Side Stage Magazine got a chance to sit down with Veteran Hard Rocker Madame Mayhem, before she took the stage at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on January 11, 2017 to play to her hometown crowd. Madame Mayhem talked about new music, being a singer and songwriter, her musical theatre background, plans for touring, the women in rock movement and her love of the stage and performing. If one thing can be say about this New Yorker Gothic performer is that she is the real deal. There was no holding back when answering question, this is an interview you do not want to miss out on reading.
Side Stage Magazine: So this is your first hometown or should I say city gig in a while. How important and special will this show be tonight and what can we expect?
Madame Mayhem: It’s really special. The band and I have been talking about doing a show in the city because we noticed that while we were on tour, on two different tours last year that none of them hit New York City, specifically Manhattan, that’s where some of us are from. I was born here so its important and I have been playing at these venues always when I was trying to break into the industry, so to come back here and play for the fans that helped get this started is a huge deal. And this show is also really important because we are going to be trying out new music that’s never been heard, that’s not released, I just wrote with Corey (Saint Asonia) and Clint Lowery (Sevendust), so it’s really cool we’re going to test them out on everyone here as a special treat.
Your recent album ‘Now your Know’ was released in the end of 2016, so what does that album mean to you and the overall message to the fans?
‘Now you Know’ is really an introduction of what I Madame Mayhem is as an artist and a performer because I’ve been doing this for a while now, even before that album but I feel that album was such a great representation of who I am and what I want to do. The music I wrote with Billy Sheehan who also, produced it. We have amazing guest artist on there and it was really from my heart and from my guts. I feel I matured a lot in that album. I’m really proud of it. That albums really important to me, we’ll also be playing some songs from that at the show too.
It’s a good album, its great!
Thank you
What have you been up to the last couple of months? I know you talked about working with Corey, he’s the producer and you’re working on some new music now. I guess you already kinda collaborated with him on numerous things, what kinda magic do you get in the studio with him and what can we expect from the music that’s coming out? How’s it going to be different from the previous two albums because I know you said that the newer album was a coming into your own kinda thing but ‘White Noise’ (debut album by Madame Mayhem) was also an introduction as well?
This one I feel like Corey just like Billy did with me in ‘Now you Know’. Corey really brings out the truth with me and I’m so comfortable. When we are writing I can literally tell him anything so there for the songs are really really personal. Even when we were rehearsing some of the songs we were going to play tonight I was like, ‘Damn, like I’m kinda spilling my guts over here’ this is gonna be, should I be embarrassed, I didn’t realize I’m really being personal. There might even be people in the room that are like ‘Shit, that’s about.. you don’t know’. The music is so great and we did a really good balance of keeping it heavy and Hard Rock and Metal but some of the songs have a lot of mainstream pop type feel to it to with the heaviness so we wanted to play on that a bit. Really just kinda make it different from ‘Now you Know’. So it’s now the same album over and over again but you still know that it’s me.
That’s good, that’s what I was hoping for it’s still got that Mayhem sound in there.
It’s still me, same direction just a little bit different take.
Being a singer and songwriter, having listened to both your albums, where do you get your influence, sound, lyrical content? So many of your songs have a variety of meaning and sound, like you said not one of your songs really is the same so can you tell me a bit about that?
Yeah, even though I’m a rocker and metalhead first and foremost I have very eclectic taste in music. I love exploring different instrumentals, different musicianship, different everything so I don’t want the songs to sound the same. I love double pedal but it’s not going to fit in every song I’m going to do and it also depends on what the contents going to be of the song lyrically, usually a real experience or feeling a lot of it is frustration I have while trying to break into this industry and a lot of it is personal struggle, a lot of it is empowerment. Just saying ‘cut the bullshit’ and just go for it because those are all the things I deal with on a daily basis so it only makes sense to write about it and then as I got older as I keep writing it’s becoming easier and more and more organic.
Like you were saying before you went out on two big tours last year with Doro and Mushroomhead. What can we expect for tour plans this year? Are you going to be doing a solo tour?
I don’t know, I mean all I want to do and all the guys in the band want to do is get out on the road. I love writing music and creating but I’m a showgirl first and foremost so I want to be on stage every freakin’ night and playing for everyone.. (Ryan Bennett, drummer walks by)
Yeah, um you want to go on a tour right?
Ryan Bennett: I’ll always want to go on tour (Bennett has worked on/with numerous projects/bands including Madame Mayhem drum tracking and touring. He is best known as drummer for Eye Empire)
See we always wanna go on tour!!!
