Today we’d like to introduce you to Chase Weinacht (of Marmalakes).
Chase, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
As a kid, I lived in a remote farming community in North Texas, about 90 minutes north of Dallas, with my grandparents, who have remained crucial figures in my life. The pace of rural living stuck with me, but when I was 10, we moved to the city. Austin loves to praise itself for being a hotbed of musicianship and rock n’ roll performance culture, but as a young songwriter trying to navigate in and around the tropes and cliches of pop songs and indie-rock, I was fortunate to grow into such a scene.
I sang a lot, in choirs and what not, but I didn’t really start working on music until I signed up for classical guitar as a freshman in high school. I joined a garage rock band the following year playing rhythm guitar, not really knowing what I was doing, but faking it through a handful of shows. In my last year of high school, that band had parted ways, and I was starting to write my own songs. Josh Halpern, my classmate at the time (who would become my musical partner/producer/drummer) and I started working on these together and performed as a duo. Max Colonna joined the following year on bass, and we billed ourselves as Marmalakes beginning in 2008.
While at UT Austin, I dove into many new creative friendships at once. It was not hard at all to meet other songwriters, players, and artists. It was truly a magical time. We wrote and recorded three EPs between 2009 and 2014 as Marmalakes. I made a couple of solo records, and we played a ton of shows, touring for the first time in 2012. Taking our time to sort through some mental health difficulties and membership changes (founding collaborator, Max, left Texas to pursue school in Athens, GA), we released our debut LP, “Please Don’t Stop,” on Austin Town Hall Records in May 2018.
We have been very fortunate to write and perform as Marmalakes for coming up on ten years.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
We make pop music. It’s detail-oriented and full of imagery. It gets pretty loud sometimes but also dips down to a whisper. Ideally, after listening to Marmalakes, you will leave wanting to make something.
Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities, and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
Take care of your mental health and be there for your collaborators and mates in their struggles. Financial concerns come after that. I’ve found that having a handful of pursuits/jobs that each take up a small to medium amount of time instead of one that takes up a lot of time allows for a better balanced creative to work-work ratio. Routine helps a lot too–I like getting up early and using the morning as best I can. When I was younger, I kept wild hours, tipping in each direction constantly and it’s easier to be unhealthy with and wasteful with my time without enough rest.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Our music streams on Spotify, Apple Music and elsewhere. The best way to support us would be to come see us play. We have records and other merchandise available on our site at marmalakes.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: marmalakes.com
- Email: marmalakes@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marmalakes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marmalakes/
Image Credit:
Katrina Barber
http://katrinabarberphotos.com/
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
