Get to know: marine anthropology

By Abena Oppon

On behalf of Music Fund, Abena Oppon interviews Marine Anthropology as part of a five-part series leading up to the Battle of the Bands on Saturday in the Union’s Main Bar.

This Saturday, St Andrews will see its biggest inter-band competition yet. Organised by the Music Fund, nine bands will battle it out to be crowned the best student band in town. As the event draws near, Hearing Aid has collaborated with Music Fund to introduce you to some of them. Some parts of these interviews have been edited for clarity. 

Marine Anthropology was forged in the fires of northern Virginia, and has since morphed into an art rock supergroup showing off the best St Andrews has to offer. You’ll come for the ten-minute epics, and you’ll stay for the chaos. We spoke with Eli, the mind behind Marine Anthropology, alongside multi-instrumentalist Oliver.

How did you all meet, and how did you decide to start playing together?

Eli: I started this back in high school, so it’s been about six years now. I’ve been playing as Marine Anthropology, or some form of it with those songs, since junior year. It was me, my friends on drums and on guitar, and my friends’ brother, who played bass, and also recorded and mixed our first EP.

And then, I moved here and they didn’t, and that made it a bit tough to keep that formation going. It was just a solo project for the best part of three years. I decided to enter the NPR Tiny Desk Contest, and it turns out that one of the rules for that is that every member of the band has to be an American resident. So I went around trying to find all my American friends who played instruments. We wound up with drums, guitar, bass, violin, and a clarinet, so that was a cool combination. We got the first iteration of the band together last year. I wrote and arranged for that group, we did some things last summer, and then we played a gig last semester, with some alternative version of that group. We found an actual bassist, moved Oliver to guitar and synth, and our clarinet player graduated, so we brought in a soprano sax player.

What is everyone’s most memorable performance so far?

Eli: We’ve only really had one as an actual band. That was Sounds of Sandys in January — loads of fun. It’s a really cool experience, writing songs and imagining what they might sound like, then hearing them for the first time. 

What are your hopes and plans for the future for Marine Anthropology?

Eli: I’m planning to record an album in May and June, between exams and graduation. So I’m working on plans for that, trying to see if I can book out the big music centre room, make that, then make it sound cool. There's a certain environment here that feels very conducive to making music, because of how contained everything is, and how many people I know who are incredible musicians. Leaving here without fully taking advantage of that would feel a bit of a waste. So I’m going to do that, and release that, but we have a situation where everyone in the band is going to different places. 

It’s always been my project, and so I’m just gonna write stuff and drag in people around me to play it with me. I don’t see why that can’t continue, but it definitely will be different to how it is now. 

Finally, what part of Battle of The Bands are you most looking forward to?

Eli: Looking forward to playing some music and winning! Because we’re gonna win. It’s not going to be close.