Eye on the Arts: Solidarity
By Hannah Larking
Lance Writer
March 19, 2008
 Adam Marz, the self-proclaimed front man for local band Solidarity, has come a long way since he took up the piano at age 3.
After joining forces with his brother, who began on the violin, it wasn’t long before the two knew music was something they wanted to pursue—just not that classical stuff they’d been dabbling in up to that point.
“My brother and I have been playing together since we were babies, basically,” explains Marz. “We started to lose interest in those classical instruments. It wasn’t cool to play those old instruments.”
Marz and his brother, James “Moose,” collaborated with Chris “Cup” Caputo to form Solidarity, which came as a result of a few previous bands falling apart for various reasons.
The band prides themselves on using themes and messages that reflect the definition of their name. “Solidarity: that is our message. We want people to come together to create positive change, and that will create peace, and that will end poverty. It’s a grandiose goal, but it’s an ideal that you can strive for,” explains Marz.
Marz, who denies the lead singer title so often attributed to him, prefers to be recognized as the band’s front man. “People keep calling me the lead singer, but when we started out, we didn’t want to have a lead singer. My brother sings a lot on the record, we all have our own parts where we sing. I guess I like being called more of a front man than a lead singer because we all sing lead parts,” he says.
When it comes to genre, Solidarity is very unique. “I like to call it melodic metal. We have a lot of elements of metal, and I think the newer material is going more in that direction,” Marz explains. “We’re getting a little funkier, a little groovier. We want to get people to move when they’re listening to our music, literally and figuratively.”
But it’s more than just that. Solidarity uniquely adds in subtle Arabic sounds to some of their songs. “My dad and uncle are on the first track [of the first album, Materializer]. My uncle is playing the oud, which is a really traditional Arabic instrument and my father is sort of sending a positive message in spoken word Arabic,” says Marz. “At a time when being Arabic isn’t all that popular—we’re still proud.”
A lot of Solidarity’s lyrics are inspired by the current state of affairs happening around the world. “We have a song called ‘Addict,’ and that was written based on an observation about how people are addicted to everything—even TV. I just wanted to address that issue,” Marz explains.
“In other songs we address war, in other songs we address the way the media portrays terrorism and how they put that fear in people that isn’t always legitimate.”
As for the future, Solidarity is in the middle of writing their second album, Terrorizer. “We have six songs done and we’re going to do another six,” says Marz. “Then we’re going to begin recording locally and hopefully then we’re going to possibly begin looking for a producer.”
“We did okay with out first record, but it was very much a local thing, and I want to go to the next level with this next one. I want to take it to a national audience and even an international audience. I feel that our music would do really well in Europe, and I want to get there within two years,” Marz says.
Solidarity also has The Solid Rock Fest, an upcoming charity event slated for sometime this summer. “We have certain bands that we’ve worked with, but I’m open to working with new bands. We’re always trying to figure out who is up and coming,” says Marz.
For more information on Solidarity, check out their website at www.myspace.com/solidrockband.
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