Ryan Bennett will always want to go on tour, he is always a tour man.
So we always want to tour and um, we’re working on some things now, hopefully we can get some concrete dates happening shortly after this show this weekend I’m going to be one of the stowaways on Shiprocked which will be really fun.
That’s awesome.
That is really awesome! I get to play with Bumblefoot again, he contributed his talents to ‘Now you Know’, so being able to play with him is going to be awesome. He’s the best. I’m so excited for that so I’m gonna be on Shiprocked and head out to NAMM. I’ll probably do some jams in LA which I’m excited for and then I’ll come back and hopefully by that time I come back we’ll have some things to announce. So stay tuned.
So you have such a unique style and stage presence all your own, no one else has it. What brings you to life on stage and drives you to put on a killer show every time you hit the stage?
Ever since I was born and I know that sounds so stupid, but my family and I were trying to figure it out like when did I, what age was it that I was performing? It was since I was born. I mean when I was two I started going to performance and dance lessons so like the stage has always been my life and then I started in musical theatre background so the stage I’m very comfortable, so every time I go on stage it always has to be able the music first but there this transformation I have where it’s an obligation to put on a great show, of course for the fans but I also have no control over it. I have to do it. I can’t just stand there and sing, my body won’t let me so it’s always a really exciting show the second I hit the stage I don’t know it kinda takes over its weird.
I hear so many people who are musical theatre lovers and who are trained that way. So many upcoming artists and so many artists seem to have musical theatre backgrounds, I just love that. I mean would you want to do something like Broadway?
I would always want to go back, I would always want to go back but honestly, right now I eat, sleep, everything this and this is my number one love. Even when I was in theatre I wanted to write my own music and be in a rock band, so that fact I’m able to do it now is great. I mean if there was ever an opportunity again to do a short stint or something back on stage, why not? I mean, but honestly if I could do this while waiting to get back on the road, why not? My number one goal is to get out on the road and perform and then hopefully figure out what plans we can do with this new music if people receive it well.
So this is a little more on the women’s movement in Rock. Maria Brink of In this Moment and Carla and Heidi of the Butcher Babies have been huge advocates and have been really outspoken about supporting women in the industry especially the Rock/Hard Rock/Metal genre. You being a veteran in the scene how do you feel of the importance of women either solo or bands who are coming up in the industry and supporting them?
I think it’s a huge deal every time I find out there’s a chick whether there the lead or just doing something else I always want to check it out and support it. I think it’s kinda sad that that’s what it is where you have to be like ‘Oh it’s women’ because everyone always ask me does it matter, does it suck being a women in the industry. It shouldn’t care if you’re a chick or a dude, it should just be this bands awesome. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, so you do have to be an advocate and stand up because how I feel it’s getting less and less hopefully, but there is a standard there ‘Oh there’s already a chick doing something’ it’s like there’s eighty dudes doing the same thing so what are you talking about.
In a festival they’ll put one chick in the whole roster it’s like they can’t put two or three.
Then they claim there’s not that many but there a lot of us out there and a lot of us working and hustling. I think that is shouldn’t be we have to throw a girl in here it should be what are the bands we want to hear and there happen to be a few that have chicks in it.
So who are some of your musical influences and how have they made you the artist you are today?
That’s hard. I mean I’ve have so many influences growing up and my taste again is so eclectic so I’m all over the place, but like honestly when I was a baby my mom got sick of all the kid tapes so she started playing Grunge in the car because that was on the radio at the time. So like Nirvana was my baby music. So I started with that, as I got older my taste got heavier and heavier. Only later on in life did I start researching quote un-quote classic Rock, so like Judas Priest, Ozzy, Alice Cooper those guys are like I’m obsessed with but it only happened kinda later otherwise kinda Grunge to Nu-Metal. But of course, you have Pat Benatar, Joan Jett and Lita Ford you have all those woman who are kick ass.
Alright, so you kinda covered my last question, but I gonna ask it anyway (laughs)
Do it!!!
What can we expect from you this year?
Well, I would love to just be playing everywhere this year the US and Internationally. Keep supporting the ‘Now you Know’ record because we actually recently released it overseas so it’s still kinda new to them and here a lot of people the more you play the more they figure out who you are. The good news is as we play we’re being proven as we play. So there like “Oh we had no idea you existed, now we do!”. ‘Cause that’s what happens when you’re an indie artist like that where you don’t have a lot of backing you have to play all over the place. We are going to be playing a lot and putting together this new album and finishing up for the fans to love even more . Those are the goals.
I’m sure you’ll accomplish them, I really do!
Thank you!
