9+1 Q&A with Marlin’s Dreaming

What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

When I was around 16, I remember listening to bands coming out of my hometown and thinking – I could do this?
Having previously thinking about recording original material as some sort of unrealistic concept.

I started to learn about recording and how to use an interface and this really changed the way I thought about music. Sampling sounds, layering vocals, layering guitars… being only 16 these sort of things were much more exciting than an acoustic guitar, so from there on out I was kind of experimenting and writing music.

The band formed in 2017 after a few friends and I started playing some songs live, and from there on out, Hamish (drums) Oscar (bass) and Leith (guitar, bv’s) have been playing live shows and recording together.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

Outwards Crying is about my urge to leave my hometown (Dunedin, NZ) and change my surroundings. It’s a song about nature and existing! For the video we wanted a gritty and off kilter accompaniment to the song, and it turned out to be shooting farm animals and old buildings around Dunedin, which I can’t explain why but seems fitting. I feel like this is our most heavy song on the upcoming album, not in terms of instrumentation, but more how confronting it is emotionally.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

I would say my parents have probably influenced me the most and pushed me in the right direction in terms of everything independent and creative.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

I would say Marlin’s Dreaming is a hard ‘sound’ to pin down, especially considering our first release in 2017, which was a very clean, chorus drenched piece…
I could speak to the new album however; I think we could be compared to many bands in terms of angsty, gritty guitars and driving baselines. I think where our strengths lie is space for vocal melody, and clarity of vocals within our songs. We are not afraid of stripping the entire song to bass and drums when the vocals come in, because we think vocal melody and lyricism are important aspects of our sound.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Semisi

Odyssey By Homer (book), Apocalypse Now By Francis Ford Coppola (film), Transformer By Lou Reed (album)

Leith

The Idiot by Dostoevsky (book), The Idiot by Iggy Pop (album), Dumb and Dumber (movie)

Oscar

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Book), Harvest by Neil Young (album), Goodbye Pork Pie (movie)

Hamish

Bleak House by Charles Dickens (book), There’s A Riot Goin’ On by Sly & The Family Stone (album), V for Vendetta by James McTeigue (movie)

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Studio. I think both styles of performance are extremely satisfying and egotistical. But for me having to time to explore sounds and experiment with compositions is really exciting, something that I’m not quite ready to do live yet..

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

I dunno if this is a story but at all our biggest gigs I seem to forget all the lyrics to a song at once just before I go to open my mouth, then I’ll like pull my lead out or something – or I’ll step on my tuner… or oscar’s tuner.. or Oscar will step on my tuner…

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Mellow:
it’s our only song that we’ve ever recorded together that’s pretty much solely spoken word. I don’t think it’s particularly unique, but set against Marlin’s Dreaming archives it probably sticks out as the most unique, be that for good or for bad…

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

We had planned to do a bunch of touring in NZ, AUS and abroad but I think everyone’s plans have been capsized…

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Marlin’s Dreaming, what is your favourite scene from a movie and favourite scene from a tv show?

FILM – Ned Kelly (2003) The final showdown scene. I don’t wanna spoil it because if you haven’t seen it you need to some vintage Heath Ledger in your life.

Basically it is a fugitive on the run, Ned, and the final showdown is…haha

TV SHOW – Shortland Street: Chris Warner is high

This is an exclusively New Zealand TV show, meaning I don’t feel like anyone out of NZ would understand the humour but I certainly do. I’m just going to leave a link here.

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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