“ The guys from Tora Tora and Todd , Roxy Blue were playing . Everybody was kind of working for the same thing . Pulling together and helping out each other .”
– Rich about the Memphis rock family just sat down while they were playing and I said , “ This is where I ’ m at .” I just took a deep breath and said , you know , everything is on our shoulders right now . Everything world-wise , relationshipwise , everyone needs a moment to take one , deep , breath . The band got the idea and it just grew from there . That was the misconception of not being able to breathe cause of Covid or the political “ I cant breathe .” I really didn ’ t even think of that . When we were shooting the video . They were wanting us to wear a COVID mask , and I was like , No , no , no , no , this is not what it is .
What was it like hearing the play back on some of the sick harmonies to “ Sin In My Heart ?”
RICK : When they played this for me in the rehearsal studio I started jumping up and down . I just started going , “ Dude , listen , listen , this is it .” My band thinks I ’ m insane , because when I hear something like that , in my head , I hear it completely finished with layers of sounds and textures and everything on it . It sold me right and there when they played it . The line in there is , you know , my better half at that time was always looking at me and I ’ m like , you just kind of trust me on this . You know , I know I ’ m insane . And I know I ’ m a little crazy , but just come on . Just take a chance and go for a ride and see where it goes . It was just a punch in the face . It ’ s a record . I you don ’ t catch this hook , you ’ re a stupid man .
Talk about the Memphis scene and the tight bunch of bands including your buddy Todd Poole .
RICK : That ’ s one of the things when I first put this band together . I started out in Knoxville , and then I moved to Nashville . Everyone was telling me you need to go to LA ‘ cause that ’ s where all the record labels are . I ’ m in Nashville , I ’ m with every record label already . I ’ m out in LA , the competition between bands was fierce , it was more like everybody was about them . There was no camaraderie . When I got to Memphis . I came down here for a showcase . We got thrown in the middle of it because one of my best friends ever , Randy Mike Fields was in a band and they got bumped to a later schedule for us to get put on the bill . We became friends . The guys from Tora Tora and Todd , Roxy Blue were playing . Everybody was kind of working for the same thing . Pulling together and helping out each other . People though were giving me all different kinds ( Continued on next page )
Photo Credit : Shane O ’ Neail
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my whole career, I’m going to be compared in a negative way. And you know, that can
take its toll. But also, I really want to just have a positive effect on the younger generation
and make known that if they want to be in a band, and they want to talk anything in the
music industry, it doesn’t matter what anybody says, because I’ve been told my whole life,
it would never happen, right? Just do it, you know, stick your middle finger up to them and
just do it. And so that’s really where I feel like my heart lies when I get these questions.
Because I think, well, the most important thing is that these kids don’t feel alone. And they
feel like they have a woman or person that they can look up to who’s gone through this or
is going through this. And they’ve got somebody who believes in them. I’d love to be that
for them, because I never had anyone like that. So yeah, a lot of pressure. But, you know,
I’ll take it if I can.
Every Mothers Nightmare
Concluded
I welcomed it and the biggest problem with the record label. All they
kept wanting was “Love Can Make You Blind.” We were like, you
have no idea what’s coming down the pipe, real street music, that’s
what I was calling it, you know, just real rock and roll, Low budget,
run what you bring kind of thing, Back in the day, when I got my
deal, you had to do a formula, you had to have the ballad, you had
to have a look. That’s what you had to do and look like. When the
change happened, I got kind of lost there for a long time. I really
didn’t know exactly what I should be doing. You know, everybody
kept telling me I need to be “Love Can Make You Blind,” but I’m
looking at the real world in the real world is far from “Love Can
Make You Blind.” So you know, I kept it together, I kept writing, I
think I took a year off. I went through my demons that I had to face
and lose. I did that and I’m proud of that. Then I had to find me
again and then find what I wanted to do. I rolled back to the begin-
ning to where I was just gonna have to go back to being me and us.
“Epiphany” is a cutthroat track about falling
victim to self- loathing. How was it crafted?
