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Favorite Quote from the article:
"I really don’t feel like I've gotta prove anything to anybody, I just gotta work hard and not half-ass things."
Kat Melen has been surrounded by music her whole life. Growing up in the Ukraine, her first introduction to it was through her parents, who were both musicians themselves. Soon she was playing the piano herself, and by age four she was enrolled in a music school for gifted children. She was constantly encouraged to remain at the top of her class, but she admits she didn't properly appreciate this as a child. Now, though, she looks on it a little more fondly as she realizes now that music is a huge part of her life and she "could never give it up."
She moved to New York City about 17 years ago without a word of English in her vocabulary, and she admits that she romanticizes her time in the former USSR Republic a bit and even has its coat of arms tattooed on her shoulder blade. She is happy here, though, and has never spent any significant time living outside of Brooklyn since the big move, though she does migrate around the borough from time to time.
When it comes to her joining I Am the Third, she explains that it was a "who" rather than a "what" that sealed the deal. "I used to work with
Brandon, so one day he showed up to my office, slapped an IATT sticker on my desk and asked if I wanted to play bass for a soul band," she recounts. She admits quite a bit of initial hesitation. "It’s not really the type of music I was listening to [or] playing," she says, but after hearing some of the songs available online, she decided it was worth giving it a shot. However, she admits that, "after 1.5 hour train ride to the practice space (I live far from everybody) and walking through the rain, I already started thinking 'I’m too old for this; it’s not worth the commute; I’m not really a Saturday morning person,' etc." It wasn't until she picked up her bass and started playing with the group that she changed her mind. "As soon as I started playing with the guys my attitude completely changed. The songs were awesome, and they’re all solid musicians who take their craft very seriously and overall a really great, talented group of people."
Since then she has had lots of time to warm up to the group, and even has found a favorite song to play with the band. Though she enjoys them all, Kill the Kittens is her favorite because of the way "it grabs you from the very first note to the very end. I love the wide range of emotions that it goes through – heartbreak, anger, sadness, guilt. I love the a capella part and also the fact that I get to contribute to the singing." She also particularly enjoys the bass line in the newer song "Groove Machine" that never fails to get audiences moving.
Kat enjoys a wide range of music, so you might catch her with anything from Beethoven to System of a Down coming through her headphones. She also enjoys Rachmaninoff, Black Sabbath, and Nirvana, "just to name a few."
When she's not playing music, she might be found working, cooking, or traveling, and she's a girl to look out for because she also trains in Kenpo Karate! (Though she also playfully admits to spending more time in front of the TV than she really should.)
When asked what it's like to be the one girl playing alongside five guys, she lets me know that, "It honestly doesn't really faze me one bit. I am used to that kind of situation – I was a tomboy growing up, and I work in a male dominated industry (IT) so I’m used to being one of the boys."
In fact, Kat's priorities are all on her music as she explains, "I really don’t feel like I've gotta prove anything to anybody, I just gotta work hard and not half-ass things." It's clear that she can hold her own with the boys musically, and though at first she admitted that she found "being new to the scene and new to the group dynamic a bit daunting at first," she quickly found her niche in the group providing complimentary vocals and groovy bass lines as "they did a great job making [her] feel welcome and part of the IATT family."
