BlackSheepLad-EPK

Biography

In his teens, twenties and thirties Phil Mellen, alias BlackSheepLad, played and sang in various bands (Rainmaker, Serious, Hat Band, Excalibur, The Grapefruit) to little success. So he settled into a successful 25 year career in education.

In March 2020 he became ill with Coronavirus and this led to ongoing health issues and redundancy. The period of imposed isolation and inactivity lead to a burst of song-writing inspired by lockdown, love, mortality and binge-watching zombie TV programmes!

Some of these songs made it onto the EP ‘Sleeping alone in the daytime’. One of the songs written and recorded was ‘Better this Christmas’, a throwback to the great Christmas songs of the 70s and 80s. It is a hopeful song that, in a difficult year for all sorts of reasons, offers the idea that things can improve. The song makes good use of bells, strings and guitar solos.

Phil Mellen talks about his song, "Better This Christmas"

I’ve always loved Christmas songs and have a Christmas playlist that I listen to across the festive season. I wanted to add something to that genre of Christmas cheer and we need that more than ever in 2020. Hopefully this song will give people some enjoyment and happiness at the end of a difficult year.

Phil sings and plays guitar, drums, keys, bass and various ukuleles. His influences include John Bramwell, Prefab Sprout, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Ben Folds, Elbow, Cherry Ghost, Lloyd Cole and Neil Finn.

He is looking forward to releasing some more singles, and his first album, on indie label, Wobbly Music in 2021.