Marz Roche

Marz Roche

Crawdaddy 03/04/09

Angela Macari O’Looney

Having heard about this special singer/songwriter and watched his performances on-line, I was eager to experience his live show. Therefore I made my way down to Harcourt Street on a rainy Friday evening to get a proper listen to Marz Roche!

Born and raised in Mayo, Marz came to Dublin at the tender age of eighteen to study. Having played with a band in his native Mayo, he developed his own sound and began writing his own material. He has performed his piano and acoustic guitar based songs at various venues around Dublin such as ‘The Zodiac Sessions’ and is a unique musician and composer.

A modest audience filed into the venue for the first act of the evening Wayne Brennan, who is also a well known veteran of ‘The Zodiac Sessions’ in Bruxelles. I believe I saw Wayne when I was reviewing another act there last summer and definitely felt I’d seen and heard him before. One thing is certain; having heard him this night, I won’t forget him easily. Wow!

Wayne is an exceptionally talented guitarist and vocalist and meshes styles drawn from his extensive travels around Europe. He has panache for eclectic melody lines and an ability to blend Spanish guitar into his performances. His band includes Andrew Healy- Drums/ percussion and Martin Quinn-Bass/ Keyboards.

From his forthcoming album In My Hands due for release in May, his first song was And I Love. A wonderfully harmonic song, it has a seductive tempo and complex guitar throughout. It is a catchy number with a jazzy riff repeated intermittently which is sweet.

Please Please is equally memorable with a vibrant baseline and gorgeous riffs throughout. The melody in the chorus is so appealing and Wayne’s emotional performance a delight to watch!

She’s the one

An acoustic number, this song has a lovely melody line, with Andrew doing backing vocals. Sung sweetly it has an easy going tempo.

This song was followed by Make you smile. In this Wayne’s vocals are passionate at the beginning as he sings the wonderfully romantic lyrics. It picks up to a slinky beat and involves a catchy refrain. I really like the arrangement of this piece!

Wayne introduced Connor who was on Bass this night. Also he introduced Andrew on drums. Wayne has a polished way about him and a lovely stage manner!

He then began to play a flamenco piece on guitar; Peace in your mind. There had been a little bit of chatter about the place before this, but I noticed how quickly it stopped once this began. You could almost feel the audience catch its breath!
This was such a fabulous break in mood and as Mace was added to the scene, and then bass I could imagine a flamenco dancer in full dress, castanets raised dramatically, and feet tapping to this music!
The intensity gradually built up and all three musicians blended beautifully. Such skill!

In My Hands

The theme song from Wayne’s album which is to be released in May begins as a slow ballad. It then changes to a Latino beat and he continues with the Spanish guitar theme in this. The melody is exotic, with lovely close harmony in the chorus.

He got a tumultuous response from the small audience for a really enjoyable set. Wayne Brennan is a busy man with constant invitations from many well known artists such as The Gypsy Kings, Alabama, The Coronas and Brian Kennedy, to perform as ‘Special guest’. This comes as no surprise to me having heard what he can do at this gig!


Marz Roche

Indie/ Acoustic/ Folk rock is the description of Marz’s music on My Space. However, it involves this absolutely excellent song writing technique and listening to his powerful melodies and the way he pours each song out from his very soul, makes me want to cry with emotion!
Yet he has some faster numbers in his repertoire which merit praise and because he tends to do so many moody, soulful pieces those splashes of rock here and there add the perfect contrast!

Band members are; Mark Murphy – Lead guitar, Robin Ball – Drums/ Percussion, Adam Taylor – Bass.
Influences include The Beatles, Beachboys, David Gray, Coldplay, O.C.S., Tom Petty, and Jackson Brown.

Better Late than ever

Marz plays the lovely intro on piano and sings to the silent audience. He is sweet and has the most soothing quality in his delivery of this melodic and emotional number!
Big chords and trickling piano notes along with a slight grittiness in his voice create such a moving performance, of what I feel must be one of the most superior love songs from an Irish artist!

