I know you have some new material coming up. What can you say about that?

Mike: It features Stacy playing bass (our first material with a bass player) and Paul playing guitar (formerly of Watcher), and as our new line-up I feel our writing is more technical. When writing a lot of these songs I stopped approaching it from having heard essential screamo bands for the first time and wanting to emulate them and started approaching it from, "okay, listening to a lot of screamo music, this is what I really like about it." So the new material sounds more focused towards a unified style and (hopefully) comes across as being more elaborate and specific to our band.

Durell: I'm actually listening to a rough version of our full length as I'm typing this. I usually don't like listening to my own bands, but I am so proud and excited about this release that I just want to listen to it over and over. It's pretty typical for a band to talk a bunch of hype about their upcoming release, but I feel like we genuinely got something special down. Mike and Paul work and play really well together and I think that really shines through.



What would you like to say about the upcoming LP and split with The Sky Above And Earth Below?

Mike: A lot of hard work and dedication went into making the LP, and a lot of plans to release our older material that will be on the upcoming split fell through. So it’s extremely satisfying to see both releases reach more definite stages of completion. Everyone who is involved in both releases are people I really appreciate.

Durell: I was actually debating talking to Reid from Sky Above/Friends For Life about using our unreleased material for a split. Then they got a hold of us before I could ask. Meant to be? I'm glad our side of the split is being physically released. I really like those songs.

How did your splits with Todos Caeran and Watcher come about?

Mike: We are really good friends with everyone from Todos, and for awhile it seemed like Todos was willing to split with anyone. So we had taken our demo ep plans and turned it into Todos split plans. Every year in Edmonton we have an emotive-post-hardcore DIY festival called Ghost Throats which showcases a lot of screamo bands from western Canada, that's how we met Watcher (and Paul for the first time) and we agreed to split with one another soon after.

Durell: We are really good friends with Todos. I'm roommates and bandmates with the older brother of their drummer, Gary. And my high school band was with their guitar player Matt. Not to mention playing shows with James, Joey, and Jordan for years now. Lot's of old friendships. Mike and I were playing a show with our old D-Beat band and James inquired about our new Screamo band and the demo we were putting together. Our side on the Todos split is essentially our demo. The Watcher split happened when both bands were playing Ghost Throats DIY Fest in Edmonton together. I watched them play and asked them if they would be interested in a split. They saw us play and agreed. Andrew from Clue #2 records put together the physical release and that's that.

What kinds of festivals, promoters, etc. are active and making positive contributions to your area?

Mike: There’s so much going on in Edmonton. A lot of it is really segregated and subversive, but if you dig around there’s so much art/music striving in our city. The most notable from my perspective are promoters like Mattie C of Clean up your act productions and Craig Martell, the owner of Wunderbar. I’ve heard criticisms of either promoter now and again, but Mattie C recently celebrated his 500th show since he started promoting and Craig Martell’s bar hosts live music virtually every night of the week along with several festivals that are organized in part by him. I’ll fiercely defend them, because if the past few hundred shows they put on didn’t happen my life would suck and I’d probably only perform live in a band a couple times a year. There’s also ghost throats, an annual post-hardcore/screamo festival that’s always a highlight.

Durell: Ghost Throats DIY Fest is a local all ages fest that a couple people from Alberta put on. Namely Andrew Benson from Book of Caverns and Kevin Stebner from Stalwart Sons. I've been lucky enough to lend a hand in the organizing process and hopefully will be able to contribute more. Other than that, there are several promoters around Edmonton making shows happen. The scene here is thriving and it's really fun.

Your band seems to have done quite a bit of touring in the last 2 years, what have been the most positive and negative experiences?

Mike: They have been mostly positive. Touring the states is incredible, everything is really close which makes driving less tumultuous and there are so many amazing bands to play with and people to meet. Having never spent that much time travelling in the states it was really nice going to all of these huge cities for the first time. There was a really validating moment for me walking around New York and realizing that if I had never learned to play guitar I wouldn't be where I was in that moment, that was one of the most positive experiences I've had in regards to playing music. As far as negative experiences? Mostly van related, we've had a van break down on us and planning a tour and getting visas can be stressful.

Durell: Every minute of the actual touring has been a positive experience. Meeting with bands I've only lurked on facebook and bandcamp and becoming friends is such a fantastic experience. We've had some bad, but manageable, van issues each summer. It's been worth it.

