Shitty AI music being added to streaming platforms. Billionaires. Trillionaires.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

I say it every single time but Brand New Eyes by Paramore. It was the first CD I bought with my own pocket money and it literally changed my brain chemistry. They really were the main reason I started making music and that album got me through some of the hardest years of my life.

When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?

I hope it can serve a purpose in their life, whether it means something to them and they can totally relate to the lyrics and feel understood. Or even if it’s just a song they can play on repeat whilst they clean the dishes or do homework or blast in the car on a gloomy day.