Melissa McClelland & Thumbalina’s one night stand
Some dream of marrying the girl next door. Other’s fantasize about one wild night with her in the back of daddy’s car. At first glance, Melissa is the perfect object of both desires: classically demure in a pink cashmere sweater, until a blood red bra strap suddenly leaps from her shoulder. She’s the type of girl to which you’d entrust all of your worldly possessions, giving her the keys to your house, the keys to your car, only to discover later that she tore the roof off one and disappeared for days in the other. Fairy tales are made of girls like these; or in Melissa’s case, re-written by them.
Thumbalina’s one night stand is the first of its kind. This album is a collection of dark fables for the soul, where love haunts solitude and fantasy trumps reality. By unflinchingly internalizing pop music sensibilities, Melissa carefully maps out the landscape within us. She explores the rules on the inside, for it is there where most rules are broken.
Never begrudging us our bearings or herself tradition, Melissa’s music and lyrics both sooth and comfort us. She has the utmost respect for the forms of expression she has chosen, and lovingly buckles us in for the ride. Nevertheless, we are mysteriously transported someplace entirely unexpected, yet always a sacred place we were somehow meant to go.
Thumbalina is not entirely Melissa’s tale. It belongs to all those who have flirted with would be disaster, taken a left turn instead of a right, inhaled so deeply that cracks become roads and slipping becomes strutting. It also belongs to the visionaries that came together to make it so: her right hand man, producer and guitar extraordinaire Luke Doucet; stellar players, Rick May and Paul Brennan; engineering by Andre Wahl; additional production by Jeff Trott & mixing by Greg Collins; and the icing on the cake, guest appearances by Greg Keelor (Blue Rodeo), Justin Rutledge, and Sarah McLachlan.
With this album Melissa McClelland has risen as the avant-garde mistress of inner pop noire. Sometimes purgatorial, other times ephemeral, she is both poet and pioneer. She never flinches at the ugly, never falters at the undone. Instead, she continually rises, one minute the vixen, the next apple pie.
A dark feline beauty in a spotless white summer dress in the deepest of southern romances on the coldest of winter nights, Melissa is a heroine you will not be able to get out of your mind.
For more info see www.melissamcclelland.com.
"McClelland is capturing the attention of fans, media and musicians alike.... a leading voice in Hamilton and in Canada”
-View Magazine
The Big Q&A
Q: If you were a bowl of soup what kind would you be?
A: alphabet soup
Q: Thongs, grannies, lace, La Senza cottons or boycott?
A: commando
Q: Who is your role model?
A: anyone who exudes confidence, creativity and humility all at once.
Q: Diet of choice?
A: half assed, cheese craving vegan
Q: Earliest childhood memory?
A: examining my 'melissa' underwear. riding my trike around the neighborhood singing 'tomorrow' at the top of my lungs. digging for worms with my buddy Hamilton. Playing with my imaginary friend the bicycle man in my backyard with occasional visits from his cousin in England the Rollercoaster man. Bizarre, I know.
Q: Who would you most like to sing a duet with?
A: Celine Dion. Oh, I don't know. There are a ton of people I would love to share the stage with and a ton of people I've already had the privilege of singing with. The Ladybirds for instance.
Q: Do your hands smell like mustard or chocolate milk?
A: This is my question and I have spent many years confirming this mustard/chocolate theory. It's either one or the other, that's just the way it is and unfortunately I am a mustard girl. I strive to be a chocolate milk girls one day.
Q: Are stuffed animals alive or just fuzz and fluff?
A: Alive! I used to set up traps for my dolls with ladders and sand. I saw footprints the next morning I swear to god.
Q: If you could play another instrument, which would you choose?
A: drums
Q: If a major record label offered you a multi-million dollar contract to become a huge pop star, sing watered-down power ballads, wear skimpy clothes and do dance routines would you take the bait?
A: no, but I'm all for writing shitty pop songs for other people that will make me a million bucks. And I'm not opposed to crawling around on all fours in next to nothing.
Q: If you were offered contracts to play the Casino circuit, would you do it?
A: yes and then I'd gamble away all my earnings.
Q: Peanut butter or jam?
A: both, but if I have to choose, jam.
Q: Which Spice Girl do you think you're most like?
A: maybe Geri.
Q: Which character from Sex and the City is most similar to you?
A: Carrie I suppose.
Q: What would you do for immeasurable fame and fortune?
A: sexual favors
Q: What was your favorite Ladybird gig to date?
A: Our C'est What gig in November. We were so on that night.
Q: Reincarnation. which animal would you want to come back as?
A: sea horse
Q: Who is your favourite Ladybird fan?
A: Darren
Q: What's your favourite Ladybird song to perform these days?
A: love singing Piano Bar. That song is sexy.
Q: Describe each of the Ladybirds using one word (including yourself)
A: One word? Can't do it...
Erin: highly evolved human. So smart from her head to her heart
Janine: is somehow both vulnerable and tough as nails like her songs
Lisa: Earth and Fire
Melissa: three year old trapped in an old soul.
Q: Where is your favourite place to shop?
A: value village
Q: Any vices?
A: salt and vinegar chips. Porcelain clowns.
Q: What is your favourite insect?
A: ants.
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