Born on the same day of the same year as celebrity DJ and producer Zedd, ill melons has shared an equally fruitful production career, albeit at his own pace.

Zedd signed his first record contract in the early 2000s as a member of the deathcore band Dioramic, around the same time that Will Melones led Maryland ska band The Suburban Pirate Orchestra to win at least one hundred dollars in gift cards at a high school talent show.  With the release of the platinum-certified hit "Clarity", 2012 was probably the year that launched Zedd into megastardom.  That same year, Melones produced "Running in Circles" for his indie rock band Hundred Yard Smash, which sold around 80 copies at its release party.  Hundred Yard Smash continued to play local bars and restaurants as well as private parties on a near weekly basis.

By 2015 Zedd had released collaborations with the likes of Justin Bieber, Hayley Williams, Ariana Grande, and Selena Gomez.  Melones found himself recording NYC performances by Cartel and Marty Friedman for DVDs that were never released. In February he saw his '90s throwback hip-hop jam "(Let Me Tell You 'Bout) Swag" placed in the first season of the FOX primetime series Empire.

What followed would be a weird couple of years working on obscure film, premium cable, and podcast projects.  Not for Zedd, though.  Melones went on to shed the "W" and one "E" from his moniker, releasing the instrumental version of the song from Empire on his 2018 debut EP as ill melons.

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