Although she often shares the bill with Boston folk artists like Lori McKenna and Erin McKeowin, Meghan Toohey has a style all her own.
A mixture of folk influences and electric rock make it hard to label Toohey's music, but the artist is quick to define her style. "I'm more of an electric girl rocker," she said. "I get grouped in with the folk thing because I play guitar for a lot of folk people in town. My music isn't necessarily in the same category because of my guitar style. I'm more of a soloist than just using it as accompaniment."
A number of musicians, from British popsters to classics like the Beatles and Led Zepellin, have influenced Toohey's career. From reading poetry to listening to the radio to overhearing people's dramas in coffee shops, Toohey said she's often inspired by other people and performers.
But while her inspiration to write comes from many sources, she said she often has trouble coming up with lyrics and typically adds them onto songs after composing the music. "I usually have a much harder time coming up with lyrics," she said. "I'm into seeing the song as a whole - seeing the way the song is going to be in the end. I like orchestrating the song on a larger level than the process of doing it."
Toohey hails from a musical family; after starting on violin and piano she moved on to drums and, eventually, the pink guitar her parents gave her one Christmas. Her first rock performance came a talent show in junior high school - her band was called Wrong Number, and she fondly remembers that it was the first rock act ever to play in the show.
From an early age, then, Toohey wanted to be a performer. "According to my parents I wanted to be the Pope and a bus driver when I was little, but besides these funny ideas I always wanted to be a musician," she said. "I remember buying Thriller and having a little record player in my room. I had these gloves that I would put on and pretend to be Michael Jackson. I just thought that being an entertainer had to be the coolest job."
According to Toohey, now in the process of recording a new CD, being in a band isn't always the easy life it might seem. She said she usually walks away with empty pockets after paying for rehearsal space and promoting her shows - "it ain't easy, but it's fun." She wants to be able to support herself and eventually travel with her music. "My biggest goal is to make a living playing music- to get out there, have fun, and have an effect on people in a positive way. I don't think anybody who is in this world doesn't listen to some kind of music and get totally floored by it."
For Toohey, the music is constantly evolving. She plans to continue changing her style and even the instruments she uses. "I'll never stop trying to be a better performer," she said. "You have to keep going, because you just can't give up and stay at the same level. I love to pick up new instruments and fiddle around with them. Then I can go back to my first instruments and have a whole new way of looking at it."
Music for her has been very important, and she hopes to communicate this message in her compositions. "Whatever they get out of it is great. Music is great at making people feel good or horrible. As long as somebody gets something from it that makes them feel good about themselves or about life, that is great because life is great. You see musicians getting together and doing benefits. Music is a healing thing - it doesn't matter if it's a large tragedy, a small heartbreak, or even the senior prom."
Toohey's quirky habits - she often is seen air drumming in the car - contribute to her unique style, one quite different from the other folk music you may have heard. You can catch Toohey as the opening act this Saturday at the Somerville Theater, or purchase one of her two CDs, Romantic Blender #4 and Eight so Low.
