| Maryland Music Zine |

Maryland Music Zine Issue #2 June/July 2000

The band is made up of Jacob Bunton – vocals (right); and, (below from left to right) Matt Finn – drums; Carl Ray Hopper – bass; and Chris Simmons – guitar. All of the members, with the exception of Finn who is from Iowa, hail from Alabama. The band has quite a following in the Birmingham area, and the “Mars Electric Experience” is starting to spread around the country as they tour.
	As a whole, the bands debut album "Beautiful Something” is pretty tight. It is soulful, funky, moving, and is loaded with great vocals and great music. The songs range from soulful ballads like “Another Day” (track 2) with background orchestra to the rock-heavy "Lucid" (track 12). Bunton said that the album's first single "Someday" is also about wanting something so badly and sticking to it [until you get it].
Originally, the band was titled "Wish" but due to some legal issues, the band was renamed to "Mars Electric". Hopper told how the band came up with the name. “We used to rehearse over where Jacob lives, and there’s a family owned electric company called ‘Marrs Electric Company’. The sign that [read] ‘Marrs Electric Company’ had a little alien…that we got permission to use. All we did was drop one ‘r’”. He explained how the name “Wish” was already in use, and that there is “…probably a hundred ‘Wish’s”. Mars Electric's live performances radiate energy. Bunton, backed by the talented Hopper, Finn, and Simmons, delivers each song with a quality and style that reach out and grab you and hold you there, curious, expectant, and entertained. The stage is alive with emotion, creativity, and sensuality.

	When speaking with Bunton, you get the feeling he is really listening. He is direct and speaks softly. When he sings, however, he is anything but “soft”. He seems to sing from the soul. You can see the emotion emanating from him in his body, his motions, and his eyes. And that carries over to the songs. You actually experience the songs as they are performed, or listened to on the album. He’s attractive, engaging, and carries a bit of an exotic look about him. He seems to always be willing to have a picture taken with a fan, has a generous smile, and is very friendly. Before and after shows, he can be seen walking around, talking with the fans, smiling, laughing, and in general really in touch with them.
	Carl Ray Hopper, one of the more outgoing members of the band, also speaks with a soft southern drawl that compliments his “shaggy-but-sexy” blonde hair and blue eyes. He too is generous with his smiles and when he does, he has a sort of a “devilish” look that suggests maybe he isn’t the “good-boy” his look slightly hints. He explained how there were many connecting factors in how they all met and started playing together. He was playing with another band from Dallas, Texas that had the same booking agent as Matt Finn’s band. They played a lot of the same rooms, and met each other through Hopper’s lighting director. He says, “…I met Matt that night and I was blown away. Got his phone number on a napkin, and I kept that fuckin’ napkin for years"
He and Matt were in three or four other bands together after that. Then Matt started playing Jacobs material in a studio. They needed a bass player, and Hopper joined. Chris Simmons joined when the singer from Suburban Love Junkies called him up and told him about a band that needed a guitarist. “…as soon as I auditioned, they stopped auditioning – they chose me.” When Chris and I talked, he explained what life was like on the road. “Well, each of us, including myself, have our own egotistical overbearing quirks that we have to overcome on a weekly basis, about once a week we clash. But we’re all really good friends so we kiss and make up, go out and have a good time. So definitely overall it’s a bunch of fun. We usually get two hotel rooms, myself, Carl and Matt room together, the sound guy, the guitar tech and Jacob room together. They don’t like to party as much as we do so it works out. They sit in the room and get work done and watch their favorite TV shows, and we drink beer, go out, and experience the country”. He says on their off days, they do things like go to museums, zoos, or just go bowling. Something different in different parts of the country. Simmons has a playful sense of humor and kept me laughing throughout the night.
When Matt Finn, the drummer, and I finally got the chance to chat, he told me that he’s the longest running member of the band, with the exception of Jacob (founding member). “Carl and I were in a band from Dallas, Texas. Carl went home to Birmingham, I went home to Iowa, and a friend of ours was doing recording. They wanted someone who played drums – so I went down to Birmingham, did it, and Jacob was hanging out at the studio,” at this point they all laugh and grin towards Bunton, “kinda like an annoying kid,” Finn jokes.