My Beautiful Disaster

"Front man Shannon Mason mostly writes the music, but each band member — including Andrew Parker, bass guitar, keys and background vocals; and Ben Hardesty, drums — is involved in the process of creating the group's unique music styles.

During band practice, to lighten up their moods, they often play practical jokes on one another. It's all in good fun, though as they are very close to one another.

"We tend to write about things that have happened to us in the past," said Parker, the bassist.

Their songs deal with issues affecting their lives now but also deeply rooted by past happenings, such as the outcomes of choosing different paths, what-if situations and past relationships.

A song entitled "Crash" is specifically about bad relationships and overcoming them to move ahead. "Yearbook" is another track that deals with life and reminiscing about the past while contemplating whether the direction taken at the fork in the road was the right decision.

Band members use their emotions and experiences to create songs. Mason is also known to use the newspaper to get inspired to write music, using other people's experiences and emotions as a base for songwriting. Musical influences include both past and present musicians such as The Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, The All-American Rejects and Sugarcult.

My Beautiful Disaster is a playful band that brings a lot of energy to live shows. A fairly new group, in terms of the current lineup, this three-piece band encourages the crowd to join in the experiences of life and true emotion. Their lyrics uncover the real emotion behind everyday occurrences. People can relate to the music because the emotions are honest, animated and true-to-life.

"We would like to think that we offer an entertaining live show," Parker said. "I want people to leave our show thinking, 'WOW! I have never seen anything like that before.' We want them to leave wanting to come back and hear us again.""

- The Daily News Journal from Murfreesboro