Interview: Marry a Thief

This Friday Marry a Thief, The Decade and Divided By Friday will be performing at New Brookland Tavern. This show is a fresh start to the new school year and hopefully a new crowd of fans.

I had the opportunity this week to talk to Colin and Erich and ask them a couple of questions about the future of the band musically and about how they are trying to set themselves apart from Erich’s solo past.

This interview will hopefully answer some of the questions that fans have about where they are going.

You’ve been getting mentioned lately on the national website Absolute Punk, are you getting the feeling that people are really starting to notice your band outside of Columbia?

Colin: Yes and no. To tell you the truth, we’re not really buzzing in their headlines or anyone else’s headlines. We’ve gotten a few modest mentions on AP, all of which we appreciate SO MUCH (Blake Solomon, thank you). I’ve been a reader of that website for years now and even only a couple of Marry A Thief news posts or recommendations have been exciting for us to see. As far as people noticing our band outside of Columbia, it grows slowly…. but it grows nonetheless. There’s the occasional blog I come across. And I’ve gotten messages saying people have heard us on internet radio stations and things like that. We have a little bit of momentum. But, it’s certainly an uphill climb from where we are right now to where we’d like to be in the future.

Erich) How is the transition going from playing solo w/ a supporting band to becoming just one piece of a band?
Erich: I don’t know if transition is the right word. It’s been different. It’s a completely different animal. I think it’s more cohesive. It’s more thought out. Every thing’s a lot more thought about… with the Homecoming Kings, no offense to them, but it was just really lazy. There was less thought put into a lot of the parts. There’re five people’s input on the song rather than just mine.

B) What really is the difference between the Homecoming Kings and Marry a Thief besides the members of the band and what does Marry a Thief have that your past bands don’t?

Erich: It’s just a new project. It’s a completely new thing. It may sound “similar”, but that’s just because it’s me as a songwriter. It doesn’t mean it’s not a new start. This is a completely new slate. New band. It’s not just new members. It’s just a new idea completely.

Your new song Honestly Bored isn’t as organic as most of the songs off of your album and Erich’s past solo catalogue. Is this a new direction that your taking or are you just experimenting?

Colin: The version of “Honestly Bored” that people have heard is pretty much just a demo. None of us had anything to do with it whatsoever except for Erich and our friend Aaron. It’s kind of funny… the response we’ve gotten in emails and the things we’ve read on blogs have been kind of freaking out that we’re all of a sudden an electro-pop band. We’ve been tossing around the idea of using a little bit more of that kind of thing, certainly, but not to the extent that some of these demos are coming out as. The truth is, Aaron has a neat little studio in his house that we play around in sometimes. His set-up is pretty much restricted to vocals and computers, so we don’t really have the opportunity to throw in live drums or bass or electric guitar or anything. So, we’ve sort of had quick fun with what we can. People think we’ve completely reinvented ourselves and turned around to something else because of these demos… which is silly to us. We’ve only had one EP released and we’re already being kind of held to what it is sonically. The truth is, we don’t know what our next record will really sound like. We probably won’t know until it’s done. I think we all have it in the back of our heads that it’ll be a lot crazier than the last one, and that we’ll probably be doing something different than what a lot of people expect us to do. We hope, anyway. It’d really suck to not move on.

How about Aaron Robertson? You have been letting him show off his talent lately on the last two songs.

Colin: Aaron is a little scientist. I think what he does is great. I think the really cool thing about working with people musically is that they can bring you out of your comfort zone. The four of us really don’t know much about the whole programming thing. I’m trying to learn, sort of, but I’m certainly nowhere in the same league as Aaron. The things he can do with a computer are really just a lot of fun to work with. And like I said, we hang out in his studio sometimes. Like when you hang out at Aaron’s house, odds are you’re making music. It’s what you do when you hang out with him. Aaron and his girlfriend Ainslee’s idea of a fun friday is writing and building a techno song I feel like. So yeah, we’ve kind of let him have some fun with some of the stuff we’ve been posting.

Erich: And we’re pretty sure he does hard drugs. Like really hard. Kidding.

How is Patrick’s shoulder? Full recovery yet?

Erich: Yes.

Colin: I think Patrick’s shoulder is fine. He had surgery on it months ago. It was REALLY painful to watch him for a while. He couldn’t lift any of his gear or even extend his arm. I remember he played a show or two in a sling (somehow) but I think he’s alright now. Patrick is like the ultimate male specimen. He’s always fixing a light switch or knocking down a wall or something in his house. I don’t think his carpentry agenda would have him stay crippled for very long, regardless of planned recovery time.

Where do you see Marry a Thief in one year?

Erich: Dead, in prison, on tour. All three? Possible?
Colin: Hopefully with a new record out and on the road a good bit more. You can’t really hypothesize that you’ll have a record deal or blow up or anything crazy like that when you’re asked that question. But I certainly think we’ll have a new full length and that we’ll be touring fairly regularly.. And Brandon will be 19.

Favorite Mythical Creature?

Colin: Ghostwriter. Not to be confused with “Ghost Rider”. I’m talking about the little green ball of whatever that flew around PBS in the early 1990’s solving mysteries in Brooklyn.

Erich: Patrick’s dog. Not mythical, but a creature nonetheless.

When y’all had your CD release show there was an article written about you guys that was titled “Different Name for The Same Thing” do you ever think you’ll be able to escape this?

Colin: Nice research. We kind of joke about this kind of thing sometimes. I HOPE that we’ve kind of already escaped this. We’re not dumb. There was for certain going to be some transitioning from Erich Skelton and the Homecoming Kings to MaT, but I really have faith that people can hear the difference between the two by now. That whole “it’s another name for Erich Skelton” thing is people just not giving us a fair listen. You run into that a lot. And you wouldn’t believe the amount of kids asking us if we’ll put up “You Ruined Tennessee” or “Starlet” back up on our myspace. Hopefully this interview will clear some things up. The answer is “no.” 🙂

Have record labels kicked down your door yet? Do you think you’ll get signed off this album or end up recording some more and see where that goes?

Colin: I wouldn’t say they’ve been kicking down our door. That’s not to say we haven’t heard very kind things from some of them about our music. We have for sure. But, there’s more to that stuff than just whether or not they believe in your music. Besides, I think the association with “making it” as a band and being signed to a record label isn’t being made as much as it used to be. The internet has changed things so much. I can name countless bands that sign and end up much worse off than where we are right now. And I can think of, again, countless unsigned bands that make a really good go of it. It’s all about what you do and whether what you’re doing is good or not. Honestly, we’d be extremely excited if a label wanted to take the next step and actually sign us, but it’s not something we’re really concerned with. They know where to find us.

Who is your favorite local performer?

Erich: Baumer. Hands down. Austin Crane.

Colin: Baumer. Local performers or not as far as I’m concerned. And yeah Austin is a great song-writer.And the guys that play with him are unbelievable.

Colin and Erich: THANK YOU. Good questions.