Marah In The Mainsail

Storytelling with Marah
by Al Brzostowski
July 2018

Group Shot of Marah in the Mainsail - photo by Tricia Starr-- TStarr Photography

Group Shot of Marah in the Mainsail
photo by Tricia Starr-- TStarr Photography

Minneapolis musicians Marah in The Mainsail don’t fit in with most mainstream genres. Their sense of storytelling opens a door that few bands walk through. Unique sound paired with Nightmare Before Christmas get-ups gives audiences a reason to watch closely as they take the stage.

A moment with them, brought clarity to their story at High Noon Saloon last Thursday.

MI: Give us a small snapshot of what it’s like on your downtime, outside of touring and band life.
MITMS: Well, we just started Marah full time, so,it’s just us working on this full-time. Basically always doing this full time. Touring, playing billiards.

MI: What’s the best advice you got from a mentor, or fellow musician?
MITMS: We were in this transition phase, and were putting all out efforts into this project. I was talking to a musician friend that said, “If you don’t do this while you’re young, you’re going to regret it later.I totally think that’s true.Even if you’re in a rough place in life or whatever, just put all your efforts into what you love. Make it a craft. Make it special.It will eventually make returns.” For me, it was an encouragement to do it now. Don’t wait for it. The big song or the big hit. Just start progressing.

MI: How long has the band been together?
MITMS: This lineup, exactly the way it is now,last month. (LAUGHS). Really we’re looking at 2010, when we were in high school.

MI: Tell me about the latest news with MARAH? Any new projects coming out, live shows or announcements?
MITMS: We have a Patreon service. It’s a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators. We’re putting out music videos, and stories that go along with them and the songs. Next week, all of our supporters can get our exclusive stuff. It’s been our whole mission.

MI: Which band or artist inspired you to perform? Why?
MITMS: Old music. My dad plays guitar.To watch like ACDC and Black Sabbath. I thought I need to do that! We grew up growing up to festivals, like lola, I wanted t be like them.

MI: What do you consider your greatest accomplishment so far?
MITMS: I think Princes venue “First Avenue”.

MI: What are you currently listening to?
MITMS: I followed this band a long time. “The Listener”. They are like spoken word, storytellers. Also. MUTTS. Amazing.


MI: What’s a song you’ve written that came out of nowhere? Like, while you were staring into the toaster, watching the heating coils glow oranger and oranger…...
MITMS: We had a song, The Great Beyond. A kinda epic, waltz kinda song. I was driving home, from my friend’s house, and I just watched one of the Harry Potter movies for the first time. There was a line in there that ended up being in the chorus of that song. Then, the next day, we were in a zoo or something weird there, and that became the verse.

MI: We hear that you’re storytellers. Elaborate.
MITMS: So, when I started writing music years ago. I looked up lyrics os songs I liked and thought they were so cheap and shallow. I thought, what was this scene that they are explaining? Nothing. Ok. You love someone, breakup. Walk into a club. If this was lyrics to a movie, I wouldn’t see it. Our songs are portions of stories. We do a lot of chains, theatrical things on stage.

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