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Thanks to Brad Kuntz for the great photos!

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Thanks to Brad Kuntz for the great photos!

MarsupiaL video from Town Pump - August 23, 2008 - Set 2 (Part 1)

MarsupiaL video from Town Pump - August 23, 2008 - Set 2 (Part 2)

Podcast (15MB) Podcast (15MB)

Asheville band MarsupiaL is not new to the scene — it’s been playing locally for almost eight years. The rock band recently released its third album, “Curtains,” and has already started on its next record. The group will be performing Friday at Hannah Flanagan’s. We met up with Brad Mehder to learn a little more about the guys:

Question: Who makes up the band?

Answer: Ian Reardon on guitar and vocals, Brad Mehder on bass, Forrest Smith on guitar, Chris Carter on drums and vocals, and J. Ferris doing live and studio engineering.

Q: When did you guys form the band?

A: We formed the original band in 2000. I think our first show was in January 2001. We’ve done a few different lineups since then. (Brad and Ian were in the original lineup).

Q: How do you think the sound has changed since the first lineup?

A: I think the new lineup is much better. It’s totally a different sound for us. It’s definitely more rock, maybe a little more indie rock compared to the jam band thing, which is what we were more into five or six years ago.

Q: Do you guys collaborate on writing, or is there one main person to do that?

A: Chris, Forrest and Ian are really good songwriters. Forrest doesn’t really write lyrics so much, but he did some songwriting on “Curtains.” Mostly, at this point, it’s been different people’s songs and everybody else’s opinion on the songs. We have started collaborating more on this new album that we started about a week ago.

Q: So you’ve already started on another record?

A: Already started a new one, yeah. We’ve got so many songs, we just wanted to record them. We practice in our own studio, so studio time is free for us. It’s just a matter of us being able to get there and get our heads straight.

Q: How long did it take you guys to come up with the songs, write them and record the last CD?

A: Most of the songs were already formed, and even a lot of them already had recordings on some solo albums and things like that, and collaborations with other people. Getting them together was pretty easy. Just a matter of the different person showing us the songs and different parts.

Q: How would you describe the CD to others?

A: It’s pretty diverse, but not as diverse as our first two albums. The songs are different. There’s definitely a flow through the whole album, I think. A little riskier on some of the songwriting. Maybe not as straightforward on some things. Especially on the beginning of the album, it’s pretty different.

Q: How do you think you guys set yourselves apart from other bands in Asheville?

A: I think we definitely have a different sound. I think we focus a lot on the actual songs and songwriting — not that other people don’t. One of our best things, and probably one of our worst things at the same time, is that we do change our music a lot. For some people, they’re cool with that. It’s always something different.

Asheville Civic Center - Asheville, NC
June 28, 2008

I was very pleased with my first Marsupial experience, and look forward to more. They’ve got great taste and are very expressive on stage, which is always appealing to me, and they’ve got a little bit of grit thrown into the dynamic jams they offer. - Lydia See