Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Norris
Hi Mary, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always had a love for music, even when I was little. I started playing guitar when I was 10 and immediately started writing songs after. I knew I wanted to be write and perform my own music, but I hadn’t originally envisioned Slow Funeral the way it is now. I used to have a band called Salti Ray that I had started with my best friend from middle school. We met when we were 12 and wrote and performed together until we were about 25. Around that time, I began focusing my creative energy solely on Slow Funeral, which I had formed a year earlier. I felt I needed another space for some of my more personal songs – a space of my own. I had just been accepted into a couple of different MSW programs when I realized I wasn’t ready to devote myself to school again and change career paths. I hadn’t toured or even made an album yet, which had always been a dream of mine since I started playing. I decided not to go back to school yet and to finally record a full-length album. So, I applied for arts grants, I put on fundraiser shows, and I set up a GoFundMe. Two years later, and the album has been recorded and will finally be coming out. I had so much help from the community here in SC. I truly can’t emphasize that enough.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all, haha. Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful, even for the hard shit, but it has been really hard. I recorded my album in Charleston and made countless trips back and forth, which cost more money that wasn’t covered by the funds I raised. I had to take off days of work at a time, sometimes up to a week, which made it tough to make ends meet. On tour, we crammed in my Subaru and the AC broke in July. The heat honestly wasn’t too bad, but it made me lose my appetite, which sucked. I get low blood sugar episodes if I don’t eat the right stuff at the right times, so not having an appetite meant I wasn’t eating enough, which made me have lows almost every day on tour. I’m an independent artist too, so I am my team. My boys drove for me, which was amazing. I’d wake up, head to the venue with no AC in the car, soundcheck, make sure I’m posting on social media and making “content,” front the band, hop off stage immediately to go sell merch, pay out bands at the end of the night since I booked most of the shows, and try and make sure I had whatever snacks I needed to manage my sugar and keep any food I had on me from spoiling in the heat since we were touring in my car. Honestly, it makes you feel like an absolute lunatic. And selfish. Waking up ready to head to the studio to make an album was so rewarding and exciting and everything you’d expect in some ways, and also challenging, because you’re trying to record some of the most personal things you’ve ever written about your life with -$300 in your bank account. Driving all of those Charleston trips alone, making sure I’ve got someone to watch my dog, working doubles before and after these trips so I can manage it financially, coming home to see my gas light is on, conjuring funds out of thin air for merch. I handmade most of our merch this year to help offset the cost. This is what I mean about community though – my producer looked out for me. It became a tradition that he’d take us both out for wings whenever I came down, haha. I would crash at friends’ houses – either Jo and Cera’s or Jenna and Julius’s. That shit saved me a lot of money and stress. Had folks help organize fundraiser shows or help make batches of merch. We had friends on tour who let us stay with them so we at least had a couch to sleep on (and then I could throw my food in the refrigerator lol). But yeah, it was tough because life also keeps happening on top of this massive undertaking. I’ve had at least two jobs at a time while I’ve been working on this record. One of my bandmates had a pet pass away while we were away from home. Just shit like that people often don’t think about. Grief, exhaustion, poverty, sickness – all stuff you still gotta deal with when you’re in the studio or playing shows. Would I do it again? Yeah, I’m planning on it – I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me, haha. Hopefully, we’ll have an actual van with working AC next time.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a musician from Charleston, SC, currently residing in Greenville, SC. I am the most proud of simply creating my album and performing. It has been hard to acquire the resources needed to make it happen, and I see it as a powerful testament to community support and how much people really do value arts and music. I sometimes wish I had more to offer aside from my little songs, but maybe one day, I will. Creating can be expensive. Session fees, recording fees, mastering fees, artwork fees, distribution fees. I do feel that we’re finally seeing more diverse life experiences represented in mass-consumed media, but I’m just so happy to share my experiences in my songs. Songs that talk about growing up in poverty, growing up in the south, exploring queerness, womanhood and objectification, love, healing, mental illness, and the place where all those things meet. It is nice to contribute something.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I would say I’ve had a lot of good luck, but I’m better off to blame it on love. Every time I have absolute shit luck, I write an incredible song. I don’t think I need bad luck to write good songs, but when I write something good, someone believes in it, and more opportunities appear. So maybe the bad luck isn’t so bad.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://slow-funeral.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/slowfuneral
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/slowfuneral69
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@slowfuneral
