(dramatic music) - [Kira] The type of music that we're making recently has been funky, pop, honestly, it's what we're feeling at the moment.

♪ You're delusional ♪ ♪ Yeah, you're delusional ♪ ♪ Making up excuses every damn time ♪ - When somebody enjoys when I sing or somebody enjoys like the lyrics that I put behind the songs, I just feel like that's very rewarding, and it just feels great.

♪ My mama calling me all this time ♪ - People tend to put us in the psychedelic rock category, which I'm more than fine with because that's where the majority of the inspiration comes from.

♪ I touch the grass beneath my feet, yeah ♪ - [Ben] A little part of me is always wanting to do something a little differently, and I just like that whole idea of being creative, being imaginative, that's pretty much the experience that, you know, I hope that we provide for people when they come see us.

(dramatic music) - [Announcer] "Sounds Like ATL" is brought to you by Georgia Power.

(mellow music) (dramatic music) (air whirring) (bell chimes) ♪ Every time ♪ (car horns blaring) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (rock music) - [Narrator] W-A-B-E. (ambient music) (instrumental music) (electricity whirring) (logo swooshes) (electricity fizzing) (band chattering) - [Producer] All right, roll for action.

- Hi guys, we are Melodic Monster.

My name is Ben Garden, this is Real Soon, Will Derr, and Will Bass.

And this first song is called "Moon of the Dead."

(pensive rock music) (ambient rock music) (ambient rock music) ♪ My mama cried when the others died ♪ ♪ Too close to her they were blindsided ♪ ♪ It's too hard for me ♪ ♪ It's too hard to see ♪ ♪ So I try to lead all the others, yeah ♪ ♪ Trying hard to be all the others, yeah ♪ ♪ Too old for me ♪ ♪ To hold onto me ♪ (upbeat rock music) ♪ It's far too close to daybreak ♪ ♪ The pressure shows on my face ♪ ♪ The sun is bringing not a patch of shade ♪ ♪ I think I'm losing my mind again, yeah ♪ ♪ But I can't wait ♪ ♪ To see you again ♪ ♪ I'm far way ♪ (upbeat rock music) The song "Moon of the Dead" is pretty much my way of creating a story within the song.

And you know, just taking people on a like behind the scenes of somebody that's trapped on the moon.

And it's just something that I came up with because I typically like to, for some songs to come up with like a story and something that might be a little weird or off or whatnot.

Like the story is about, you know, people being trapped on the moon where there's like zombies and they're trying to hide and get away and trying to find places to hide and whatnot.

So I thought that'd be kind of a cool story just to, just to tell, you know, in the short time that we played the song.

So to you musicians out there, it's in Drop D so it has a very dark nature to it, which you know, helps out with the whole mood of "Moon of the Dead".

People tend to put us in a psychedelic rock category, which I'm more than fine with because that's where the majority of the inspiration comes from.

Sometimes we can be a little hard rock, so that's in there as well, but psychedelic rock, it's pretty much the main genre, which, you know, we're cool with that.

(rock music) You know, as far as music goes, you know, there's The Doors, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, of course, you know, all the great artists from the 60s.

Of course, then there's the 90s with Kurt Cobain and the grunge era.

As far as movies goes, I'm more of a French foreign film guy, "Stream of Conscious".

My favorite book is "The Stranger".

So I like to keep the music that way where it's like, you know, you can have the song and then you have times where it's just playing and you know, everybody's just grooving together and just having fun.

As far as songwriting style, you know, sometimes it can be straightforward songwriting, you know, about a certain subject.

I'm a poet, you know, writer, creative writer.

One of my favorite artists is Rob Zombie and he had a band called "White Zombie".

And I loved his songs because they weren't about, you know, anything that was pertaining to, you know, going and checking your mailbox or something or you know, driving down the street.

It was about like a completely different fantasy that you have no idea what he's referring to, what he's talking about.

But the story in the music is so good, you just, all right, yep, that guy.

Yep, crazy, you know?

That's pretty much the experience that, you know, I hope that we provide for people when they come listening to see us.

Hey guys, this song is called "Selfish" and this song is about being selfish.

