Main Era’s Journey to True Expression 

From starting tape labels to hacky sack circles outside venues, the band Main Era has carved out a special place in the Boston music scene. Through trips up and down the East Coast, they have discovered what true success looks like. Main Era has sought to find their voice through the art they create since the band’s conception three years ago. Their time in the scene taught them what they wanted to achieve through their music and how important community is to what they do.

 We sat down with Gigi Greaves (guitar/vocals), Jack Halberian (bass/vocals), Willie Swift (guitar/vocals), and Meave Malloy (drums/vocals) to break down their journey.

Like other DIY bands in Boston, you decided to release tapes with Candlepin Records. Was this a no-brainer decision for you? Is physical media important to the band?

Maeve: I think we all come from an interesting generation where we all grew up with physical media, and we have kind of watched that slowly die off, and so it kind of holds a child-like wonder. Also having physical things is nice for the brain. Business-wise, it is nice to support artists. I think these days it’s making a comeback because we are seeing streaming services do such a poor job is supporting artists. Buying physical media directly from the source is the best way to share your support.

Gigi: I think it’s just really important to have piles of garbage in your living space.

Willie: Being a small band has sort of shown us that people are given everything except for like, an in-person connection. You can learn everything about a band and see what they’re doing on their days off on their Instagram story. But there isn’t any other opportunity to connect with them on a human basis besides ordering a physical object that you can hold. Looking them in the eye and buying it at a show or something.

Can you explain your experiences with different DIY music scenes on the East Coast (e.g., Philadelphia, Boston, New York)?

Maeve: It’s so hard to put into words but it really is so fascinating and cool to witness. Like, I don’t know, it makes you appreciate the Boston scene more because you realize its distinction from other cities. You almost just have to feel the energy that the city gives you. But everyone’s been super kind and welcoming. I think that’s been a consistent thing across the board, which I’m very grateful for. But I think we always joke that we feel not that cool, or maybe I’m speaking for myself, but I definitely feel in Philly, we’re just like, nerds.

Willie: I think that we get to experience a lot, and when you play with a band from another place, and pick up on whatever sort of transmission they’re trying to put out, that feeling is reciprocated. There’s this fast friendship.

Gigi: A cultural exchange between two hyperlocalized artistic scenes.

You have all graduated now and are pursuing music as a career. Is it intimidating? What makes it all worthwhile for you guys?

Jack: I think this whole thing is intimidating sometimes, because there is a lot of talent in our scene, and in other scenes, like Philly and New York and stuff. But I feel like the intimidation is more of an ego thing. Everybody is really just there for the music most of the time. And it’s not actually an intimidating environment, and it kind of feels like it’s all about love, you know. Everyone is stoked about the music that is happening. It’s not so much about whether it’s good or not. And, it’s like, all the boats are kind of floating higher because of that. So it’s kind of a beautiful thing.

In some of your earlier songs like “Talking Stage,” the lyrics are straightforward. As you guys developed you have other songs like “Because You Asked Me To” where you can’t decipher the exact meaning. What does your current songwriting process look like? 

Gigi: For me, I always think about it as like, trying to create a mood. And I think that comes from my favorite art. Mood always comes first over anything substantial, and you can approach that from any direction. You can approach that from very specific writing. But for me, it’s always just more of an impressionistic thing where certain words or phrases have an effect. 

Willie: I like it when lyrics give you the space to be yourself within them, or you get to feel your own personal emotions. I feel like that’s the stuff that’s most effective to me in music and art in general. 

Meave: Yeah, because it’s like people are gonna interpret lyrics however they want anyway. Like even if you were so literal in telling a story that means so much to you, they will turn it into their own thing. Which is great, and that’s what art is all about. So that’s why words are funny. They are so powerful yet so fleeting, and kind of meaningless, and can change with context.

Gigi: The art is like a collaboration between the artist and the audience. If you’re just like going very stream-of-consciousness style, then you can look back and realize that you were writing about something that you weren’t conscious of at the time. You can extrapolate meaning later on. Maybe you’ll write something and it won’t make sense until weeks or months later. And I think it’s cool to let your subconscious drive as much as possible.

