At a time when most bands are male fronted, Exhibit F stands out. Not for only having a female lead singer with melodic vocals but also for having a rare alchemy of heavy sound, along with an amazing live show.

Exhibit F is unlike most other bands. Instead of focusing on the volume of their performance, Exhibit F speaks through lyrics from the heart, letting the beat and intensity of the music flow through your soul, while the words linger with you far beyond the end of their show. Lead singer Melle, started the band with guitarist Chris Lawrence and later added drummer John Duffy and bassist Jeremy Turner, creating the perfect blend of musical talent found in Exhibit F.

Born and raised in San Diego, Melle began singing as soon as she learned to walk. "As a kid, I was trained as a dancer and singer," says Melle. "However, I stopped singing for a long time then one day I just knew that I had this gift and I should use it instead of burying it within me."

It was winter of 1999 when Melle decided to use that gift and launch a musical career. After putting an ad in The Reader, Melle got her first response a guitarist named Chris Lawrence. Chris grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area listening to bands like AC/DC, Van Halen, Guns 'n Roses, The Beatles, and Led Zepplin. After attending numerous schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chris made a move to San Diego. It was here that Chris honed his musical skills while being exposed to more eclectic bands like Fugazi and Radiohead. After hitting it off immediately with Chris, Melle placed another ad and along came John Duffy.

John grew up in a variety of places including Denmark and South Carolina. As a ploy by his parents to get him to stop tapping and banging on things around the house, John started playing drums at the tender age of eight. Boy, were his parent's wrong about that. Soon after John was banging on other things as he learned how to play guitar and bass, as well as sing. Believing that we should not be calloused, John says, "We should let things affect us deeply and live life with feeling, reason, and purpose."

That is one of the reasons why John plays barefoot, for that sense of feeling. He also maintains to play what is appropriate for a song not show off his skills like some drummers. John says," I'm not into playing fills every other measure. Ultimately it is about the song, not about me."

Melle and Chris connected with John immediately, however they were still a bassist short of completing their band. Luckily, Chris remembered a friend from college who had just broken up with his core punk band. Chris made a phone call and along came Jeremy Turner. Jeremy was born in Philadelphia and he moved to Orange County when he was four. Heavily influenced by watching the guitar players at church, Jeremy started playing guitar himself at an early age. After realizing he wasn't that good at guitar, Jeremy decided to switch to bass. One year after learning to play bass, Jeremy started playing in a couple of Christian metal-core bands. After moving to San Diego to attend college, Jeremy joined a core punk band and later joined Exhibit F.

So now the stage was set and Exhibit F was formed. One might ask "how do you get four strangers with four different tastes in music making one sound and one song?" According to the band that part was actually easy." We just clicked immediately and the music flowed naturally," says Chris. "It's great to be in a band where everybody gets along so well both on and off stage."

"As a band, we are a democracy, which means we all have equal say," says Melle. "We don't have a song writing duo or one person who writes all the songs. We share the writing equally, which usually means it takes longer to write, but it's something that everybody likes."

That is an understatement indeed. Not only does the band like their songs, but they have also been getting great reviews on their self-titled EP from fans across the country. Exhibit F has also been steadily enjoying a rise in popularity in the underground San Diego alternative scene, while receiving great responses on Internet sites such as MP3.com, San Diego Local Music Scene, and Epitaph Records.

With their explosive, unique sound that blends elements of rock, punk, progressive, and emo, their live show is just as hypnotic as their EP.