Tera Melos is a Sacramento-area experimental/math-rock trio known for spastic, genre-smashing guitar music built on two-handed finger tapping, dense effects-pedal work, and non-traditional song structures.[1][2] Submerge consistently frames them as a hometown act, calling them "Sacramento's own," "Sacramento natives," and a "Sacramento-based group."[3][1][4] The band was formed in 2004[5] and has been on indefinite hiatus since 2021.[6]
At a glance
- Genre: experimental/math-rock; "spastic," "at once pop-y and prog," with insane guitar work and non-traditional structures.[1][7]
- Origin: Sacramento, California; formed 2004.[5] Members grew up playing in local punk bands together.[2][7]
- Label: signed to Sargent House.[8][1][2]
- Lineup (2013): Nick Reinhart (guitar/vocals/multi-instrumentalist), Nathan Latona (bass), John Clardy (drums).[4][7]
- Member roots: formed after the breakup of Nick Reinhart and Nathan Latona's former band No Regard.[9]
Origin and local status
Tera Melos is treated throughout the Submerge corpus as a local Sacramento act rather than a touring visitor. The band is variously described as "esteemed Sacramento band Tera Melos,"[8] "Sacramento natives,"[3] "Sacramento's genre-smashing math-rock trio,"[2] "one of our favorite Sacramento-area bands,"[4] and "the Sacramento-based group."[7] At the magazine's 100th Issue Party writeup, the band's "Home Base" is listed plainly as "Sacramento, Calif."[1]
The band formed in 2004 in Sacramento after the breakup of Nick Reinhart and Nathan Latona's former band No Regard.[5][9] An earlier Submerge article on the hip-hop group Rogue Scholars notes that the rapper Plush Lush began in a teenage Sacramento punk band called No Regard, "some members" of which "went on to form Tera Melos."[10] Guitarist/vocalist Nick Reinhart noted that the band "all grew up playing in punk bands together" in the area.[2]
Evidence quote (local): "Sacramento's genre-smashing math-rock trio Tera Melos is hard at work recording a new full-length record."[2] Confidence: high.
Sound and style
Submerge characterizes Tera Melos as spastic, experimental rock featuring "insane guitar work (two-handed finger tapping, tons of effects pedals, etc.) and non-traditional song structures," and lists Hella, The Flaming Lips, and Don Caballero as touchpoints.[1] In a 2013 feature, the band's music is described as "at once pop-y and prog; enigmatically complex yet surprisingly hook-y," with the album X'ed Out blending intense musicianship with "a psychedelic catchiness."[7] The single "Tropic Lame" is described as having "a really cool surf-punk-meets-psych-pop vibe."[4]
The band is also used as a reference point for the local math-rock lineage: a member of The Speed of Sound in Seawater cited "Sacramento natives Tera Melos and Hella" as examples of bands at the "way out there and not as accessible" end of the math-rock spectrum.[3]
Releases timeline
- Untitled debut full-length — released October 4, 2005, on Springman Records; reissued in 2010 on Sargent House.[11]
- Patagonian Rats (2010): a full-length that landed on Submerge's year-end list and earned the band the cover of Submerge issue No. 67.[2]
- X'ed Out — released April 16, 2013 via Sargent House.[4][12][7] It was the band's second album with drummer John Clardy.[7] The single "Tropic Lame" was premiered online by Rolling Stone ahead of release.[4] Reinhart described the writing as deliberately approaching music in a way "foreign to us," an "un-thinking" process that took simple ideas and "quirk-ified" them.[4]
- As of March 2012, this record was being recorded as a yet-untitled full-length at Earth Tone studio in Rocklin with engineer Pat Hills, with Reinhart predicting roughly 13 songs and an early-2013 release via Sargent House.[2]
- Trash Generator — their fourth studio album, released August 25, 2017, on Sargent House.[13]
Band status
Drummer John Clardy joined the group in 2008, completing the trio lineup of Reinhart, Latona, and Clardy.[14] During a 2021 live-stream, according to Wikipedia, Nick Reinhart stated that the band members had been in contact with one another but had not seen each other for some time due to Nathan and John living in Europe, leaving the band on an indefinite hiatus.[6]
Recording relationships
Tera Melos's recordings have repeatedly involved local engineer/musician Pat Hills, described by Reinhart as "our go-to guy" who has "added his touch to every Melos record in some form or another"; Hills also plays in Bastards of Young and has been in other local bands including Hanover Saints.[2] The band is also linked to Sacramento producer/engineer Robert Cheek, listed among the credits Cheek is known for in the local scene.[3]
Scene relationships and notable shows
- Sargent House. Tera Melos signed to the indie label Sargent House.[8][1][2] When local videographer Sean Stout (Terroreyes.tv) took a job with Sargent House and moved to Los Angeles in 2011, Reinhart was reported to be "apparently moving with him."[8]
- Touring peers. Mukilteo, Wash. band The Fall of Troy's Thomas Erak named Tera Melos and Deftones as "two of Sacramento's more notable acts" he had toured with, and professed love for both Tera Melos and Hella.[15]
- fIREHOSE reunion tour. Tera Melos opened fIREHOSE reunion dates in 2012, including a show at Harlow's on April 5, 2012, before a roughly two-month first "proper" European tour in May.[2]
- Submerge 100th Issue Party. Tera Melos co-headlined Submerge's 100th Issue Party at Ace of Spades on Dec. 16, 2011, alongside Sister Crayon, Ganglians, Zuhg, Random Abiladeze & DJ Rated R, and Early States.[1][2]
- Festivals. The band played Forbidden Fruit Fest in Ireland in 2011 on a bill that included The Flaming Lips and Aphex Twin.[1]
- 2013 touring. Around the X'ed Out release, bassist Nathan Latona reported the band selling out headlining shows on the East Coast (Brooklyn's Knitting Factory, Chicago) and adding a second Philadelphia date due to demand; a San Francisco date at Bottom of the Hill was set for May 25, 2013 with TTNG and E V Kain.[7]