Milena Mepris (pronounced MEP-REE) is a rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist from New York City who isn’t afraid to put prettiness and humor back into rock and roll, with her soaring harmonies, driving bass lines and unique melodies. Her influences span from early Madonna to the grunge sounds of Nirvana, to the classic rock of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Patti Smith, making Ms. Mepris a force to be reckoned with on stage; graceful yet tough at the same time.
Presently, Milena is one-half of Pin Me Down, an apocalyptic dance-pop duo, with Russell Lissack of Bloc Party. Their first single, "Cryptic" is featured on the Kitsune Maison 5 Gold compilation, released on Feb 4, 2008 on the French label Kitsune and “Cryptic” will also be released as its own single in Spring 2008. Pin Me Down has received rave reviews and profiles across the board, ranging from Pitchfork Media to NME, to Drowned in Sound, Pop Justice, as well as Dazed and Confused. Pin Me Down are also getting play on radios across Europe, while Milena and Russell are currently putting the finishing touches on their debut album and planning live dates.
Milena is also currently writing her next solo Milena Mepris album, a stripped down, punk-fueled chronicle of young New York dirt and scandal, glamour and corruption, intoxicants and relationships, which she plans to record with her long-term partner producer/drummer Alex Elena in 2008. Her 2006 song “Hot Model” was an underground indie club hit, spun everywhere from the WMC in Miami to Istanbul to XFM Radio London to NYC rock parties like We Bite!, Motherfucker, Shout!, and Lit. “Hot Model” also appeared in the episode “Pelts” on the second season of Masters of Horror, the Showtime series. “Pelts” was directed by famed Italian director Dario Argento and starred Meatloaf.
Mepris started playing music at age 6, when she was a classical choral singer. As a teenager she found rock and roll, picked up a guitar, and never looked back. As a very young lady, Mepris fronted the London all-girl trio The Revenge, and played guitar in Eskimobot and Black Moustache, who after releasing their debut on Lakeshore Records received glowing US and UK write-ups and toured the US and Canada, playing shows with Bloc Party, Avenue D, ARE Weapons, and Fannypack.
Songwriting is another integral part of the Milena Mepris story. On a regular basis she collaborates with and writes for some of the music industry’s best artists. Two of her songs were recorded by young soul-singer Alice Smith for her GRAMMY NOMINATED (2008) debut album, For Lovers Dreamers and Me, out now on Epic records, loved by Rolling Stone magazine, who included Smith in their "Top 10 Artists to Watch." Milena will also sing and co-write songs with Junior Sanchez for his upcoming solo record. She is currently writing tracks for several top-secret, high profile records, with releases in 2008 and 2009.
Last but not least, Milena’s animated guitar playing found favor with the video game company Harmonix, who decided to digitize her moves and make her a character in the new video game Rock Band. Pssst… she’s the really girly one.
