Q + A: Melanie Waters, Virginia Beach singer/songwriter, bassist

VIRGINIA BEACH singer/songwriter Melanie Waters takes area stages as a solo artist and acoustic guitarist, then puts on the bass to  play for The DeLoreans.

The 25-year-old moved to Hampton Roads from North Carolina when she was 15, later graduating from Bayside High School in Virginia Beach.

Working music full time, she divides her talents between performing original acoustic music at open-mic nights, where she mixes up folk, jazz and blues, and taking up membership with the ’80s cover band.

Waters started the band a year and a half ago. “My boyfriend (Tommy Hageman) is in a ’70s show band (Right On), and that’s where the idea came from.”

Joining her in The DeLoreans are Jess Willoughby, lead guitarist; brother Windle Willoughby, lead male vocalist; Windle’s wife, Danica , lead female vocalist; and Eric Mills, drums.

In 2005, Waters released her solo album, “Growin’ Up.”

She will play Saturday with The DeLoreans  at The NorVa in Norfolk. “I am going to try and throw in an original.”

This is how she answered our questions:

How much original music do you play?

I have about 30 written, and I play them when I can, mostly at open-mic Sundays at H2O, and when I do acoustic shows.

What was the best live show you ever saw?

Alison Krauss & Union Station at Ted Constant Center.

If signed to a record deal, how would you spend the advance?

I would sink it all into promotional material for The DeLoreans and original music recording.

What’s one thing people should know about you?

I prefer playing bass over guitar, and I play drums as well.

Give an original song lyric, and tell what it means.

 “Shallow” is probably my favorite one lyrically. It talks about how people judge people by their looks and material possessions: “I jumped into the crevices of your mind/And sat there for a while just to unwind/Guess what was on the wall, for me to see/Nothing more than your picture of me.”

Patty Jenkins, (757) 446-2298, patty.jenkins@pilotonline.com