Dear FVK...

Dearest Beveridge, Drew, Pill, Shane and Kemp (formerly known collectively as Fearless Vampire Killers),

I cannot begin to make you understand how much you’ve done for me over the last four years. I could (and probably will) spend the rest of my life trying, but I truly don’t think I could possibly make you grasp the impact you’ve had on my life.

Back in 2011 when I first saw that Introducing page in Kerrang! I was a 23 year old cardigan salesperson, working a job she hated, too shy and scared to answer back to her own boss or change anything about her pretty shitty and lonely life. Back then I had no idea what that single page in a shit magazine would lead to, and in a way I’m glad I didn’t, because the surprises and spontaneous decisions I’ve made along this mental journey have all added something to this whole experience.

In the four years that I’ve known you, my confidence has grown tenfold, I’ve changed jobs, I’ve travelled more miles than I can count and been to places I still couldn’t point out on a map, I’ve renewed my passport and journeyed outside of the UK for the first time in 13 years, and possibly most importantly I’ve found the most wonderful network of friends I could ever have wished for. None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for you.
My desire to talk to you drove me to push myself out of my comfort zone and approach you even though my heart was pounding and I was scared I was going to make a tit out of myself (I know I DID make a tit out of myself but shh, let me have this).
Wanting to follow you to as many gigs as possible meant that when my boss gave me the ridiculous ultimatum of ‘my job or the band’ I had the guts to turn around and tell her that she’d better advertise my job because I was sick of her treating me like crap. (She later went back on this, let me keep my job and gave me the holiday I’d been asking for at the time, but that didn’t last very long and long story short I’m better off out of there.)

I know I’ve told you all at various points that you gave me a reason to live, and I truly hope you don’t think that’s an exaggeration. You gave me the desire to carry on when I couldn’t find it anywhere else, and that’s not something I will ever be able to thank you enough for. If you hadn’t been in my life at my lowest ebb I don’t know if I’d still be here now, and I’ll be grateful for the fact that you were there for the rest of my life.

Please know the end of this band doesn’t mean you’ve gotten rid of me. I can’t wait to see where you all go from here, and I hope it won’t be too long until I get to see where that is.

"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring, 
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."

All my love always, until the very end,

Meg Mercury xoxo