MEGAN: The lyrics and the writing were inspired by all the hate that I have had online,
or just going to shows and being a person in the music industry and being a vocalist. It
doesn’t matter how amazingly talented somebody can be, it doesn’t matter how amazingly
attractive somebody can be, you’re always going to get somebody who hates you, and is
going to make it their point to ruin your day, and for a long time it really did. I’ve really,
really wanted to quit, and I didn’t want to do it anymore because I could not take it. And
I don’t mean like people just being trolls and saying you’re batshit or I’m used. I’m used
to that. But when people were sort of really pushing the knife in and saying some really
disgusting, hurtful things about the way I look on a really deep level and my weight, and
just, you know, comparing me in a really negative way to other women, I got to this point
where I was like, I can’t take this anymore, and my mental health was at breaking point. I
really wanted to quit the music industry completely. Then Luckily, the boys in the band are
the most amazing men. They are my best friends and they’ve really taught me and 100%
can I swear on this? They have told me to not give a single fuck what anybody thinks. And
it is the most empowering thing. That’s where epiphany came from was that suddenly that
feeling of oh, yeah, I actually don’t have to fucking care about what any of those people
think. Because the only thing that matters in life is if I’m happy with me, and the people
who I love and care about are happy with me. It really was that moment of just letting go of
their bullshit. Yeah, it was a really, really good moment. And that’s where kind of the whole
album is inspired from, just getting rid of all toxic people in your life, all toxic things, and
just kind of focusing on yourself and making yourself better through it.
Can you speak to just how important
music was to you and your development, then
getting you to the point of wanting to sing in
front of a band?
MEGAN: It got to me. it was everything. I was raised by a single mom, and there were
four of us kids, and it was hard. We kind of had two sides of the coin growing up because
my mom, bless her, she couldn’t work. We had lived in a very small council house, in the
estate, and it was surrounded by a lot of rough people. But my mum always did the best
What were some of the vinyl you used
to listened to that gave you the rock and
roll bug?
Photo Credits: Van Dad Tours
for us, and we never went without. Then on the other
sort of side of the coin, my grandparents, who happen
to live in the countryside and had a really big house
and did well for themselves. I could kind of escape from
one life to the other where I was, didn’t have much at
all, and then had everything I could ever work for. So I
saw both sides of the coin. And there’s beautiful things
and ugly things to both, you know, living in wealth and
living in poor. But the only thing that kind of kept me
through it, and, you know, like you said, was my mom
playing us this music. No matter how tough stuff got,
we’d always go for a drive in one of her beat-up little
cars and blare “God Hates Us” or “Ace of Spades”
and all of us in the car were like, yeah, we can do this.
And it was it was always a positive thing. It was never
used as, oh, I hate my life and things are terrible. It
was always like, right, let’s get in the car and put some
Motörhead on and we have a great time. So it’s always
been associated with positivity. Sure. And then unfortu-
nately, when I went to secondary school, which I think
I’m not sure what secondary school is for you guys, it’s
about high school.
So what were you like, 15?
When you started?
MEGAN: Yeah. Junior High. I got really, really badly
bullied. I was a loner, I was a metal head. And I didn’t
know how to speak to people. So I got really badly bullied
and I had to be taken out of school. I was homeschooled
for a while. And then I went to this sort of special school
for kids who had been bullied or had been ill. And it was
there, where I discovered Bring me Horizon. It sounds
cheesy, but it changed me.
RICK: When I was 7 or 8 my mom took me to see Alice Cooper,
“Welcome to My Nightmare” show. Man, I seen the big show, you
know, but God, this is this is it, you know, and I’m a Cooper fan
till death, So that was probably the thing that did it. Pretty much
everything that come down a pipe, back in the day, there was an
MTV and all this stuff. Use to be you’d go pick up the new Van
Halen record or, Kiss records, Priest’s, Screaming for Vengeance,
that was the end all of records. I’m glad that somebody even
said, on this record, they heard every influence that you guys love
growing up with. That’s flattering to me, too, because I think that’s
what you do you see, all your heroes and your rock, the rock peo-
ple that you grew up, idolizing. Somebody told me that they could
hear little from everyone like Priest, Deep Purple in this record. I
was like, well, that’s great. You know, I’m very happy. Somebody
sent me a note that I’m glad that people know priest and deeper.
Rick appears courtesy of HighVolRecords.
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