Megan McCauley

It was growing up in Cleveland, and going to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame that did it for Megan. “After going to the Rock Hall the first time I walked out with the feeling of enlightenment. After seeing Sam Cooke, Billie Holiday, Led Belly, and many of the better known artists such as Janis Joplin and David Bowie, I knew I wanted to be an artist. To change the world the way they did. Through all of their music, they told stories that were captivating and beautiful. No sooner could Big Mama Thorton move from one note to the next, and I'd felt like she'd sung my life. Telling it the way it is with no apologies... Thats what I wanted to do!” Sharpening the tart edge of her tongue had always come naturally to Megan McCauley.
McCauley, much like her idols, offers no apologies. This brunette siren with tattoos and piercings is anything but conventional. The Ohio native is convincingly brash and impressively iron-willed. Megan is wildly undisguised simply because she refuses to be any other way. "Life is too short to sugar-coat everything! If I only get one chance to make my mark and leave an impression, it certainly won't be sweet and charming! My initials may be M&M, but I'm more like an Altoid... curiously strong!"
Frankly, Megan just doesn’t give a shit. It’s not misplaced aggression from being a teenager nor is it false mourning sought from her favorite artists. It’s not even about challenging the status quo. "No matter what, or who you are, not everyone is gonna like you, and quite frankly it is a waste of my time to pay any attention to people who don't get it, or at least respect me for being myself. I am who I am, and no matter what happens, I will always be Megan, the girl who wakes up in the morning, makes a big cup of instant coffee, throws on a Rasputina album, and calls her mother just to shoot the shit." Megan refuses to escape simplicity for the sake of being herself. Being who she is, is enough. " I once heard a quote that I loved. It said 'It's okay to make it simple, just don't make it ordinary!' After-all, I find most of the best songs are written with nothing more than 3 chords and the truth!"
Megan looked beyond her exterior mold and saw someone with three sides: the dark-minded, corset-wearing creature fond of Halloween, a snide punk kid who loves to fuck with the system, and the glam freak who’s completely out of the picture, only because she's always one step ahead. Writing songs is the one thing that connects all of these things together. "I'm not a drug addicted Amy Winehouse, or a bubble gum popping Britney Spears. I'm not an 'anti-authorty' Avril Lavigne, or a Hot Topic shopping goth like, Amy Lee. I respect all of the artists for who they are, but I believe that you cannot be just one thing. Everyone is multi dimensional, and I think tapping into that is what makes a true 'Rock Star!"
Even with her forays into musicianship, songwriting is Megan’s gift. “I can’t read music or handle anything overly technical.” says Megan. “All of it confuses me, however when I do get into a studio, I know what I want. As the lyrics come to me, there is always a melody that carries them onto the page. Every line of every song has to tell a story and have meaning to me”
Megan’s been singing all of her life, but learning how to play instruments is another story. She credits some of her favorite artists—most notably Damien Rice and Rasputina frontwoman Melora Creager. “In my downtime, I play a lot of instruments, including piano, harmonica, bass, guitar, flute, and a few others. I can do some minor guitar licks, but nothing really outstanding,” she says. “But when I pick something up, I immediately get obsessive about it. I bought a used cello for $400 and taught myself how to play by ear. I'm actually pretty good it. As soon as it happened, I thought ‘This is my instrument.' But even with that being said, if you stop me in the middle of my cello solo in 'See Through' and ask me which note I'm playing, I wouldn't be able to tell you. All I know is that it sounds and feels right!”
The glorious guitar downpour that carries Wonder, is merely a glimpse into this personal space. Megan’s honesty is so stripped, the raw power of her lyrics is so right there, you cannot help but reach for it. You’d never know she was 14 when she wrote this song, for it breathes hard much like an adult who’s weathered too many storms.
Nothing would prepare Megan for the violent shock that would lead to the autobiographical "I’ll Pay You To Shoot Him". At a young age, Megan’s father had separated from the family, only to return years later when she was 14. Two years after his return, in August a week before her sweet 16 she was witness to a domestic dispute between her parents in which her mother was brutally attacked, and as the altercation turned physical, she tried to step in and suffered a few scrapes and bruises at her fathers hand as well. With adrenalin flowing from witnessing the acts of violence and becoming victim to them herself, she turned to the police officers on the scene and yelled to them, “I’ll pay you to shoot him!" The comment later became the basis of the song with the same name and passionately displays her inability to hold back.
She explains, “In writing the song, I am not looking for sympathy, and this is not a tale of devastation or loss. It is a punch back, a lunge against intimidation and raw brutality. It’s all part of life experience. I think hiding things just hurts other people. It’s just ignorant. There is just no reason for not knowing the truth. You might as well tell people so they can avoid it or so they can get through it. There is no reason to lose hope. I’ve gone through things, so why hide it? Why not have people learn from that? The thing is I’m going to be as blunt and to the point as I possibly can. Everyone has a life story, I just think mine is really fucked up, in bad ways and in good ways, and like every good story, there is always a lesson to be learned... Meaning is not in things...but in between them!"