We just reviewed her latest single ‘Sweet Bisexual’ and have been inspired by her rage-fuelled queer anthems ever since we noticed her on the bill with Scottish artist Brownbear. Now felt like the right time to have a chat with queer anthem writer Megan Black, who has been making waves with her anthemic pop rock tracks and to the point lyricism!
When and how did you start writing music?
The first song I wrote and released was my song ‘Fur Coat Queen’. I wrote this around eighteen years old to cope with the fact I knew I was queer and didn’t feel ready to come out. I’m from quite a small town and didn’t really see a lot of people like me so I kind of wanted to be the person I needed growing up. This song was my way of coming out and accepting who I am and was really my reason behind wanting to write music.
What inspired your latest single, and what came first; the melody or the lyrics?
After coming out to people through my music, it felt I had to label what I was, and the label that felt best was ‘bisexual’. However, I had a lot of incidents where people would jump to conclusions with comments like ‘I think you’re just being trendy’ or ‘so, you fancy everyone then, yeah?’ These stigmas made bisexuality feel like it was wrong and, therefore, there was something wrong with me. After talking to a lot of fellow queers, I realise this is a shared experience. I decided to just mock these stigmas. And of course, I’m a huge Rocky Horror fan, hence ‘Sweet Bisexual’. I came up with the riff for this song first and everything else just fell into place. Fun fact: I wrote the original version of this song on the bus journey to my rehearsal. It was written in one afternoon – sometimes my rage fuels me!
What do you enjoy most about being a musician?
I enjoy the platform it gives me to connect with people and talk about important things. I write my music for my younger self: I needed me growing up and it feels so important to be that person with the hopes that other people feel accepted through the music I make too. Being a musician is a way for me to truly connect with my fans of my music – especially when playing live (that’s my favourite part for sure). Plus I just love the drama of pretending I’m a rockstar and wearing cool, flamboyant outfits and being outrageously gay! I feel like I was born to do it.
What do you enjoy the least about being a musician?
I struggle with how much of a piss-take the music industry can be! So many people have a dream of being a musician and that can be exploited often. Playing shows where the promoter takes all the money, everyone sucking up to each other and trying to one-up one another – it’s exhausting! We deserve to be paid for the art we create and we all deserve the space to do that. That’s why we need organisations in place that support local/up and coming musicians. We need people who are true music lovers and want to see artists doing well. It can be really tough sometimes, so if you’re reading this, thank you for supporting up and coming musicians – it means way more than you think it does.
What exciting plans have you got coming up?
I have so many exciting things coming up!! It’s already been a very crazy year and I can’t say too much but I will be playing some festivals this year, broadening my horizons, and am currently working on some new music which may be making its way into the world soon!
What do you dream to achieve within the next five years?
There’s so many things! I want to play pride shows, I want to tour Europe. I want to tour America. I want to play on The Jools Holland Show. I want to play Glastonbury, and Liverpool Sound City, and Focus Wales. I want to play more Sofar Sounds shows. All of this is in no particular order – they’re just all things I dream about doing next! As for artists I want to work with, the list is endless! Most importantly, I want to be writing more feminist, queer anthems, that make my inner child happy!
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