Mike Meagher – Artist Interview

Boy am I excited to get started with this interview but before we do that, could you tell our listeners where you are from?

Mike Meagher : I am from Massachusetts

So you are a songwriter. I am assuming that you write all your songs, right? How does the song process start for you?

Mike Meagher : Most times it’s just a guitar riff, sometimes while practicing and jamming or can be an idea that pops up in my head while out or something. Many times I’ve hummed or sung the idea into my phone’s recorder. Those things are the greatest (laughs). You always have a recorder on you if inspiration strikes

Your songs rock. I am a fan of that alternative rock grunge sound. How would you describe your music to someone at a bar? Now wait, there is a catch. The person you are speaking to is totally hooked on country music, he hates the grunge sound. How would you explain your music to this person? What would be your “line” to get him to listen to your music?

Mike Meagher : I would explain I’m influenced by all genres in some way or another, take a listen and see if you can hear and find the country influences. Then I would buy them a beer to listen ha ha ha !!! Bribery !!!

I see you are the guitarist, the bass player and the vocalist, would you consider yourself as a solo artist then? Do you have any band members that come in to help take the load off? Please share with us how you put this all together?

Mike Meagher : There are now band members for bass, Dave Morse and drums, Al Ruggeri, but when I wrote the EP I was alone. I started writing original material almost a year ago after being in cover bands for years. It was mainly just for my own artistic satisfaction. I think most people are a little self conscious of their songs when first playing them for other people but my wife and a couple friends said these are really good and I should do something with them. These people are totally honest and don’t do that “Oh, that’s a nice song” to be polite because they’re your friends. Meanwhile they later file assault charges for the ear beating you administered with your bad music (laughs). It’s awesome to be surrounded by people like that. So I found a Podcast called Scenester Radio that featured New England area artists and sent a song in and got played. I then started researching more podcasts, internet and college radio stations and started sending music in and kept sending and researching where I could send my music. I started getting some good airplay and response

What does MM3 mean?
Mike Meagher : It’s a force field in chemistry. I like to believe the music is a force. It’s also my initials so it’s kind of like the Mike Meagher trio (laugh). But I could never name a band after myself. Our bass player Dave Morse came up with MM3

Your first song to kick off this album is “Married to My Madness” great title. What is this song all about? Why did you choose this song as your first song on the album?

Mike Meagher : Thank you. It’s about mental illness and insanity and such a cheerful way to start an album lol .I’m fascinated by the dark side of human behavior. I’m also an unabashed Nirvana fan, I love heavy chorus clean verse and this song is heavily influenced by that. One of my favorite songs and seemed like perfect opening tune. I plan to possibly open live shows with it too

How did you get started in music? With all those instruments that you play, do you have one that you most favor over the other? Which one was the hardest for you to learn?

Mike Meagher : I got started wanting to play guitar, all the classic rock bands my older sister had the albums and I always thought the guitar player was the coolest and in high school I needed all the cool I could get. I still do. My 8 yr old daughter has no problem telling me how uncool I am (laughs).
Anyways, I love the guitar first and always will. Hardest is vocals. I’ve only been singing a year. I never learned to sing mainly because I was always in pretty heavy bands that only had the need for a single vocalist. So when I started finishing my songs I had a dilemma, no one to sing so figured I better start learning (laughs)

Do you mix and master your music? Take me through a day in the studio. What would I see, what would I do?

Mike Meagher :  Yes, I do the mixing and mastering. A day in the studio could be anything from doing countless vocal takes to trying different mixes. You would see lots of guitars and tons of effects. I’m also a big fan of Cubase so you won’t see Pro Tools.

Do you play out? What is your process to make it all happen?

Mike Meagher :  Yes, I play out but this band hasn’t yet. We will be heading out the end of summer/early fall. We want more songs written first. I’m also exploring doing some acoustic solo shows as I’ve really come to enjoy just the basic playing and singing that brings

Your song “High and Die” is kind of psychedelic. I like the tone! Could you tell us about this song?

Mike Meagher : Thank you. I was definitely going for a psychedelic trippy hypnotic vibe. Unfortunately it’s pretty sad. A friend passed away from an overdose right at time song was written so that’s where the lyrics came from. There’s a huge heroin epidemic in my area of the world right now so I was trying to comment on that.

I see you sing cover songs. How do you choose what cover songs you will sing? Are they songs that you like that inspire you or are they songs you know you can sing so you decide to cover it?

Mike Meagher :  The covers are mostly acoustic just me strumming the guitar and singing. I call them the “Recorder On A Coffee Table” series because that’s all it is, a small hard disk recorder while I play and sing, totally live, no mic. effects or production. It’s also a way to keep practice fun. It’s songs from my influences that inspire me. I’m pushing myself all the time to get better so some of these songs I couldn’t sing at first but kept going. Pearl Jam’s “Black” was perfect example. It’s no Eddie Vedder but I feel I can pull it off now without embarrassing my family name (laughs) !! I also like doing something different with a song or piece of music. An example is a Metal version of the “Game Of Thrones” theme and an instrumental version of the Cure’s “Fascination Street”

Who are your music influences? What traits of your influences do you think you have picked up?
Mike Meagher : Biggest influence by far is Tony Iommi. He is the guy who inspired me to play. Trying to come up with a great heavy riff is what I take from him along with the heavy blues based soloing. I also love Alice In Chains for their heaviness, vocals and lyrical content

If we were to interview in five years from now, what do you think we would be talking about?
Mike Meagher : Talking about another new album

We would love for you to tell our listeners where they can find your music? If you have any special shout-outs, please feel free to do them now.

Mike Meagher :  My music is available at www.mikemeagher.bandcamp.com

For the covers and other stuff my Reverbnation page at www.reverbnation.com/mikemeagher

My social media links are www.facebook.com/scrufftonemusic

For the MM3 band it’s www.facebook.com/mm3band

My Twitter is @mikemeagher45

For MM3 is @mm3band

I’d like to shout out first to Factory Fast Records, the song Married To My Madness will be featured on their “Black Top Alliance” compilation album coming out on June 23rd on all major retailers and digital download. Wayne and Boston Rock Radio, MuseBoat Radio, Xtreme Alchemy Radio, Code Zero Radio, Scenester Radio and everyone else I forgot (laughs)