It's about knowing what you need, knowing what you want, and knowing that sometimes you just gotta think about yourself and everybody else just gotta deal with it.

Selfish.

(upbeat rock music) ♪ I keep running when the world's coming ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I cut the grass beneath my feet, yeah ♪ ♪ And watch the snakes crawl ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Now, listen ♪ ♪ I won't stop at nothing ♪ ♪ Not even a woman ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ I'm sorry, girl ♪ ♪ Don't take it personal ♪ ♪ If you ain't got nothing for me ♪ ♪ You gotta take the fall ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Now listen ♪ ♪ It might sounds selfish but ♪ ♪ That's how it's gonna be ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ (hard rock music) That song was called "Selfish".

And you know, it's all about sometimes you gotta be selfish and sometimes you gotta think about yourself and do what you gotta do and other people just gotta just deal with it.

Selfish.

A little part of me is always wanting to do something a little differently.

So of course, you know, I was into rap and everything and then it got to a point where I was like, well, you know, everybody around me is doing that and it is cool, but you know, you know, I gotta do something different.

Then I fell in love with rock and roll.

You know, I heard Black Sabbath, "Paranoid", fell in love.

My dad's a preacher, so I thought it was taboo, but I found it was great music so it was great.

And then from then on, you know, I just started getting into Pink Floyd and you know, different music like that and it kind of sculpted, you know, everything that that I enjoy, which is music, creativity, imagination.

And I just like that whole idea of being creative, being imaginative.

And I've always been this way with writing stories, so it was kind of like mixing, you know, what we do here.

And I will have to say, the music wouldn't be what it is really without the band because I just come up with the music and then I come up to the guys and say, hey, here's what I've done.

We try not to restrain ourselves with certain, you know, formulas or routines not to take away from the amount of creativity that this band has.

We don't wanna limit that.

So we try to, you know, expand on that as much as possible.

So we as a band, we all do pull from different creative styles and genres and interests, influences.

Like I said, for me it's the 60s and 90s grunge.

For Real Soon over here, you know, he likes a little bit of funk, so you know, he brings that to the table.

My man Will Derr over here, I like to say his style can sometimes be like "Stream of Conscious", 'cause when we get into the improv, hey, we were all just doing our thing and then my man back here, Will Bass.

I mean, he's more so like metal and things like that, so he brings in a heavier sound, you know, especially with the dark finish back there.

So, you know, so it's cool when we all come together and we're all just melding our different influences and interests.

I mean, we're here and we're doing it, so obviously it's like a good, you know, tried and true thing that we have going on and I just, I'm really grateful for the things that they bring into it and the different styles.

We are Melodic Monster.

Thank you for watching.

And this is "Sounds Like ATL" (soft guitar music) - Hi, my name is Kira and I'm the singer.

- I'm Elijah Day, I'm the background singer - And this is Punk, he's the guitarist.

And we all just kind of group together.

We're individual artists, but we're just coming in and just doing what we love.

(gentle music) ♪ La, da, da, da ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ La, da, da, da ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ You shoulda let the bottle down ♪ ♪ It didn't have to get this way ♪ ♪ You should have let the bottle down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ It didn't have to get this way ♪ ♪ I knew your best friend didn't like me ♪ ♪ I don't think you had a thing for me ♪ ♪ I didn't catch on the signs ♪ ♪ Until that cold December day ♪ ♪ Should have let the bottle down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ It didn't have to get this way ♪ ♪ You should have let the bottle down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ I didn't understand it ♪ ♪ That you were a bear, you could stand it ♪ ♪ Isn't this what you always preached ♪ ♪ That you can the shh back ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ It didn't have to get this way ♪ ♪ You should have let the bottle down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ Down, down, down ♪ ♪ You went and done what you did to me ♪ So the first song that we performed today is "Bear".

And that song really about just a friend that had too many drinks and it's just kind of like you need to put the bottle down and just saying things that they regretted and it just made me feel kind of upset.

So I just wrote a song about it.

The type of music that we're making recently has been funky, pop, it's all over the place to be honest, but honestly it's what we're feeling at the moment.

