Melanie Keller profile picture

Melanie Keller

About Me


Hi there, I'm Melanie. I am a performer of pop/rock music. I grew up on an eclectic mix of music ranging from born again Christian rock, New Age, Ravi Shankar, Philip Glass, Disco, Classic Rock, and a variety of miscellaneous obscure recordings.
I have independently released three records. 4 track demos (1999), Bridge Lights (2005) and Quixotic Beetz (2008), which features bassist Jon Evans (Tori Amos) and trombonist Mike Rinta (Sly & The Family Stone, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock) among the stellar personnel.
I grew up in a religiously diverse household. My mother saw to it that my siblings and I attend Catholic school, while my dad kept a collection of books on Zen and eastern spirituality. He was also a potter and experimental artist, which fueled my desire to create early on.
My grandparents owned two baby grand pianos with two daunting oil portraits of my great-grandparents hanging over each. Seeing a piano at the time was like the circus coming into town, so visiting the grandparents was quite magical. When I first had the chance to salivate over practice room pianos at San Francisco State, I dove in head first and became a music major.
In time, I bought a Fender acoustic guitar and Mel Bay chord book, setting sail on my songwriting path. In 1999 I recorded my first demo on a four-track and distributed cassette copies to my bookstore co-workers. I even included a rough track, "Intergalactic Dream", composed on a Casio that I'd accidentally stolen from a childhood friend. Since then, I've been on a steady path of writing and playing shows throughout California and Arizona.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 21/01/2005
Band Members: Melanie Keller: vocals/guitar/keyboard/piano
Influences: Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Suzanne Vega, Peter Gabriel, Rush, Elliott Smith, Dead Can Dance, Innocence Mission, Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac
Sounds Like: wind chimes treasures hidden in trees angel food cake and a warm breeze
Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

the Bernal Lite tour

I am about to embark on my first tour, and I am so excited!  Lots of thinking and dreaming and patience has led up to this.  I am stopping through: San FranciscoSan DiegoFresno back in San FranciscoOl...
Posted by on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:50:00 GMT

"Dreams of Bernal" and "Thinking Place"

I am realizing there may be confusion with respect to which of these albums is coming out next.  Somehow my creative visualization process for Thinking Place got hijacked by songs I began writing this...
Posted by on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:01:00 GMT

my appearance on Pirate Cat Radio / tour kick-off show/bbq this Sunday at El Rio! FREE!

http://piratecat.dreamhosters.com/podcasts/DiamondDave/Diamo ndDave-20090828.mp3YOU WILL NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK INTO YOUR BROWSER.......to listen to my radio appearance today on Pirate Cat Ra...
Posted by on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:36:00 GMT

staying in the Bay for now

I told a lot of people about prospective plans for L.A., but I am putting on the brakes and spending some time in the east bay for the meantime.  On Friday I move into a temporary address in Oakland. ...
Posted by on Wed, 20 May 2009 21:32:00 GMT

last week. ideas. plans.

Heading down the coast tomorrow to visit Grandma.  Had a great week with two shows:  Ireland 32's on Wednesday and Cafe International on Friday.  Very very very very much looking forward to playing lo...
Posted by on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:47:00 GMT

"there’s no place like home..."

that's it. 
Posted by on Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:43:00 GMT

EP and the UK

Hi guys,I am still approaching the finish line of the release of my ep, Quixotic Beetz, but first there are a few hills ahead, and a pretty pond with some koy.  But before you know it, QB will de...
Posted by on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:30:00 GMT

when opposite thoughts collide: the rest

With the release of Quixotic Beetz swiftly approaching, I thought I would give you a sneak peek of one of my favorite tracks on the record, the Rest.  I hope you enjoy listening as much as I've e...
Posted by on Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:41:00 GMT

definitely supposed to be doing something else right now

Sleeping, yo.  This same thing happened to me two nights ago.  Tossing and turning and tossing and turning and tossing.  I had slept like an hour.  We'll see what happens when I go...
Posted by on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:52:00 GMT

the e.p: behind the scenes

Hello.This is another one of those moments that thinks it does not have the time for a blog, yet I really feel I owe it to myself and to you to be forthcoming about my musical metamorphosis, namely, m...
Posted by on Fri, 16 May 2008 23:32:00 GMT