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Meet Josh Montag of Scattered Melodies in Tempe

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Montag.

Josh, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Scattered Melodies started back in 2012, following the breakup of our former band “The Morning After”. Jake (bass player) and myself (drummer) felt like it was time to start something fresh, but after auditioning a couple of singers we just couldn’t find the right fit. With ambitions to release a full album, something my previous bands had never done, I decided to feature various singers from around town either using songs and ideas Jake and I already had written or starting something from scratch.

Throughout 2012 and early 2013 we wrote and recorded nine songs from our collaborations, each song featuring a different singer (except for our song “Terms and Conditions” featured two singers). After almost a decade of playing in bands, I finally had a full-length album to release and the feeling of accomplishment was extremely rewarding. With the stars aligned, we were able to get every singer from the album together for our CD release party and play the album (A Collective Agreement) in its entirety.

From there we began playing more shows around town with these various artists, making every show a completely different lineup and experience. The only consistency was the rhythm section. By then we were working on our second full-length album, bringing in even more singers than the first album along with other various musicians such as horn players, string players and different guitarists. For this album I wanted to have multiple singers on the same songs, to allow people who normally wouldn’t work together the opportunity to collaborate.

I also wanted to challenge all the singers with a general topic to write about: if you had to change something in the world, what would it be? Ideas such as the importance of community, taking care of our planet, current racial tensions, problems with the media and gun violence, and the illusion of privacy were some of the themes we wrote about. In September 2015 we released “Modern Repair” featuring 28 different musicians from around the valley.

In 2016 I began to dive more into music videos and social media, giving us more of an online presence. This is where I discovered the importance of engaging fans online and providing consistent and creative content. Back in the day, Instagram would only allow 15-second videos, so I would do such posts as “15-second drum solos” and “insta-raps” when we didn’t have any events or releases to promote. Once Instagram allowed 60-second videos, we began to hit the promo videos hard for each show, being challenged to get the show information out in a funny & creative way in under a minute.

In late 2017 we got booked for the Apache Lake Music Festival and had to put together a solid lineup for our set. During this time we were working on our third studio album “Patterns”, and for this album, I wanted to go in the opposite direction and only feature two singers: Killa Maus & Laura Hamlin. So it made sense to have them on the show, and we also brought in one of our favorites Haley Green (formally known as RUCA) who has been around since the beginning of our adventure. Now that we had our three vocalists, we needed a lead guitar player so I reached out to my long-time friend Kazton Boone to come play.

Kazton had been featured on each of our previous albums, but we never really played many shows with him so this was the perfect opportunity. I also asked my buddy Phelan Parker to come play some saxophone and we had our lineup for the festival. Throughout the practices for this show I could feel special chemistry happening between the seven of us, it felt like a band. I had always looked at Scattered Melodies as more of a collaborative project, but something inside me was saying “it’s time to evolve, and these are the people to do it with”.

“Patterns” was released in September of 2018 and has generated three music videos with two more in production. Having this set lineup has also brought us such shows as the McDowell Mountain Music Festival, opening slots for Passafire, Stoop Kids and Mike Pinto, and another appearance at the Apache Lake Music Festival. Our single “You Bad” has landed the theme song of a local podcast and also inspired a “You Bad Juicy Pale Ale” beer in collaboration with The Shop Beer Co. This year is looking promising, as we gear up to play the McDowell Mountain Music Festival again, release some more music videos, and this summer we plan to rent a studio for the weekend to record some of our new songs. These will be the first recordings with the seven of us all together and will set the tone moving forward.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Although the road has been quite fun, it has not been so smooth at times. There have been numerous times when I’ve been ready to give up, getting ideas in my head that nobody cares about our music or our online numbers aren’t where they should be. The first five years we really didn’t have a ton of people listening to our music, I remember when our monthly Spotify listener count was ten. It wasn’t until after our third studio album “Patterns” came out that we began to average over 500 monthly listeners, even some months over 1,000. I try to simply create music for the sake of art but it can still be a little discouraging when very few people are interested in what I’m doing like I said, ideas in my head. But through these frustrations, I’ve learned to turn it into motivation and find ways to get my music out there and build more of an audience.

Going about a band this way has been very rewarding with all of the amazing artists we’ve collaborated with, but it has taken a lot of hard work. Trying to schedule and get people together has always been a huge challenge, being that we all have other jobs and mostly everyone else was involved in other music projects. And back in the day, every show was different with a rotating cast of features so it was almost like starting a new band every time.

But once we formed our core seven members a couple of years back, I realized that it’s actually a blessing the others have their own musical projects going on. I feel like this takes away any pressure and allows us just to get together and have fun. When the time is right then we practice and play shows, and other times we hold off so they can focus on their own projects. Things are a lot easier these days having our set lineup who knows our songs and having that tight chemistry.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Scattered Melodies is a band from Tempe, AZ who started as a rhythm section but over the years has crafted a group of talented individuals who come together to make music & memories. We specialize in funky, groovy, rockin’ & jammy music, and strive to put on a live show that’s entertaining and inspiring to others. We’ve been referred to as the funk version of Wu-Tang Clan and we’re not upset by that.

I am very proud of the culture we’ve created here with Scattered Melodies. This band is my second family and all of our collaborations over the years are like our cousins. I think the fact that we’ve collaborated with so many different musicians is what sets us apart from others. Our Scattered Melodies family is a big one and it’s continuously growing. I’m very thankful for all of the opportunities we’ve had and look forward to working with even more artists in the future.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
If I had to pick one quality that has helped me get to where I am I’d have to say the ability to work well with other people. There is absolutely no way I could have done all of this by myself, between the musicians I’ve collaborated with, the engineers & producers I’ve worked within the studio, the relationships I’ve built in the media around town, everything contributes to my success thus far.

It’s true that a lot of great art comes from pain & suffering, but a lot of other great art comes from the right people getting together at the right time and making magic. It can be easy for me to become frustrated when the creative process isn’t going as planned, but that’s the beauty of it when you work together and persevere through the struggles. It brings us closer together, and once you have a finished product you have someone to share the finish line with. Even when you are capable of doing something by yourself, it’s usually much more enjoyable with others.

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Image Credit:
Esteban Obregon, Elaine Thomas Campbell, Tony Ziemba

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