The Loop : The Via Maris - The Wilderness Underneath

The Via Maris - The Wilderness Underneath (2007)

This was one of the records that I thought I'd save til the very end, but the other day, it just sounded good to listen to. So I did.

In circling back through a lot of Arizona local bands in this era, I keep mentioning the little nicknames I had for their various genres and sub-genres. However, I was reminded about one of the most important, what is affectionately known as the "Quietcore Mafia". And no band embodies that more to me than The Via Maris.

It was a freezing cold night (for whatever that was to me back then) and my brother and I had made our way down to the Phix in Downtown Phoenix. We were going to see What Laura Says Thinks and Feels, who we had come to know through the radio station and grown a strong liking to, including my brother filming one of their songs at the Trunkspace a few weeks earlier. I had been really sick the first night I saw them play, so I was dying to see them again in December (...and see them easily a couple dozen other times since) The Phix wasn't my favorite venue, but was a nice big space that was incredibly hot in the summer and incredibly hot in the Winter. We were sitting over by the Laura merch table trying to keep warm when I heard one of the bands start. It was one quick strum and a male/female harmony singing "The skies are white, the lands are low. . . oh ooo oh oh oh . . . come breathe this air tonight." I remember my brother and I looking at each other and immediately standing up to see what sounded so great.

We listened intently for the next few songs, deciding that we thought he said the band went was "The VMR's". After they were finished, we ran outside to see the set times and found out that they actually went by "The Via Maris". We met the lead singer (and who I found out later was the mastermind of the whole thing) Chad afterwards and I nervously mentioned I worked in college radio and got a copy of his EP. We played it on the way home and were unbelivabely floored by what we heard. I immediately went to my Facebook and MySpace and gushed about it, saying something along the lines of "I haven't been this excited about music in a very long time." and it was true.

And for the next few months, I spent my time gushing about The Via Maris. I ended up working with Chad on a manager/consultant/promotion level, doing mostly booking and marketing, trying to tap into online resources and into the Tempe area since he had mostly only played Downtown. It was an interesting glimpse into the part of music I wish I understood more, listening to the record to suggest sequencing, album artwork, etc. Planning the CD release show and a marathon of shows leading up to that (some good, some not so good) That time has become one of my greatest prides yet greatest regrets in life. I learned so much, but it kills me that I didn't know what I know now in order to really get Chad where he needed to be. I did the best I could for being 20 years old, but more people needed to hear this music and I stretched as many resources as I could. Thankfully, for all of us, the music itself carried so much of what marketing and management couldn't do : It was simply beautiful. He has since put out a follow up record and disbanded "The Via Maris" as it existed, switching to a new project called "Chimney Sweep", as creative folks do sometimes. I think Via Maris existed in a time and a place for Chad, and I'm excited to see what comes next.

In several of our conversations about music/business and in several of his interviews, we discussed how to get people to listen to "quiet music". I had been into the emo singer/songwriters before, but something about The Via Maris was different. It wasn't quiet in the sense that it lacked instrumentation. Far from it. It was quiet in that it reigned in all of those insturments, and kept a soothing, even tone across the whole record. It takes an intense amount of skill to even out all of those elements, yet make them powerful enough that the listner, upon giving it a "careful listen", is able to pick out its many layers and deliberate beauty. This record is the kind that rewards the listener each time it's listened to, not only in the music but lyrically as well.

It's hard to listen to this record and not think of all the business that we went through over those few months. It's an unfortunate reality of my position even to this day, where I pull out strengths and good hooks and ways to leverage the image. But you know, the music is great, and that's all that matters. All that matters are the nights I spent driving back and forth to my parent's house during that winter break listening to the EP on repeat over and over and over and just how infinite I felt listening to "Wide Open World". The minute I don't feel that anymore is the minute I quit working in music. I still feel it, though.

I couldn't find video of any of the songs on this record, but I did find my favorite song, "The Better Year" off the follow up album, The Bicentennial. This video is pretty poignant in the quiet music playing over a talking crowd. Fight on, quietcore.

The Better Year 6/21/08

The Via Maris | MySpace Music Videos