When Punk Rock Philosophy sat down for a chat with Alex MacDonald – the fiery vocalist for LA punk outfit Mermaid Island- the UK was wilting in a June heatwave and even the minor amount of hot air that the laptop was emanating was almost enough to send me over the edge. So I was quite envious when Alex beamed onto the screen having just taken a morning swim in the rooftop pool of her 1930s apartment building. The Canadian-born singer/songwriter seemed refreshed and buoyant, and very much at home in her quirky home full of history:
“I just moved in September and had to move in out of necessity. I had to find a place fast and this was one of those big buildings that turned out to be the coolest apartment! When I came here there was a vanity already here with this mirror and you sit at the vanity and there’s this drawer and I was like, there has been a hairbrush in this drawer for nearly 100 years! Such a cool feeling to put my brush in the same drawer as all these wannabe actresses, writers, musicians who have been trying to make it in LA.”
The age-old experience of moving to the cultural promised land that is Los Angeles and working to break into the creative industries is one that Alex can relate to- it is wanting to be a writer that pulled her from her home in Canada and led her to set up shop on the US West Coast. But spending lockdown in the city away from family and friends led the singer onto a different path- a path that led to fronting one of the most exciting rock acts in the modern scene. Mermaid Island have been gathering fans and admirers steadily since their inception in 2022. And when considering what it is about the band that is capturing people’s attention right now, there’s no shortage of attributes to choose from. Is it the formidably powerful vocals of Macdonald – the gravelly, furious roar that rages about misogyny, self-destruction, mental health struggles and addiction? Is it the energetic yet intimate style of their live show that has created a reputation for the band way beyond what they have captured on recording? It’s likely to be all of the above – and the fact that everything the band does is first and foremost for their own satisfaction. This lends them a real authenticity that people find refreshing, particularly in the LA scene, and Alex is fiercely committed to this principle:
“I am very protective of this ethos of what the band is… it is about how WE feel and so when we started playing, I kept explaining to everybody who was involved in any capacity that this is about us playing the same set that we would play in our practice room that we would play in front of 5 people or 500 people. We have to be doing it because it brings us joy and we feel connected to each other and we are having a fucking blast. Because if we are having that experience, then the other people in the room will be feeling it too. And that’s how I want to create this experience and you cannot try to do it in a contrived way, you have to just live it”.
And the band are certainly living it- living the band dream the way they want to do it, with complete control over their own destiny and the ethics that infuse what they do. As well as playing as many shows as they can, Mermaid Island (that alongside Alex, comprises of Jenna Terranova, Jesse Shafer and Judah Bell) have just released their self-titled debut album. It’s described as a “cutting, fearless, brutally honest document” and that pretty much hits the mark. There’s 11 tracks of hard-hitting and emotionally complex punk rock underpinned by a real sense of urgency- the sense that people need to hear what Alex is singing about just as much as she has a need to say it. Whilst talking to Alex about what inspires her songwriting and her passion for the band, I was reminded of something I had heard recently that said women are making the most radical music in punk at the moment and that’s a sentiment I would certainly agree with. For Alex, her exposure to the predatory side of the industry and her own personal experiences of navigating a capitalist, patriarchal world has informed a lot of the cathartic and angry tracks on the album such as ‘He Started It’ and ‘Freaks’ and ‘Ice Cream’:
“It is completely out of necessity that I write these songs and that is unfortunate. I wish I didn’t have to write songs about this stuff but those kinds of songs come from me having to suppress emotions and live through these experiences with predatory men. I would love to live in a world where some man says some dumb shit to me and I can react in the moment and express how I feel about it and educate them about what is and is not appropriate… but the reality is I cannot always do that. Most of the time I cannot do that actually, like when I am at work, or alone at night on the street. There are many situations women encounter every day where we cannot react. We could lose our lives, or our jobs, so writing songs channels my emotions and reactions to those situations where I am being objectified, harassed, insulted, or assaulted and those emotions have to go somewhere. And it is really unfortunate that they exist at all but if me writing a song about it and screaming about it can help just one person maybe use their voice to react against a situation… or if it helps one fucking man understand why they shouldn’t say that thing to that woman or follow her home! These issues are seen as women’s issues but these are actually men’s issues and they need to figure this the fuck out”.
