Watershed first became aware of the Philadelphia rock band Marah back in the late nineties. We were looking for a place to record what would eventually become The More It Hurts, The More It Works, and we spent a week cutting demos at Route 1 Recording in Monticello, MI. The kind folks there hipped us to a band they had recently released on their Back Dog label. “Biggie” [Watershed Tour Manager Mike Mc Dermott] started playing Marah on the long drive home to Columbus. 400,000 miles later, he is still playing them.

See, our traveling works like this: Driver gets to pick the music. Biggie always drives, so he picks the music. Perhaps another way to look at it; if our van is the United States of America, Biggie is Clear Channel and Marah became our Usher.

Anyway, fast forward to SXSW 2004. Somehow word gets to us that Marah is playing a free afternoon show for some unexplained reason. Kick Ass! After all of these years, we finally get to check em out in the flesh.

We ask around and find our way to the gig. Turns out that they are playing on a small wooden deck behind a bar under God’s great light. Some beer company is giving away booze and my first thought upon seeing the P.A. system is that I could pack the entire thing in the trunk of my Chevy sedan.

What I am trying to say is this: Nightmare Gig! No lights. No Stage. Bright, hot sunshine. A crappy P.A. and a deck filled with indifferent posers only there for the free beer.

I spotted a couple of the Marah guys hanging about and I actually remember thinking, I would hate to be them right now. This is a tough situation and I should know; I’ve been in more than my share.

So what does Marah do? There is no roof to blow off, so they blow the blue out of the sky. It was absolutely everything you could want from a rock n roll show. Or maybe I should say that it was everything that I could want from a rock n roll show. More than just great songs played with loud guitars (which is usually plenty), these guys were showmen. They were entertainers. They could break your heart and then break you up with laughter. I was dumbfounded. I didn’t know bands like this still existed. Why didn’t somebody tell me? I have never, ever seen a performance that good under such adverse conditions. A band who performs like that has heart, and a band with heart will survive.

As the set wound down and the crowd went crazy, I remember thinking, I wish I could be them right now.

Colin Gawel

Marah will perform at High Five Friday Nov 11th. Watershed will open.