J.U.N.K.I.E. Love

If you liked Nikki Sixx’s Heroin Diaries, I think you’ll dig tonight’s music.

Mary Magdalan, lead singer and co-founder of the band of the same name, has lived through every bit as much hell as Sixx, and come through the other side to document her story on her band’s debut album.

Both of Mary’s parents were heroin addicts, according to her bio. At two years old, she was sent to live with her grandparents and her aunt and uncle. Her aunt was shot during a car jacking when Mary was three, leaving her in a vegetative state. Mary spent much of her childhood shuttled back and forth between her grandparents and her parents until her mom died from an aneurism. Soon after, her aunt died as well, and her uncle was beaten to death while in prison. After her grandfather’s death, Mary took off for Los Angeles. There, she said, she “fell into some really bad habits. Nights up in the hills turned into days locked up in my closet. Things spiraled down to the depths and one night as I laid there in panicked rushes I finally had enough.”

Looking for a way to get “clean,” she met DJ Gzus H. His reputation and his musical talent united them. One painful recovery and the addition of the guitarist Ericb put everything in motion. “After about a year of writing we really started to gel,” Mary said in an interview posted on her MySpace. “I guess at that point we realized that it was time to put something down, so we locked up and did Pity Girl.”

Mary Magdalan self-released Pity Girl last December. The band is not signed to a label and not currently looking for one. They’ve sold the album through their MySpace, using Internet, live shows, and word-of-mouth to generate buzz. “One of the reasons we never signed is we don't want to change what we do to suit the suits,” Mary said in a June interview with NoneLouder.com. “It’s that ‘Mary, you gotta stop cursing,’ or ‘Mary, can you talk about something happy.’ We don't tone down to appease someone. If you don't like us then turn us off, but don't expect us to make a pop song to get ahead in the game.”

I’ve got a couple of songs tonight from Pity Girl. “Rehab” is the first song the band wrote. “At the time, I was dealing with a lot of chemical demons,” Mary said about the song. “My DJ came by the club and slid me some beats and he accidentally put the beat for ‘Rehab’ on my CD. The next time we met I had the basis of the song and he had no choice but to give me the beat. While making the song, I hit a turning point in my life because that is when I made the decision to walk another path.”

Once you check out these songs, get over to the band’s MySpace and buy the album.

Rehab.mp3
I Should Kill You.mp3

Labels: metal

posted by aikin @ 9:10 PM