Piece and Love and Anger and Romantic Idealism

Meg Lee Chin is the best thing to happen to industrial-- scratch that-- music, this year

by J. Kim

Little girls in the U.S. should get Meg Lee Chin dolls instead of Dancing Debbies, for when I grow up, I want to be just like her. As a former member of industrial juggernaut Pigface, Chin has established herself as one of the best damn things to happen to industrial-- scratch that-- music, this year. Whereas many industrial bands have such perfect sounds they sound sterilized and infertile, Chin infuses the grittiness of the urban into her music - incorporating dub sounds and rap.

In the true nature of Seattle music journalism, I simply must begin this feature with a bit about myself, Chin’s show on December 15 at the Catwalk in Seattle (her first tour as a headliner) was nothing short of a saving grace on my second-worst day of 2000 - the kind of day only Al Jourgensen or Alec Empire could salvage. In other words, if this had been a Voyager One show, the emergency room would have been pumping the bullets out of my stomach. Instead, Chin infused the “Fuck All” attitude into a small but quite devote crowd all of whom seemed to be dreading the impending holiday bipolar and requisite shite weather. And she did not even have to cover Atari Teenage Riot to accomplish that, instead she needed nothing more than her amazingly psychotic (or psychotically amazing, take your pick) material, like her “latest hit single,” “Thing." On this track, she screeches things like “Symbiotic, patriotic” to describe the the ridiculous mania the U.S. pursuit of wealth leads to, or as Chin calls it “a real important thing.” From there, she drones “Try harder, must try harder” in the same voice members of the high tech borg use as they put in yet another 60-hour work week (and for what?). On “Thing” Chin also asks “Helter skelter, where’s your shelter.” In our pre-show chat she described this whole dog-eat-dog quash your friends and enemies alike cultural climate as ridiculous.

“You step on everybody to make it to the top then surprise surprise when you get there you have no friends, no one you can really trust so then you pay a therapist to listen to your problems. You have to pay somebody to be your friend. Americans have a paranoia about laziness and I’m not advocating laziness, but what’s wrong with a little balance?”

Chin spews even more vicious but accurate social criticism on “Nutopia” where she reduces what she calls my generation into two words: “sniveling, groveling” with the evil overtones straight out of a Hanzel and Gretyl or Wizard of Oz reproduction.

Recording so that she can, “put my two cents in as I’ll probably never be a lawyer or a politician,” Chin wants people to take one thing away from her music. She encourages Americans to live abroad for an extended period of time and immerse themselves in the culture, meaning no MTV or Planet Hollywood or McDonald’s just so they can gain perspective that America is not the most perfect place in the world and everywhere else is crap.

“My biggest complain about American culture is that it’s too homogenized and I feel bad for anybody who thinks this is the only culture,” said Chin.

She incorporated that theme into her debut album, Piece and Love, which Invisible Records released in 1999. Her pseudo Svengali Martin Atkins produced it. “Our relationship is that he gives me a kick up in the ass and makes me finish things,” said Chin before her show. “Deadlines, Meg, deadlines, stop fucking around he tells me.” Chin works best by letting everything spew out, then editing afterwards. Some of her songs begin with a simple riff: “Thing” started with one note her guitarist friend Fuzz D played, which Chin transposed and tweaked to pour the foundation of her single. “Sweet Thing” evolved from Chin’s flatmate babbling while drunk. Handing over her work to be editing was unnerving to Chin.

“It was scary, absolutely, positively frightening,” said Chin. “I pretty much gave it to him, and kept my fingers crossed. I was skeptical but I was pleasantly surprised on most tracks. I am a little bit of a control freak.”

She trusts Atkins as much as she can trust another person. They share similar tastes and his latest project The Damage Manual is a study in unpredictable gritty dub. Seriously, how could Chin not trust a man who released a live album entitled Eat Shit You Fucking Redneck, on which Chin appeared?

Piece and Love, though a sweeter title, shows the same brilliant audacity. Some of her songs just come out of nowhere but have such a grounded, urban feel, like the sound of subway cars grating against the tracks.

Chin achieves that effect on purpose. When recording Piece and Love, she often recorded her vocals with the windows open in her San Francisco apartment for that ambience. She strove for a non-pretty sound.

