Alternative metal band Melted Bodies are set to release their second full length album entitled The Inevitable Fork on October 18th. The band’s keyboardist Ben Majoy took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about their upcoming album, plans for their next record, their unique sound, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: How did the formation of your band come about?
Majoy: Ultimately it all started, and has continued, because we’re friends above anything else. We love playing music together, but we also love going to Halloween things together, and watching movies, and eating pizza, because we’re all just kind of dorks who like to nerd out on music and art and life.
The music all started with Andy, the frontman and primary songwriter, who started writing some new heavier music after he left Local Natives. Then Scott started playing drums to the stuff Andy was writing. Then Houda, Andy’s friend from the local scene. Then last, I (Ben), booked the first ever Melted Bodies show. I have another project called Diamondstein that is largely electronic music production, so after I had them play, they invited me into the band and we’ve been going since. I think that first show was in 2016 if I’m not mistaken.
MER: You’re set to release your new album entitled The Inevitable Fork which is comprised of three different EPs, what can you tell fans about the upcoming release?
Major: After we released Enjoy Yourself during the pandemic, we weren’t really sure what was next, given the whole Covid thing. So we started writing in pieces, and didn’t want to wait just in case more bummer news would take the world sideways. We also all have full-time jobs, so as we were writing new music, it just felt appropriate to start releasing things a bit more in piecemeal. Before we finished the first EP, we definitely had the idea to release this three EP series, but we wanted to just keep writing based on how we felt.
If anyone was/is a fan of our record Enjoy Yourself’, The Inevitable Fork definitely carries on where we left off. I think the main difference between The Inevitable Fork and Enjoy Yourself though is that with this album, we are a bit less critical of society lyrically, and the songs are much more inward-looking. A lot of people really resonated with Enjoy Yourself because of Andy’s lyrical critique of society, but I personally think a lot of the lyrics in The Inevitable Fork hit a lot harder because they’re a much more honest take on what we all go through personally. The lyrics aren’t myopic though – they definitely touch on a lot of themes that most of us feel as we get older and we wonder how to make sense of where to go from here – professionally, personally, romantically, whatever. And in a way, you’ll hear a bit of this in the composition and sounds as well. It’s as heavy as Enjoy Yourself, but in a different way – ticks a different box of intensity.
MER: How did the idea of combining all the EPs come about?
Majoy: More than anything it was us just wanting to put stuff out a bit faster, and just experiment a bit with how people perceive our music. We know the whole music industry is in a constant state of change, and we just didn’t want to delay putting music out, particularly as we fell in love with stuff. By doing the three EP’s into a single album, we also could work with different mix engineers that we thought could capture the feeling of each EP, which we did with John Spiker (who mixed Enjoy Yourself as well), Ben Greenberg (UNIFORM), and James Kelly (ALTAR OF PLAGUES, WIFE).
MER: You’ve recently released two songs from the album, do you feel these two songs gives fans an idea on what to expect from the full album?
Majoy: That’s a tough question. I suppose in a way it does, since both of those songs go a lot of places, and give a touch of different sonic influences we pull from. At the same time though, we can fairly confidently say that all of our songs have a bit of range in terms of what references they pull from, what we were inspired by when we were making them, and ultimately how we feel they tell the bigger story. If you like even a tiny bit of one of the songs, we think you should just give the whole record a listen, since it’s a pretty complete story.
MER: What do you see as plans for you and your band after the album release?
Majoy: We’re hoping to spend a lot more time playing live next year. We have had some good small tours this year but there are a lot of places we haven’t gotten to go together as a band, so that’s going to be a pretty important part of next year. Plus we’re already writing, so ideally we’ll get into the studio sooner than later to get whatever the next album is officially off rack. We’re an excited band, so every step is another thing for us to get pumped about.
MER: Having such a unique sound, who would you see yourself touring with and why?
Majoy: That’s a good question. Honestly, sometimes it feels easy for people to say “Since you guys sound like SOAD or Primus or Mr. Bungle, it would be cool to see you out with them.” Granted we love all those bands, but we kind of see it as the opposite. We draw from so many different places artistically and sonically, that we’d rather get on the road with bands that may on the surface feel different, but actually share a lot of the spirit of what we do. We love the way bands like Deafheaven seemingly always change their sound a bit from album to album, so they’d be top of our list. We also love the Armed for a similar reason. But then, we’d be just as psyched, if not more excited, to go out with Bjork, or Viagra Boys, or Lightning Bolt, or whatever.
MER: Has there ever been an audience you’ve had to win over?
Majoy: The first however many years of playing shows, to be honest. More recently though, we played this hardcore show in Long Beach, CA that just did NOT go well from the very first note. They looked at us like we pissed in their cereal. Just one of those things you take on the chin and move on though. We’ve found a common theme that if we don’t land in someone’s narrow a view of what heavy music is supposed to be, Melted Bodies may rub that person the wrong way. But hey, that’s ok.
MER: What have been some of your favorite releases of 2024?
Majoy: Well we’ve all been pretty damn hyped about the new Blood Incantation record, and boy it did not disappoint. That’s another band we’ve LOVED watching change and warp over the years, exploring some pretty sick new sounds with some very cool synth affectations. Granted, I’ve been listening to a FUCK ton of YES this year, so it may have just hit me particularly well because of that. We also love the new FULCI stuff, which is brutal but still inventive with some of their collabs. I also love the new Molchat Doma record. It’s a bit of a continuation of what they have been, but continuing without missing a step. Also, the Fat Dog stuff is awesome. Really fun and heavy in its own way.
That said, part of the deal with our band though is that you’ll probably hear slightly different answers from everyone, and I guarantee there will be some curveballs in there.
MER: What is one song from your band you would suggest to a new fan?
Majoy: After Enjoy Yourself’, we put out a remix album called Enjoy Yourself with Friends, and the NMESH remix of Meat Cleanse is absolutely out of control. If you have 14 minutes to spare, it’s a fun, wild ride.
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