The Aquadolls
Interview conducted July 18, 2021
By Dan Locke
The Aquadolls formed in La Mirada, CA in January 2012, by Melissa Brooks, the band’s lead singer and songwriter. Melissa began recording bedroom demos of her songs and eventually released the album ‘We Are Free’ in early 2013, followed by the LP ‘Stoked on You’ in December 2014.
Melissa- You are from La Mirada CA. What is your upbringing?
I grew up in a small town where there is nothing but parks and corner store plazas, yet it’s the perfect halfway point between going up north to Los Angeles, or going South to the beach! I would sing in my grade school talent shows every year, did musical theater, background acting and dance! After high school, I stuck straight to music and started making music as The Aquadolls, where I could finally play the songs, I had written myself, rather than songs from musicals and plays.
How did you discover music?
M- My parents would always be playing music around me as a baby! The first songs I learned to sing were Minnie Riperton’s “Loving You” and Kylie Minogue’s “The Locomotion”. I was not even three years old and as my mom would push me around in a shopping cart, I’d sing these songs loud and proud at the grocery store. A voice coach heard me singing at the store and told my mom to put me in voice lessons, which she did when I got older. I grew up on the oldies and the upcoming pop music of the time, gushing over artists like Jimi Hendrix and Britney Spears as a kid.
K- Music has always been pretty prevalent in my life, my grandpas on both sides are musicians so I grew up listening to a lot of that kind of stuff! Both of my parents are deaf so my mom was super strict on regulating what I listened to so it was mostly radio Disney and Christian music until middle school for me!! I would say that was around the time I started to curate my own music taste!
How did you start to write music?
I started writing songs in second grade by journaling into my notebook and making up poems, then I’d play my piano and all of the notes and sounds would rush out of my head and translate into music. I never stopped after that!
K- I’ve always loved to write! Ever since I was a kid I was always writing, even if it wasn’t music! I never really put anything to music until I was older so it was just lots and lots of poems for me!
Melissa- How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
My first guitar is a plastic acoustic guitar that I got in Tijuana. I was 10 years old and visiting with my family, and as we were in line to cross the border from Mexico back to California, a man was selling guitars in the road. As he came to my family’s car, my mom bartered with him and got the guitar for me for $20. I had no idea how to play it, but I would bang on all the strings at once and pretend I was playing Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation”. I still have it in my storage room, yes!
Melissa- What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make and model? And what is her name?
My go-to guitar is my sparkly teal U3 Danelectro! It was made in the 90s and I found her on a Craigslist ad. Her name is Danny!
Jacqueline- What was your first-time playing drums for a band like?
J: It definitely made me feel more confident as a young girl and I knew it would be something I would do for the rest of my life and I’m so happy I get to be an influence to other young girls that might want to start playing drums I feel like If they see another girl playing drums they can be like “hey I can kick ass too and plays drums my older brother doesn’t have to be the only one who wants to start a punk rock garage band maybe I want to start a punk rock garage band !”
Keilah- How did you start playing the bass?
I went to girl’s rock camp in Orange County when I was 15 years old! My friends were counselors there and knew I was interested in learning so they signed me up and it was the best decision ever!! I met some of the sickest people ever and ended up interning at the camp the year before it closed!
How did your band form?
I started the band in 2012 with the hopes of having an all-girl punk band! After a few musical evolutions, Jackie joined on drums and Keilah on bass in 2018!
K- I was in the right place at the right time! I had been friends with Mel for a while and she was rehearsing at Jackie’s and the stars just aligned for me! I’ve been playing with the girls ever since.
How did you get your bands name?
My old friend from high school made the name up and I thought it was cute and she let me use the name! It came from my love of going to the beach and mermaids.
What is Mermaid Rock and Roll?
M- Mermaid rock ‘n roll is the easiest way to describe our band’s music, as we are pretty eclectic in the musical styles we mess with in our songs! Its music made by mermaids who love good music and wanna change the system
K- Whatever you want it to be!
What was your first performance like?
I felt so happy and free and like I belonged on stage. I loved interacting with anyone I could, looking them dead in the eye and either they dug the music and they were into it, or I’d make a funny face at them and eventually turn them onto whatever song we’d be playing.
K- Honestly super nerve wracking for me!! It was definitely a super-duper small show but I had never played with anyone other than camp friends so I was scared! After a few shows I think we definitely got the dynamics of our show down.
Royalties never appear like magic. Royalties are only sent to you through work undertaken by a PRO to ensure that their members are getting paid. If you’re not yet signed up to a Performing Right Organization like ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, you may not be receiving all the royalties you deserve. Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
Yes, I’m registered with BMI! It’s definitely important for artists to claim their art, as it’s really hard to make money off of streams. It’s really tiny percent of pennies added up over time, but the goal is to eventually stack up! I wish this for all artists!
