A Hardcore Anomaly
Fleshwater is a band that has become something in my adult life. But it’s stuff that I wish was around when I was younger. There’s nothing more classic than a woman in a hardcore or punk band. I think it’s important for women to be in these roles. To hear a woman in a style that almost rejects this pop influence of what a woman should be. Ice Spice or Carti B come to mind here. I don’t want to throw shots but it’s a nice change to hear women in the industry express themselves in a way that doesn’t portray them as this booty wiggling want to be stripper sex icon/object. Sure music by Ice Spice can be fun and I love hip hop just as much as punk. But there’s a prominent line between the pop world and Marisa Shirar of Fleshwater. Expect to have your face melted off by her crazy blasting guitar skills, and not her half naked self. I’m all for women feeling empowered but it’s another thing once women use their chest to sell a few extra records. There’s nothing wrong with a woman feeling comfortable in her skin and posing naked for a magazine or whatever. But Marisa seems to want to be more than that. Her love for music and her band is what seems to drive her. It probably helps that she’s also in a relationship with band member, guitarist, singer songwriter Anthony DiDio. I’m sure that relationship has kept her out of trouble plenty of times. I hope she keeps this image of “I’m just a woman that slams guitar with my band” and doesn’t switch to this hyper sexual look at me type of brand. Look, all I’m saying is that if a woman artist wants to be sexy that’s fine, but don’t expect me to start throwing out my money for them, let alone my time. Well, that’s my spew about my hidden political stance that I think that this band makes, let’s get into what’s important. The amazing music that Fleshwater makes and what has captivated me to write this article.
I think the best place to start with this band is my discovery of Marisa Shirar. The time was April, 2019. I don’t remember the name of the tour but it was the Wicca Phase Springs Eternal tour with HORSEHEAD and MIRSY. I think she was the first artist to perform that night. My initial reaction was “who the heck is this?” (in a nice way). All I remember is it was her and the microphone, singing over emotional beats, that I’ve later come to known was produced by DOVES and FANTASY CAMP. At the time, she didn’t really stick out to me, she was a girl for sure, and that interested me a ton. After that night, driving home bumping the new Wicca album I think I followed her on Instagram. Other than a few promotional pictures of then EP PERMANENT FOR NOW and THOUGHTS IVE KEPT INSIDE. She didn’t really have an “image”. But little did I know she was closely working with many of the underground showcases such as members of GOTH BOI CLIQUE and solidifying herself as a legitimate up and coming artist, that was using SoundCloud and other streaming platforms to distribute her sound. This is when I really started to listen to her and dive into her sound. A lot of her SoundCloud work is a lot of vocal music. But I know that she’s been singing in bands for a long time. I think her song YOU CAN STAY embodies what MIRSY is or was. A soft angelic voice that authentically floats over a instrumental that matches her edginess. Since following her, I’ve come to know her much more. Other than the occasional post about her brother, I’ve seen her make a post of a picture of her at a PEEP show. Now, PEEP will be a whole other article in the future but appreciation of PEEP is something we have in common. As she mentions it in a thorough podcast/interview done by KNOTFEST that I will link at some point in this post.
Now, after some time, MIRSY kind of became an artist that I kept somewhere in my pocket, something I’d pull out and listen to every now and then. But as some of you might know, 2019 was kind of a crazy year for me. And artist you listen to sometimes get lost in your pocket, sometimes to never be seen again. Life get a hold of you and someone you were listening to in 2019 might not be as relatable to you in 2022. As I started to take music more seriously, I started to take listening to other artist just as serious. Of course MIRSY was an artist that I felt like I had to revisit. I vaguely remember the few post she made on Instagram of her new band named Fleshwater. I had no idea that she played guitar, let alone who VEIN.FM was. Again.. something that I just didn’t look into at first. But I think it must of been early 2023 when I started listening to WE’RE NOT HERE TO BE LOVED. The debut album of Fleshwater. First I want to say that the visuals of Fleshwater are primordial. The visionary genius comes from Anthony DiDio. The vocalist of VEIN.FM that takes a step back from the mic to play guitar and be almost a vocal accent to MIRSY in Fleshwater. Now the sound of this record is immaculate. It’s clean. It’s tight. It’s almost perfect. But I can’t get over how short it is. Or how short some of the cuts are on this record. KISS THE LADDER is a song I see most fans say is the most amazing, but to me it barely debuts who they are. It’s a cool track don’t get me wrong, but something like THE RAZOR’S APPLE really debuts their potential of hit making. The production is very polished with what I’ve seen them use live, 3 guitars. This is a record that I can listen to constantly and enjoy because of the production. The vocals match the music perfectly. The lyrics are just as cryptid as the song titles. The bass and drums are placed exactly where they should be. Fleshwater has crafted a sound that I’ve yet to hear a comparison too. It’s dark. It’s beautiful.
As we wind down this post, there’s a few final things I want to say. I’m not here to say Marisa Shirar is a goddess or anything, she’s just a girl at the end of the day. But you can learn a lot from her story. I don’t know what her economics was like growing up or anything, but whoever brought her up taught her well. You don’t need to sell your soul to be successful at this music world. Genuine talent and love for music is what I see in these stand out artist over and over. It could take years and years to see actual success but it’s the journey there that makes it all count. The pain will end soon. STAY UP!
That’s about all I can say about Fleshwater right now. Thank you so much and make sure to go listen to FLESHWATER music right now.
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