The way you guys edit your YouTube videos is so unique. Specifically, in the ‘Christ Air’ video how the graphics bounce with the song. How do you go about making this content? What is its significance to your band?

Willie: Well the ‘Christ Air’ video is 100% credited to Digital Awareness. That was like, a live digital performance they did while we were playing. Digital awareness is holding up this whole scene with amazing visuals. I feel like they are the epitome of the selfless act of supporting art.

Meave: Digital Awareness does audio and visual stuff for shows around Boston. They collaborate with venues and help do projections and really cool stuff. 

Gigi: Yeah, it’s cool that you bring that up because I think that’s the second time in recent memory that someone’s asked us about that and has been appreciative of it. That’s inspiring me to get back into the editing room because for most of the time, we’ve been putting out videos it didn’t seem like anybody would ever watch them. I am totally still happy to work on it even if nobody watches it. But the fact that people are responding to it a little bit more now is really encouraging. We knew we were on to something when we would work on something so much, and put so much time and energy into it, and think it’s like so awesome, and like nobody would watch it. We’re really on to something here.

Jack: For some reason, there’s this overwhelming need in this band to document what’s going on because there’s a lot of madness surrounding the music. I feel like there’s this compulsion to send out this video because people have to know how nuts this is; the madness that ensues.

You guys have been in the Allston scene for a while. For those who don’t know about it, could you paint a picture?

Gigi: I think we’ve achieved oldhead status. It is very transient. There are some good things and some not-so-good things. It is obviously sad to see people come and go so much. Living here as an adult for several years now so many of my friends have gone back home or somewhere else and that always is so bittersweet. People tend not to stick around in Boston for better or for worse and I totally get it but at the same time, I’m constantly meeting new people and cultivating new relationships which also is very exciting, you know? Nothing is ever static here. This means that there are always a lot of projects bubbling up. It’s very dynamic.

Willie: The only thing I can think about is that we’ve recently started a tape label called Interlux Distribution that was primarily just to help support other artists in the scene that we like. And, you know, give them some resources and help with giving them some physical media as we talked about before.

I have heard through so many people in the scene about your legendary hacky sack circle. How did this tradition start?

Willie: A long time ago I worked as a backpacking guy out of New Mexico for a Summer, and when me and my friend Eric were there we got into hacky sacks just to pass the time because there was like no phone service and we were just in the woods all the time. And then when we were there we found it really fun to aggressively invite anyone walking by to join the circle. We would get these massive circles of hacky sacking. I always really loved it and I feel like it’s a really cool way to spend time in the company of others without necessarily having to talk. The best part is when we’re touring in a different city and we get someone from one of the local bands to join in.

Gigi: The best hacky sackers we’ve encountered were in Philadelphia playing an away show our first time in the city.

Willie: If you want to know our opinion about the Philly scene, it is that they’re very excellent hacky sackers.

Jack, you were once asked what the ideal outcome of all of this would be. You responded by saying “That we will find success from this somehow.” Is this still your answer? Can you elaborate on how you define success?

Jack: I meant success as finding the ability to express yourself as best you can in this world. And, you know, I’ve kind of been thinking about this idea for the past few years of how this is a journey to kind of find yourself through expression. And so I think people, even if they’re not really that big of an act, it’s kind of admirable when they’re able to be as vulnerable and expressive as possible. And to me, that’s a band that succeeds in a way. That’s kind of what I want this to be. 

Willie: I think when we started there was sort of this misconception that we would hit some big playlist song or something, and then we’re gonna get the fuck out of here. And I think it has just been proven over and over again with artists we admire and have gotten to know personally, that that’s not actually how it happens. Like, some of the bands that we love so much that we consider famous in our world, are still working day jobs. There is a misunderstanding that music will take you away from yourself like it will alleviate you of your human suffering or something. But it’s sort of become more apparent to us that the only thing we have is our community and the art that we’re inspired by. That is separate from the music industry.