Picture Me Broken frontwoman talks band evolution

by Reggie Edwards

\"PictureThere’s a saying that goes something like this- “All good things take time.” A lot of young bands experience this but Picture Me Broken are currently riding high and experiencing some of the biggest moments of their career.

With their first full-length releasing three years ago, Picture Me Broken have spent years cutting their teeth, paying their dues and putting in the hard work and dedication required to get that big break. Picture Me Broken is a project frontwoman Brooklyn Allman has been growing and nurturing since she was 12 years old.

“Its first evolution consisted of four 7th graders playing Green Day covers at church festivals but the same intention was always there through all the years and lineup changes,” explains Allman. “I knew who I was and what I wanted at a very young age, which was to be an artist in a real rock band so it takes a while to find the right people to protect and share that dream with you. As the band stands now, I think 12 year old me would be very proud that PMB is playing shows with household names by age 20 alongside musicians as stellar as my bandmates.”

‘What household names are they touring with?,’ you may ask. Earlier this year, Picture Me Broken spent a couple months on the road with Otep.

“Otep is fabulous,” explains Allman. “We\’ve all heard stories about her but she was nothing but nice and supportive to us. I like that she doesn\’t take any shit from anyone. I hope to have many more tours like that one. I really enjoyed her relentless schedule, the whole 13 shows in a row with no break thing actually works for me- I tend to fester and stew on days off. In addition to becoming acquainted with Miss Otep, Kimberly of One Eyed Doll is a very eccentric character I\’m glad I\’ve come to know.

It doesn’t stop there. In fact, it’s just getting started for Picture Me Broken. Currently their touring as direct support for iconic and legendary shock rockers Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson on their Monsters of Madness- Shock Therapy Tour, one that has brought some interesting experiences and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

“I don\’t think there any many more prestigious honors for a young rock band than getting to support timeless rock icons like Cooper and Manson,” says Allman. They\’ve both been incredibly supportive of PMB so far on this tour so that certainly made the nerves subside quickly. I would be lying if I said I wasn\’t the slightest bit intimidated at first.”

When you’re a young band on a tour with bands of such high caliber and iconic status, it’s easy to fear being ignored, which often times does happen. Allman says, however, this tour has been a pleasant surprise to say the least.

“A couple shows into the tour a crew member of tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Mr. Manson would like to speak with you,’’ recants Allman, “and led me to his \”lair\”, it was like something out of a movie. I\’ll pop into his dressing room and drink some absinthe from time to time.

“We have really been getting along with the other bands and crews. I was afraid we might be completely ignored as, well, we\’re really nobody yet, but everyone has treated us as equals, which is wonderful when you\’re hanging with artists and teams of that caliber. Cooper came up to me 4 shows into the tour saying he\’d just found out who my dad was, I thought that was a testament to us earning the opportunity on our own.”

The Manson/Cooper tour couldn’t have come at a more ideal time for Picture Me Broken, who are out supporting possibly their strongest release to-date in Mannequins, an EP that was released late last year.

The Mannequins EP was meant to foreshadow PMB\’s new sonic direction,” explains Allman. “We\’ve gone through some dramatic lineup changes since the last release as I started this band when I was very young and had to take the time to build it in the right way.

“I think it\’s primarily a definitive departure from the \”screamo\” and \”metalcore\” scene, that\’s not to say I\’m done with scream vocals, we\’re simply ready to define ourselves as a rock band and take any sort of trendy stamp off our foreheads.

Just listening to Picture Me Broken the artistic influence and high levels of creativity are more than clear. It doesn’t take much to figure out how theatrical the band likes to be, especially Allman, who takes on most of the songwriting.

“I\’ve always been influenced by theatrical artists who strived to create something dynamic with a message and slowly over time I\’ve been trying to piece together PMB as a project that could be striking in a way that makes a loud statement both visually and sonically,” elaborates Allman. “We\’re still working on fully achieving that and have a long way to go in my eyes.

“Our recent music video for \”Torture\” illustrates how the band likes to get conceptual and cinematic in a way that gives the audience something not only to look at and listen to, but something to make them think. So much music has become boring and subdued lately which only makes us want to turn the imagery and concepts up a notch.”

Nowadays, fans have come to be somewhat impatient when it comes to music from their favorite bands. Although Mannequins was released just a year ago, fans have already been screaming for new music and rumors of a new album, Corrupt Me, have been circulating around the often-frustrating world called the internet.

Fans may have to wait a bit for this record to release, as Allman and the rest of Picture Me Broken are taking their time with it- plus they may have heard bits and pieces of the record without even realizing it.

Mannequins came of the Corrupt Me sessions, originally intended to be the session for a full length album but the result came of a situation we had no control over,” explains Allman. “Corrupt Me is still a hypothetical brainchild at this point as I\’ve decided to start from scratch on the full length since we\’re a stronger band with more touring under its belt now than we were when we had finished the unreleased Corrupt Me LP.

“We will absolutely keep a good deal of the songs but we\’d like to go back to the drawing board and throw some new in there,” continues Allman, who says the band is anxious to get into the studio, indicating the best work from Picture Me Broken is yet to be released but may come soon.

“We\’re hungry to get into the studio and create the best LP we\’re capable of,” says Allman. “We\’re aiming to be the change we want to see in rock n roll in the studio this time around.”