The Marra
“I don’t think we have a specific genre but we’re definitely into loud guitars.”
Up n’ Comin’ NI is happy to present this week’s artist, The Marra, a five-piece rock band from Derry. The band consists of Ryan Ward, Shane McGowan, Brian McCloskey, Cale O’ Donnell and Conall McCool. “We’ve been together for less than half a year now and have played 5 gigs including a sold-out single launch in Bennigans.”
While the band members have all played in different bands in the past, Shane and Ryan met a year ago, and started writing demos together. “We were very lucky to come across Conall McCool (lead guitar) Cale O’Donnell (Bass) and Brian McCloskey who are exceptional players and take the songs we write to another level.”
The bands main influences are Oasis, Beatles, Strokes and Stone Roses. They claim, however, that a lot of their inspirations come from the Derry music scene, including the likes of Switch, Tramp, Selador, Telezura, Yunga and Pilosa.
“The main thing I find when writing a song is that it’s not good to force a song. Rather, let it come to you, it's like an antenna.”
All of the bands music is written and arranged by Shane and Ryan. “Sometimes it can start with a melody or words or sometimes we may have a riff. I think with writing songs there’s never a set way. That is one of the reasons we love it so much.”
As the band have only been playing together for a short amount of time, they have chosen not to strictly follow any genre. “We like having the option to write whatever we feel and don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves as we are still finding our sound.” As well as “loud guitar” songs, the band also perform purely acoustic songs. Their song ‘Sarah (you’re in love with a dealer)’, for example, portrays a Motown, 60s feel, very unlike their other music.
“We see writing songs almost like diary entries. There’s always snippets of real life and emotions and they always reflect what we’re going through at the time or even what we’re listening to. Our song ‘Sarah (you’re in love with a dealer)’ is about someone we know, who may or may not actually be called Sarah!”
When the music is written, the band comes together and beefs it out. The band then records their music. When recording ‘That’s Just the Way”, they told me, “We were lucky enough to have Gordon Raphael mix our debut single!”
While the band haven’t been around for very long, they’ve already played five gigs and have many more planned shortly. In many ways, the band should be commended for their hard work. What they have achieved in terms of gigging and writing in this short space of time has been very impressive. “The feedback we get from the songs lets us know what people dig and what they don’t.”
The Marra recently played in Bennigans. A night they say “was very special to us. We performed our debut single and had people sing all the words back to us. We couldn’t believe it. We’re so grateful that people are digging the tunes it’s a surreal feeling.”
So, what’s next for The Marra?
“Our plan is to record an EP in the summer and then start recording a debut album near the end of the year. We’ll also have a new single out in a few weeks! Also, after our first airplay on ATL Introducing with Gemma Bradley, we hope it will inspires a string of gigs!”
Make sure you follow them and keep up to date with all their songs, events and gigs:
Spotify: The Marra
Instagram: themarra_band
Facebook: The Marra
YouTube: The Marra
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