The B is Back: Los Angeles artist Tairrie B has released music under a variety of different names over the years, achieving some international acclaim and cementing her status as an intriguing artist who will rarely disappoint. She released the Power of a Woman rap album under her own name in 1990, before forming the rap-metal band Manhole a few years later. That band would change its name to Tura Satana, and then she formed the alt-metal band My Ruin in ’99. My Ruin is currently on hiatus.

So that’s the brief backstory for the uninitiated, and it’s only interesting because it lays out how Tairrie B Murphy (her married name) has made it her business to keep moving forward, to avoid stagnation and, as a result, her output has been remarkably consistent.

SWTEVL is where she’s at now, alongside her husband and musical partner Mick Murphy. A producer and multi-instrumentalist of note, Murphy has worked with the likes of Neanderthal, Heavy 70’s, Chevy Metal, the Birds of Satan, and Teenage Time Killers. He’s no slouch.

“A few years ago, Mick and I made the life-changing move from my hometown of Los Angeles where we had been living to his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee,” B says. “After nine studio albums and years of touring, we decided it was time to put My Ruin on a permanent hiatus. It wasn’t an easy decision, but reflecting on the past two decades, we also realized that we were not the same people we were when we lived in L.A. Like artists do, we changed and grew. I wasn’t sure I wanted to record another rock album, however, after 2022 came to a fitful end with two years of living through the chaos of a worldwide pandemic and the politics which accompanied it, like most of America, we were mentally exhausted. Not wanting to revamp the past musically or relive those songs emotionally, we felt it was time to cut loose, kick off the dust and recharge our creative batteries, which led us back into the studio and SWTEVL was born. With our new album, we are equally about reinvigorating ourselves as artists, while redefining our art for a new era and beyond. I guess you can say that was our mission.”

SWTEVL is very much a two-piece, just the two of them in glorious creative matrimony.

“Once we decided it was time to do some new music, we slowly started conceptualizing, writing and recording songs,” Murphy says. “It served as a positive outlet that helped us get through those unprecedented times. We ended up enjoying being together in the studio so much that we got hyper focused and didn’t rush the process. This turned into a creative explosion of new material.”

This is a lively rock ‘n’ roll band with a dark lean, perhaps more swing than B’s previous bands, with some wild industrial vibes that recall the likes of Zodiac Mindwarp, and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. Frankly, it’s a joy.

“The evolution thus far was mainly in the very beginning while we were defining the parameters and deciding what kind of music we intended to make with our new project,” says M Murphy. “We consciously wanted it to be different from My Ruin, so we drew from our collective eclectic non-metal, non-extreme influences like vintage and garage rock, post punk, new wave and alternative music. Once we found the vibe and it clicked as more songs were completed, we felt SWTEVL begin to take shape and it was exciting.”

B and Murphy have been a couple for 24 years, and recently celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary.

“Although we come from two very different backgrounds with different individual tastes and influences, we share a common passion for good quality music of all genres from vintage rock and metal to funk and old school hip-hop,” B says. “We’re very open-minded to what the other brings into the studio when we collaborate on our various projects and have a unique chemistry which we’ve developed over years. This has made working together come naturally in regards to our art. We don’t always agree but that’s healthy and the beauty of our partnership. We share a mutual respect for each other as artists as well as husband/wife, we speak our minds but also listen and have learned to trust each other explicitly so it’s never really been an issue for us creatively speaking. Much like marriage, making music has been an exciting endeavor to embark on together.”

SWTEVL is named after a 1977 Derringer album (it’s pronounced Sweet Evil), and their debut album is Very Truly Yours. It was recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Murphy at their home studio, The Magick Room, in Knoxville. The themes, they say, address who they are now as GenXers, as opposed to who they were when they met.

“In the past, I’ve always written such dark and confrontational lyrics, which I spent my career screaming over super heavy/doom influenced metal,” B says. “It was therapeutic to deliver it in a brutal language but it became hard on me emotionally and physically on tour, to the point it just wasn’t enjoyable anymore. While the new album is feisty and ferocious, it’s also filled with attitude-infused vocal swagger and a tongue-in-cheek playfulness to the lyrics, along with a bit of subtle mystery, which offers some escapism from the heaviness we’ve been so accustomed to. We’ve grown as artists and with age comes wisdom but also new topics of interest.”

That said, there are some of B’s classic protest anthems on there, too.

“There are certain songs such as ‘Call To Action’ and ‘Solidarity’ that continue a theme I first spoke about in the early ‘90s with my band Manhole, which is a lyrically pointed, deeply personal yet universal call and response protest anthem of resistance,” she says. “A much-needed war cry to rise up against the intrusive radical right-wing legislation, which has set women back 50 years in our country thanks to a twice impeached, toxic as fuck, quadruple-indicted, civilly liable sexual assaulting, insurrectionist ex-president appointing three anti-abortion radical religious extremists to the Supreme Court. With what happened to Roe v Wade and Trump as the preferred GOP nominee once again, this is a stark reminder that the fight for women’s rights and reproductive freedom is not over in 2024, so it’s important to continue to speak up, show up and not sit this next election out. Our democracy depends on it.”

Looking ahead, SWTEVL is focusing on introducing this new project to fans of the musicians involved, old and new. Build a fanbase, release content and hopefully, eventually, play some shows.

“We have a few new videos that we’ve filmed, which we are currently busy editing and plan to release to accompany upcoming singles,” B says. “We have also recorded a kick-ass cover album, which we’re excited for people to hear and will be dropping later this year, and I am working on another solo hip-hop album that I plan to release before Nov. 5 to coincide with the most important election of our lifetime. VOTE BLUE!”

Hear hear!

The B is Back: SWTEVL’s Very Truly Yours is out now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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