LOS ANGELES, CA- Saages is a new band that has performed for our weekly event at Madame Siam on multiple occasions. Why? Because they’re good. Period.
Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, SAAGES is a family affair with bothers Robert on vox & guitar and Frankie Melero on drums. For them, music is more than just a hobby as they’ve each made great sacrifices to pursue their collective dream.
Blurred Culture has been able hang out with the brothers on several occasions, and the’re just as cool in person as they are with their music. Get to know this band before they once again take the stage for us this weekend in Hollywood!
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As a “family band”, how is creating music together? Does a brotherly rivalry ever raise its head? Whose idea was it to put the band together?
Robert: We’ve been playing in bands together for the better part of 8 years. That comes with a whole lot of familiarity. And now that there are only 2 of us, there’s a whole lot more that each of us have to contribute. the good thing for us is that we both know what we’re going for.
Frankie: the rivalry part usually shows its head when it comes to being completely honest about the music. Feelings aren’t usually a factor about shitty ideas. We’ve said far worse things to each other as brothers than we ever have as bandmates.
Robert: SAAGES is a complete spin off of our last band Sucker for Pumps. This was just the next logic step for the three of us who started SAAGES. The idea to keep it going completely came from us all realizing that we weren’t don’t creating music yet. If anything we all grew musically and wanted to explore that path.
Other than the band members, how was Sucker For Pumps different from Saages?
Frankie: I’m not sure they’re completely “different”. Stick with me here… In ancient Hebrew (I’m Catholic btw – shody but still) there’s a story of a man named Jacob who later turns into Israel or “Yisrael”. The story or word “Yisrael” is essentially about a man who struggles and wrestles with himself/the divine/an angel (scholars don’t know) and succeeds. In essence, the man asks himself the tough questions in life and truly finds himself.
Frankie: I never considered myself a “proper musician”. I knew I loved doing it more than anything else in life but never thought the option of actually doing it for a living was ever possible. Sucker for Pumps taught me how to dream on a bigger level and to give those dreams a try. We had some pretty good success stories in Sucker for Pumps – yes. But more than that, I’m convinced that I/we (? my bro and I most definitely) asked ourselves those tough questions of what we really wanted in life and found ourselves in the process. Music was always a huge part of our lives growing up and we found that giving our passions back to it, made us flourish. Also, there’s something to be said about a thing coming to an end yet still having a yearning for it and wanting more than anything to keep doing it regardless of your circumstances or other peoples opinions on the matter.
Why the name Saages?
Frankie: The ending of Sucker for Pumps was a blow for sure, but it felt like we were given the opportunity to explore ourselves and our growth in music. As hard as it was I knew I found a deeper part of myself during that process. As cliche as it sounds, I’ve adopted this Yisrael story as my own. S4PS was my Jacob, SAAGES is the result of my wrestling and finding myself. And like I said earlier, SAAGES for me implies that I’m a man in search of wisdom based off of my past experiences. I just happen to be having a shiiiiiiiiiiit load of fun in the process… It’s actually quite funny as I think about it … I remember telling this to the guys when we first started jamming around the idea of SAAGES. The very first song idea that we put together, my brother and I just revisited and developed into one of my favorite songs. It’s called “Fall” and it’s message is about exactly this. I know this is a longer answer than normal but I’m almost kind of blown away by it all and how it’s coming together, seemingly full circle. And, with that, I present you with the lyrics of my beloved “Fall” – a song about everything seemingly falling apart at first but then you keep going and find out that it never did. Actually, the struggle was the biggest piece to the puzzle. It’s when you learned the most. And with that realization, comes falling completely in love with the process.
Robert: In Sucker for Pumps I was added as a guitarist a few years after the band had kicked things off. I was a year or so out of a band that I had started in high school where I was playing guitar and lead singing. The band before (The Oh No’s) was more about having fun and nothing was too serious. I realized how much I had a passion for creating while writing a good part of the music for my first act. In Sucker for Pumps I did come to the realization that there was a possibility of a career in music. The big difference for me in Sucker for Pumps and SAAGES is that in S4PS, I didn’t have the writing power or responsibility I do in SAAGES. I had to add my guitars into music that was already written by Chag, Frank, and David. When we would write new music I was able to add more input into the writing process, but I was a guitarist ignoring my desire of singing out on the stage again. With SAAGES, I have a lot of writing power and a lot more responsibility. I get to express my feelings and tell some of my stories this time around. Also, like Frank said, there has been a lot of growth between the two acts. We have learned so much and gained wisdom through our mistakes. A Sage is a wise man who is distinguished for wisdom through experience. What name could be more fitting for our new project? We write not only about those mistakes, but about the beauty that you can experience when you get up and keep following your dreams.
Do you guys have careers outside of music?
Robert: I’m a car doctor.
Frankie: [laughing] This idiot decided to join the family biz of being a mechanic. But really his decision came from him finally listening to his true inner voice and following that path. My baby bro manned the F up and quit his very good job to pursue his passion of creating music for a living. The amount of balls that this took is pure insanity and I couldn’t be a prouder older brother. I also want to include that my mom is sitting here listening to us as we answer these questions (there’s not much to hide when it comes to being a Melero. Everyone knows everyone’s biz.). Her response to him sarcastically saying that he’s was a “car doctor” was “for now”. Our mom is the tops! … .Oh…right…I work at Fox.
Robert: But nobody knows what he does there…
When do you guys find time to write, record and perform music?
Frankie: Music is written all day long on both our ends. Having full time gigs means that we’re not struggling musicians financially, but it also means that we don’t take days off. We usually collaborate several times a week after work or throughout our days to keep this ship sailing.
With your mom being here, I’m assuming that your family is very supportive of your musical endeavors.
Frankie: Yeah man! My dad was a gigging musician growing up in a Mexican band back in the 60s/70s. He later turned that into one of the founders of our old church band/choir where he usually dragged us into playing with him – our older sister too (she was a singer). Us two playing music in a band and gigging around is the furthest thing from odd in our little fantastic family. I feel like it WOULD 100% odd if we didn’t anymore. So it’s safe to say that this won’t be the last time you probably see them in person at one of our shows.
Are there any current projects that you are working on (new singles, videos), etc) that you want us to know about?
Frankie: yeah man! We just finalized our first official 4 single releases (“Sonic Therapy”, “Killin Me”, “Shoulda”, “2HOL”) and all can be streamed or purchased through all digital retailers (iTunes, Spotify, etc.). We plan on making an EP out of these, but more so finishing these next few tracks to create our first album. We’re also working with our photographer/videographer buddy Chris Anthony from Sucker for Pumps days to make our first SAAGES music video.
Follow Saages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and CLICK HERE to RSVP for the show this weekend!
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