Melissa Carter on the Pure Local Extra show

As well as Melissa, Tony Fitz, a more experienced musician, joined us for the first 10 minutes of the show. Today, he had been playing in the music trail, an event you may have heard of, all throughout the city, where various musicians were playing during the day at different locations and times. He gave us a brief rundown of what he has upcoming: a brand new track. The song is a remix of Forever Young, which he debuted at his set on the music trail. The crowd loved it, so he is hoping to get it into the studio. Tony said that he loved the music trail, seeing venues so busy and getting to meet up with other musicians is fun. Hopefully he’ll be able to stay for longer than just a few minutes next time!

After Tony left, the show was focused on Melissa, a 15 year old musician who has just released her first single. Her song, entitled Unbreakable Thread, is her first official song and our record of the week, being played throughout the week. She gave us a little insight into the song, the meaning and where it came from. It came from her father, Melissa told us that he suffered from a mental illness and that she and the rest of her family had to adapt and change. The song is about coping and the adaptations made in their lives. According to Melissa, her Dad loves the song.

Unbreakable Thread is just the first in a hopefully wide discography from Melissa. She said that she is currently working on re-recording another song. She also has a new song releasing next week, a song about one of her long distance friends.

We then talked about music in general and experiences with music. Melissa said that she has always wanted to be a musician since she was a child. She said that she listened to lots of 80s and 90s music when she was younger and also a bit of Maroon 5. She is currently learning to play guitar, but she said that if she could learn any instrument she would love to learn electric guitar. She also mentioned that her brothers sing and play but she would rather be a solo act.

We talked a little about playing covers and tribute acts. Melissa plays some covers of songs. She plays anything spanning from the 80s to present day, artists like Blondie and Celine Dion. She hasn’t done a tribute act but she did consider playing as a tribute act for Kate Bush, mentioning Wuthering Heights as the first song to be played.

Kym then asked Melissa what her dream gig would be. She answered that she’d love to play in the O2 in London with Billie Eilish as a supporting act: Billie Eilish being her all time favourite artist.

In terms of what’s next, Melissa has some gigs coming up over the next few weeks as well as her new song. She will be playing at venues in Risca, Rhondda, Caldicot and Cwmbran in the next few weeks.

This is just a small snippet of the show, you can listen to the full show here