Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches: ‘I twisted myself into a pretzel to please people’

Lauren Mayberry is a peacemaker.

Since 2011, she’s been frontwoman of the Glaswegian band Chvrches, topping festival bills and the album charts with a trademark barrage of distorted synths and razor-sharp melodies.

Mayberry was the baby of the band – just 23 when she joined, and years younger than her bandmates, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty.

But their chemistry was instant. Chvrches’ debut single, The Mother We Share, was written and recorded in 48 hours, using the only three synths they owned – but it became a word of mouth hit, earning them airplay on BBC Radio 1 and support slots with Passion Pit and Depeche Mode.

In the press, they carefully presented themselves as a band, with each member receiving equal billing. But Mayberry says she worried about being the junior partner.

“I was always conscious that I was younger than the other guys, and they had a lot more experience,” she says.

“They’d been to music school, and I hadn’t. So I always felt like I was on the back foot, in terms of where I sat in the hierarchy.”

That feeling was amplified during a 2019 tour of Australia.

The itinerary gave the band a four-day break in Melbourne, and Mayberry was looking forward to spending the downtime with her bandmates and the crew – until she discovered they’d made separate plans and she was stranded in her hotel room.

“I remember being very upset and hurt by that because I was always worrying about everyone else and taking care of everybody, and it was a humbling moment,” she says.

“In the end, I hired a little car and drove to an Australian spa town and had a wee cry listening to Taylor Swift’s Cruel Summer.”

Looking back, she thinks that being the only woman in the touring party left her carrying the “emotional labour” of keeping the show on the road.

“I feel like I twisted myself into a pretzel sometimes to make everyone happy.

“Then I’d look back and think, ‘And were you happy?’

“Not really, but I was keeping the peace.”