Much has changed in the music industry. Every day mainstream radio stations pump out hollow, nonsensical music. True musicianship has become somewhat of a lost art, and only a few pioneers of true, original music remain. However, there are a select few musicians that have not lost sight of real, purposeful music. Dead End Amelia, an alternative hard-rock band recently born in Studio City, California, testify to that. Their music, saturated in all forms of innate emotion, has taken many by storm with songs of nostalgic love, bittersweet happiness, and anger. Music that rips out the inevitable yet concealed emotions of the human nature for all to see. Heavily influenced by bands such as Deftones, A Perfect Circle, and Helmet, they have impressed many by combining haunting vocal melodies with heavy, massive sounding instrumentalism. Dead End Amelia, claiming the interests of onlookers at venues such as the Roxy Theater, Viper Room, and Troubador, has gained enough support to produce and distribute their own original music. They have released two EPs since the band’s inception in 2008, There’s A Bright Side to This of 2010 and You’ve Reached the Point of No Return released in May of this year. However, DEA has committed the rest of the year to recording their first full-length album, titled "The Sound of Awakening". I got the chance to sit down with their guitarist and producer Dean Dichoso to ask him a few questions.

I had an assistant who I used to test out in the studio, having him record things on his own. Of all the things that were recorded, I remember hearing this girl playing guitar and singing and being like, "Oh my God. Who the heck is that?" Being a music producer, my sole intent was just to develop this artist. I was done being in bands. I just wanted to help Krista out. After a long process, we eventually meet up at my home, she pays a recording fee, and we get into the studio. While this was happening, we formed an anomalously close friendship that I don’t normally form with my clients. It became very easy to act as a family, we really took on brother-sister rolls. After doing her EP, I became her music director and started auditioning people for what would eventually be her band. After a few auditions, I was like, "Cool, now it’s time to find you your guitar player." She ended up asking me to do it. At first I resisted, I truly believed I only belonged in a control room, but eventually we talked ourselves into it, and here we are."

What is the recording process like for you guys?

It’s easy. The process starts from literally anywhere, as opposed to typical places like, you know, guitarist writes riff, singer brings in vocals inspired by riff. It's not always like that. Sometimes we will be singing a melody to each other an entire day, which doesn't necessarily have to come from one person. It could come out when we're going out to eat, or running errands for my kids. That melody will at one point spark something, and before I know it, without even thinking, an entire chord arrangement literally pops out and I’m like ‘Oh man. That's it.’ Then we make the demo and live with them until it’s time for the next release.

What can fans expect from the upcoming album?

You still get the same band. I mean, it’s still very much a hard rock band and we still get the same intense, big and wide sound. The only difference is that the theme of The Sound of Awakening exhibits a little more patience from the songwriting side and commands more from the listener’s side, more so from the other ones. The songs on our last two EPs weren’t so much short and sweet, but they were fun to do. It’s like the beginning of a new relationship, where everything is fresh and exploratory. Now, it’s the long-term relationship. That conversational, get-to-know each other phase in terms of what the writing means. We’ve pretty much just taken a progression towards patience and depth.

Be sure to catch Dead End Amelia’s first LP, expected to drop early 2012.

By Diego Ruelas
www.facebook.com/deadendamelia