Meg Myers is like the moody, misunderstood protagonist in a slasher flick who has to go through some shit, but gets everyone in the theater who’s moody and misunderstood on her side, and winds up saving the day. She’s also good with a knife, but that’s another matter entirely, as you’ll see below.
A pair of lengthy EPs and a smattering of singles over the past three years have painted Myers as an intense individual, but the singer-songwriter who tours with an electric cello in her band is out to prove she’s got a quirky side, too. It’s all over her Instagram, and if you dig enough, perhaps you’ll uncover some under the slabs of harrowing guitar on her debut album. But Myers fans don’t need to be reminded of either. They’re passionate — so passionate, that Myers is still getting used to the lines at airport security and TMI face-to-face confessionals at signings.
And then there’s the music. Sorry is a rock album, but one that reflects its era — a time when it could take a dance remix to send an alternative track up the charts. “A Bolt From the Blue” already sounds like it could be synthed-up remix of a more traditional guitar song, a deft move for an artist whose first radio hit, “Desire,” got its share of Nine Inch Nails comparisons.
Even after jumping to Atlantic, Myers continued to work with longtime creative partner Dr. Rosen Rosen, who produced Sorry in its entirety. Myers revealed she explored other collaborators, but opted to keep her debut a singular experience. She’s already thinking about album number two, and she shared those thoughts, in addition to a laundry list of the best and craziest things her fans have done so far. And it’s probably going to get weirder.
Do you have any new music videos planned?
I’m about to shoot a video for “Lemon Eyes” in about a week.
Do you have a concept?
I do, as of yesterday. I met with the director and we came up with it together. I didn’t want to do a crazy narrative for this one. It’s going to be more of a performance video.
I wanted to step away from getting too dark for this one, because I feel I’m getting labeled over the last couple years as really dark. That shows in some of my videos. I wanted to get a little weird with this one. Onstage I know the shows can be intense and emotional, but I think I’m more of a weird person than dark. I’ve been going to radio stations a lot and doing meet and greets… It’s funny because when I meet people in person, they’ll be like, “Wow you’re so different than I expected.”
On Sorry, you worked with your usual producer, Dr. Rosen Rosen. Did you consider collaborating with anyone else?
I tried some sessions working with other people and there was something cool about it, but not for this album. I want to make an album with one person. I don’t want to have a bunch of songs with different people because that doesn’t make sense for someone like me. My songs are driven by my emotions and things that I go through and you can really only open up to one person at a time.
One person specifically — I’m not going to say who it is — I did enjoy working with. I don’t know if I would do something later or not… Who knows. When it’s time to make a second album, I don’t know where my head’s going to be.
I feel like every two months I change so much. I have no idea what I’m going to want to do in six months or a year… I don’t think it’s healthy to be just one way for your whole life as an artist, and make the same kind of stuff for a really long time… I always want to grow and evolve, whether it’s working with different people or working with the same people and growing and evolving with them.
From seeing you live and looking at your Instagram, I can tell you have some really intense fans. What are some of the most interesting things they’ve given you?
There was this paper figure, that was so freaking cool. That’s my favorite. She actually gave me a bag of all this origami and cool little things she made.
I get a lot of paintings. I have some on my piano that I’m looking at right now. I got a giant poster onstage one time. They threw it onstage at me. It had a bunch of pictures of me and I think a guy put his number on it [laughs]. People give me dolls.
Somebody gave me a knife once at a show. It was wrapped up in this cute little packaging. I took it. like, “Oh thank you!” and got home and found it was a knife. I still have that. In interviews two to four years ago, I used to say I liked collecting knives, because I do. It’s not like THAT. It’s like a Southern thing. My dad collects knives; it’s a hunting and fishing collector’s thing. When I got that present, I decided I needed to stop saying that.
I had two different people (one was a girl and one was a guy) tell me at meet and greets that they masturbated to the “Desire” video. The first time it happened I was in Kansas City. I was trying to keep my cool, because I didn’t know what to say. “Oh, cool… thank you!” How do you respond to that? I didn’t act weird but someone from Atlantic was there and he was like, “Are you okay?” He could see my face.
On my first headlining tour, we’d fly into airports and there’d be five to twelve people who were waiting there all day. Some of them are nice, but sometimes they’ll be kind of rude and have like, 30 to 60 pictures of me and they’ll ask me to sign them. I’ll be in a hurry to make it to soundcheck or something and my team will cut it off. We’re trying to figure out what they’re doing with them. Are they selling them on eBay? One guy said they were for his family. But 60 posters?
One time I was with my manager and my boyfriend. We were trying to go through airport security and this guy kept asking me to sign stuff before I went through. He left and brought a friend back and was like, “Will you sign his stuff?” I’m like, “Dude I’m going through security!” He looked mad at me! I can only give so much.