Meg Lee Chin
By Alex Teitz
Meg Lee Chin has been making news long before her 1999 solo release Piece & Love. Chin has worked in her own studio for many years and has also worked with such notable people as Joe Goldring and Becky Wreck. She recorded early demos for Faith No More, and had a brief experience with Garbage. Chin’s current works are challenging, musically and lyrically. Chin is currently touring with My Life With Thrill Kill Kult. For more information visit http://www.megleechin.com or http://www.invisiblerecords.com
FEMMUSIC: Can you describe your songwriting technique? How do you come up with your songs?
MLC: I’m pretty flexible. I can start with anything: a vocal, a riff, a beat, a lyric. Whatever. Coming up with ideas is easy for me. Refining the ideas is where the work comes in. I employ a two part process. Basically, I stay real open initially, anything goes. I brainstorm with almost no discrimination.
Once I’ve got something that inspires me, I begin the second phase which is the harder part. This is the phase where I refine, discriminate and become critical. This part is almost torturous because I struggle to make sure the original spark is clear and communicates well. This part is almost all work for me. The first part is more fun.
FEMMUSIC: What was your best experience making Piece & Love?
MLC: Finishing it, listening to it and receiving feedback. I’m not one of these “purist” types who do it just for the sake of doing it. I do it with the specific goal of communicating things which I am unable to express through ordinary language. The buzz comes when I feel it has been received and understood. I feel my role as a servant. In that, I am fairly driven. I don’t consider myself an “artiste”. I’m an art servant.
FEMMUSIC: What was your biggest challenge making Piece & Love?
MLC: Bridging the technical, logical and mathematical with the poetry, intuition and feelings. Bringing peace and balance to the war between the right and left brain and struggling to help the two co-exist.
FEMMUSIC: Tell me about the song “London.” How did you come up with it?
MLC: London was the expression of a certain melancholy I felt, as a busker on the underground station in London. I don’t write music, I search for inspiration and then use earthly tools to bring it to form. I mess around a lot, spewing out bits and pieces without trying. Suddenly, a particular riff inspires me and then the whole song appears in my head. But at this point it’s still vague, gaseous and not fully formed. From there I become obsessional trying to use the technology to fill in the details of what can hear faintly in my head. My job is to bring form to the ether. In the case of London, it began with a melancholy piano riff. I heard the rough outline of the song in my head, but could not see the detail. Again, this detail is the hard part. You might call it writing. I call it articulating and interpreting. Inspiration is divine and I am a mere servant.
FEMMUSIC: You were extensively with Martin Atkins on Piece & Love. Can you tell me how you met him, and how it was working with him?
MLC: I met Martin through these two women called Shannon and Meredith. They were fans of my girl band “Crunch” and when Martin was looking for a female singer to replace Leslie Rankine for a Pigface tour, Shannon and Meredith recommended me. Martin phoned me in London and asked me to send a demo and photo. We got to talking and halfway through the conversation, he said “I’m getting a good vibe here, forget the demo, I’ll send you a plane ticket.”
Martin’s like that. He’s got a very well developed instinct, is a fearless risk taker and loves to live on the edge. He’s one of the strongest characters I’ve ever met and has got incredible energy and presence. Martin always goes where the angels fear to tread.
FEMMUSIC: Are you writing new material? How does it compare to the work on Piece & Love?
MLC: Yes, it will be like Piece and Love, but more exaggerated. It will merge even more styles of music and have more guest artists and non-artists. I’m always looking for other interesting voices to work with. It could be anybody. It could be you!!
FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to see changed most about the music industry?
MLC: Overindulgence.
FEMMUSIC: As a woman in the music industry, have you been discriminated against?
MLC: Ha! YES. Have you got all day? I could tell you some stories…Unfortunately, in this world EVERYONE is discriminated against for one thing or another. Human beings are crap at seeing other people.
FEMMUSIC: What advice do you have to an artist just starting out?
MLC: Don’t let the business consume you. Remember what you loved about music in the first place and keep the faith…