Mariah Secrest Email Interview

By JT • September 17, 2008

Well I want to start this by letting you know that this interview has been quite a long while in the making. I also want to let you know that the faults for that rest solely on my shoulders. I have simply had to many things going on and as usual it seems that all of those things came upon me all at once. So now I am very pleased to bring you the Interview with Mariah Secrest. Now I met Mariah after I joined IndieHeaven and I knew I wanted to interview her from the first time I heard her music. You can find her music on my podcast at www.jtindie.com as well I’m sure many other places. I have no doubt in saying that Mariah Secrest is a rising star in Christian Music. So now on to the interview.
JT – Who are some of your musical influences?

MS – I don’t really listen to a lot of female artists, so I always feel funny answering this question. I’m making more of an effort to now, but some of the bands that have impacted me the most are Lifehouse, Polarboy, Caedmon’s Call, Plumb, and The Benjamin Gate.

JT – Can you tell me a little about your musical upbringing?

MS – I won’t bore you with the litany of childhood piano lessons, etc., that really are the starting ground for most musicians. In high-school and especially my first years of college, I didn’t know much about music but would plunk out some chords on a piano and found it incredibly satisfying to match my emotions with words. I did a teeny bit of recording, and started to find a little bit of identity as a singer. But it was really the summer before I turned 20, where I landed a place in a band that toured for a summer in Australia with a non-profit that I gained confidence and fell in love with the musician’s lifestyle. I ended up touring with that non-profit for about a year and a half, performing concerts for prisons, camps, parks, churches, schools, and really wherever throughout the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong, and Guatemala. We were doing covers, but it really set the tone for me of thinking of my music as a service to others.

JT – You have an EP out called Green Light, can you tell me about the inspiration behind it?

MS – Eventually I got back to life as a “normal” member of society, and I felt pretty lost. I returned to the songwriting that I’d actually neglected while touring, and this whole idea came up of being stuck at a crossroads when I wanted to be changing the world instead. Most of the EP is about finding your courage and momentum when you seem stuck or afraid. I think the title track “Green Light” really addresses that. The lyrics to the chorus say “I’m ready to go, ready to drive all night. But I’m stalled out waiting for a map and green light.”

JT – Do you consider what you are doing to be your ministry? What kinds of other things are you currently involved in?

MS – Music is the thing that stirs me most, and I believe that whatever makes you come most alive is what the world needs from you. I’m also really interested in international relations and foreign cultures. I just finished a degree in philosophy, and those things all overlap quite a bit. Most recently I’ve also become involved in working with refugees who resettle locally in the States and even in my city. I’m just learning about it all, but it’s a demographic that really needs to be brought more into the light. Most people just don’t know about them and the tremendous needs right in our own backyard.

JT - I see that you are Assistant Editor for “Wrecked for the Ordinary Magazine” could you tell about what Wrecked for the ordinary is?

MS – Wrecked for the Ordinary is an online magazine for those we call “spiritual misfits.” We explore stories of what it means to be Christ-followers in the real world, having had our paradigms of faith and culture broken down and rebuilt by an active, relevant, and surprising God. We pay a lot of attention to social justice causes, culture, and the arts.

JT – On your Myspace page it says “Music Makes us Thirsty” that is a statement that just has to have a story behind it. Would be able to tell us about it?

MS – There’s totally a story! I was studying abroad in Taiwan, and I happened to be there at the same time as a band from the non-profit I used to tour with. I had a very shy Korean roommate who spoke little English. She went with me to their concert, and even though she didn’t have a Christian faith she was quite taken with a worship song that they played. Later that night this quiet, painfully insecure girl confided in me through her broken English, “How can I say this? Music touches my mind. It makes me…thirsty.” I just thought that was so beautiful, that recognition that music causes a yearning in us that mere words can’t express.

JT – You talk about being involved with helping Refugees, can you tell me more about that?

MS – Sure. I’m just getting my feet wet with this type of outreach. Basically, most major cities in the U.S. have a certain number of foreign refugees who are granted political asylum here. But Tucson is getting more families than the agencies can handle. They’re supposed to help them integrate into jobs and society and get them on their feet, but there are just too many families coming in right now. I’m trying to help pull more people together to befriend them, provide basic supplies, teach them English, etc. There’s a ministry here called Tucson Refugee Ministry that does exactly that, and some of my friends and I are just jumping in as volunteers when we can.

JT – What do you find most exciting about writing and recording music?

MS – Music and writing have the power to generate ideas, which is really exciting to me–getting people to think about things in new ways. But also I tend to be a private person. Music and writing are a safe place for me to express how I feel. So I also think they tend to meet other people where they are and help them feel deeply.

JT – You talked about traveling all around the world, performing for all kinds of people (prisons, camps, parks, churches, schools) How did you get involved with this Non-profit and what is this non-profit called?

MS – CTI Music Ministries. I picked up a brochure at a table when I was going to Olivet Nazarene University, and it changed my life.

JT – What do you find is the hardest thing about being on tour?

MS – No matter how much you love your band, spending that much time together pretty much guarantees that there will be times when you let each other down. Having grace for that and accepting that they still love you when you mess up is really humbling.

JT – What do you find is the Best thing about being on tour?

MS – Waking up and knowing anything can happen that day. You don’t know who you’re going to meet or what cool new adventure you’re going to have. Some people may find that unsettling, but I just love it. Meeting people gets tiring, but it’s so awesome at the same time.

JT – Of all the bands I have spoken with, one thing I hear most of all is the difficulty in keeping spiritually grounded. Is there anything you do that helps keep you spiritually grounded while being part of the music industry?

MS – I just really feel that this is what I have to do–how I can serve the world. It doesn’t bother me too much to spend six hours at the computer doing my own booking or promoting, because that’s just part of the service. Sometimes it’s unfortunate to have to look at music as business, but at the same time that’s just the way to get the music out there to maximize people’s access to it. But pulling back from the business aspect for a moment to go hear a concert or watch the sunset or pray reminds me of the great blessing music is and why I do it. I feel like I understand God more through music.

JT – We found each other on Indie Heaven, can you tell me how you got involved with Indie heaven?

MS – My cousin Gabriel Secrest used to be an Indie Heaven artist, and he gained a lot of exposure through it. I’ve also seen their artist ads in places like Relevant magazine and realized they were one of the most legit indie communities to belong to.

JT – What are your future plans, musically?

MS – I’m in the planning stages of recording a full-length album with producer MRL, who used to drum for the band Polarboy. He’s a great producer, and I’m really looking forward to the next season of my music.
Lastly I wanted to end the interview with the famous 10 questions of James Lipton on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” but I find that several of the Question just don’t fit so I took the 5 that I thought made the most sense. If I may be so bold as to ask these questions?

What is your favorite word?
Inspire
What sound or noise do you love?
The coffeepot brewing in the morning

What sound or noise do you hate?
Instruments playing different songs or warm-ups simultaneously
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Massage therapy. Think how much people would love you! When I get too old for music, though, I’ve thought about becoming a philosophy professor.
What profession would you not like to do?
Be a radio DJ! I get nervous speaking impromptu, so I would be perpetually stressed out!

You can Find Mariah at her myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/mariahsecrestmusic or on Indie Heaven at http://www.indieheaven.com/artist_main.php?id=43446. You can also hear her music right here at www.jtindie.com, I hope you all enjoyed the Interview and I also hope you will stay around for the podcasts

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About the Author

JT

Roadie for a Local Band and performing poet, I have been in the Christian Indie Music scene in Pittsburgh for along time and I have seen first hand how hard it is to get any recognition.

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