Marjorie Fair is an indie rock/psychedelic

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

band formed in New Jersey by musician Evan Slamka, and based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The band is best known for their debut album '' Self Help Serenade'', released in 2004 on Capitol Records. Marjorie Fair's melodic psychedelia has been compared to

Mercury Rev Mercury Rev is an American rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York,
with Pernice Brothers Pernice Brothers are an American indie rock band. Formed by Joe Pernice in 1998 after the breakup of his old band, the Scud Mountain Boys, and including Joe's brother Bob Pernice, the band recorded their first album, '' Overcome by Happiness ...

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

Grandaddy Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California, Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a ...

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

and the solo works of

Jon Brion Jon Brion (born December 11, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and The Grays (band), the Grays before becoming an established pro ...

, who contributed parts to ''Self Help Serenade''. Following the release of ''Self Help Serenade'' in the UK on May 31, 2004, Marjorie Fair toured Europe and opened for acts including

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock (musician), Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and ba ...

and

Doves Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

. Marjorie Fair played a series of West Coast residencies in the fall, while awaiting Capitol to release their album stateside. The album did not end up being released in the United States until July 19, 2005 and was supported by a U.S. tours. The group promoted the album with a performance at the Glastonbury Festival, iTunes Sessions and further touring with

Tegan and Sara Tegan and Sara () are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters, Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumentali ...

and

Mellowdrone Mellowdrone is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1999. Biography Mellowdrone originated as Jonathan Bates' solo project, but expanded to a full band with Tony DeMatteo (guitar and keyboards), Scott Ellis (drums) and Greg Griff ...

that fall. In summer 2006, Marjorie Fair was recruited to open for

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

and

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

on a massive stadium tour. June 2009, the band released the e.p Spectrum of Love. Produced by

Joey Waronker Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He has performed with acts including Beck, R.E.M., Oasis and Roger Waters, and is a member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta. Back ...

and mixed by Darrell Thorp. In a series of posts in early 2015, Slamka teased cover art for a new Marjorie Fair album to be titled ''

I Am My Own Rainbow I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plu ...

''. ''I Am My Own Rainbow'' was released March 25, 2016 on

Psychic Bully A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that ar ...

. The album was preceded by the first single "Songbird". Followed by a video for the song "Save Time". Produced again by Joey Waronker and the band. The band played shows on the west coast and around Los Angeles while writing and recording the follow-up. A new record titled "Distant Talker" was scheduled for 2021 release but has yet to appear.

Current members

* Evan Slamka - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards *Nicholas Johns - Bass, Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals *Dylan Ryan - Drums, Percussion

Past members

* Wayne Faler - Guitar * Dain Luscombe - Keyboards * Chris Tristram - Bass guitar * Scott Lord - Bass guitar * Mike Delisa - Drums * Jayson Larson – Drums *Josh Brown - Keyboards

Discography

Albums * '' Self Help Serenade'' (May 31, 2004 - UK) (July 19, 2005 - US) (

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

digital release included bonus track "Waves (Live On Indie 103.1)") * ''

'' (March 25, 2016) EPs * ''Sessions'' (

digital release only) (October 25, 2005) *Spectrum of Love (June 20, 2009) Singles * "Stare" b/w "How Can You Laugh," "Science Of Your Mind," and "Timmy" (May 17, 2004 - UK) * "Waves" b/w "What I Said" and "True Lovers" (October 18, 2004 - UK) *"Black Holes" (June 13, 2009) *"Songbird" (March 3, 2015) *"Save Time" (June 21, 2015)

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marjorie Fair American pop music groups