“After I started working with digital equipment it often sounded too staid and too clean and I would purposely do something that sounded very sloppy very cheap and very unpolished,” said Chin. “Every single commercial album uses the same studio and the exact same session musicians and they use the exact same pieces of gear so it all sounds exactly the same. I was lucky, I did not have enough money for the good equipment.” She notes U2 as an example of a great band spoiled by the luxury of good equipment. Rather than writing great songs now, they simply write great reverb effects.

To prepare her touring band, Chin mandated the same gritty aesthetic. She insisted the band rehearse with what she calls crap equipment. As a veteran of several Pigface tours, Chin recognized that she would not always play rooms with state-of-the-art systems, and she insisted that the band could handle it. “Then the first time you step on stage with a great sound man you’re going to blow yourself away,” says Chin.

She compares the practice to the graphic art theory of thumbnails. “If you can design something and perfect it in an inch-by-inch square, then your work will dazzle when designed to poster-size scale.

Her theory worked, as her band sounded fantastic and added an incredible dimension. On her album, all the vocals are Chin, except for samplings of her female flatmate. This tour marks her first one as a headliner and three men back her up. She last toured with My Life with the Thrill Kult and commanded the same Seattle stage this July. Previously, she performed on the Beatbox Soapbox tour.

Though her band has a very dynamic chemistry, Chin commands every eye and ear. She lets everything go on stage, parading down to audience level, shouting ape sounds, kicking her feet like a child seated on an amp. During the TKK tour, she sported swimming goggles atop her head; this time around she wore knee pads. Her stage show reflects the chaos of Pigface. The closest comparison to the mesmerizing Chin in terms of explosiveness, range, dementia, humor, and audience intimacy on stage is Skin from Skunk Anansie. No male performers even come close on all scores.

What also makes Chin so powerful live is that she shows no fear of crossing over the edges and blurs all lines between sane, insane, sick, straight, sweet, sorrowful, angry and joyful. While she loads her lyrics with vicious social criticism, she has nothing in common with so many angst is hip and apathy is cool bands that have plagued the radio. She offers criticism without the self-pity which sets her apart. She also confided a secret with a playfully sadistic yet also sincere laugh, “I’m really a big cheesy, sappy, flowery, romantic idealist who has to protect myself by being cynical.”

Meg Lee Chin's Official Site

Also in Pandomag.com

What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been
Courtney Taylor talks about life - and love - on the road as the Dandy Warhols finish their 2000 World Tour, by Steve Stav

Peter Murphy Tames Audiences with Intimate "Just For Love" Tour
Candid conversation reveals lighter side of Goth-rock's Dark Prince, by Steve Stav

Elliott Smith Vs. Himself
Although he doesn’t like to talk about it (and who in his right mind would?), Mr. Smith has tales of serious substance abuse, suicidal flings, and broken noses in his past. By Sean O'Neill

Night of the Living Rock God
Gail Worley remembers Alice Cooper and shares the wit and wisdom of the Cult's Ian Astbury in The Worley Gig

Waxwing: Madmen for the Ride
Reed Jackson interview's Seattle's youngest emo superstars

Our Little Polly Jean is in Love
Or at least she’s made an album as though she were. Norm Elrod reviews PJ Harvey's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

Most Artists Would Kill for a Single Moment of Transcendence
U2 has managed three albums worth. Norm Elrod reviews U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind

Vive La Grrrl-Style Revolution!
ROCKRGRL Women in Music Conference Makes Good on Its Promise of Change Through Unity, by Tizzy Asher

Long Live Teen Angst and Rock N' Roll!
Kimberly Reyes examines the imaginative power and raw sex appeal wielded by [The London] Suede

Bring The New Noise
New releases by Radiohead, Madonna, Shellac, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and The Posies are reviewed and reviled by Michael Hukin

A Really, Really Haunted House
A rock critic and four gorgeous coeds are terrorized by Satan himself in Birmingham horror house, by Michael Hukin

Lost Empires, Found Memories:
Joel R. L. Phelps and the Downer Trio release a gripping new album, by Dave Liljengren