Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

I recently caught up with My Ruin vocalist Tairrie B. for BW&BK to discuss the band’s new album, Ghosts And Good Stories. My first ever interview with Ms. B. took place in 1997 for her one and only Tura Satana album, Relief Through Release, which lasted over an hour (thank hell I brought a 90 minute tape with me – yes, in the age before digital doodad recording). The second go ‘round happened in 2000 for the A Prayer Under Pressure Of Violent Anguish record, a long distance one-hour chat that I’m hoping the label paid for. It came as no surprise, then, that our long overdue meeting of the minds resulted in another marathon conversation. Check out Chapter 1 here, then feed your brain on Chapter 2 below…

Long before Arch Enemy vocalist Angela Gossow was a metalhead household name, way before In This Moment’s Maria Brink and Walls Of Jericho’s Candace Kucsulain became screamo pin-ups, Tairrie B. Murphy was shredding up a vocal storm. My Ruin’s new album, Ghosts And Good Stories, features Tairrie at the top of her game and out for blood. The fact that the aforementioned bands boast flashier promotion and bigger tours than My Ruin hasn’t left her bitter, just more determined to continue educating people with quality mayhem.

“To be perfectly honest, I’m not really interested in the kind of so-called respect a band like In This Moment gets,” states Tairrie, blunt and to the point. “I’m familiar with the band as they used to open for us in LA, and they are nice enough people, but I’m not a fan of their music or image in any way. I find it all very contrived and derivative of many other bands that have come before them; just my personal opinion. We took Walls Of Jericho on tour with us in the UK back in 2004 and they got a great response. Again, not a fan of their music or genre, but Candace is an energetic front woman on stage. I just find it hard to take some of these bands that play up the whole tough-and-independent-strong-female-vocalist persona seriously when I know behind the scenes the guys in the band are basically in control of everything. I’ve seen that with a lot of female fronted bands over the years. No one has ever told me what I can or cannot do or say in my last band or my current one and no one ever will – including my husband. I have my own mind and I speak it just like Mick (Murphy / guitarist, husband) speaks his. We make decisions as partners rather than someone telling the other one what they can do and we respect ourselves, which is the most important respect to have in the music industry as far as we’re concerned. I think our passion for our music is what pushes us and has continued to push us to where we are today with the release of our sixth album together.” (continue reading…)