Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Marquis.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I am the youngest of 3 brothers who all play music. We grew up with our father singing and playing the blues on guitar and our mother singing with us in the car. She believed it was important for us to learn instruments so we each started lessons at an early age. My brothers are 6 and 10 years older than me so by the time I could make sounds they were already in bands. Rock, metal, punk, and hardcore bands. Loud music with aggressive vocals was always booming from the basement for as long as I can remember. So naturally we all ended up in touring hardcore bands. My brother Shawn was the bassist in a Boston band called Vanna and my brother Brian played in a Boston band called Therefore I Am. My band is called Actor|Observer and we are releasing our record label debut on No Sleep Records August 24th, 2018. In addition to doing vocals in A|O I also do acoustic/folky solo stuff on the side that I’ll probably start recording soon.
Please tell us about your art.
Actor|Observer formed in 2010, but we really started to find our sound and tour in 2014. We all grew up in New England, inspired by local Boston punk and hardcore bands and the misfit community they brought together. The raw, honest, and urgent nature of that music has always resonated with me. It’s not always pretty, and it’s certainly not perfect. It’s visceral and dirty like the difficult and painful parts of life that people don’t always want to talk about. For me, this genre has always been a way to look that ugliness in the face and turn it around into something cathartic, beautiful, and unifying for those who might otherwise feel alone in their struggle. My lyrics tend to be very personal, self-critical, and psychoanalytical, using the music as a form of therapy to work through my issues. My hope is that listeners struggling with anxiety or depression can gain some sort of insight or comfort in hearing how I am working through mine.
Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
Just accept that being a full-time artist is a blue-collar job. Don’t expect it to EVER be your main source of income, unless someday it is somehow, but always making whatever other job(s) you have work in service of your craft wherever you can. If you’re a creative person, use that creativity to live your life differently and don’t feel pressured to subscribe to the 9-5 40-hour-a-week schedule. Consistency and routine are nice, and if that’s what you want that’s fair, but if you look around and don’t settle you can find all sorts of different jobs that will give you the flexibility to make art a priority. It’s not easy at all, but I figure life is always going to give you problems, might as well choose the problems that best serve your goals and see what happens.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Buy a ticket to our record release show at Great Scott in Allston, MA on Friday 8/24 with Gatherers and Long Time! A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center which is an incredibly important local organization offering resources, assistance, and counseling for survivors of sexual violence.
Tickets to the show are available here:
https://www.axs.com/events/357566/actor-observer-record-release-tickets?skin=greatscott&src=CFC_BOSBOWERY_actorobserver_greatscott_2018_fbevent
Another way to support us is to pre-order the physical record on vinyl or CD along with any of our limited-edition merch items through No Sleep Records:
http://store.nosleeprecords.com/catalogs/Actor-Observer
You can also follow us on most social media platforms and stream our music on most music streaming services.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.actorobserver.com
- Email: actorobserver@gmail.com
- Instagram: @actorobserver
- Facebook: @actorobserver
- Twitter: @actorobserver
- Other: http://store.nosleeprecords.com/catalogs/Actor-Observer
Image Credit:
Adam Parshall, Jason Cox, Bethany Anna, Jamie Wallace, Flesh & Bone Design, Casket House Co.
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