Following the release of her new single ‘Clementine’ Scottish singer-songwriter Megan Black will headline Room 2 in Glasgow on Friday 29 August joined by special guests Liv Dawn and Bee Asha. Known for her feminist blues-rock sound and powerful storytelling, Megan Black will bring her signature mix of retro grooves, raw emotion, and queer anthems to Glasgow. Ahead of the gig The Decibel Decoder sat down with Megan Black to find out how 2025 is going for the artist.
I played Tallinn Music Week in the spring, which honestly was so much fun. I managed to get a bit of funding around that. I left on the 19 March, and got back on 12 April and did a very freewheeling tour. I spent a bit of time in London and Brighton, writing with people and doing some sync stuff. And then I went to Paris, wrote with an artist in Paris, went to Belgium, did a live session, went to Amsterdam, did a live session, then travelled through Berlin, and then onto Estonia. It was a lot of fun but I felt a bit like, remember that board game Buckaroo where you put more things on the donkey! I felt like that for like, a month straight. While I was on that tour I was chatting back and forth with a record label out in LA and basically I’m going out on a year long visa. They’re a very rock influenced indie label but owned by a major as well, so they’ve got the resources, but operate with a smaller team.
Congratulations! How did that come about?
I accidentally bumped into the A & R person from the label in a random studio in London, and she lives in LA and I think she took it as a sign. We went for dinner, and basically just chatted about it all. I told her about my plans, and how I want to be able to travel a lot more with music. So they’ve organised loads of shows and writing opportunities, as well as opportunities to work with the label for the next year. And then once I’m out there, I can see what’s happening. It’s very promising, but I think it just now depends on how it all goes.
And in terms of your debut album where are you?
So we’ve recorded most of the album. This is where the label stuff has come in. The only song that’s finished so far is the lead single ‘Clementine’, and the rest of it’s pretty much all done, but it’s not mixed and mastered yet. It’s a concept album and I’m just really happy with how it’s all come together.
When you said you were travelling and writing with people, how did you set these up?
I found out about the funding (for Tallinn Music Week), maybe a month before I was leaving, and I started DMing people. I found some really cool live sessions. There was one in particular based in Belgium called Cosy Jet Sessions, a bit like Tiny Desk. I went onto their page, and I saw the artists that they featured, and everybody was just amazing. I reached out to people who have a similar vibe, or I feel like I’d work well with. And it was so interesting, because I wrote so many different songs while I was out there, some very wholesome folk stuff, a medieval video game soundtrack type thing, a pop song. It was just so strange how much other people influence the songs you write.
And with each person I was writing with, I was learning about the local music scene in each city. I’d like to properly play shows around Europe and it was so interesting hearing about the music scene in Paris, the music scene in Brussels, the music scene in The Netherlands. It was just so cool. I’m quite an introverted person, so I was stepping out of my comfort zone, having to get in touch with random artists that I liked, and saying “Hey, are you free? Do you want to write together?”.
I mean, there were definitely low points too. The show in Tallinn was amazing but the day after the show, myself and my guitarist Lewis, got the bus from Tallinn in Estonia to Berlin, which took 25 hours. There was a man on this bus and I’ve never heard anybody snore as loud as this man in my life! For 25 hours! One minute, things were amazing, and the next minute it was like, “What am I doing with my life?” But it was so fun.
You’ve also recorded a track, ‘You. Me.’, with Edinburgh based synth trio Thundermoon. How did that come about?
I met them at a Sofar Sounds pride show in Edinburgh and we just kind of clicked. I feel like we all had a lot in common, and they’re such lovely people. They’re just crazy and so much fun. We decided to write together and in the first couple of sessions we didn’t really get anything done. We were just chatting nonsense. And then, I think it was Shaz, came up with the hook for the chorus, and then we wrote it. Becca Shears produced it, and Katie Tavini mastered it. It all really fell into place very quickly, and nothing felt like a hassle or a big deal. I felt like this is what we’re all meant to be doing, and these people are going to be part of it. We hosted a flash mob in Edinburgh the night before a gig, and people came along and we taught them this dance move. It was so much fun!
With the album, is there a theme that runs through it?
‘Clementine’, the lead single, is the start of the storyline. ‘Clementine’ is me as a teenager if I were alive in the 60s, if you can imagine what that looks like. ‘Clementine’ represents this version of me that’s already come out as queer and has accepted myself, that version of me that I didn’t really get to be when I was a teenager. It was kind of weird, because I wrote ‘Clementine’ and I couldn’t think of what to call the song, so I named it after my car, and there’s a lyric in it that goes, “Clementine, you’ve got my desire. Clementine, a woman on fire.” and two weeks later, I kid you not my car exploded!!
Oh my God!
I feel like I manifested that by accident, for ‘Clementine’. ‘Clementine’ is the start of this, and the album goes through this whole idea of what would have happened if ‘Clementine’ had married a man and never came out. How would that have unfolded? So there’s a lot about my own personal life that’s woven into this. But then there’s the idea of me as an adult having my own existential crisis, which resolves itself with this idea, what would happen if I sold my soul to be famous and became Megan Black. I’m almost watching myself throughout my teenage years and into my early adulthood make these mistakes, and how can I stop it. It’s this whole idea of an alternative reality, of what would have happened if I made these decisions instead of those ones.
It all intertwines as well. Each song has its own colour scheme and is set in its own time period, and so has its own world. I’m really excited to eventually release it, and I think that’s why I just don’t want to rush it because I feel so content with this project. There’s things even now after recording the first draft that would change, or maybe be tweaked or whatever. We’ll see how that all unfolds.
Megan Black Live Date
August
29 – Room 2, Glasgow
Support from Liv Dawn and Bee Asha
For more information on Megan Black please check her facebook and instagram.