Is there anything you care to say about your band being diverse in terms of gender?

Mike: It kind of just ended up that way. We wanted a vocalist who didn't already have a main project that we'd have to compete with for attention and commitment and Corby was the best choice within our community, and when we wanted to add a bassist Corby's sister had always been really enthusiastic about it and was already shredding in Book of Caverns on guitar. I feel it's important in punk music, which can often feel like a ‘boys club’, to encourage people who would feel alienated to take part in it and to try and be as inclusive as possible. But I feel it can also be problematic to place virtually all the focus on the gender of the musician. Idealistically, bands would feature members who exist all over the spectrum of gender identity, race and sexual orientation and members of the musical community would be welcoming to everyone and just be really stoked that these people make music that they like.

What do the members of MAHRIA generally do when they’re not playing in the band?

Mike: Durell really likes movies, Corby really likes knitting and quilting, Paul studies a lot, Stacy really likes cats, I really like cooking. We all spend a lot of time hanging out with friends and significant others - I don't know the best way to answer this question, we're pretty average.

Durell: Play in other bands, hahaha. I've got 3 fully active bands, with a couple more jamming and playing shows sparsely. Other than that, I'm a vegan cook and watch a lot of Bulls basketball.

Mike, what do you think Durell’s favourite movie is?

Mike: Jurassic Park. I don’t have to speculate on that one, I lived with him for a couple years – I know! Aliens, Die Hard 3 and Lost World are in super close competition.

Durell: Jurassic Park. I have gained a reputation over my fandom of that movie.

Mike, what dish do you feel like you can cook the best?

Mike: I’m really not sure, I usually have a specific meal I cook when I try to impress someone or make something really special, but that has changed quite a few times over the years. Presently I’m proud of making pasta sauce from scratch and emulating a lot of soul food I’ve tried this previous summer.

Durell, what is Mike's best dish?

Durell: Mike can cook anything. He reads a recipe, he owns it. I'll have to say the vegan bbq pulled pork recipe he invented has been a favorite for years now.

Considering the point of this blog is to introduce people to new bands, which bands would you recommend checking out?

Mike: Answers to this question often end up being really lengthy, so I'll exclude bands that I feel are already well known or are closely associated to Mahria and likely known by people who like us. There seems to be this really cool scene of screamo bands that we play with that get a similar amount of attention on blogs as us, and all of those bands are incredible and easy to find. SO.

***Open Letters (Vancouver): This band features some of my favorite people, they play emo-pop-punk and their politics as a band/people are really inspiring, plus their ep 1-6 is perfect.

***Flint (Edmonton): Is easily the most intense band in western canada, and deserves way more recognition then they get, FFO Justin Pearson, 31G bands.

***Ken Burns (Boston): I'm breaking my rules mentioning a screamo band, but they're fairly new and they really really impressed me on tour, not because they're some noodle-crazy, chaotic, scissor-blast-mangling screamo band but because they're the opposite in the best way possible. (*openmindsaturatedbrain reviewed them here)

***My friend Kirk has an electronic project under the name Boogie Howser, and my friend Brett has a chiptune project named Boosh - both are wonderful people/producers. There's a video production group called "El Cheapo" that records live shows of bands in Vancouver - it's a good representation of bands from BC that are lesser known and really good. Alberta also has a really strong music scene, if you can track down line-ups of Ghost Throats festivals or bands that Bart Records has released that's a good representation of bands from Alberta/Canada that are worth checking out. There's also a guy from Vancouver named Al Boyle who has played in so many bands that are exceptional (Ghost House, WPP, Needs, Taxes, Healthy Student, Hard Feelings, You Say Party, Chains of Love etc.) likewise Eric Clarke (Book of Caverns, Snic, Gift Eaters, Crippled Children, Maus, Wolfgoat etc.), Andrew Benson (Gift Eaters, Crippled Children, Book etc.), Noah R. (La Luna, If I look strong you look strong etc.), and Kevin Stebner (Cold Water, Stalwart Sons, Greyscreen etc.) consistently release impressive stuff and are people I aspire to emulate with my musical output.

Durell: Todos Caeran and Book of Caverns. I will never understand how these bands are not incredibly popular yet. They are amazing. Woolworm and Taxa from Vancouver are great if you're into grunge and indie rock. Our good friends in La Lune have been touring and releasing excellent material and should be checked out right away if not already done.