Hear It First! 'Voice' Star Terry McDermott Gets Loud, Gets Angry on Lotus Crush's 'Hearts & Minds'

Lyndsey Parker
·Editor in Chief, Yahoo Music
Updated

Fans of The Voice Season 3 (aka THE BEST SEASON EVER), and of great rock singing in general, surely remember and appreciate Terry McDermott, the runner-up with the perfect set of pipes. In his pre-Voice years, he was the frontman of Britrockers Driveblind, and how he’s returned to his rock-band roots with a new group, Lotus Crush (featuring guitarist Peter Klett and drummer Scott Mercado of Candlebox). And Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks is thrilled to premiere Lotus Crush's new single, “Hearts & Minds.”

Those who only know Terry from television might be surprised by the song’s angrier, angstier vibe. Terry explains: “It’s about what I see as the constant battle between our senses and the ever-oppressive world around us. Political slogans, giant corporations, the darker side of government and consumerism, the bombardment of our senses in the digital age. We are pushed and pulled every minute of the day, and we somehow must remain self-aware and just be human beings. Whether we know it or not, we are in a war for our hearts and minds constantly.

"The single, much like the album, contains a common theme for me lyrically. It’s a shadowy view of how screwed-up our world is. So, the sound is in your face and it kind of stays there. It’s meant to talk at you, and I think that’s the feeling we’ve gone for.”

While Lotus Crush’s forthcoming 2015 album, Rabbit Hole, recorded at Seattle’s Robert Lang Studios, will “cover a lot of stuff,” don’t expect it to be a feelgood rock ‘n’ roll romp. “I think in a nutshell, I don’t like the way this world looks right now. And I wanted to talk about not only what tears us up from the inside, but what’s going on in front of us,” says Terry. “I steered away for many years from writing about my mother, who passed away 12 years ago, but the tone of this record let me feel like I could open up about that again. So I let that subject and my battles with depression be part of it.

"It’s an honest and very melodic record. But there’s more grit there than I’ve been part of in a long time. We love it. I hope people hear what we hear."

Rabbit Hole comes out in March 2015 through CaviGold Records. Fans can pre-order it and receive it early through www.pledgemusic.com/projects/lotuscrush.

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