So I wouldn't actually have a title for it.

So I got my start as a singer when I was 17, 18.

That's when I first started doing actual music.

And then from there on it just came to what we are today.

I usually like to talk about love a lot, so like the experiences of a heartbreak, experiences of like feeling in love.

And then sometimes I just like expressing love at that moment.

So this song is called "Delusional" and Delusional is basically about, I was feeling like I liked somebody at the time, but really in all perspective it was kind of like I was wasting my time talking to this person.

So "Delusional" was like, hey, wake up, like this is not going anywhere.

I would talk to my friend sometimes and she would say the same thing to me, be like, I don't think this is gonna go anywhere.

I'd be like, no, I promise you it's gonna work out.

And then at the end I'd be like, you know what?

You were right, I was delusional.

(upbeat pop music) ♪ I'm not trying to offend you ♪ ♪ But lately you've been blindsided ♪ ♪ But it's disguised ♪ ♪ It's time for you to open up your eyes ♪ ♪ You're delusional ♪ ♪ Yeah, delusional ♪ ♪ Making up excuses every damn time ♪ ♪ You're delusional, yeah delusional ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ You're delusional ♪ ♪ Yeah, delusional ♪ ♪ Making up excuses every damn time ♪ ♪ You're delusional, yeah delusional ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ Every time that speaks to you ♪ (vocalist sings in foreign language) ♪ Time for you to realize ♪ ♪ If he's not treating you right ♪ ♪ You gotta let him go ♪ ♪ Hate to tell you the truth ♪ ♪ But you deserve better than this ♪ ♪ Better than this ♪ ♪ You're delusional, yeah delusional ♪ ♪ Making up excuses every damn time ♪ ♪ You're delusional ♪ ♪ Yeah, delusional ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Delusional ♪ ♪ You're delusional ♪ ♪ Delusional ♪ My life has been crazy with music.

(chuckles) So I think really just going out and meeting people has really like put my perspective on like, oh, like this person has this certain vision and I have a certain vision.

So it's cool to see like what we can come up together and just to like make it come to life.

So I guess from my personal experience, like just collaborating with people here in Atlanta, it's funny because a lot of people that I know will go to the same like open mic and then we will do other shows and stuff.

It'll be like, wait a minute, I know you, I've seen you from that one night.

And then it just goes on for there.

It's like everybody will go to one space just to perform like, you know, their music and stuff.

And then it's like later on we'll go like to a show, we'll be out and be like, oh my gosh, you're that singer, you're that dude that plays the guitar and stuff.

And I guess my personal experience would be when I was with my friend that produces the music, he was like, "Hey, I have this guy, like he plays guitar really well and I feel like we should all collab."

And we all made a song together, but I never knew who that was.

And he just put his input and then I met him in person.

I was like, wow, that's really cool.

I just love, I just love singing.

I feel like it's therapeutic to me.

I feel like once I just sing a note it just feels like, oh, it feels relieving in a way.

This next song is called "Wish" and this one was about, I was having a frustrating day at my work and I was just like, I still feel like I can sing and I still feel like I love what I do, but some days I'm just feeling like it's not there.

But I, "Wish" is more like I just wish that an opportunity comes my way and I can do what I love full time.

(upbeat music) ♪ Uh ♪ ♪ I pray for better days ♪ ♪ I know it's gonna come my way ♪ ♪ I need to believe in myself a little more ♪ ♪ The devil likes to play his games ♪ ♪ He likes to bring me pain ♪ ♪ But I always walk away ♪ ♪ I wished on a shooting star ♪ ♪ One day I'm gonna make it far ♪ ♪ And I pray for better days ♪ ♪ And I know a miracles gonna come my way ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish on a shooting star ♪ ♪ One day I will make it far ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish on a shooting star one day imma make it far ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Whoa, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish ♪ ♪ I wish on a shooting star ♪ (gentle pop music) - This last song was called "Wish" and I hope you enjoyed it and you're watching "Sounds Like ATL".

- [Singer] Made in Georgia.

- [Narrator] "Sounds like a ATL" is brought to you by Georgia Power.

- [Announcer] W-A-B-E.