I interviewed Ari Melo about a year after I had started listening to him, and the first thing I wanted to tell him was “Thanks for helping me stay on the treadmill longer with your song “Breakaway” . Its just one of those tracks that you want to keep listening to, because every few seconds it takes you for a different ride. And all his tracks (see below) are available for a free download because he’s just that generous with the eargasms.
Ari Melo, also known as Arian, is a pretty mellow (random as he calls himself) guy. He loves his sister, can speak computer code — and counts dancing as one of his favorite things to do.
Overall, he’s one of those guys you meet and know that even when he makes it big, he’ll still shimmy at the Persian mehmoonis.
xx, Saaghi
- Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I’m Iranian-American, born and raised in San Jose and just recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz.
Growing up, I was a very active kid—curious about everything! I was into sports from a young age and I played soccer for most of my life although I really love hockey.
- How’d you get started in music?
I started messing with music, making playlists and burning them on CDs when I was 16. At 18, I was producing/creating my own hip-hop beats. Through a family friend, who managed Bay Area hip hop artists, I got connected to a local producer who showed me the ways.
I would say I’ve started taking it seriously for the past two years, and have moved onto doing more Pop, EDM, House and Electro tracks. I like doing my own rendition of well-known songs.
- You played sports for a long time before you picked up music. Do you see any similarities between that and music?
Yeah, definitely.
