After originally making a name for himself as a bass player for numerous acts across his home city of San Diego, Derik Toy aka Marsha Marsha Marsha recently reinvented himself as a producer and now returns with his latest single 'Treat Me Better'.
Channelling the bright and uplifting direction of the surf-rock sound, 'Treat Me Better' follows on from his rough and raucous collection with a light and fuzzy return. Swapping hard riffs for sweet and sweeping melodies, his latest release is just another exciting quiver added to his ever-growing bow of anthems so far.
So with the new single available now, we sat down with him to find out more about his background and what has inspired him most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
I started playing the trumpet as a kid… I took lessons and had to practice every day. That was where I learned how to really understand music theory and how to really understand how to hear music. The problem was that even playing a good song that I liked on a trumpet, wasn’t super cool. I got a bass for my 16th birthday. On a bass I could play a song that really sounded like something.. I could play music that I actually loved. I could play hip hop,, funk, I could play rock,,, and it actually sounded like something I liked .. Even on a guitar, I usually play the same stupid chords over and over… I can sit on a couch with my bass and not be happier.
I didn’t even really learn to play guitar until I had been in a couple bands that started playing a lot. When you’re in a band and I’d go to a party or something, someone would always hand me an acoustic guitar and ask me to play, at that point it pretty much sucks to play like a bass, dum dum, dum, dum dum. It didn’t take long for me to decide that I should learn how to play a guitar. Later I learned Drums so that I could record demos on a 4 track. Sometimes it’s easier to show a band a whole song, so that they can understand the entire vibe that you’re going for as a songwriter.
What kind of music did you love as a teenager?
I was such a huge fan of the Ramones. As a bass player I sat and played anything with a good bass line, so I was playing Beatles songs, Zeppelin, Funk, soul, and disco, but all the while my favourite stuff of all was still punk.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
I’ve had a song on a loop by a guy named Hauskey for a couple weeks now. It is called “Slow”. Absolutely love it. In fact I found him on Instagram just to tell him the song was awesome. He said thanks, he was glad I liked it. Social media is pretty amazing like that… being able to find and message an artist like that is so cool.
How many of your songs have you written about people in your life?
Every song is about someone,, It may be about someone that I know, or someone that I see,, something happening to me or someone else. There’s only 7 stories in the world.
What has been the most unusual moment in your career so far?
I was in a band that was playing on the Warped Tour. We were at an amusement park riding water slides with the guys from NOFX and Blink, when we walked past Joey Ramone trying not to make eye contact. It was pretty much a moment of punk rock surrealism.
And what advice would you give to other musicians looking to start a career in music?
I would say play anywhere you can as often as possible… I see bands doing everything they can to get streams, but they need to try to get fans. Fans will stream. Just getting on a playlist with a bunch of randoms hurts more than it helps,, getting someone to stream your song who isn’t really into your style doesn’t help anyone… Go play a birthday party,, a club, a swap meet, whatever, just play in front of as many people as possible, eventually you’ll find your audience.
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Marsha Marsha Marsha's new single 'Treat Me Better' is available to stream and download now. Have a listen to it in the player below.