What you don’t know

Before continuing the set, Marz thanked Wayne Brennan. He asked the audience to move a little bit closer to the stage. Things seemed very quiet at this point. But it was a cosy night and somehow people seemed quite happy to sit and listen for the moment.
Acoustic guitar and the other guitars create a subtle effect here. There’s a poignant message in the lyrics; ‘Some things are better left unsaid’!
Lovely melody line as in all of his songs! This is a slow number and one that stays in your mind it is so pretty. It has gorgeous plucked guitar throughout and there’s a really excellent middle eight with beautiful chords, which increase the dynamics before the final chorus. There’s a sweet guitar riff throughout this song that lifts everything!


Final Curtain

This number was more upbeat and I liked it immensely! A choppy tempo and a luscious melody line, I found it a cheerful song. The chorus is catchy and has a beat that you’d want to tap your feet too. His voice has a touch of Chris Martin from ‘Coldplay’ coming through, in my opinion with that way he has of lamenting the words which are a little sad; ‘As the final whistle blows and as the curtain draws to close, baby it’s you and me and a handful of loose change. I guess that’s how our story goes’. There’s a delightful riff in there too, with bending notes played on the acoustic guitar.

Stay

This has a beautiful piano intro and I couldn’t but admire his touch on the ivories! The lead guitar comes in with a sustained noted. Bass and beats join in!
Moody melody line with a chorus that is more hopeful and sweet! As I watched Marz perform this song, I could imagine how good he’d be at a big open air gig doing this number, with the crowd swaying from side to side!
This song becomes more dynamic as it progresses and with it being so powerful, it seemed to lift the atmosphere at Crawdaddy to a higher level!
The chorus is absolutely riveting, with such amazing hooks and riffs just perfectly injected into it. Mark on lead guitar does a fab solo in this one too!
The audience had finally woken up and were moving up near the stage and what began as a quiet gig, began to be more like a small intimate party!

Summer Flame

This is done by Marz alone with his acoustic guitar. It begins with a quiet trickling riff that’s divine and against soothingly sung lyrics a scene is painted, of a beach and the romantic sound of the ocean as lovers walk along!

Seven Years

This was a pleasant change with a three four beat. He began with just his acoustic and gradually the rest of the quartet joined in. The chorus is the highlight of this one. Marz goes into falsetto and Mark adds some nifty riffs on his lovely black Gibson, Adam adding just enough bass. It’s a sleepy number but so beautiful that I felt it to be one of my favourites of the night!

O.K. and Alright

The chorus is the star of the show in this song. It’s a little faster than all the previous songs and includes lots of exciting guitar riffs. This got a great response from the crowd.

Greenday

This began with a three four tempo and then seemed to burst into a dramatic chorus. It has a really nice arrangement, with the guitarist singing a little bit of harmony and he also does a lovely riff. Bassist well blended throughout and definitely has a sensitive way of blending into the scene!

Follow me down

This was the last song in Marz’s set. People sang along with the chorus and backing vocals were lovely. It had much more pizzazz than all of the songs put together. He sings it with just keyboards and it builds up again for the last chorus for the line; ‘Follow me down’ which by now everyone sang, including myself!
It was lovely the way as everyone sang it, Marz went on singing a verse that fitted with it perfectly and there was such a fantastic atmosphere altogether!

There was no way he was getting away without an encore and as the audience shouted ‘One more song’ Marz introduced the other members of his band. Then he surprised me with his final song of the night which has to become a number one if there’s any justice in the world.

Serious Girl

This number begins with a sung intro of Bop bah na na na which he gets everyone singing. The guitar begins to play the riff and soon the rolling pace gets everyone clapping. There’s lots going on in this song and it went on for a long time. People were delighted every time the riff was played because it was the cute bit where we got to sing Bop bah na na na!

There’s something very humble about his personality and he and his band gel so seamlessly that every thing they produce sounds good. But if you’ve played guitar since the age of twelve and performed live as often as Marz has, the stage is probably where you feel most at home!

I would like to hear a few faster songs in his repertoire. But apart from this he surpassed my expectations. I feel that although this was my first live ‘Marz Roche’ gig it won’t be my last!