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By Nicole Burdette / Staff Writer
By Nicole Burdette / Staff Writer
Brian S. On-air Personality of “Street Official” TV & radio, seen and heard on 1050 KCAA AM, hosted the second Annual “Street Official” Music Awards.
The awards took place at The Grove Theatre in Upland on Oct. 8.
With more than 400 people who attended, the event about two and a half hours.
The show was a “celebration of everything that is music” in the Inland Empire.
Riveside Community College student Olivia Ceja, the vocalist in the band Shattered Melody took home the trophy for “Best Punk Band” of the year.
Olivia Ceja joined by friend, Sean Mahoney makes up the band Shattered Melody.
Sean plays the guitar, and Olivia sings, while both of them write the lyrics to their songs.
They have been playing together since December of 2009.
“Well it started with Sean interviewing me for his previous electronica project that he was working on, he was looking for female vocalists,” Ceja said.
Shattered Melody has managed to create an interesting mix, they call their “sound”.
“We’re working toward acoustic punk and folk punk,” Mahoney said .
“We started off with slower music, but after that we decided to take a faster path. Our music just works better with a faster beat,” Ceja said.
Mahoney said “I don’t honestly know what we sound like. Imagine punk rock on an acoustic guitar with a chick singing. It’s just fast chords and lyrics about substance abuse and depression.”
Both artists come from different musical backgrounds.
“I’m self taught. I learned guitar the punk rock way. I just played guitar until it sounded good. I have no formal training,” Mahoney said.
Compared to Ceja who has played the piano since the age of 10 as well as performing with several different choirs over the years.
Shattered Melody has played at The Wire in Upland, The Big Time in Fontana, Back to the Grind in Riverside, and The Grove Theater in Upland.
“We play where ever we can. I work, so we have to work around my schedule a little bit,” Ceja said.
As far as their recent win as best punk band goes, Ceja said “We opened up the show.”
“I was really nervous. It was a lot of fun. We got to hang out with a lot of acts from different genres we don’t normally hang around,” Mahoney said.
There were four bands including Shattered Melody that were competing for the title of Best Punk Band.
“It was a giant theater- a lot of people came that wouldn’t normally listen to us. It was a little nerve racking opening the show but we had a lot of fun with it,” Ceja said.
Shattered Melody also has a few other goals in mind.
“I want to tour,” said Mahoney.
“I’m open to whatever happens. I have no expectations other than that we just keep going and keep playing music,” Ceja said.
The group expressed interest in playing at RCC.
“I’d like to play at RCC I just don’t know how to do it,” Mahoney said.
Heather McClure, a RCC student and fan of Shattered Melody explained what she thought was unique about the band.
“They’re really honest people. There’s no band drama,” she said.
The next show that Shattered Melody is playing will be Nov. 6 at Back to the Grind Coffee House located in Downtown Riverside.
“It’s a free show, with a few different bands playing,” Mahoney said.
They also have a CD for sale with live recordings from the last year.
“We’re going to the studio in a month or two. So there may also be a new demo in the works over the next few months,” Mahoney said.
Shattered Melody’s music can be found at http://www.myspace.com/shatteredmelody.
They can also be reached via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/officialshatteredmelody or via email at shatteredmelody@live.com
