MEGHAN TOOHEY Bio Hailing from the sleepy suburbs of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Meghan Toohey has been playing guitar most of her life. Through her late teens and early twenties, Meghan immersed herself in almost every instrument she could find. Playing bass, lead guitar, keyboards, or singing in various punk to indie-rock formations, she honed her chops in the thriving Boston underground music scene of the mid-nineties-at one point working with famed producer Eddie Kramer (Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix) on a collection of demos. Through many restless après-show nights, Meghan wrote over one hundred songs, each wrenching and unforgettable, with sweeping hooks, crunching licks, and a sound somewhere between Alanis Morissette and the Clash. In the spring of 1999, Meghan settled in Jamaica Plain, MA and began to put together what is affectionately referred to by rabid fans as the Meghan Toohey Experience-a four piece rock/pop outfit billing itself as Meghan Toohey, with a sound described by one critic as Chrissy Hynde, Luscious Jackson, and Damon Albarn sitting on a street corner outside 7-11 watching Johnny Lang drink a soda. For the last year Meghan Toohey and her band have been igniting a quick buzz and growing a cult-like following, touring clubs and colleges across greater New England. She garnered three Boston Music Award nominations, including outstanding female vocalist (indie) in 2001, and was a nominee in the 2001 Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll. Toohey sold out residencies at TOAD and the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge MA, and packed headlining shows in spring 2001 at prestigious Boston rock clubs, including the Middle East, TT the Bear's, and The Paradise. During December 2000, Meghan Toohey and her band played two weeks of UK tour dates opening for the Saw Doctors and playing to over 2,500 people a night, including a sold out show at the famed Shepard's Bush Empire in London. Through the early part of 2001, Meghan Toohey and her band toured throughout the Northeast, playing support slots, headlining small clubs, and playing many well-known clubs, including the Fez (NYC), the Metro (DC), the Rosebud (Pittsburgh), and the Iron Horse Music Hall (Northampton, MA). As front-woman, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter, Toohey sparkles with charisma and an ingénue charm. Her performances will, in one song, tear your heart out and, in another, sweep you to dance, bop around, and feverishly sing the refrains louder and louder before you catch yourself in brief embarrassment. Her songs pull and tug, some intense and blistering others careen with irreverent beauty, melodic textures, and a rock solid rhythm. Spring 2001 heralded the simultaneous, independent releases of two Meghan Toohey albums: Eight So Low, an unsuspectingly recorded, live solo set of a rare acoustic outing; and a self-produced, 10-track, full-tilt labor of love recorded in a Nashua New Hampshire basement, aptly titled Romantic Blunder #4. Toohey plays every instrument but drums and every track is like nothing you've heard before, yet instantly familiar. The record was mixed at the historic A&M studios in L.A. Highly anticipated, the release of these two albums will continue to swell the bubble of a rock band soon to explode. For the past few years Meghan has shared duties as side-woman on electric guitar with Lori McKenna and on bass with Jess Klein's band touring across the US including appearances at Lilith Fair and the Newport Folk Festival. ALBUM REVIEWS "A late addition to the A-list is Meghan Toohey whose Romantic Blunder #4 confirms the buzz she's built up over the past year." -The Boston Phoenix -"Meghan [Toohey] just released her debut album, a hard-rocking blues concoction that combines the lyricism of Melissa Etheridge with the attitude of Chrissy Hynde." -The Boston Magazine LIVE REVIEWS "All eyes should be trained on 23 year-old Chelmsford native Meghan Toohey, whose set of modern melodic rock was hard, winsome, and wonderful." - The Boston Globe "Backed by solid line-up she came out slashing at an electric guitar, and she delivered at set of rough and punkish drive." - The Boston Phoenix Meghan Toohey has opened for: Tim Easton, The Pernice Brothers, Sarah Harmer, Melissa Ferrick, Catie Curtis, Jess Klein, the Red Telephone, Erin McKeown, Emm Gryner, Slide, Michelle Malone, Jonatha Brooke, Scout, Andy Stochansky, and Lori Mckenna, Rose Polenzani, Miss Fortune, Gail Ann Dorsey. Some venues Meghan Toohey has played at: The Paradise, Boston MA The Middle East, Cambridge MA TT the Bears, Cambridge MA The Somerville Theater, Somerville MA The Iron Horse, Northampton MA Mountain Stage, West Virginia Shepherds Bush Empire, London UK The Fez, NYC The Metro, DC The Bitter End, NYC The Mint, LA The Rosebud, Pittsburg Shepard's Bush Empire, London The Metro, Chicago The Met Cafe, Prov. RI AS220, Prov. RI Tufts University, Medford MA Yale University, New Haven CT Wellesley College, Wellesley MA Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY Management: Gabriel Unger Artist Management (p) 617-524-0094 (f) 617-983- 9110 Gdunger@aol.com www.meghantoohey.com