Hometown: Leeds
Download: The Chivalry EP
Marsicans have been making themselves known in local venues for a couple of years now. A Leeds based band, their northern charm is evident in their lyrics and stage presence. They have some impressive credentials under their belt: supporting Howler, The Pigeon Detectives, Catfish & The Bottlemen and playing on the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading & Leeds. The band are a musical anomaly in that their relatively humble popularity does not accurately represent the skill and appeal that they have.
The band present themselves as nothing more than lovely, genuine guys with an extreme love for music, it’s clear that this is a band with no pretensions. They describe their style as “Upbeat Indie meets Dirty Pop” and honestly that could not be more fitting. It’s clear that they are a band for the younger demographic which is unsurprising considering most of them are students or ex-students. Their music is personalised and ineffably relatable. They say of their influences: “we get compared to bands like Vampire Weekend, Little Comets and Mystery Jets” (lead singer James’ unique voice probably has something to do with this), but state that their influences actually come from a shared eclectic music taste – the harmonies from the Beach Boys, guitar from Paul Simon and drumming inspiration from metal band Meshuggah. Their philosophy with regards to creating their own music is absolutely spot on: “we enjoy listening to a range of things old & new and taking little bits to create our own music”. They’re a band who aren’t afraid to experiment with different genres and styles but one thing that is uniquely theirs is their lyrics: quirky and stylised, punctuated with northern humour.
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When pressed on their motivation for being in a band, they cite “being able to create that same awesome feeling” that previous musical legends have created in their gigs and the ability to travel, “it’s a pretty good excuse to secretly be a tourist, a little win/win situation”. From seeing them perform live, it’s clear that they have a natural chemistry both with each other and their audience which definitely gives you confidence in them as a band destined for bigger and better things. At the minute they’re filming a video for their upcoming single ‘Gone in a Second’ (keep an eye out for a track review upon its release in April) and are dedicating themselves to song writing and touring. Unlike many bands of their genre, they aren’t interested in publicity stunts and appear to truly recognise the value of making music for the sake of its own worth, not for the perks that come with it. I’m so excited to see them become successful in their own right.
Words by Beth Chaplow