Melvin Jacob was 12 when his parents got him his first guitar. He was always inclined towards sketching and art, and was fascinated by this ‘new’ art form called music. He calls it ‘invisible art’ – one that is not visible but still very evocative and inspiring. He was so in awe of the guitar and curious, that he broke it open to figure out how it worked.
“And then for the next 10 years maybe, I didn’t play anything. I kept listening to music,” recalls Jacob, in conversation with MediaNews4u.com.
His early years were shaped by listening to pop music on TV. With teenage came exposure to rock, metal, hip-hop. These were the genres that sounded like music to his ears – the music he wanted to hear and would eventually go on to play.
His parents did not buy him his next guitar. He was working at agency Fountainhead in Chennai when his colleagues started singing carols. Jacob heard the acoustic guitar live for the first time.
“The sound was amazing. One of them gave me a guitar to hold and I started playing it. She told me that you are a natural, just play. That Christmas time I decided to buy a guitar and start learning,” he adds.
He signed up for classes but found them boring. Fearing he would lose his love for music in such classes, he started learning on his own, playing along with cassette tapes, finding chords and lyrics from the internet, before writing his own songs after a point.
His first song was ‘Mr Mr’, about a homeless guy. “I do come up with vocal hooks in other languages but that’s for my work which I use, my original music is all in English,” reveals Jacob, who has been with Famous Innovations Bengaluru for the last four years. He heads the creative function as ECD.
Uprooting Dogmas… With Music
“Music is an unending source of inspiration. It keeps your mind sharp and agile. As a musician you need to have a learner’s mind always – that helps me to be more understanding of people,” says Jacob.
While his earlier songs used to lean towards government and policies, he slowly changed his style, consciously making themes a little lighter and songs fun to listen to.
Jacob has set up shows by the beachside in Chennai, inspired by and wanting to inspire the rock and metal movement. Investing from his pocket, he got venues where bands would come and play for free because of the exposure. The movement used to be called the ‘Madras Underground’. Only ‘original’ music was encouraged.
Jacob started playing original music with a band but the stint didn’t last too long. After a few years, as part of another band ‘Hunger’ he wrote five to six original songs, which they recorded.
“Now I have got a third band named ‘Dogma Uprooter’, as I believe music and art can help you break through dogmas in society. We play stuff so people get a different understanding of how things are, to rise above dogmas. We are a team of three, I sing and play guitar, there’s a bass player and a cajon player,” reveals Melvin.
The Dubai Experience
He recalls, “After Chennai, I had gone to Dubai to work. I used to do a lot of open mics there – just my voice and acoustic guitar. I used to sing to a small crowd in cafes and pubs. Every evening I used to play at the open mics as there used to be something or the other happening. Some used to pay, but for me that exposure of sitting in front of the people and playing was quite interesting.”
He got invited to perform on Dubai FM, UAE’s English radio channel. He played a set of seven songs there, again just voice and guitar. It was a show of original music.
“That was a huge experience for me. At the same time, I had undergone leg surgery due to a football injury, and it was in the recovery phase. I had gone with cast and plaster, and was taken to the studio with a crutch and played the songs in that condition,” he remembers.
“It was indeed a great and memorable moment. I remember practicing very heavily because it was ‘live’ on radio so you can’t make any mistakes.”
Home & Work; Music & Brands
The young boy who broke his first guitar now has no shortage of guitars. He has one in the office and another at home. He wakes up around 6.30 am and spends half an hour on practice. Whenever he has an idea for a song at any point, he notes it on his phone, anchoring the lyric thought, the idea, and in the morning he puts it to music. On Saturdays, he tends to play with his band.
Does music run in the family? His sister used to sing. While he used to hear her, Jacob was not interested in the Hindi Bollywood music she was into.
“But thanks to her I remember all the older songs from the 90s, that helped me understand the quality of writing and composition from that time of Indian movies. It helped me understand how good music is no matter what the language,” he underlines.
His wife sings too. They have even recorded a song together, which he wrote. At a show at Christ College with some of his friends, his wife performed alongside.
His son likes to play the drums, and has a cajon. At one point he used to jam with the band’s drummer, to learn the style.
On the work front too, Jacob is grateful for the support. He states, “The support in office is wonderful. I bring a lot of music into my work. I work with music directors to make sure that the song is very beautiful, that it works well for the brands. We work on Mia by Tanishq, the jewellery brand, we create a lot of interesting music soundtracks for them. So the passion is helping work, it’s a perfect union. Music needs visuals, we make music go together (with them).”
“For Mia we went from acoustic to ukulele, soul and jazz and last year we did hip-hop. We keep changing the musical style for the brand also. Most brands tend to stick to one kind of style, I don’t think that’s a good thing. We can always keep moving about,” he adds.
‘Groovy Protests’ Ahead
The new album planned by the band is called ‘Groovy Protest Songs’. Recording for the four songs of the album is expected to happen soon. The first album ‘Greatest Hits’ had seven songs.
“I am now looking at doing one music video with a nice track which is very interesting. My job is all about film production, shooting, so it’s helping both – my music helps my work and vice versa. I have an idea of what to shoot, how to get it out. The plans are under process,” surmises the singer.
People who have worked with Jacob say that for the creative leader who has worked in Malaysia, Dubai and India across agencies like McCann, Ogilvy and Lowe, straddling traditional and digital roles seemed to come naturally. If one draws a parallel with his musical pursuits, one can see some dots that make sense when connected.
When asked about his choice of instrument, the guitar, he told us: “I picked up the guitar because that seemed to be the coolest of the lot and easier to get.”
Not everyone ‘gets’ it as easily. Not in all cases does passion get matched by the gift of talent.
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