Local Band Landing Mary Talks Firefly Music Festival

With all the music festivals popping up throughout the world, it is easy to say music is something that brings everyone together, a universal force that makes the world happier. Coachella, Bonaroo, Firefly. These are just a few of the many festival that people travel thousands of miles to see. Whether your favorite band is headlining or you just love it all, there is definitely a demand for these events.

Festivals are great for big bands, little bands, national bands, local bands, you name it. Now once you play at a festival like Firefly, you can pretty much assume that you are making it in the music industry. But how do these bands come to be? How did they start?

We were able to speak to a local band called Landing Mary currently reside in Annapolis, Salisbury & Waldorf, MD.

Here’s their story:

“Two childhood friends—Mike Barnas and Matt Hinshaw grew up playing music together from 2005-2010 in a series of bands entitled: The Dirty Chucks, Taken For Granted, Amity, and We Have The Summer, respectively. After graduating from high school in 2010, the members of We Have The Summer split up to peruse a college education. Two years later, Mike Barnas and Matt Hinshaw found themselves living in the same city (Salisbury) with the same passion for music they discovered in middle school. At first these friends spent hours “jamming” old songs that they never forgot how to play. After endless hours of jamming the same songs over and over to perfect their duet acoustic sound, Mike and Matt decided to expand their song repertoire in order to play for hours at a time on the Ocean City Boardwalk, and ultimately, local bars. Along with learning cover songs, Mike and Matt began to write original music and learn new instruments. Mike began learning the ukulele, banjo, and bass while Matt perfected his mandolin skills. It became evident that this duet needed a name in order to promote themselves effectively. Since Mike and Matt love everything about the state from which they hail, (MD) they decided to flip the name Maryland and name themselves Landing Mary. From this point on, Landing Mary began to book shows around the Salisbury/Ocean City area and this group is currently in its second year of existence. Looking to the future, Matt searched for a third member that could supply some hot beats—and after a short search, Matt brought in longtime friend & recording colleague Jason Kearse. Jason joined Landing Mary in late 2014 and has been playing drums and keyboard ever since.”

Landing Mary is a band who’s love for music has influenced their every decision and they would one day love to be apart of a festival like Firefly. Who knows, in the next few years maybe they will. Which makes you think– where did these other bands start? Well, let’s find out.

FIREFLY PERFORMERS:

PAUL MCCARTNEY: With John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame as the bassist of British rock band the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop music.

KINGS OF LEON: An American rock band that formed in Talihina, Oklahoma, in 2000. Members: Caleb Followill – lead vocals, rhythm guitar Jared Followill – bass Matthew Followill – lead guitar Nathan Followill – drums

THE KILLERS: An American rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001, by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards) and Dave Keuning (guitar, backing vocals).

MORRISSEY: Also known as, Steven Patrick Morrissey, a British singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career, making the top ten of the UK Singles Chart on ten occasions.

SNOOP DOGG: An American recording artist from Long Beach, Ca. His music career began in 1992, when he was discovered by Dr. Dre of N.W.A.

FOSTER THE PEOPLE: An American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, Ca. in 2009. The group is composed of Mark Foster (vocals, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitar, programming, percussion), Jacob “Cubbie” Fink (bass and backing vocals), and Mark Pontius (drums, percussion).

ZEDD: A Russian-German musician, music producer and DJ. Zedd grew up and began his career in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

MODEST MOUSE: An American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy.

BASTILLE: An English indie band formed in 2010. They began as a solo project by singer-songwriter Dan Smith, who later decided to form a band. The four-piece is completed by Chris ‘Woody’ Wood, William Farquarson and Kyle Simmons. They recently added a touring member to the band, Charlie Barnes.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN: An Australia electronic music duo from Sydney, formed in 2007. The duo consists of longtime collaborators Luke Steele of alternative rock act The Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore of electronic dance outfit Pnau.

HOZIER: Andrew Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier, is an Irish singer and songwriter from Newcastle, County Wicklow. He released his debut EP, featuring the hit single “Take Me to Church”, in 2013 and his second EP, From Eden, in 2014. His debut studio album, Hozier, was released in Ireland in September 2014 and globally in October 2014.

KID CUDI: An American recording artist and actor from Cleveland, Ohio. After moving to Brooklyn, New York, with aspirations of becoming a rapper, Cudi initially gained recognition after the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi, which he released in 2008.

STEVE AOKI: An American electro house musician, record producer, and music executive. Aoki founded his own label, Dim Mak Records, in 1996. The label has released music by other electro house artists such as MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots, Felix Cartal and Mustard Pimp, as well as Bloc Party, The Kills, Klaxons, Infected Mushroom, Scanners, Whitey, and Mystery Jets.

SUBLIME WITH ROME: A musical collaboration between Eric Wilson (and formerly Bud Gaugh), formerly of the band Sublime and singer and guitarist Rome Ramirez. Ramirez began performing with Gaugh and Wilson in 2009, where they played under the name “Sublime”, until Nowell’s estate issued a legal challenge to the use of the trademarked name for a venture not including Nowell. As a result, they changed their name to “Sublime with Rome” in January 2010.

SPOON: The band was formed in late 1993 by the lead singer and guitarist Britt Daniel and the drummer Jim Eno, after the two met as members of The Alien Beats. The name Spoon was chosen to honor the 1970s Germanavant-garde band Can, whose hit song “Spoon” was the theme song to the 1985 movie Das Messer aka Jagged Edge in the United States. Eno describes Spoon’s music as “psychedelic.”

CAGE THE ELEPHANT: An American rock band from Bowling Green, Kentucky, that formed in 2006. The group currently consists of Matthew “Matt” Shultz (lead vocals), Brad “Dave” Shultz (rhythm guitar), Jared Champion (drums, percussion), Daniel “Tich” Tichenor (bass guitar, backing vocals), Matthan Minster (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), and Nick Bockrath (lead guitar).

AWOLNATION: An American indietronic rock band, formed and fronted by Aaron Bruno, formerly of Under the Influence of Giants, Hometown Hero, and Insurgence. The band is signed to Red Bull Records, and their first EP, Back from Earth, was released on iTunes on May 18, 2010.

THE KOOKS: A British rock band formed in Brighton, East Sussex, in 2004. The band currently consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/guitar), Hugh Harris, Alexis Nunez (drums), and Peter Denton.

X AMBASSADORS: An American alternative rock band from Ithaca, New York. The band has had hits such as Unconsolable, Jungle, and Renegades. The song Renegades was featured in a Jeep Renegade commercial. The band’s debut full length album titled “VHS” is due to drop June 30th,

GARY CLARK JR.: An American guitarist based in Austin, Tx. Clark shared the stage with various legends of rock and roll, and has stated that he is “influenced by blues, jazz, soul and country, as well as hip hop”. Clark’s musical trademarks are his distorted guitar sound and smooth vocal style.

KYGO: Kygo hit it big in 2014, after receiving over 80 million views on YouTube and Soundcloud, Kygo was contacted by both Avicii, and Chris Martin of Coldplay to create official remixes of one of the artists’ songs.