What makes a good songwriter?
If they can write a song that makes me feel something, whether it makes me want to dance, cry, overthink, or punching a pillow, then they know how to write a good song. I’m a sucker for songs with feeling! Even instrumentals can make me feel this way. The feeling comes from within the artist and shines through the song.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
“We Are Free” is the first song I wrote for The Aquadolls! I was 17 and coming down from a crazy night of high school ruckus when I wrote the song about a fictional guy named Johnny who wanted to piss off his parents by getting a crazy hair ‘do and tattoos. It was recorded in a bedroom off of Logic by my ex. I played all of the instruments sloppily, yet confidently. I thought maybe the people from my high school would hear it and think I was cool. It ended up being the title track for our first EP!
What is the process of writing your music?
It’s always different! There’s no one right way of doing it. At first, I usually just come up with lyrics or a melody then translate it to guitar. Lately, we have been collaborating and writing as a band and spent a couple of weeks together hanging out and writing poems and riffs together, which translated into a bunch of demos. Whether it’s on my own or writing together with everyone in the band, it’s always a spur of the moment type of idea. Whenever I try to force things, it doesn’t really feel natural to me, unless I’m free-styling over a beat then I just hope to get a good take!
K- I don’t really think there’s any process honestly! Whatever happens just kind of happens!!
You have opened up for the likes of Pennywise, Kate Nash, Vivian Girls and X. Did anyone give you any words of wisdom about the world of music?
M- Getting to play with these legends has meant so much to me and I have learned so much about music from getting to watch them perform and then seeing them off stage, completely kind to us and down to earth. It’s truly humbling that such talented artists have shown us love over the years!
K- Honestly not that I can remember haha! I remember Exene from X coming and introducing herself before we opened for them in Solana beach and she was super friendly and stoked to be seeing an all-girl band so that was really cool!
Tell me about your single “Disappearing Girl” which comes out on July 23rd?
Melissa: We wrote this one during our demo session right before quarantine last year! It’s about people watching in the park, then noticing a mysterious girl hop in a red Mustang and wondering about her and the people surrounding her.
J: Disappearing girl I got to co-write on and was able to write some of the music and lyrics which is always enjoyable because I’ve always loved writing and you don’t always get those type of opportunities when you’re a drummer.
Melissa- You just released your debut album “Bratitude” Tell me about it?
M- I spent my quarantine making remixes and doing online Zoom and Twitch DJ sets for SoCal based Subculture Party, who I had DJ’d for in Orange County and Los Angeles prior to lockdown. As there were weekly parties, I had to make many new mixes and songs for my DJ sets, which eventually led to the idea to create my own mixtape, and then making my way towards the album! I recorded a lot of the songs with my friend Pete Lalich at his studio last fall, and went with the future pop sounding songs with additional production and features from other friends I had met through online communities like TikTok and Discord, including Glitch Gum and Ava Akira to name a few. I wanted to take advantage of the time I had at home to make the pop album I always wanted to make, and continue to have fun making mixes and collaborations!
Will you be performing any of the tracks while on tour?
M- I will be performing a medley of the songs I have with Glitch Gum at the next Subculture Party in Los Angeles June 24th, including “Bestie” off of Bratitude and “Attention Horse from his new album “Life After The Demise of Planet Gumball”. And maybe in the future, who knows! I’d love to!
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
M- I am always streaming music! I make mood playlists on Spotify, listen to my “likes” on my Soundcloud, and stream DJ’s and producers on Twitch. I am also always listening to new songs and on the lookout for my next favorite artist to obsess over.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, pound sign and a sharp sign in music. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag. Are people forgetting that the # is a part of music?
M-I like to use hashtags on TikTok, which I’ve found to be quite helpful for reaching new people! I’m proud to say we have over 3 million views on our #theaquadolls hashtag on TikTok!
Digital vs. vinyl?
M- Although I have a pretty sick vinyl collection, I rarely use my record player. I like the convenience of digital music because it’s always at my fingertips.
K Vinyl all day!! Having physical copies of music is so much cooler than just streaming in my opinion, it’s a tangible thing that you can pass down forever!
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
M- “Baby I’m Back” by Baby Bash and Akon came on shuffle right after I signed our deal with Enci Records. I was like, “This song is perfect! I’m back! The Aquadolls are back! I claim this affirmation!” I’m so excited we’re finally dropping music again.
K- I constantly have the Lunachicks playing on a loop in my head. They are probably my favorite bands at the moment, it just reminds me of good times n rocking out!
