SXSW Live Shots

Marah

Stubb's, Thursday, Mar 16

"This is like Woodstock," exclaimed Marah frontman Dave Bienlanko as he stepped on the Stubb's outdoor stage. It was wet, and due to the heavy rains, the crowd had thinned out worse than Gavin McLeod's hair. Because of the lighting, Marah's set was delayed, and under such conditions, the set could easily have been canceled. It was not, so for just under 40 minutes, Marah proved that despite the sonic breadth of their recent E-Squared release, they are -- at heart -- just like the Black Crowes. Live on stage, they play American rock & roll, pure and simple -- two guitars, bass, and drums simple. And with the clock running because of the weather delays, they didn't dick around. It was plug and play and it kicked. Before doing their new single "Point Breeze," lead singer Dave Bienlanko told the ever-growing crowd that they had played the song eight times already today. In that alone, Marah summed up what it is to be a buzz band in this industry: You have to do your trick for everybody who wants, because they've got the Scooby snacks, and you're probably hungry enough to beg. But being able to do a song nine times in one day and still look like you believe it -- and more importantly, convince a bunch of cold, wet drunks that you actually do -- that's the mark of a band that should have others doing tricks for them.