Touring new album

Yorkshire-born guitarist, singer and songwriter Chantel McGregor tours to Sussex to support her album The Healing which came out last year.

On June 5 she will be at The Carlisle, Hastings.

Over the past 15 years Chantel has carved a reliable presence on the British gig circuit, covering the length and breadth of the country, and appearing at some of our biggest festivals. But The Healing last year revealed a whole new side to her in both a musical and emotional sense.

“This is definitely a rock album – not a blues album,” she says. “It’s heavy and dark and it introduces elements of prog-rock, which is a form of music I absolutely love.”

The first single Broken Heartless Liar is a raw, defiant rock anthem about finally seeing the truth and taking back your power.

Chantel said: “It captures the moment you realise the person you loved never really valued you, just took what they could while giving nothing in return. The song moves from heartbreak to clarity, shifting from the pain of betrayal to the strength of walking away. It’s about breaking free from the lies and emotional wreckage and choosing empowerment over staying trapped in something toxic.”

As she says, Broken Heartless Liar will connect with anyone who has ever had to fight their way out of a bad relationship and come out stronger on the other side

“The Healing was not written as a concept album but it ended up as one in a way. The concept is that as we go through life and all go through really difficult things and harrowing things, we all grieve and we love and we lose people and we go through awful times but we've just got to try and come out the other side. But the thing is that everyone goes through things like this, and the healing is just somehow to find a way to carry on, just to emerge the other side. And maybe just to think that everything happens for a reason and to hang on to the fact that things can change and can get better. But as I say the point is that everybody goes through exactly the same things. And that is something I hope the audiences and fans will connect with when they hear the album.

“The song The Healing is about nearly losing mum and just processing those thoughts, the grieving which isn't grieving but then becoming completely neurotic about it maybe happening again. But as you get older you start to perceive things in a different way anyway. That's just natural.”

Chantel started playing in 2011 and can see that things have changed considerably since then, particularly post-pandemic: “How people consume music was changing anyway with the digital stuff but I think it has changed all the more since the pandemic. I think maybe people got used to just staying at home and watching YouTube. It is more difficult to get people out now. It's really double edged. Some people were just so grateful to be able to come out after the pandemic but other people were still quite scared. I think it's settled now in a way but also now we've got the cost of living, with just going out being so expensive. And I think it just makes me think that I've got to make my gigs all the better and all the more enjoyable. People are spending their money and I want them to really enjoy the concerts as much as they can and for me to give them the best experience I possibly can.”