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April 18th, 2007

Unsigned Band Spotlight - Band Marino

This feature marks the first in what I hope to be another consistent, exclusive offering from your friends at IndieHQ. As we continue to discuss what labels and bands look for in each other, we wanted to showcase from time to time breakthrough acts that are unsigned. Since a number of our readers come from various labels, we are hopeful that this feature will at some point help band(s) to get the attention of various indie labels.

Corey Schmidt, associate editor at Pastepunk, was kind enough to write this first feature. He originally wrote to tell me about a band he had been digging who were unsigned. Since he has a good idea of some of the bands I love, he suggested that I give them a listen. I enjoyed the band’s songs on Myspace and asked him if he would be into writing this first unsigned band feature. He also asked the band’s permission to offer an mp3 on IndieHQ. The group is Band Marino from Orlando, Florida, and we offer you an mp3 from their latest album, “The Sea and the Beast”. The song is called “Feel It in the Air” and we hope you like it.

Click the link to read more about the band. If you know of an incredible, unsigned band, feel free to post it in the comments. Understand though that just putting your own unsigned band in the comments will not garner a guaranteed feature. I plan to reach out to a number of friends in the industry to see if they know of an unsigned band that they would like to write about for future features.

Thanks Corey for helping with this feature and please everyone, take a listen.

Orlando’s Band Marino is a hard band to pigeonhole. In creating their quirky, near-danceable folk-rock sound, the quartet has included everything from banjos to harmonicas to mandolins into their traditional rock foundation.

In regards to their experimental instrumentation, band leader Nathan Bond says, “We’re all bored [with] the standard guitar, drums, and bass approach to pop music. And even though we haven’t gotten completely away from it yet, we definitely put a lot of work into trying to make things more interesting than that.” Bond and his bandmates put that work into their debut record, The Sea and the Beast, released in December of 2006.

In the near future, Bond’s goal is to simply get the word out about Band Marino. “Right now our focus is mostly on touring and playing for new people and getting the record into new hands. While we’re doing that, we’re of course trying to figure out how we can take things to the next level, but as far as immediate goals, we just want to be on the road letting people hear the art that we’ve spent so much time creating.”

Although Band Marino’s immediate touring future only includes shows around the southeast, Bond is hopeful they’ll be able to get around the country later this year. “There’s a lot up in the air, tentative tours and things that we’re working on. We were even talking about going out west this summer.”

While Bonds says that everything from The Pixies and Radiohead to Hank Williams and Bob Dylan influences the band member’s collective vision, Band Marino is comparable to contemporary bands like The Cold War Kids, The Snake the Cross the Crown, and maybe even a Bend’s Era Radiohead.

As an unsigned act, these young Floridians are creating some excitingly fresh music. For more, check them out on Myspace or at their recently redesigned home page.

Written by Virgil Dickerson