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
M- Definitely not! I think if anything, it makes people way more appreciative of live music because it is something so precious. I’ve been to a couple concerts since lockdown was lifted in June, and the energy was magical. People were singing louder and moshing harder! I went so hard at my first show back that I got cuts on my arm from pushing in the pit and I didn’t even feel it because I was so hyped on the music. I also am looking at it from the perspective of this could all go away at any second. I can wake up tomorrow morning and check Twitter and the whole world is shut down again. If that happened, we’d be back on our livestreams and Zoom calls. I’m just happy to do all that I can!
K- I definitely don’t think it’s killed live music as much as it put a pause on things. Definitely puts things in to perspective as to how easy things can be taken away!! I definitely won’t ever take playing a live show for granted ever again.
Do you think that Covid-19 has been a plus to an artist career?
M- It’s had its ups and downs, but now that a year and a half has passed since March 2020, I’m glad that we waited to drop new music for the band because now we will be able to hype it at Lollapalooza, which we honestly thought we wouldn’t get to do when Covid hit. It definitely helped me as a solo artist, as it gave me lots of time to write and record, versus being on the road all the time. I think social media is also a huge plus that had a huge boost from Covid, especially with so many artists blowing up off of TikTok during quarantine.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
M- Writing music, overthinking, and watching a lot of anime!
K- Honestly not much!! Lots of writing, and working! I moved into an apartment and just work as a barista most days so that’s been the past year for me!
How do you stay healthy during the lockdown?
M- I take Vitamin C every day, try to do stretches or yoga in the mornings, and sleep a lot!
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
M- I swear I’m a cartoon character because I’ve done the same stuff for years! So, nothing really new, just trying to work on getting better at making beats and songwriting!
J: Roller-skating! It’s something I’ve done since I was a little kid and it’s been nice to get back into it. I go roller skate down by the beach at sunset which lets me relieve stress.
K- I love love love to sew! It’s been one of my favorite hobbies during lockdown. I’ve made tons of purses and dressed during the lockdown and got pretty good at making stuff, I think!
Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In October that is going to change at least on Facebook. Facebook is cracking down on livestreamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses. The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience […] This will include [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only. How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook and YouTube?
M- That would be lame if they did that! Thankfully I don’t use Facebook live, but I do go live on Youtube and Twitch! I hope they don’t censor artists because the internet is the greatest form of promoting your art. I feel like if one app goes down, someone else will come up with a new app, similar to when MySpace died and Facebook took over. I do miss MySpace though.
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show?
K- Staying on top of socials is definitely super important!! Trying to stay connected in any way possible so people don’t forget about us haha. Tiktok has been a major platform that keeps people connected so it’s helped!
M- Do livestreams! I love going live on my Instagram, whether it’s to pop in to say hey to fans, make announcements, or do performances! Twitch and YouTube live is also fun. Zoom parties worked super well over quarantine, as it felt like the closest thing to a real show because you get to see all of the people attending in the call and dancing together! We also have an online merch store, which I think can have more access to fans all over the world versus just the people who would be in the club venue if it were a real-life show.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means thinks like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
M- I haven’t done pay to play since high school. It was so annoying to sell pre-sale tickets and I remember in my high school band, I had to sell $500 worth of tickets to our show and literally no one in school wanted to spend their precious $10 to hear us scream into the microphones at Chain Reaction. I would sell my tickets to the teachers because they felt bad for me and they wouldn’t show up to the shows! It’s a struggle out here, but it’s definitely better to get paid for your time, rather than paying someone for your time.
K- I have no idea honestly.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
M- That sounds lit! Let’s do it!
In the past if a musician stop doing music, they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?
M- I really don’t think I would exist if I couldn’t make music. Maybe I’d do act! It’s also my bucket list to write and direct my own horror film someday, but knowing me, I’m sure I’ll probably want to score the soundtrack as well.
K- If I wasn’t doing music, I’d probably want to become some sort of teacher!! I love theatre and arts so maybe a career in that sort of field. I’d never want to leave entertainment so anything I can get that’s similar is a plus!!
What is your happy place?
M- The studio, the stage, and the road in between!
K- Anywhere that I’m with friends and family!! Being surrounded by people I love always makes me happy. I think the stage will always be a special place for me because I’m doing what I love with the girls I love!
Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to sell their entire song catalog for $140 Million. In the past year a lot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks ($100 Million), Bob Dylan (over $400 Million), Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, K.T. Tunstall, and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million. Neil Young song 50 percent of his worldwide copyright and income interest in his 1,180-song catalogue to Hipnosis Songs Fund limited. Once you get to the age of about 70. Publishing is far more lucrative than the mechanical royalties paid to artist based on sales, airplay and streams. A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985. And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial. The lump sums being offered by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning. Someone who was totally against selling his rights was David Crosby. He did not want to sell his publishing rights. And it was not an easy thing for him to do. But by making a deal with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, it took a big weight off of his shoulders. He could pay off his house and cover other bills. And now he doesn’t have to work for a living. It should be noted that David is battling tendinitis in his hands which hurts his ability to play guitar. Do you think you would be willing to sale your back catalog if someone like Universal is will to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs?
