A Feast Of Rockmelons

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday November 28, 2002

By GLEN HUMPHRIES

There's a story behind the cover of the new Rockmelons CD.

The cover is a close-up of a curtain - but it was originally supposed to be a lounge. And this is where the story begins.

``That lounge was the original cover and we loved it," Bryon Jones, one-third of The Rockmelons, says.

``We got a call 24 hours before it went to the printers saying, `This cover is exactly the same as another album that's out already'. The record company had to get their shit together in 24 hours and change it."

If the name The Rockmelons sounds vaguely familiar it's because they released a few albums about 10 years ago, before deciding to spend the decade producing ``a tonne" of other artists.

The reason why, a decade on, they decided to put out a new album is simple - their record company asked them to.

Jones says Rockies 3 is a classic Rockmelons album.

``It has all the hallmarks of our earlier records - very diverse, very different singers," he says.

It's also a trait of The Rockmelons to bring in guest vocalists - there are eight on the new album.

It's just the way they work - they have no desire to bring one singer into the band on a permanent basis.

``We find it too limiting because we tend to write the song first and then cast the singer to the song," he explains.

``If you've only got one singer, you've got to write for that singer all the time. That immediately boxes you in."