The duo Scarlet McPherson and Skyler Chilton grabbed Dallas by the clam when they entered the music scene in 2021. In just two years, the band went from braving open mics to nearly selling out their shows.
Named after a literal giant clam, Chilton says that some of the meaning behind the double entendre is that it's representative of every ounce of King Clam’s ethos.
“I like the gender-bending idea, because you don’t see a lot of female-fronted rock bands,” Chilton says.
“It’s like, androgynous,” adds McPherson with a laugh, “a little bit of both there.”
The two often laugh in unison. They finish each other’s words and thoughts like sisters, showing an obvious connection beyond their creative partnership.
Much like the play on words that makes up their band name, the ladies of King Clam embody a distinct femininity in their lyrics and sexuality, delivered with a king-like grandeur in their rock 'n' roll attitude, aggressive music and stage presence.
Their look is unmissable, with McPherson on lead vocals rocking out like Janis Joplin with blazing red hair, and Chilton ripping through guitar chords behind her blond bangs. But with a sound so highly saturated among male performers, their style stands as a unique blend of loudly feminine energy and grunge, rock star bro.
Whether they’re rocking elaborate makeup with pasties and glitter or fishnets with leotards and chains, their fashion mixes up the genres just as much as their music.
“Our sound, I would say, is between grunge and classic rock; it can get heavy and it can also get more classic,” says Chilton. “I’ve always loved harmony, and once we started singing together our voices blended really well.”
The pair began making music together on a train in China, where they'd traveled together to study Buddhism. After that, things took off and they began experimenting with new sounds.
“I knew we both liked blues, and that’s kind of where Texas rock really started,” Chilton says. “So I started to attempt to write some sort of blues song, and I’d been studying what kind of chords go in that and did a really simple one and it ended up being something we really liked. I think as we progressed, that’s inspired us in our writing. But we’ve gotten much heavier, as far as our writing and feel, and that was just our first song taking inspiration from other stuff. And then we kind of developed our own style as we went after that.”
When it comes to creating the lyrics behind some of their songs, the inspiration can be otherworldy.
“We kind of wanted to get out of the normal way of writing and do something random,” says Chilton of their first single, “Roswell.”
“It’s about the alien crash that happened way back when,” adds McPherson. The two laugh as she attempts a theatrical reenactment: “Like, ‘This happened on a sheep farm …’”
Their latest single, “69,” has a theme of sexual revenge, as McPherson belts out in the lyrics: “Spending my time in a passionate 69/ I’m gonna forget you/ I’m gonna make it more than you/ I’m gonna make them say my name.”
The song release was their last big event, a huge, Under the Sea-themed party. There were burlesque performers, a dancing lobster, an antiques booth, a tattoo booth with sea dungeon/clam/69-inspired flash tats, a treasure peddler vending jewelry and an extravagant stage set up done by Ashley Myrick with huge coral pieces, bubbles and all.
“’69’ is the first song we wrote together, on the train in China,” says Chilton. “It’s inspired by taking back our power after breakups.”
“People love ’69,’ it’s very chill, very classic, soul-driven,” says McPherson. “The song means a lot to the both of us. The song that we picked and the artwork we picked of us is me and Skyler, our hands together, we’re doing a pinky promise. That’s the cover of it and it just kind of shows us being together on this project.”
"I do feel like we are being constantly sexualized. It’s like, yeah, we wear whatever we want, but my thing is, I didn’t ask to have titties.” – Skyler Chilton
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But the song also has a dark message.
“It’s about finding inspiration in revenge," says Chilton. "Just constantly being on the scene dealing with men acting like what we have to say doesn’t matter as much.”
“And being angry about it,” says McPherson, “being silenced by the boys.”
“I think a lot of anger comes through that,” Chilton adds.
The girls smile when giving a preview of their next single, “Luxury,” which will be released in 2024.
“That one’s more hardcore kick in the teeth,” Chilton says.
Laughing together, the two insist, “We don’t hate men,” their words ringing in unison.
What they do hate, however, is dealing with body image issues as female artists in a male-dominated industry.
“There was a photo we posted for our first single release,” says McPherson. “It was a photo we took with my hand on top of my crotch area. Someone commented on it, freaking out about a moose knuckle [camel toe], and how dare we do that. We were kind of hurt about that, because we should be able to do what we want to do without it being sexualized.”
Chilton adds: “I do feel like we are being constantly sexualized. It’s like, yeah, we wear whatever we want, but my thing is, I didn’t ask to have titties.”
Stepping out as artists during a time when abortion rights were being challenged, the duo combatted the setback by making the release a dedication to women, bringing on all-female vendors to shows and giving a percentage of proceeds to a Dallas abortion clinic.
“Putting out that [album] poster, to me it felt very personal because it was such a beautiful photo,” says Chilton. “I knew that people would have something to say about it, and I kind of didn’t care in the moment because to me, it was a celebration of being a woman and having something to say and something to do, regardless of how people want to tear us down.
“When people are like, ‘Hmmm, classy,’ it’s like, shut up. Nobody has anything to say about a dude in a thong.”
