#ok haha it took almost an hour and a half to finish a...20 minute ep

[immamapletreekid]

ive only gotten through half of the episode...in 50 minutes...

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[sound-meets-sound]

Today I’m immersing myself in the evocative sound of “The Inside” by Highland Kites, released today. Read on for my interview with singer/guitarist/keyboardist Marissa Lamar.

MW: What is the band’s creative process like? Are the songs mostly fully formed when you bring them to rehearsal?

Marissa Lamar: Normally what happens is I write the songs, and then bring them to Neil and we develop them with added parts from that point on. Usually what I bring to rehearsal is the bare bones guitar/vocals or keys/vocals. We turn it into a full band song together.

I used to write WAY more on keys, but for the last year and half or so I’ve been really addicted to my guitar. I still write on keys, but I would definitely say it’s way more guitar at this point. That may change, who knows.

MW: What gear do you use in terms of your keys and guitar?

ML: My keyboard is a Nord Electro 4. <3  I also do a lot of layering and ambient sounds with my Micro Korg which I love endlessly. I have a Fender Duo-Sonic electric guitar. My favorite pedals are my Big Sky reverb pedal, TC Electronic Hall of Fame and my Aqua Puss Delay. I play out of a Fender Blues Junior Tube Amp. I’ve spent years building up this set up. I used to write and play on a very shady keyboard that I had to literally unscrew and screw back together on stage (it was huge and impractical and took at least 2 people to set it up for a show -or my poor husband who did this for me for almost a year at every performance) and a 100 dollar acoustic guitar and no pedal board. Before this I had a 50 dollar keyboard I found in my parents’ garage. I never let my lack of gear be a barrier to writing, but being able to build the sound and gear I want over time is definitely satisfying.

MW: When did you start writing music? How has your approach to writing changed over the years?

ML: Hmmm. I’ve been writing poetry and stories for over 15 years. I got into music about 5 and half years ago. It was in the wake of dealing with a pretty severe & consuming illness that took about 4 years of my life to recover from. (I had late stage neurological Lyme Disease). Once I was through recovering I had a lot of trouble thinking, I had been on tons of medication and the treatment took a lot out of me. I was pretty broken, sad, and the life I had known was essentially in shambles. It was hard to imagine at the moment how I was going to, at 27 years old, start a new life. I turned to music to give me an outlet to express what I had been through and help me heal mentally and spiritually. It turned into so much more. It’s such a part of me now that I can’t imagine my life without it. It honestly was like finding a missing piece of myself I never knew I needed.

The only change I have noticed in my writing process over time is that it’s gotten simpler. if I can’t sing a melody or create a song that sounds beautiful and interesting over minimal instrumentation I don’t consider it very good. I don’t feel obsessed over “adding parts”. I like open space in my songs. We will only add things if we feel it contributes to the message and feel of the song. When I first started writing I tended to throw the whole “kitchen sink” into every song. I’ve definitely steered away from this.

MW: Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics? Do you approach a song with a particular idea in mind to explore?

ML: It’s the strangest thing. I noticed that I will sit to write and mess around with sounds, ideas and lyrics for hours, sometimes days or weeks with nothing solid that I really love happening. And then all of the sudden, normally at a very inopportune time like the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, in the shower, or driving on the freeway, I will have a song idea. All the lyrics will come streaming out and the melody just happens. I usually write these in 10-20 minutes and these are most of the songs you hear on our albums. I will look back on songs and almost not remember writing certain lyrics. I have these “where did this idea come from?” moments with my songs, but then I will read them after and realize exactly what they were about. I’m grateful for my mind doing this thing where it works out pain, confusion and thoughts and spits them back as these fully formed concepts and pieces of art. I’ll be writing and start crying or laughing and feel these waves of emotion sort of coming off of me about something or someone. It’s one of the reasons I love writing so much. I do go through periods where I struggle to write, and hate everything I come up with. I’ve noticed though that I need to finish songs, even the bad ones, in order for the good ones to magically flow out. I’ve never counted it but it’s probably about 5 ok songs to one song I really love that will end up on an album. And it doesn’t happen super methodically. I will write stuff I’m ok on for many weeks and then write a song a day I’m really into for 2 weeks straight.

But I never leave a song incomplete anymore. When I do I notice that every song I write thereafter has a little bit of the earlier song I disliked in it. haha.

For albums and EPs we always choose a message, we then choose songs and sounds based on this message. For our last EP “I’m Not Weak” the message was healing and hope. The very last line I sing in this (Better Off) EP is “I had to learn to love myself” and the journey to that is the story of this EP.

MW: What’s next for Highland Kites?

ML: We actually have incredibly exciting things happening. We may be working with a pretty great team on distributing this next EP and planning a tour.

We are both moving to Nashville to start a new chapter in this whole journey in the new year. <3