Anger is the lifeblood of punk and women have a lot to be angry about so maybe it stands to reason that they are making the most rage-filled music at the moment? For Alex, it’s imperative that people have an outlet to release that suppressed rage:
“We’re conditioned by society to walk around and be supressing our emotions and truth all of the time, yet we have so many huge emotions festering inside of us that people suppress and ignore. Obviously we can’t go around screaming all the time so it needs somewhere to go. I have a lot of fucking anger! And a lot of feelings. Having somewhere specific to put that gives me a feeling of control and relief. It is cathartic and has helped me in every aspect of my life. It is like playing sports, you play sports and you feel fucking great! There’s a physicality to music that goes hand in hand with the mental side of it”.
The band has experienced several lineup changes since its inception, but Alex is pretty confident that her current three bandmates are the right kind of killer combination (Alex described them as “so fucking cool and committed”) to give Mermaid Island that stability and continuity. Whilst Alex’s style of songwriting is collaborative and welcoming of the various musical perspectives of her three fellow musicians, she very much sees herself as leading the band and all the responsibility that entails. But in a way, she’s not just doing it for herself or the other Mermaid Island members, but hopes to be a wider role model for other young girls who wonder if they would be capable of captaining such a badass ship:
“I think another one of the reasons I feel like this band is important is because it is an example of a woman in a leadership position. I’m trying to guide this band not just creatively but also the business side of things and how we fit into the world. It is important to me that we do not have a manager that is making decisions, I am the director of the band and coaching the band. People don’t think about what goes on behind the scenes- there is so much management, coordinating and conflict resolution and practical skills that go into having a band. I don’t think of it as a business, but I do think of it as a project. It does feel like it has a life of its own, we are a team working on the project together. It’s also fun as hell! It is important to me that what we represent is diverse and people will look at the band and say ‘there is someone like me in the band’. It is really important to me that a young girl could think ‘I can start something if I want to, and people will listen to me and follow me and believe in me, I can lead something’.”
Alex is determined to keep this project real and uncompromising in terms of quality and values. She is constantly resisting the advances of prospective managers/agents/label bosses who like to make claims about taking what Mermaid Island have built and elevating it to the next level. It’s an interesting mirror of the dynamics of the past, history repeating itself across nearly a century when we think back to the hairbrush in Alex’s vanity table- how many young talents lived in that very LA apartment and had to fend off sketchy ‘starmakers’ with their lofty promises of fame and fortune? Luckily Alex is not naïve, and the integrity of the band is for too important to be ever up for grabs:
“If I can say one thing to any artist or band, it is trust your fucking gut. If you are getting a feeling inside of you that tells you something is wrong, trust your instinct. Your body knows who you feel safe around. We pick up on many micro aggressions, expressions and cues so it is important to trust yourself. Living authentically is so much about trusting your own experience. There are predators everywhere and they are all out to get this thing that I am protecting but they can’t get anywhere fucking near it. If I was a different girl, maybe they would be able to shape us into something they think we should be that is more marketable or commercial but that it is not what this band is. I am so far beyond giving a fuck about what anyone, especially men have to say”.
As we wrap up the interview, Alex’s mind is on the band’s upcoming shows (the band are playing consistently almost every weekend and have a string of dates across the Summer in California, Arizona and Nevada). Playing live is a major priority for the band and the hope is that the warm reception to their album will open up opportunities to get in front of more people. With the live shows, Alex has found great pride and fulfilment in the community they have built as a band- a community that was a lifeline to her as she navigated life in LA far from her home of Canada whilst the world emerged from its time in lockdown:
“When I came here, I was looking for a community and couldn’t find it so that is why I started the band, to create that feeling for myself and other people to find me and build that community.
The band started out of necessity. It has been cool to see how many people have found a home in that community who love the band and want to be involved. Now I have what is the final lineup we wanna tour and play shows. No one is worried about making money or having a certain surface level image, it is about our experience and what makes us wanna get on stage. If we are having as much fun as we can possibly have, if we are drenched in sweat and going insane and we are having pure of heart, joyful, aggressive experience, people feel that emotion and that will inspire authenticity and truth and emotion.”
‘Mermaid Island’ is an uncompromising and accomplished debut album, channelling high-energy punk rock with early 2000s pop-punk, east-coast Canadian influences, melodic vocals and a heart-on-sleeve songwriting. The band are definitely ones to watch – preferably live if you can! You can stream/buy the album HERE.
Feature pic by Jeff Antons