M- If they offered $100 million, I would maybe consider, but I definitely want to hold on to publishing as long as possible. You really never know when one of your songs can blow up out of nowhere, new or old!
How was it to make waves with Lash’s “Take Me Away” (a track made famous via its inclusion in the 2003 Lindsay Lohan-starring Disney film ‘Freaky Friday’)?
M- We used to cover Take Me Away on tour in 2019, so one day at band practice last summer we filmed a 15 second video of us playing it in my living room and it sort of blew up on TikTok. People really wanted us to post the full version, so we took our time DIY recording the audio, sending stems back and forth via email, and I mixed it all together! We made a homemade video for it on our YouTube, and then it ended up getting over a million plays on Spotify! We really didn’t expect anything to come from the cover as it was something we did for fun, but I’m super glad we did it and made a lot of people happy!
K- Pretty crazy honestly!! We’d been covering it for a while so we decided to finally record it and I was pretty blown away with how well it did.
Spotify’s ‘Stream On’ event on (February 22), the company confirmed that more than 60,000 new tracks are now being ingested by its platform every single day. This means people are added new tracks uploaded to its platform every 1.4 seconds. The figure, announced by Spotify’s Co-Head of Music, Jeremy Erlich, means that across the course of this year, approximately 22 million tracks will be added to Spotify’s catalog. Spotify confirmed in November last year that its platform now played host to around 70 million tracks. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that, by the end of 2021, SPOT will be home to over 90 million tracks. And that in the early part of next year, it will surpass a catalog of 100 million for the first time. But still back at the beginning of the year Spotify deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists. What do you think what that could mean to independent artist?
M- There is an endless pool of music that will constantly flow, so as an independent artist your biggest goal is to stand out amongst the crowd! Just be yourself, have your own niche, and pray to the playlist gods that your song gets picked up! It’s real hard out here, but it’s definitely not impossible to break through! Just be persistent and don’t give up. That’s sketchy songs got removed though! I hope those artists are able to get their music back up.
Over half a billion active users around the world share their favorite music on TikTok either with something like a dance challenges and lip-sync videos or creating a funny skit or candid camera moment. TikTok has become a great platform for music promotion, sharing songs, and finding new listeners. In which it has become a place for music artist to earn revenue when people use their music. Which in many cases the daily promotion on TikTok has led to hug boosts on other platforms like Spotify, Facebook and YouTube. TikTok does this with the become algorithmically generates a feed of content for each user, which you see as the displaying of #. The more a user engages with content, the smarter TikTok gets at guessing what kind of videos the viewer wants to watch. Because a song can go viral because of this. Sony Music and Warner Music Group-, The ByteDance-owned video app revealed that it has struck an “expanded” global licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. Now that TikTok is now fully licensed by all three major record companies, will you start using TikTok more?
M- TikTok has helped boost both the band and my own solo music so much! We’ve gotten lucky with our few viral moments as a band and they gave us a huge boost with new people finding out about our music, which I’m so grateful for! There is also a wonderful community of artists on TikTok and I’m glad I got to meet a lot of people I work with now through the app! My “Never Met” remix TikTok ended up getting a lot of attention, as well as other random videos! I try to post on there at least once a day, not only because it’s super fun to make these silly videos, but I’ve ended up making a lot of friends through it as well!
Breaking news: TikTok is launching TikTok Radio, a full-time SiriusXM music channel going live this summer. The station will be available in vehicles and as a streaming channel on the SiriusXM App, desktop, and all connected devices. The station will be part of a new TikTok collaboration with SiriusXM and its subsidiary, Pandora, to jointly promote emerging talent. Do you think this platform could became a force in the future of streaming music?
M- That’s awesome! I feel like Gen Z is really running the music industry right now. They choose the songs they want to post on TikTok, and then when certain songs go viral, the artists get a lot of attention and I think it’s rad to put the power of the music industry into the listener’s hands.
You are playing Lollapalooza on Aug. 1st. And the virus is still here. What precautions would you like to have in place?
M- We are all vaccinated and encouraging anyone who plans to attend to please get vaccinated, get tested, and don’t be a dummy!
K- We’re all pretty lucky to be vaccinated but I’ll definitely be making sure to wear my mask when I can in populated areas! Bringing our own mics/making sure everything is sanitized before and after is another one! Just making sure we’re doing our part to help out.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
M- I’m so thrilled to get to share this new era of The Aquadolls with everyone! Even though it’s nearing ten years of me starting this band, this era truly feels like it’s just the beginning for us and I can’t wait to show you what’s next.
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