background img

Seasick Mama Finds Her Sea Legs (And Other Dispatches From Brooklyn)

 

In a way, Marial Maher (that’s Seasick Mama to you) has the sort of wild success story that precedes her own chutzpah. This musician––a word she’s finally getting comfortable with––had a record deal before she had any demos, a SXSW spot before she released anything in the way of an album, and now, a second EP on the way with collaborative stints by the likes of TV on the Radio and MNDR (that whole “taking yourself seriously” bit is finally clicking into place).

Mama found strength in that uncertainty, however, and developed an image and sound that has a certain “it” factor – as well as a shapeshifting tendency that is perhaps her most idiosyncratic feature. Refreshingly enough, no two songs on “Dead Like Money” are very much alike. Many times, she looks like a completely different person in the various photographs, videos, and branding ephemera that clutter her internet domain. And it’s precisely this wide berth––the freedom to not define herself just yet––that’s allowed Seasick Mama to cultivate her own Mary Poppins bag of sounds, influences, collaborators, and bizarre photo ops.

Indeed, this is a girl who will just as readily chat music production with you as she will slip into a pair of sequined pasties and leather hot shorts before hitting the mean streets of Williamsburg (“What’s this? A diaper?” she begged of our stylist, Phil). If you’re not taken in by her public persona, I’d entreat you to take a dose of her throaty vocals, quick wit, and enviable booty-dropping skills.

 

You seem to opt for taglines like “auditory artist” over musician. Is that a deliberate distinction?

I started making music with no experience. I was working in a recording studio, doing client services, literally being a studio bitch. I didn’t even really know what the word “melody” meant. When I got offered the opportunity to start writing, it was all a learning experience. I didn’t want to call myself a singer or a musician, but I wasn’t shy or scared of trying. “Auditory artist” was a modified way of saying a performer/musician/artist/writer. I didn’t know where I fit.

It’s almost like an entry-level designation.

Right. Entry-level songwriter. Did I want to sing for other people, did I want to perform onstage and do slam poetry? I didn’t know. It was just a way to avoid calling myself a singer just yet. I didn’t want people to judge me too hard. It was a very egoless way of saying, “I want to make music for you guys.”

 

Are you still curating gallery events and designing clothes?

When I first moved to New York City in 2009, Seasick Mama was my artist name. I was doing photography, graphic design; I was doing clothing with a collaborative network. That was sort of where Seasick Mama was born, but since about 2011 it’s been strictly music. I’ve found my niche and where I want to focus all my creative energy. I was so indecisive. And then I started doing music and it felt so good.

Last night actually, I couldn’t sleep because I was like, “Am I making the right choice? Am I going to be able to do this forever? Maybe I should buy a camera!” I do that every day.

So it’s almost like you’re not doing as many things, but you’re closer to having it all?

I’m closer to having the response I want. And the team. I’ve been able to surround myself with a lot of great musicians. Before when I was doing those other things, I wasn’t getting any response, and that was frustrating. With music, everyone wants a little more from me, and that energy – that request – is what keeps me going. I don’t have anything right now besides a first album and people expecting things from me.

IMG_3912

IMG_4176

That’s not a bad place to be.

Yeah. It’s a really good start.

So to what extent is Seasick Mama a solo project, and to what extent is it a collaborative effort?

I guess Seasick Mama is a solo effort because I do all the work. I do all the songwriting, I do all the lyrical methods and melodies and structure, I do all my management and all my publicity. I do it all myself because I’m such a fucking control freak. No one can take control of this! But it is a collaborative process when I need help. I definitely need help when it comes to making the actual music. I can’t sit with a guitar and blow people’s minds.

And you also play with a band right?

Yes. It’s a collaborative process because I play with a band, and I’m fortunate to have them because they make the live performance so much better. If I was just a DJ, that would be a total snoozefest. Involving everyone in the band, and even the producers behind the scenes, really brings a good source of live energy. It’s good to have people behind you.

Have you been playing with the same people this whole time?

When I first started, I was playing with my producer, Mark Turrigiano. He had his best friend Karen, who’s a tattoo artist and a really great lead singer of this band called Bugs in the Dark. I was rotating drummers, and it turned into a constant cycle of shuffling. There’s often a certain vibe where people are fighting against each other to stand out, or there are people who are just like “let’s just have fun, let’s just make this sound really good.” And it wasn’t until last November when we went on tour with ZZ Ward that I finally found these three guys who play so well together. No arguing – it just happens. This magical thing happens – poof! It sounds so good, and I didn’t even have to ask for it.

It sounds like you pretty much had your first record label come to you – is that correct?

Yeah, I was sort of pushed into it as an amateur when I was working at the recording studio. I did a Tom Waits cover with Mark. It was just for fun. Me and my boyfriend at the time made a video for the song. The label found it and they called me – they said “what else do you have?” And I totally bullshitted and said “I have so much stuff! So much stuff on my laptop that we recorded!” And of course I had nothing, so we had to scramble and spent a good two weeks in the studio before they called me next.

Is the video footage for “Quit Your Job” stuff you had laying around, or was it all pain-stakingly fabricated?

No! When I first started working with the label, they asked me to move into a house in the Poconos to focus on my music. Over time, this concept of people coming in and out of the door [came forth] – we were turning into the House of Creatives. That’s what we called it. The idea kind of gave birth to a next thing – okay, let’s do a House of Creatives in Austin during SXSW. We’ll write music and invite all those artists to come write with me or play. That went really well, and then we did it again in California. And throughout those three moments – the Poconos, Austin, California – we documented everything. Every city we went to, every person we met. We had all that footage that already represented the meaning of “quit your job.” All these people who are living their work and being creative and still able to survive and have a really good time.

