Vexed (band)

Lore & Background

Vexed were formed on New Year's Day 2019 by vocalist Megan Targett, guitarist Jay Bacon, and drummer Willem Mason-Geraghty. All three had previously played together in a band whose direction they disliked; Targett felt limited as a female musician and said she "didn't have a lot of respect for the music or myself because none of it was genuine to me." After nearly quitting music, they formed Vexed to write, wear, play, and say whatever they wanted. The band's name was chosen simply because they liked the word 'vexed' itself, not from any novel.

In April 2019, Vexed self-released their debut single "Elite," featuring CJ McMahon, which garnered over 500,000 streams by 2021. They released a second single, "Dominate," in May 2019, and performed their first show at the UK Tech-Fest in July. After recruiting bassist Al Harper for a Swiss tour, he officially joined the band. Vexed signed with Napalm Records and released their debut album Culling Culture in May 2021, following pandemic delays. The album's themes involve removing negative individuals from one's life. After the album's release, Targett's grandfather was hospitalized, leading to a hiatus; the band later wrote and recorded their second album, Negative Energy, in three months, released in June 2023. The band parted ways with Napalm after that album and toured Europe in 2025 without label backing, launching a fundraiser to cover tour costs.

Reader's Guide

Vexed emerged in the late 2010s as part of a wave of British metal bands blending alternative metal with deathcore, djent, and nu metal elements. Their debut single "Elite" brought them early streaming success and led to international touring. The band's two studio albums, Culling Culture and Negative Energy, received generally positive reviews and addressed personal themes of self-empowerment, loss, and mental health. Vexed's significance lies in their independent rise, their willingness to write candidly about difficult experiences, and their ability to sustain a career after parting with their label. Their 2025 European tour, funded partly through fan support, illustrates the challenges independent metal bands face in the modern music industry. The band continues to perform and is scheduled to open for Kittie in 2026.

Did You Know?

• Their debut single "Elite" featured CJ McMahon, then vocalist of Thy Art Is Murder, and accumulated over 500,000 streams by 2021.
• The band scrapped seven songs' worth of material for their second album before writing Negative Energy in three months.
• Vexed launched a GoFundMe and raffle to cover £14,000 of tour costs after their 2025 European tour without label backing.

Formation and Early Momentum

Vexed came into existence on New Year's Day 2019, born from the shared frustration of vocalist Megan Targett, guitarist Jay Bacon, and drummer Willem Mason-Geraghty. The trio had previously played together in another project, but repeated lineup shifts had eroded their creative direction. Targett spoke openly about feeling constrained as a woman in that setting, describing a loss of respect for both the music and herself because nothing felt authentic. Rather than abandoning music entirely, the three committed to a fresh start where they could write, perform, and express themselves without compromise. The band's name drew from the recurring use of a particular word in The Count of Monte Cristo, a term Targett felt mirrored her own lyrical voice. Their early momentum was striking: the self-released debut single "Elite," featuring a guest vocal from Thy Art Is Murder's CJ McMahon (who initially declined before reversing course after hearing the track), surpassed half a million streams. That success attracted a Swiss promoter, leading to a continental tour where bassist Al Harper joined just two weeks before departure and became a permanent fixture by its conclusion.

Culling Culture and the Road to Napalm

The debut full-length, Culling Culture, was recorded in 2019 with producer Meyrick de La Fuente, frontman of Exist Immortal. The album's central thesis was one of severing ties with toxic people and reclaiming personal agency; Targett noted that eight of the tracks each targeted a specific individual from her past, charting her journey from entanglement to complete disassociation. Because the band lacked a bassist during most of the recording, de La Fuente composed the majority of the low-end parts, though Harper—having joined as the sessions wrapped—learned every line and co-wrote the final track, "Fake." After signing with management firm Tone Management, the band shopped the near-finished record to labels. Following a stretch of silence, Napalm Records stepped forward, and the album was scheduled for 2020. The pandemic intervened, pushing the release eight months back to 21 May 2021 and wiping out a planned European support tour behind Whitechapel along with festival dates. The delayed launch was met with generally positive critical reception, and the band followed it with a Bloodstock Open Air set, a UK headline run in early 2022, and opening slots for In Flames and Spiritbox.

Grief, Blockage, and Negative Energy

The period immediately following Culling Culture's release was marked by profound personal loss. On the very day the album dropped, Targett's grandfather was hospitalized with pulmonary fibrosis; the band entered hiatus so she could care for him, and he passed three months later. Fellow members also lost close family and loved ones during the same window. When the group reconvened in November 2021 to write new material, they hit a wall. Targett explained that they initially tried to force a hopeful "silver lining" into their songs, but the exercise felt dishonest. Harper eventually stepped back from the writing process after a year of struggle. Eight months in, they discarded seven songs' worth of work, retaining only a handful of riffs. The breakthrough came when they committed to writing about their genuine emotional state. The result, Negative Energy, was written and recorded in just three months with de La Fuente returning as producer and stepping in on bass. The record leans harder into aggression, dials back clean vocals, and tackles mourning, the music industry, religion, and mental health. Released on 23 June 2023 to positive reviews, it was followed by a UK headline tour supported by Pulse.

Going Independent and Evolving Sound

After Negative Energy, Vexed parted ways with Napalm Records, marking a shift toward full independence. Their first self-organized European tour, supporting Silent Planet across January and February 2025, cost £34,000. The band managed to cover £20,000 from their own resources and turned to a GoFundMe campaign plus raffles and giveaways to close the remaining gap. That grassroots approach underscored a broader commitment to self-determination that had defined them since 2019. Musically, the band's palette has continued to broaden. Their sound blends alternative metal and deathcore with touches of djent, nu metal, hip-hop, and grime, drawing from a diverse roster of influences that spans Emmure, Meshuggah, N.W.A., King 810, and Megan Thee Stallion. While "Elite" was shaped by Thy Art Is Murder's Dear Desolation, Negative Energy leaned toward non-metal artists like The Prodigy, Sia, JME, Rico Nasty, and Lorn. Targett mentioned plans for an EP of lockdown-era material in 2024 that ultimately did not materialize, and the band continued touring with Cabal and Carnifex across Europe before a scheduled run opening for Kittie in Germany in August 2026.

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