Interview by Carol Wright | Photographer: Samuel George Photography / Audiotrope
We got to chat with MARLOW about their song-making process, ‘Blame it’ and the advice they have for aspiring musicians.
It’s a big decision to start a band. How exactly did MARLOW come to be?
We have all been playing music for a long time and in many different spheres. We came together to play as a group around 2017 and performed and released under the name Elephant Radio. We still play some songs from that time when we play live now. Recently, we made the decision to change the name to MARLOW, but we’re still the same five members.
After working together for some time now. Do you have a specific music creation process or a specific way you all like to collaborate on songs?
Freddie is the lead songwriter. He writes the lyrics, melodies, and chord structures, to the point where the song is pretty recognizable (albeit on an acoustic guitar). He will sift through the songs he writes, and bring a bunch to rehearsals with the whole group. There, we will decide which ones we want to go ahead with, and then ultimately what we’ll do to arrange them. Each member has a degree of creative freedom, but ultimately we’re all there to serve the song.
Tell our readers about your song ‘Blame It.’ Did you pull from a personal place to write the lyrics?
Freddie: ‘Blame It’ is essentially a conversation between two ex-lovers. One of them blames the other for it, and the other accepts, looking back on the relationship and thinking ‘well, that was fun.’ Ultimately they know that both should accept blame, but question if it’s even worth fighting for anymore.
‘Blame It’ is going to be a great song for audiences to hear live and the band is playing a show on September 2nd. If you can share, do you have anything special planned for that performance?
That is a very good question. We will absolutely be sharing the whole event on our Instagram stories, and we’re looking forward to getting as many people involved on that as possible. We’re so excited to be having an audience again, although we have already had one post-lockdown gig. We have a whole bunch of new material which has barely been performed live since lockdown, and we can’t wait for more people to hear it.
Who are some of your musical inspirations?
We’ve taken inspiration from a whole load of varying artists. On one hand, Freddie (and Seb) grew up listening to 90s and early-2000s Britpop and indie rock, (Oasis, Travis, Radiohead). This has influenced the way songs were conceptualized, especially early on. More recently, we’ve looked to US bands like The Killers, The Strokes, and Kings of Leon, for their raw emotions and stadium-filling sound and production style. We also greatly admire newer artists like Sam Fender and Nothing But Thieves, who have answered the demand for rock ’n’ roll in the modern market.
What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?
Don’t take that annoying voice in your head that says “no” too seriously. Song-writing can’t happen if half of your brain is vetoing every decision. Creating something rubbish is always better than not creating anything at all because at least that way you learn.