Six Of The Best: Melanie Baker

North-East based music publisher Wipe Out Music have announced that they are set to become a fully fledged music services company and offer additional distribution, broadcast rights and artist development services by integrating Singing Light Music’s expertise. 

Singing Light’s Bradley Kulisic and Pippa Morgan will be joining Wipe Out Music’s team of Liam Reay, Brent Richardson and Matt Baty, the Wipe Out Music with the aim of progressing for the good of their artists while carrying the torch of their punk rock roots by remaining fiercely independent.

Wipe Out Music was founded by John Esplen in 1996 initially as a spin-off to the various record labels he managed including the prestigious punk rock label Overground Records and for 30 years helped artists across the region and further afield, including Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Du Blonde, Meryl Streek, Panic Shack and Cherym, and procured sync licenses across TV, Film, Advertising and Computer Games with clients including the BBC, ITV, WWE, Channel 4, Sky, Netflix, HBO, Amazon and many more.

Singing Light Music started in 2019, establishing itself internationally as a leading boutique music services company, working with clients to release thousands of tracks, dozens of albums, and achieved hundreds of millions of streams. They’ve provided global marketing, distribution and business services for clients ranging from Eleni Drake, Casey Lowery, Beans on Toast, Shelf Lives, Tom Ford and Frankie Archer.

To celebrate the launch of the new service. Wipe Out Music are hosting an informal networking event preceded by a gig at The Grove on Friday the 15th November headlined by Melanie Baker (with full band) and completed by Cherym and TV Death. 

Ahead of that launch we asked indie artist Melanie Baker to tell us about her inspirations with a Six Of The Best…

MOVIE: I SAW THE TV GLOW
This is one of the best films I’ve seen this year. It’s heartbreaking but an extremely important film to the Queer and Trans community. Everything about this film was spellbinding to me, the colours, the writing, the story, the characters. The biggest compliment I had recently at a show was someone telling me that my songs would fit perfectly into the soundtrack for this movie and I almost fell on the floor. 

BOOK: JUST KIDS BY PATTI SMITH
This is a book that wholeheartedly changed my life and the way I saw the world. And I love how dramatic that sounds. It’s a book I recommend to everyone if they haven’t read it and when they do, it changes their lives too. When I first read this book, I was 21 and I was in the States for a job I was working at the time. During this short period of my life, I was confused about who I was and what I wanted to say. I had lost confidence in myself and my music so I just focused on working a lot. It was a deeply uncreative time for me which left me feeling very far away from myself. When I returned home I almost immediately quit the job I was working at the time and started making music properly again. Patti Smith reminded me of who I was supposed to be. And I wrote a song about it which then prompted me to write my EP Burnout Baby so I owe it all to Patti and this book. 

ALBUM: GRACE BY JEFF BUCKLEY
I usually struggle when it comes to pinning down my all time favourite album, and honestly it’s ever-changing as it should be. One record that comes to mind that has had such a huge impact on me is Grace by Jeff Buckley. I only listened to the record in full for the first time a few years ago but it was such a pivotal moment for me because the emotional weight and intensity in the songwriting and vocals was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It’s also an album that I’ve only ever listened to on vinyl which makes it feel extra special. 

LOCAL ARTIST: ELLEN DIXON – PHOTOGRAPHER
Ellen Dixon is a local North East photographer and creative who has a knack for capturing North East Culture and our Queer community. I guess you could say that I’m biased because they also happen to be my partner but I really think they are one of the best photographers around right now. They capture candid moments filled with honesty and grit and I feel very honoured that I get to work with them on a regular basis. Since working with them creatively, I have grown so much within my own work. I have started really leaning in and having fun with the visuals that accompany my music. Now I believe that the music can extend to so much more than just the song alone and I always feel inspired to create a full universe of photos and art and videos to keep building the stories I’m telling beyond the music. Ellen has a deeply creative way of seeing and experiencing the world and they have inspired me to believe in my work and to create things that have meaning.

SONG: “EVERYTHING IS FREE NOW” – GILLIAN WELCH
This is one of my favourite songs of all time. In a world that capitalises and profits off literally everything…artists, musicians and creatives are still expected to do their job for free. The catch 22 that this song captures so well is that artists will keep making their work regardless because we love what we do and can’t imagine our lives without it yet someone else will always profit from it more than we do. My favourite lyric from the song is “someone hit the big score, they figured it out …we’re gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay”. 

BAND/GROUP: AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS
This group are my favourite band right now and I love everything they do. I think they embody true authenticity and integrity within the music industry. Amy Taylor is such a force and a huge inspiration to me. Even though my music isn’t necessarily inspired by the band sonically, I just love their music and how it makes me feel.