Meet Morgehenna | Guitarist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Morgehenna and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Morgehenna, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor to my success was realizing that nothing is really ever about me.

What I mean by that is, if you’re building a brand, you have to ask yourself at some point: “What can I do for others?”. If you want people to support you, you have to have something to offer them. Whether it’s inspiration, knowledge, joy, entertainment, whatever. If you build a brand on self serving values, you won’t get far.

Collaborations and business ventures are entirely about what you have to offer others, not about what they have to offer you.

Once you realize that, you’ll start to stop asking “how can I make a million dollars” and start asking “how can I help a million people”?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a guitarist, vocalist, and internationally published model. I play in a death metal band called Kryptkeeper .

I started my music career by just posting covers online and finding people who were interested in the same type of music as me. As a woman, it was hard for me to be taken seriously with the type of music I’m playing. Death metal is an aggressive style of music that is primarily male dominated. For that reason, I deal with a lot more sexism than if I were playing rock and roll or pop.

Being a model and feminine woman in the world of death metal put a huge target on my back, especially at first. A lot of local musicians (all men) would put my playing down, offer unwarranted “advice”, or make comments about what I was wearing. It was really discouraging.

Not a lot of people understand the style of music I play. I don’t really have support from my parent’s either. There’s a lot of stigma behind death metal because of the lyrical themes of violence, gore, and murder. Death metal is the equivalent of listening to a horror movie. But really, it’s just art. There are some people who take it too seriously and many people who don’t give it enough credit as an art form.

Most death metal bands have really skilled musicianship that goes unnoticed because people can’t get past the screaming. haha

I overcame the challenge of sexism by being authentically feminine rather than conforming to the masculine role that death metal implies. I play with my pink guitar, I wear skirts on stage if I feel like it. I don’t have to be masculine to be brutal and badass. Women ARE badass.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a food snob, it’s pretty bad. My favorite restaurant locally is an Italian place called Angelo Elia. The service and food never disappoint. I like to play pool at Propaganda and listen to the ska bands or punk bands in the area, I like roller skating at Atlantis, lots of things to do around here. The beach at night is pretty great too.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate this shoutout to Parker Rockenstein. He’s a skilled guitarist that plays in the band Kryptkeeper with me. He has been the most supportive and motivating person in my life for years now.

Instagram: Instagram.com/Morgehenna

Facebook: Facebook.com/Morgehenna

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgiLMzrEnC45eTGrEtaJtpA

Image Credits
Both images are by Chris Arock