(Originally written by Scott Gudell)
The Montage Music Hall hosted a pre-Halloween show on Sunday October 30, 2016 as former Runaways Lita Ford roared into town with a tight, full assault band dedicated to sustaining the hard rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Opening the show was Rochester’s Melia (plus an early appearance by a separate band, Rock-n-Roll Social Club).
Melia has performed sporadically in and around the Rochester area for several years, but has also ventured out of town to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, New York City and more. She also grabbed a few awards at Indie Music Channel Awards events in LA. Melia is celebrating the release of Skeletal Remains, a potent four song EP (mastered by Eastman School grad Bob Ludwig). The new disc is crisp, in-your-face, vibrant, bold and, as she has said, it has a “dark, bittersweet theme throughout the EP.” “Charge Like a Bull” cracks the EP open with its razor sharp rock and roll attack and it keeps rumbling from there.
In keeping with the Halloween theme, Melia painted half of her face in a dramatic black/white skeleton design for the show, echoing the cover of her new EP. She aggressively took the stage dressed in all black and ripped into “Charge Like a Bull” followed by another song from the EP as well as a handful of older songs such as the bitter “Just a Bride” and the withering “Soundproof Walls.” She’s learned a thing or two from Lita and the Runaways (with a bit of Avril Lavigne punk princess tossed into the mix) with Melia’s confident “take no prisoners” stage approach. Many opening acts fight to grab the attention of the crowd impatiently waiting for the headliner but Melia hit the crowd hard with fresh, updated rock sounds and earned their allegiance. The crowd may have journeyed out into the dark night to pay tribute to Lita, but Melia made sure she methodically recruited a few new people into her growing army of fans.