Sam Melo: I’ve been writing music for a while and hadn’t had any successful outings and so I decided to get out of my hometown of Albemarle, North Carolina and go to Appalachian State to be in the throw of things. I came across a fellow guitarist Bozzy (Derek Keller) and we would just play in the lobby of our freshman dorm and show each other stuff we were working on. We came up with “All That and More (Sailboat)” and our friends liked it too and it felt good and we just jammed for about 30 people and got a good response. We recorded the four tracks and dropped our EP at that time and people seemed anxious to hear more. I wrote all during that summer and sophomore year we brought on a couple more musicians from the dorm (Ethan Goodpaster and Jess Haney). Then Charlie (Charlie Holt) drifted into our lives, casually, as he does…and we became a band.

Photo courtesy of Rainbow Kitten Surprise and by Matthew Salacuse