Melting Pot at the Great Hall

True to its name, Melting Pot's recent performance (March 13, 2010) blended a mutltiude of rock n'roll influences, styles and riffs. The result: a sound – their sound – embodied in a succession of tunes that cast me into a lull - along with every one else. All eyes, all attention were riveted on the three guys up top the stage.  
My head began nodding in time with the beat and not long after, my body began swaying. I was in my own world, a music travelogue, with the band acting as conductor. A couple more songs went by with me making mental notes, caught up, while the guitarist (Nelson Sobral) rocked out, drummer (Carmelo Galle) exerting as much energy as required for an intricate combo, then returning to his modest efficiency, everything anchored by this methodical, impassive bassist (Darin Meilleur) with heavy fingers.

I turned to a longtime friend and said, “I hear Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cream, Bad Company, I hear Paul Rodger's voice (lead vocalist for Bad Company and Free), & the Stones' Tumbling Dice. “The Black Crowes, too,” he added.  
Up front, a whole line of people –  around 10 or so – began dancing and grooving which was quite a statement in reserved Toronto. There was something of a breakthrough going on.
Turns out, it was all by design.
“We named ourselves 'Melting Pot' not just because we like Steve Cropper (guitarist of Booker T & the MG's and one of the song's writers) but because we look for ideal combinations of different genres within our songs,” offered band spokeman Nelson Sobral.

 
Soul Influence
“We're the anti-thesis of most bands in this city (Toronto) in that we're a rock n'roll band that can be danced to; it's honest, soulful music." Hence, the title of their website, “Rock n'Roll Soul” (http://www.meltingpotband.com/)
Indeed, soul music figures prominently as one of their influences. “Otis Redding, Sly and the Family Stone, even Wilson Pickett; soul is one of our foundations. And we're just as strong accoustically as we are with power: we go for a balanced effect.”  
This interlacing of styles originated, in Nelson's case, from his 80s childhood where his parents kept the radio permanently stuck on CHUM 1050, featuring 50 & 60's music. “They (his parents) were huge music fans which led to my buying up my favourites as soon as I could. At this point, I've got 4 crates of Lps, 400 Cds, 400 cassettes and several terabtyes of downloads.”

Development of their Sound
From the band's perspective, their concert of influences arose from 'experimentation and learning' during live performances and jam sessions.  
"We met this guy Stephen Cox (http://www.gigglescomedyagency.com/acts/cox.htm), a comedian, and he invited us to do this afternoon thing at the Cadillac Lounge (http://www.cadillaclounge.com/): we'd do an accoustic set first, he'd go on and do his bit, and we'd finish, plugged in. It was like being in the laboratory; we could experiment, try different things, do cross-overs from style-to-style, let our higher selves map it out and we'd just follow along.
We'd do something with an Allman Brother bent, go over to a Grateful Dead feeling, pull in some Neil Young, sometimes a little country, some rock, soul, funk, then just jam. Sometimes do everything I just talked about at another gig.”

 
Origins
They met 10-15 years ago through their involvement in mixed martial arts then stayed in touch through friends.
“Then, about 3 years ago, I started gettin' the itch, picked up my accoustic (guitar) and began jotting stuff down. The more I played, the more I wrote and sometimes there'd be a fight between my notepad (for the words) and my guitar (for a riff or melody). At a certain point, though, I'd walk away and let it germinate on its own. If I didn't do that, it'd be easy to compromise the art."
"When I had about 50 (songs), I called up Darin and Carmello and they got into it from the outset. I didn't think of anyone else to call because I'd seen them play before and figured they'd be perfect.”
“Darin (Meilleur), our bassist, is just a force of nature; he's unflappable. Just takes care of business so there's no need to worry about anything. And he compensates for any mistakes we make without anyone noticing: he's our pillar.”
"Carmelo (Galle) tops it off by being a very precise and versaile drummer. At times, his style is muted but he has panache and rolls out artistic combinations exactly when the song requires it, exactly when we need it.”
Melting Pot played their first show almost a year ago in Brampton at Victoria & Albert Pub where “people stopped talking to each other and started listening to us, then began dancing, which was cool. Then, after we finished, all these people came up to us saying, "You sound like this or that band.” We all looked at each other and saw a future.”  
Their future continues on May 7th at The Great Hall in Toronto: a great place to hear a great band.
 
"We're doing what we do because we need to do it.  We like our band; we like the way we sound and we're only going to get better.” 

Brian J. Anderson 
 


Special for Toronto News 24.com