IMG_4013

Did you “quit your job” to make a record? 

I did. It was kind of a sour moment – I was still working at the recording studio and all of a sudden these demos – or just the conversation of me making a record – became visible on social media. My boss was really upset because I wasn’t giving enough respect to the studio. I just figured okay, this is the perfect opportunity to avoid the negative and get to working on my record. I was like “I love you guys! But I’m gonna quit.”

It’s kind of remarkable how different all of your songs sound. What would you attribute your sound diversity to?

It’s kind of this fun, varietal, unanchored-type songwriting process that we had during “Dead Like Money.”

And you mentioned there was a revolving door too.

Yeah! I was just soaking it all in – I was totally open to not having genre yet. Every song is different and is rewritten a bunch of times, so it kind of molded itself. When I wrote “Dead Like Money” I was very into rock and roll and looseness. I just wanted to do something so fucking cool and new that people would listen, and the fact that every song’s totally different keeps people shuffling through.

But you say “yet.” Do you foresee a more singular sound in your future?

Yeah. I’m totally going the pop route. I love pop music. I used to be such a hater – ugh! pop music! Everyones such a sell-out and they’re so molded! But there’s something within that mold that makes it really exciting and challenging. You know, making a really great hit pop record is so difficult. Finding hooks that people are going to want to sing over and over again – it’s like subliminal messaging. It’s like advertising.

IMG_4173

You have to hit all the pleasure centers.

Yeah, and I really like that challenge, but also staying true to my Seasick Mama project. We have a new record coming out called “Tip Top Shape” that has a more pop direction, especially with the music structure and the melodies and hooks. It’s very pretty, very summery. We envisioned a lot of the music being on television and movies and the radio.

What was it like attending a festival like SXSW before releasing a single album?

It was small. [laughs] I think our first show was there. I was super nervous and didn’t sound very good. Those are the risks you need to take – you want to feel the realness. Everyone in New York City is in a band, but it takes a lot of leaps and bounds and failures and being scared – I spent the last two years thinking this was just me having fun.

That’s kind of a cop out!

Yeah. Some people just do it to stay busy and have something to talk about. And now I’ve gotten to this point where it’s like, oh my god, this is very serious. I need to be doing these things and playing shows. Going to SXSW before the record was released was the first moment where I was sort of like, oh hey! There’s going to be like 100 more of these that I’ll have to be better at and arrive with a presence, not just hide behind having a good time.

IMG_3886

So allegedly, you got your stage name from a breakup song your ex wrote for you, which alludes to a Neil Young reference to, essentially, a sailor’s whore. How did you feel initially when you found out what it meant?

To be honest, I wasn’t upset. I was kind of impressed that the guy I was dating had the intellectual ability to straight up call me a whore, but in a very beautiful manner. That’s why it stuck with me – you can call anyone an asshole or prick or douchebag. I wasn’t mad. i knew I was gonna use it for something.

You sorta just re-appropriated it.

Yeah. The insult stuck with me and I kind of hold it with pride now. It was a good point in my life and I take it as a stepping stone. But also, Seasick Mamas can be brave. If you look more into the Neil Young side of it, she’s this very loyal woman who waits for her man to come home, and there’s something really romantic about that. Really hardworking men at sea making money to provide, and the women who stay at home and wait for their dirty-ass stinking man to come home.

You mention using your physicality to put yourself out there, but what about the role sexuality plays in your music itself?

Oh, well! The physicality aspect is just to kind of keep up and keep people watching. It’s not really “sex sells, woohoo!” I’m not really that kind of person, but our generation is so visual. I don’t mind it. I’m not shy. If you want to see skin, I’ll do it if it keeps them moving through the pictures and clicking. But then in my music as well, I’m just a really sexual person. I think sex is really great; the human figure – especially female – is a powerful tool. A lot of my relationships are based upon sex, and I don’t mind writing about it.

You can have sex with a guy and be like, oh, this so boring! Get off of me! Or you’re having sex with your boyfriend who you no longer love, and you’re like god, how do I tell him this isn’t fun? Or you could be super grumpy the next morning and be like oh god, I did that. And a lot of people are too scared to talk about that. I dunno, sex is fun. Singing about big boobs and butts – it is what it is.

 

Keeping it positive!

Keeping it positive, keeping it fun, that’s what I do.

I hear you’re already working on your second album with some pretty exciting names in the industry. Tell me more!

Any day now, we’re gonna release a new single called Man Overboard we did with Peter Wade from MNDR, and that’s gonna hopefully be our next big push with the new sound. We did a song with David from TV on the Radio. And then we did a song with Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet. You know that song that’s on the OC? He’s ridiculous. I worked with Mark again on a few other tracks, and I did one with Joel Shearer that’s kind of old school 90s rock. It’s a collaboration process to the max with some pretty cool heavy-hitters. I’m excited but really nervous at the same time, because I want to make them proud. They totally took me in not knowing who I was, like, “Who’s Seasick Mama? Who’s this bitch?” I hope we get a good response and they feel good about it, because it was a lot of work. “Tip Top Shape” – it’s all about redemption and being a better person, because I did a lot of bad things.

 

Interview by Steph Kopyfman. Follow her on Twitter at @stephkoyfman.
Photos by Jenny Regan. Follow her on Twitter at @jenny_regan.
Styling by Philip B. Gomez. Follow him on Twitter at @StyledbyPhil.



Other articles you may like

Leave a Comment